Rash Decisions

Wendyl used to get so many emails from grateful people who found that once they stopped using commercial laundry powders and swapped to natural ones their skin, and that of their children, cleared up.

Here are some of her natural tips if you suffer from eczema, taken from her book Recipes for a Cleaner Life:

• Bathe in lukewarm, not too hot or too cold water.
• Use natural, cold-pressed oils after washing. Apricot oil is particularly good.
• Have an oatmeal bath. Tip in a cup of oatmeal and soak in it, or better still, put it in a cloth handkerchief, tie at the top and sponge yourself all over with it while in the bath.
• Cotton clothing is a must, avoid all synthetics or wool.
• Fake nails – avid acrylics; a study found that the chemicals cause dermatitis.
• Use cold milk as a dressing – put milk into a glass with ice cubes, let sit then put on to a gauze pad or thin piece of cotton and apply for 2-3 minutes. Continue the process for 10 minutes.
• Use good old-fashioned calamine lotion.
• Look at your diet. Traditionally eggs, orange juice and milk have been implicated, but it would pay to have an allergy test just to see.
• Avoid quick changes in air temperature. Dress in layers of cotton and avoid going from a cold room into a hot shower, for instance.
• Use white toilet paper with no patterns or added fragrance – dyes and chemicals irritate.
• Emollients containing urea can relieve itching because it is a sloughing agent.
• With clothing, use perfume-free washing powders such as Green Goddess Unscented Laundry Powder