All things burned and itchy

I got sunburned last weekend, even after applying sunscreen twice.  I don't know if I'm just that fair (entirely possible) or if the sunscreen wasn't good enough.  In any case, I was left with red, sore shoulders.  The only upside to this is that I discovered a great new way to deal with sunburn!  Awhile back a friend gave me a tub of product called Skin-E Dip.  At the time I was using it on eczema patches and it was great but it has been relegated to the bottom of the bathroom drawer and forgotten about.  Until the other day...

As it turns out, Skin-E Dip is marvelous for those especially bad sunburn spots.  It smells like plastic and is very thick but the soreness and heat went out of my shoulders overnight!  It worked much better than the cooling aloe spray I've used for years.  Thought I'd share since we're starting off those hot, sunny summer months!

The world of my face continues to become a much more peaceful place, as people keep pointing out to me.  The astonishment from friends and coworkers, while positive and encouraging, also highlights just how bad I looked even a month ago.  It also reinforces the power of following your gut and challenging conventional medicine.  I want everyone to know that there are options out there and that you don't have to suffer through all the side effects of products from the doctor to get relief.  Nature has some powerful cures out there and you don't even have to be a hippie to use them.  ; )  Not to mention that most of the all-natural remedies actually work out to be cheaper than a prescription.

In the spirit of cheap and natural, I offer this: oats.  Yes, oats.  My wonderful eczema-suffering friend passed this wisdom on to me.  Oats ground into a powder make a great cleanser when your skin is in extreme irritation.  Place about a tablespoon of oat powder in your palm and add water to make a thin paste.  Gently rub over your skin and then rinse.  Oats are a soothing and effective cleanser when your skin is so sensitive that all other cleansers seem harsh.  This is how I cleansed my face back at the height of the acne/eczema outbreak.