As someone who has suffered from eczema my whole life, I know first-hand how daunting and frustrating this journey can be. After 27 years of using steroid-forward products to cope with my eczema, I wasn’t seeing any improvement in my skin. Like many others, the conventional approach to treating eczema wasn’t working for me. I knew I had to find an alternate solution.

In 2010, I decided to embark on a new journey​ to heal my skin. I packed my bags and moved to Toronto to study aromatherapy, holistic health, and herbal medicine.

At Province Apothecary, we take a holistic approach to skincare. Part of this approach means understanding that the skin acts as a window into what’s happening in the body. What we’re eating, how much water we’re drinking, and how much rest and exercise we’re getting are all connected to our wellness. This approach was pivotal to my recognition that eczema isn’t just a surface issue – it’s deeper.

For example, I’m not immune to flare ups. I’m literally writing this with eczema balm on, hand covered in a nitrile glove to help occlude it. What I have learned is that my eczema is tied to my stress and diet. I have grown to become grateful for my eczema. It acts as my barometer and shows me when I haven’t been taking care of myself. I’ve found that when I listen to these physical cues, so many other things in life seem more manageable – sleep, happiness, fatigue, anxiety, and stress.

With this newfound perspective, I was determined to find a product that would heal my eczema. I quickly discovered that although I was learning a holistic perspective to skincare, there didn’t seem to be products that echoed this approach. I decided that if I couldn’t find a product that would help manage my eczema, I would make one. Introducing Healing Eczema Balm: the product that started it all.

Back to Basics

What is Eczema?

Eczema is a condition of the immune system wherein patches of skin become inflamed, dry, itchy, flaky, red, and rough.

What Causes an Eczema Flare-Up?

Eczema is an immune system response. While the exact causes of Eczema are unknown, taking a holistic look at one’s lifestyle can help identify what may trigger a flare up. Flare up triggers can differ from person to person. Some trigger examples are environmental allergies, immune system dysfunction, stress, and food allergies.

4 Tools to Help Manage Your Eczema

Internal

Sleep

This is one of the best things you can do for your skin. Healing takes place most powerfully when we’re asleep. Aim for eight hours a night.

Drink Water

Our vital organs need plenty of water to function properly. If you’re not a fan of water, some other ways of staying hydrated are through herbal teas like red raspberry, oat straw, nettle, fennel, peppermint, or through foods rich in water like lettuce, cucumber, watermelon, cantaloupe and strawberries. Another way to stay hydrated is to start your day with by drinking a big glass of water (yes, before your morning coffee or tea!). Try squeezing half a lemon or into your water to help encourage your body’s water retention.

Eat Mindfully

Digestion is key to healthy, beautiful, clear skin. Listen to your body and feed it what it needs. Make sure you are having at least one bowel movement daily. If you need assistance determining which foods are tied to your flare-ups, we recommend consulting a holistic nutritionist or naturopathic doctor.

Manage Stress

This will look different for everyone. Some activities I’ve found helpful are journaling, going for walks, spending time in nature, meditating, gardening, and sleeping more. Try making one daily commitment to yourself and see how it feels after a couple of weeks!

External

Healing Eczema Balm

For effective topical relief, try our Healing Eczema Balm. This balm is blended using Colloidal oatmeal, an ingredient that can relieve itchiness and inflammation caused by extreme dry skin.

This ingredient is amazing because it forms a protective layer that holds moisture and promotes hydration. We love it because it delivers powerful relief from flare-ups of eczema, psoriasis, rashes, burns, bites, blemishes and more.

When my eczema is exceptionally cracked and dry, I love to layer this balm overtop of our Hydrating Rescue Balm so that it acts more like a treatment. Our Healing Eczema Balm + Hydrating Rescue Balm work beautifully separately and together when it comes to keeping eczema flare-ups smooth and moisturized.

It was important for me to develop a product that provided an alternative to traditional eczema products. Take comfort in knowing you will not find steroids, hydrocortisone, parabens, alcohol, petroleum, synthetic fragrance or toxic ingredients in our Healing Eczema Balm. This balm was made by someone with eczema for people with eczema.

Facial Acupuncture

Facial acupuncture is the insertion of fine, hair-like needles into the face and body. This increases blood flow to the face, helps to shed dead skin cells, and can boost collagen production.

The needles stimulate the flow of energy to the face and body, and can help with headaches, digestion, anxiety, stress reduction, as well as an improved mood. When it comes to skincare, facial acupuncture can be used to treat many concerns like dry skin, acne, scarring, rosacea, dull complexion, and eczema.

Acupuncture is a safe and natural way to effectively improve skin tone, elasticity, reduce the appearance of fine lines, and improve complexion without the chemicals. It also has the added bonus of being covered by extended health benefits. Visit our Holistic Skincare Clinic to try it!

Don’t Pick Anything

This is so hard but trust me, it works. The less you pick, the less scarring you will have, and the less inflamed your skin will be. Your skin has its own protocol for healing and picking will disrupt its natural healing process.

In my journey, I discovered that everything always comes back to gut health, ​your lifestyle, and using natural products that encourage and support your skin’s natural ability to heal.

 

What are the ways you support your body to reduce eczema flare ups?