You may or may not know that I suffer from Psoriasis. In the grand scheme of things that can wrong with you, it’s pretty low on the scale but it’s definitely a cause of nuisance. If you’re not sure what Psoriasis is, it’s when your skin cells grow too quickly, causing areas of excess cells to form, making flakey plaques or areas on the body. I suffer very mildly with it, I have a few patches on my legs and ears and have a few bits on my scalp. It doesn’t bother me too much except when it comes to summer and I want to get my legs out and they have red flakey patches all over them which people always think are mosquito bites! I’ve had Psoriasis now for about 10 years and have been prescribed various topical steroid creams, shower gels and such but I have found in the past few months that some products that I had hanging around are doing a very good job of keeping my patches to a minimum. They are by no means gone but they a much less noticeable and I will for sure be getting my pins out in skirts this Summer!
Firstly for my ears, this may sound a little gross, but when I finish washing my hair I gently rub them with a towel to get rid of any excess flakes whilst they’re still damp. Then I slather on the Liz Earle Superbalm* which keeps them moisturised and smooth until the next time that I wash my hair. I find it’s best to do this before I dry my hair as sometimes the heat can make my ears a bit dry. Then for the patches on my body I cleanse my skin in the bath with the L’Occitane Almond Shower Oil. It’s nice and gentle on my skin and protects the patches on my legs when I shave as it gives a bit of slip to them. Where I think I was going wrong all these years was the lack of body moisturising. I’m a serial tanner and aside from slapping some fake tan on my body every few days I never bothered to moisturise after I got out of the shower and bath. Since the beginning of the year I have made it my mission to change that and now I can’t bare to not do it! I find that oils work best as they are richer and recently I’ve been using the L’Occitane Supple Skin Almond Body Oil. It makes my skin feel amazing and my body stays moisturised for 24 hours until I repeat the process again. The patches on my legs are less red, less noticeable and I’m one happy bunny. For my scalp the Nizoral Anti-Dandruff Shampoo is amaze! It may not smell great but it does the job. I use this in place of my usual shampoo every time I get a get a flare up on my scalp and it gets rid of it after one or two washes. It’s pretty pricey at around a tenner for a small bottle, but it’s quite easy to get hold of – I got mine from Sainsburys.
Topical treatments aside the best thing I have found for my Psoriasis patches is the sun! I went on holiday last year for a week and got my legs everyday, by the end of the holiday my patches were near enough gone! Although I’m too scared to go on sunbeds to get the same effect in the not-so-sunny UK, it’s made me think not to be so scared to get my legs out during the Summer months as it will actually improve my Psoriasis!
Wow this post has been a departure from what I usually write, but I hope that this has been helpful for some of you. Like I said I’m very lucky that my Psoriasis patches really aren’t that bad and these products haven’t helped them completely go away but they have helped to make them much less noticeable. If any of you have found other things that work then please don’t hesitate to pop a comment below 🙂
*PR Sample
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