Soap products from The Body Cafe are perfect for those with a variety of skin conditions.
As a young child I suffered miserably from eczema, and it continued to get worse in my teen years. I remember wearing long-sleeved shirts in high school to cover up the irritated and inflamed skin on my arms. I did not want my new boyfriend to see my horrible skin condition! My legs also bore the brunt of this terrible condition and I never knew when it would flare up, or what would make it flare up.
By my senior year in high school my mother had found a black dermatologist at Meharry Medical in Nashville who prescribed me something that turned out to be a miracle drug (I no longer remember what it was). It cleared up my skin within weeks, and calmed the raging itch. I do recall that it was in a base of Aquaphor. This miracle wouldn't last, though. When I was 21 and pregnant with my first child, I went to visit my fiance's grandmother in Mississippi. It was extremely hot that summer and the Deep South heat seemed to intensify the flare-up I was experiencing, most likely from the influx of pregnancy hormones in my body. The miracle drug from the good doctor at Meharry no longer seemed to help at all. Ms. Sillar Mae Holmes looked down at my leg, thick and dark with irritation and inflammation. “Baby, have you been burned?”, she inquired. “No ma’am, I just have bad eczema”, I replied, embarrassed and ashamed. I knew I shouldn't feel that way, and she certainly wasn't judging me. She was genuinely concerned. I was used to seeing my skin that way but when I looked down at my leg, viewing it through her eyes, it did look really bad and disfigured. I instantly felt the prickly "shame" I'd felt so many times through the years, which further intensified the already bad flare-up. I had great friends and no one ever picked on me about it, ever, but I was still extremely self-conscious about it.
Fortunately, I never experienced eczema on my face. That was the one part of my body that was almost completely blemish-free (including acne!). I know the good Lord above was giving me a break. And I'm extremely grateful for that.
Unfortunately, I passed this condition to my firstborn and we watched our sweet little boy suffer miserably. We tried just about everything and often had to turn to antibiotics because he'd get really bad staph infections under his fingernails from where he'd scratch so bad through the night. The skin would get irritated and infected and it would dry out and crack. It was awful. There were many times I cried silently or struggled to fight back tears as I witnessed my son whimper out helplessly "Something's biting me!". Nothing was actually biting him but I knew exactly what he meant. It was the prickly and often painful deep itch that would sometimes make you feel like you were being eaten alive by your own skin. And then you have to scratch even though you knew you shouldn't. And there was no way to keep a toddler from scratching so he'd wake up just about every morning lying in a pile of what we started calling "skin crumbs". Devastating.
Fast-forward many, many years and my eczema is pretty much in remission, as is my now adult son's. We've also learned a lot about irritation and inflammation and understand how much diet plays a role. But stress and topical agents can also wreak havoc so it's very important to manage stress and get sufficient rest, and also be very deliberate about what is put on the skin. One of my cousins is a young mom now dealing with eczema with her children and she developed these products to help their sensitive skin. Oh how I wish I could go back in time and take this knowledge, and these products with me! She shared her website with the family recently and I ordered several items. Of course I ordered to support her AND I have to say I absolutely LOVE everything I've tried so far! I've tried a TON of skincare products in my 47 years on this earth so I recognize that these are genuinely great products. I use the Turmeric 'N Charcoal Bar on my face to cleanse and remove makeup. It brightens my skin and leaves my face feeling smooth and squeaky clean, but does not dry it out. It has a very light hint of mint - just a whisper of scent that is not overpowering.
I'll be using the Turmeric & Oatmeal Soap next - it's a company original. I'm going to use it on my legs because I had a slight eczema flare-up after having my very first pedicure a couple weeks ago. The exfoliating scrub was apparently too harsh for my skin, although it felt really good at the time! It was odd because it didn't flare up right away, but it popped up several days later. I know this soap will help calm everything down.
The Body Cafe continues to develop new products and I can't wait to see what's coming next.
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