There is no secret to a natural treatment for psoriasis; it’s as simple as caring for your skin. Reading the labels of the skin care products you use and knowing the ingredients is the starting point for care for your psoriasis. For any natural treatment for psoriasis there are things that you need to consider.
You begin your natural treatment for psoriasis with a skin cleaner that is very gentle. Anything too harsh will only exacerbate the scaling and increase the discomfort of your psoriasis. The cleanser you use should be one the completely cleans your skin of dirt and makeup and does not leave your skin feeling oily.
While the majority of skin care lines do have exfoliates, many of these products are much to harsh for anyone with psoriasis or any other form of inflamed skin. Exfoliates such as those with ground up apricot pits should be avoided, while exfoliates with oatmeal, sugar, or Epsom salt are gentle enough for regular use. They are good for removing the dirt, make up and flaky skin; yet as a natural treatment for psoriasis they will not hurt your already sensitive skin.
As important as good and consistent cleaning of your skin is, you need to be equally careful when it comes to moisturizing your skin. Everyone, especially someone with psoriasis, should moisturize all parts of their skin especially the rough and dry patches. For psoriasis suffers the moisturizing will help to prevent both cracks and sores from developing.
While most of your local drug stores will not have over-the-counter products for the natural treatment for psoriasis they will have a number of skin care products that are very beneficial for helping to control your psoriasis. Skin care products with plant or mineral oils or cocoa butter can be applied topically to the rough and dry patches, if not all over the entire body, to help with itching and dryness that is so noticeable with psoriasis.
You may not be aware and it may seem strange to you, but a great natural treatment for psoriasis is coal tar. These tars come in a variety of forms and in many products, including creams (moisturizers), shampoos, gels, and soaps. These tar products tend to enhance the effect of ultra violet light (a moderate amountof sun) and are beneficial to the dryness and skin lesions.
Psoriasis suffers need to be especially careful that the skin care products they use, cleansers or moisturizers ‘Do Not’ have the ingredients of perfumes or alcohol as these will dry and crack the skin.
“Good” moisturizers for psoriasis suffers tend to be creams that are thick and rich enough to keep moisture directly on the skin and should be applied after showers while the skin is still wet. The moisturizer or lotion should then continue to be reapplied many times during the course of the day.
Now even though sunlight is somewhat good for psoriasis, too much sunlight, not to mention a sunburn, is not good for psoriasis. To much sun will cause drying, cracking and sores to the skin. With skin care for psoriasis you need to find a moisturizer with sunscreen. If a good moisturizer with sunscreen cannot be found, then you need to find a good, gentle sunscreen that is non-drying and is free of perfume.
Some psoriasis suffers find that a simpler natural treatment for psoriasis often works very well. That of taking cool water baths and adding such natural ingredients as Epsom salts, oils, or even oatmeal to the water. The resulting bath calms the inflammation of the skin and eliminates itching.
By: Mike Herman
There are many different ingredients in products that we use everyday. However shampoo, lotion, cream, moisturizer, bubble bath, and hundreds of other products all have one ingredient in common; Shea Butter.
What makes this ingredient so remarkable is that it is one of the few ingredients that can be consumed. In many parts of the world, it is used as cooking oil.
Shea butter is considered to be a healthy alternative to any other form of emollient. It is not the most aromatic food in the world however it is used to promote healthy cooking and healthy skin.
It is made from the fruit of the Shea Tree. The process is really quite simple. The fruit is removed from the tree and then boiled and crushed into a green, creamy substance. It is world renowned for it healing properties; however it is also renowned for its anti-aging properties.
While many people do not realize the full potential of what this substance’s properties really are, they are not aware that this skin care ingredient is in almost everything that they purchase.
The characteristics of Shea Butter reach far beyond just creams and moisturizers. It is used to heal conditions such as acne, eczema, psoriasis, chapped lips burns and scars. Many people often choose a product because they recognize the name instead of looking at the ingredients. Often, there are ingredients that can aggravate symptoms instead of alleviating them.
While many people view this substance as just a type of moisturizer included in lotion, its benefits are much more powerful and extensive than that. It is one of the most amazing products that are all natural and have virtually no side effects.
The higher amount of Shea Butter that is in a product means the better the product will work. No matter if it is a shampoo or skin care product you use, if you find it difficult to keep your hair or skin moisturized, then this stuff will amaze you. It may cost a little more than the regular products you purchase, however it is well worth the extra cost.
It seems like the benefits are limitless, including protection against harmful sunlight and UV rays. This is a major factor in its use as an anti-aging product.
A natural moisturizer and skin firmer, shea butter promotes the healing of skin, while working to prevent dryness and wrinkles. When choosing an anti wrinkle product, be sure to consider one with this component.
Please note that with any skin care product made to reduce wrinkles, results may take up to one month or longer. But, don’t get discouraged. Some anti-aging skin care products may claim that you can start to see results within one or two weeks, however normally for most people, it may be more like four weeks before big changes are visible.
It is important that you understand the uses of all products that you use. Finding information regarding Shea Butter is not difficult, all you need to do is a Google search to find as much information as you need.
By: Ken Black
About Our Skin
The human skin is a complex organ. It consists of several layers, which are involved in a range of functions, from defence against external pathogens to temperature regulation. The skin is the largest organ of the human body and renews itself every 28 – 30 days.
In an earlier article, I provided a detailed description of the various functions of each of the layers that make up the skin, so I will not discuss these here. This article however, will look at the potential problems dead skin cells can cause if a proper skin care regime is not followed.
Skin Structure Review
The structure of the skin is basically divided into two general layers, the dermis (link to previous article) and the epidermis. The latter is divided further into 5 layers. The layer at the very surface of the skin is called the Stratum corneum, which consists mainly of dead skin cells.
Dead Skin Cells
The body sheds these dead skin cells of it’s own accord, however, exfoliation through the use of skin brushes, luffah’s or exfoliant skin care products, helps to stimulate new cell growth and reduces build up of dead skin cells.
So, how do dead skin cells impact the skin’s health? As the dead skin cells build up on the surface of the skin, they have the potential to act as a barrier to absorption of nutrients from nourishing creams and lotions; they also have the potential to block sweat glands, which can result in white heads, black heads or acne.
Of course you do need a certain amount of dead skin cells to cover your skin, however, it does not need to be very thick to execute it’s function as a barrier. If the rate of skin cell production/death is higher than normal, as for example is psoriasis, the body is unable to shed old cells quickly enough for the new cells to replace them. As the new cells push their way to the surface of the skin, the old cells create a build up of dead skin, which appear as raised patches.
Under normal circumstances, every minute of the day we lose about 30,000 to 40,000 dead skin cells off the surface of our skin – that’s about 4 kilograms per year of dead skin cells. In fact, much of the dust in a house is to a great extent comprised of our dead skin cells.
Effective regulation of dead skin cells
There are basically two reasons for using a daily skin care regime. The first is to keep the skin clean and the dead skin cell layer to a healthy minimum. The second reason is to provide the skin with nutrients and nourishment for optimum functionality.
As aforementioned, using a natural exfoliant skin care product is a great option to gently remove some of the dead skin cells and provide some nutrients at the same time. Following the exfoliation using a cleanser to remove deep-seated dirt and stale oils from skin pores and wrinkles is a necessary next step. This is not just to remove dirt etc., but also helps to keep microbes down, as many of the natural skin cleansers utilise essential oils, which are anti-septic in nature and thus help reduce the chance of skin infections.
Once the cleansing has been completed, it is time to close the pores of the skin to prevent dust and other environmental particles from entering the open pores. This is where a natural toning lotion is ideal. Being formulated to contain astringents and other nourishing ingredients, toners will prepare the skin for the final step – Moisturising.
Moisturising your skin is critical. Moisturisers provide essential nutrients for the skin and at the same time help the skin to retain moisture, preventing dehydration of the skin and acceleration of skin cell death.
Implementing a good daily skin care regime will not only help to remove excessive dead skin cells, but will provide the skin with moisture, nutrients and assist it in its defence against microbial infections.
By: Danny Siegenthaler