I hope you had a lovely start to your week and that you managed to squeeze a little bit of me time in your day. This morning I started back on my yoga mat for the first time in months. My mind needed it, my body needed it and my family definitely needed it! I had fallen back into a cycle that often claims me and I’m sure loads of other victims! Super Busy lives zap all our time and mental energy, we don’t eat healthily, exercise or have any time for ourselves. This week I’m going to break this cycle. Another vicious cycle I want to talk to you today about had me in its grasp for such a long time.
Did you know that between 40 and 71% of people experience sensitive skin. If you’re reading this chances are you are one of them!
And people who are most likely to suffer are
-Biologically Female
-Fair Skinned
-Sun burn or blush easily
How many of these apply to you?
For me, all three!
So many different factors can trigger sensitive skin, from the environment to the ingredients in the products we apply to anxiety, emotional distress and biological cycles.
Signs of skin sensitivity aren’t always visible. Dryness, redness and swelling these are a huge giveaway however itchiness, burning sensations, tingling and tightness are things that can’t be seen. These symptoms often accompanied by acne, psoriasis, dermatitis or rosacea can make life in sensitive skin extremely uncomfortable.
Does this sound like a familiar pattern:
Coming out of a sensitive skin flare up you try a new product highly recommended by a friend. This works so well for your skin . . . for a while! Then you feel the dreaded tingle. You stop using it, adding it to the lovely, already large collection of products that have come before it. Off you go to the doctor or chemist for a steroid …and…Repeat…
This was my life! I was never comfortable in my skin.
The amount of physical time and mental energy that I lost locked into this constant cycle.
Not only was I frustrated with the time and money I lost researching what product to try next or going to the doctor or chemist for creams but both myself and my kids. I was also constantly worrying about the long term effects of using all these medicated creams on my children and myself.
Four years ago I broke this cycle.
I began by looking at the long lists of ingredients in each product to see if I could figure out a common ingredient.
However I quickly realised that when you are dealing with so many ingredients there is a bigger chance of having a reaction.
I decided to try different natural ingredients individually to see how our skin felt about them.
Once I knew what ingredients our skin liked. I began to experiment with combining them to come up with recipes for different products I needed and I also took some natural skincare workshops.
When Covid hit I had to close my established childminding business for 5 months. This gave me the opportunity to get a qualification in natural skincare. Doing this helped me fill the long hours where I had nothing to do as a mum of 3!
The Covid lockdown also gave me the chance spend much needed time in my garden. I began to explore the world of foraging and to grow anything I could get my hands on. This reawakened my long buried love of plants and their healing powers.
At this stage our skin had greatly improved and many family and friends had been my Guinea pigs. However a nasty burn, some stubborn splinters and a pair of disgusting feet later (stories for another day!) helped me discover the powerful healing properties of plants. I know them that I needed to include plants in any future products.
So in September 2021 I enrolled in the apprenticeship In community herbalism with The Plant Medicine school. I knew this would add that next layer of healing and protection to my products. As a community herbalist I can custom make products for a peoples personal skincare needs.
I broke this cycle and I can help you do the same. This might free up some physical time for you to fill doing something nice for yourself. It will also be one less thing pulling on your mental energy.