#SootheThyEczema | The Do's and the Goods

Having eczema is a really horrible experience.

I’m 20 years old and I can’t handle it, imagine how a baby could.

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Hello!

So let’s get on with the topic.

Let me show you my progress first and then I’ll tell you about what you should do and what to use during your triggered-eczema phase.

Now I took these photos when I felt like it’s really, really too much to handle.

You can see redness between my brows, my cheeks, my lower left lops, my back and my chest.

Of course, there are some on my arms and legs but I didn’t bother to take photos because they are less affected by it.

Seeing these photos actually makes me wanna scratch again.

These were taken in June 2016

The ones below are from October 2016.

Then I tried to use some moisturisers but they’re not as useful as they claimed to be.

I didn’t take photos of my back because I felt like it’s still the same.

So, this is me, like, right now:

I look tired, yup.
Anyway, CLOSE UP!

My pores are still wide but I’m slowly getting it smoother now.
I still do get a few itches from time to time but it’s not as bad as before.
Most probably because I didn’t do my moisturising enough.

My back is better compared to the first round.

The scars are slowly fading too.

My chest is obviously better too.

Just like my back, the scars are fading.

The only part I need to do intense moisturising now is my legs.

These are awfully stubborn.

Although I don’t get much itchiness now the scars are really difficult to clear off.

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Having eczema is really painful and troublesome because you have to do so many things in order to avoid being triggered, soothe it down and try 10 times harder to pray for it to stop immediately right after every time it gets triggered.

A photo posted by Zoelie Jasmine Mah ✾ 윤큥순 (@zoeliewho) on Oct 25, 2016 at 2:30am PDT

So, I made an Instagram post about it but I wanna elaborate everything here

(I mean, that’s what blogs are for, ain’t it?)

So let’s begin with what you should do first:

1. Always moisturise your skin

This is especially when your skin had been damaged already. Since your outer layer is no longer as protective as before, you’re basically losing moisture every second/minute. The moisture in your skin has been evaporating ever since the epidermic is damaged.

Products with hyaluronic acid are always a bonus point since they draw out moisture from the deeper layers of your skin to the outer layer.

2. Speaking of damaged epidermic, this means that bacteria can enter your skin even more

So what you can do now is just to make sure you stop scratching by cutting those nails of yours. At the same time, keep your skin moisturised so that it can still function as normal. (… although not as good as before)

3. Mild soap. Mild shampoo. Mild everything.

If your face is affected, switch your cleanser to something more gentle. If your soap and/or shampoo makes your skin/scalp feels really dry afterwards, switch to -perhaps- no-soap body cleansers. Like Cetaphil.

4. Vitamins, minerals and more water!

Getting more nutrients from supplement pills is actually quite effective. It’s faster than changing your diet. Of course, you’re supposed to change your diet but it’s best to match it with supplement pills too. Since moisturising your skin is also a key-point, you should ‘moisturise’ your entire body system too. It helps if you flush out all the toxins from your body.

5. Ditch hair removing

For some girls, this is very hard to do. But trust me, it’s safer for you. Shaving will makes your skin super dry, epilating will trigger itchiness, hair removal cream ARE MAJOR NO-NO. They are the culprit that started my eczema. Try to make it no-shave-November an everyday thing. To be honest with you, nobody really cares about your body hair (except for those who are terribly shallow). Genuine friends/partners just really don’t care at all.

I put this here instead of the previous post because I feel like this is more important to stress about.

6. Visit a specialist for faster treatment

I know some doctors are trying to make a huge profit out of this business. Try to survey around first. My mom gave me a few suggestions and I ended up picking the one in SS15, Subang Jaya since he has better reputations online than others. (Others just doesn’t seem to care about online reviews/promoting.. huh) But honestly, his facebook reviews are all about how great he is but how sh*tty the receptionists are. Well, I don’t feel that way because everyday, there are a lot of patients walking-in, making appointments, getting their prescription. They have quite a handful of jobs to handle. It’s natural if they “accidentally” flash you a resting-b*tch-face look. I mean, I might have done that many times too, without the intention to be mean to someone.

Alright.

Now let’s get back to the products I’ve shared on my Instagram,

along with some of the products I forgot to mention.

These products are great for those with eczema-//allergy-//dryness-prone skin.

1. Caudalie Grape Water Spray.
First of all, this brand is a very well-known brand in EU, specifically France.

What’s in the can, though? Nothing but grape fruit water, grape juice and nitrogen. It is also stated that there is no blotting required after spraying by the way.

The reason why I picked up a mist is that I really hate the cream-moisturising concept. I mean, sure, they stay effective longer than other types of moisturisers but you can only do that to your bare face and it’s also sticky???? It’s just so awful, especially when I wanted to moisturise my makeup-applied face. Definitely can’t do it with cream moisturisers.

Also, go ahead and try their other products.
They hydrating moisturisers work very, very well.
But a kid like me can’t afford it heh.

2. Hada Labo Face Wash.

I’m pretty sure everyone knows that foam facial cleansers are a huge no-no for dry skin since they will dry up your skin and makes your feel tightened. However, this one is exceptional. It effectively cleanses your face without scraping every sebum off the surface. I was really surprised by how gentle it is. It has a bit of fragrance, I think. But the smell is nice. It doesn’t make my face feel stingy at all, even when my face was at the serious-phase of itchiness and pain.

Another bonus part is: it lasts longer than any of my other cleansers.
Seriously, you only need a very little amount of it to create a lot of foam for your entire face and neck.

3. Innisfree Cushion.
I really don’t give a dang when people tell me not to put makeup on whenever I leave the house. I mean, I’m a Libra. I can’t let people from the outside to see how much of a “hobo” I am when I’m in my room. Let alone my bright red, scally face with an obvious sign saying: “I’m having a skin disease. Ask me any questions your like” is going to get in the way. I’d rather have my skin all covered up rather than being asked the same question on and on.

Innisfree cushion did a great job for not clogging my skin and blocking it to breathe. Otherwise, my already-cracked skin would crack even more. I bought two types of cushion foundation since I wanted to try them. They both work fine for me.

Anyway, I prefer Water Fit over Longwear, since it’s more moisturising and has lesser coverage (means less clogging, for me). I would suggest getting a foundation instead (it’s cheaper in a way) and I’m pretty sure that they are about the same. It stays on my face for quite an amount of time, enough for me to get home and take it off immediately. Makeup-removing process is also pretty quick for this product. It doesn’t use a lot of colour-coverage like other foundation.

4. Muji Light Toning Water in High Moisture.
Oh, Muji, Muji, Muji.
I never loved that place so much. I’m definitely going to make a short video about it. Now, I’m pretty sure you know bout this product since during one point everyone was raving about it and it’s been on Cosme’s ranking for quite a while already. It has been on multiple credible beauty pages as well. I’ve mentioned a little bit about hyaluronic acid in the post before and this baby right here has hyaluronic acid (very good for our skin category) and also grapefruit seed extract. I honestly think that this is better than whatever tea tree oil products out there. Also, it does not have: fragrance, alcohol, paraben, mineral oil. Allergy tested but has a disclaimer that it may not be allergy-free for everyone.

There are three options for this product alone, and I picked up the highest efficiency one
just because I need that intensity :3

5. Innisfree Green Tea Seed Serum.
It’s not a must, but my mom and sisters made me use it until I love it.
I never wanted it at first, because it doesn’t feel like it’s going to do anything other than being typical skin care ‘Emulsion/Essence’. But I do see a better result after using it. It felt like it will boost up the moisturising results, making my skin to be better at absorbing all the good things from every skin care products.

6. Coconut Oil (Extra)
This one works like a miracle. I’ve been having the itch again on my body but my moisturizers are being useless. Then I recalled reading about putting coconut oil to calm the itching, so I gave it a try. It was 3am so I was very, very desperate to get back to sleep. I did it and, I slept through the night. I gave it a few more tries too, just to make sure about the effectiveness, and they really work but once the oil gets soaked into your skin completely, you might feel the tingling again, depending on your situation.

However, up until one point, it no longer works as well anymore.
So I used my next solution.

7. CeraVe Moisturizers (Extra)
Ever since I gave Cerave a try, I decided to ditch the idea of getting more ointment from the doctor that I had visited. Like, a short consultation, 3 small ointments and 2 packs of medicine (inflammation and Aravax) had already cost me Rm150. I can already imagine how much the ointments are gonna cost among that 150 bucks.

Cerave is a well-known American brand among eczema patients, especially among mothers of eczema babies. If you google it, you’ll see that most of the websites, surveys, and even reviews for people with eczema will definitely include this brand. It was disheartening at first because Malaysia seldom have great brands in other countries. The number of choices here sucks. But after a few searches, I finally found somewhere that sells it. Sadly, Cerave is only available in Caring Pharmacy. You can order it online if you don’t wanna ask each and every store one by one just to know which one has stock. Their online store will always have stocks and you can collect them in-store as well.

The cerave lotion has been saving me from all the late-night scratching. Seriously, it always happens to me at 4am-6am. Not only that it affected my sleep, but it also causes more unwanted scratch wounds.

CeraVe moisturizing lotion and cream both have glycerin, dimethicone, ceramides and hyaluronic acid. They are fragrance-free and non-irritating. Both of these “provide patented controlled released of ingredients to help repair and restore protective skin barrier”. However, though, they have methylparaben and propylparaben.

The lotion itself already works well enough and their cream works even better. Creams are usually more effective than lotion since they can last longer. However, Caring Pharmacy only sells small tubes of them, so I usually use cream only when things are uncontrollable. On the other hand, the tube’s volume is small enough to bring on board in your carry-on bags. This is very useful for people like us, especially when it’s going to be irritating for our skin when we’re boarding planes.

Okay… So, I’m pretty sure this and the previous one are not the only eczema posts that I’ll be writing… since this is going to be a long war for me.

I’ll update you if I found more stuff for skin types like ours.
Stay smiling!