Solutions to summer skin ailments

Let me preface this entry with the disclaimer that I am not a doctor so my advice should not be interpreted as professional medical opinion. That said, I do get a lot of calls from people seeking advice about various skin ailments and, after more than 15 years working in the skincare business, I feel pretty confident about what works for different skin issues. With summer fast approaching, we at Gaia Essentials thought it would be helpful to address a variety of seasonal skin problems from sunburns to mosquito bites. Some solutions come from the Gaia Essentials product line and others are simple home remedies that can be found around the house.

Let's delve in, shall we?

Sunburn

The best way to handle a sunburn is to take action before one can even start. Wear a hat, put on sunscreen and try to stay in the shade as much as possible. If you're worried about the recent news that cancer-causing benzene was found in nearly a third of the tested sunblocks, you can always stick to a natural, zinc-based cream. I carry one in my shop.

We can't always be perfectly, prepared, however, so if a sunburn does happen there are ways to ease the irritation. In my experience, soaking the burn in (cool) black tea will help suck out the heat. I also recommend applying a healing ointment such as my calming facial balm. This balm also works great for wind burn or any other mild irritation that doesn't involve broken skin. Please do not apply it to broken skin as the cooling peppermint oil in it will sting!

Bee stings/Insect bites

More time in the outdoors means more exposure to insects such as bees and mosquitos. Bees will not typically go out of their way to sting you, but accidents can happen. Word of advice from one long-time Gaia Essentials customer: try not to let them fly up your shirt when you are bending over!

When I was growing up, wet tobacco was a common remedy for bee stings but making a paste out of baking soda works well too. My psorasis balm is also fantastic for bee stings and bug bites of all kinds. I used to make a healing salve that is essentially the same as my psoriasis balm, but the latter formula comes with a few extra goodies that really take it over the top in terms of skin nourishment. I refer to my psoriasis balm it as “my healing salve on steroids” given its strength, though I assure you there are no actual steroids in the product.

Anyway, I was once working at a farmer's market back on the California coast when a customer showed me a bee sting her son had recently incurred. We put some of the healing salve on the and when the customer and her son returned half hour later the swelling had gone down dramatically.

Poison Oak/Ivy

Again, I can't recommend my psoriasis balm enough for this. I know the product name is a bit misleading as it's truly good for a variety of skin issues (bites, scratches, burns, you name it!). Its chock full of skin-nourishing goodies such as comfrey, plantain, castor, shea and hemp... just to name a few.

Jellyfish sting

OK, so maybe this one isn't likely to come up for too many of you but if it does, just pee on it. I don't sell anything in a bottle that will do any better than good old-fashioned urine.

Scarring

If you're worried about any of the previous injuries leaving a scar. I highly recommend using my intense moisturizing cream once the injury is healed. Castor oil is often linked with scar tissue repair and this rich, nourishing cream has plenty.

So, there's a little summer skincare round-up for you. If you have additional questions, don't hesitate to reach out. My email address is debby@gaia-essentials.com.

Blessings,
Debby