A patient came in yesterday to our teaching clinic and reporting how she was doing with her horribly dry and itchy skin and scalp. She had been in a month prior in despair.
She had been recommended to take fish oil a few times a day. Her improvement was excellent yet not completely resolved.
My first thought was to include a shower filter which would remove the harmful effects of chlorine.
Dry skin’s main cause is either due to:
- diet
- environmental
Watching TV now is killing me with all the ads for lotions and creams. They are mostly all bunk. Why not remove the cause of the dry skin instead of putting a band-aid on it every 4 hours?
I must say that treating symptoms rather than treating the cause is one of my biggest pet peeves. So easy to do and so many of us do not do it. WHY??? I guess we’re programmed to find relief rather than resolution. Relief is faster than resolution most of the time. Us Yankees are so into making the short term buck for the least effort. Make a little more effort and gain further benefit.
Find resolution will ya?!
If one’s diet lacks essential fatty acids such as flax oil, borage oil, primrose oil or fish oil, their skin will likely become dry and irritated. Add essential fatty acids to your diet.
If one’s environment consists of harsh cleaners, solvents, alternating wet dry, chemicals or simply chlorine, dry skin may become an issue. Remove the environmental issues if possible.
Granted there are countless other nutrients for skin – such as vitamin A, vitamin C, zinc, biotin, proline, MSM et al – yet a major component of healthy skin can be achieved through consuming fish oil and using chlorine filters.
A great liquid fish oil that tastes lemony can be found in Carlson’s Fish Oil. My son loves it and so do I – and that speaks volumes as I’m not much of a fish lover. If one prefers capsules, look for cold water fish oil capsules as they contain basically no heavy metals.
A shower chlorine filter is a good idea as chlorine destroys proteins and strips oils from the body – inside and out. Ideally, one would also purchase filtered water or an in-home countertop drinking water filter.
I have been using the water filters in my home for about 6 years now. I noticed a major difference in my scalp and especially after shaving. I don’t get the super dry face anymore – in fact, I don’t even use shaving cream anymore – just soap and water in the shower. My wife doesn’t apply buckets of lotion anymore either after each shower.
There are numerous drinking water chlorine filters on the market. Things to look for are how much it costs to run them per gallon. If a unit initially costs only $20.00 that’s great short term – however, if the filter has to be replaced every 2 months and costs $20 a pop, that adds up fast. If you become lazy and do not change the filter as recommended, you are causing more harm that good. Why? The filter begins to dump out what it has been filtering for the past 2 months plus bacteria begin to set up base camp. Ever notice that your filtered water has begun to taste funky??? Replace the filter.
When our patient comes back, I will let you know how her dry skin is doing. It may be awhile but I’ll remember to post her update.
Enjoy removing the cause of your dry skin! Applying lotion day after day month after month cannot be fun. It takes four weeks for a new healthy layer of skin to appear – only 4 weeks. So in 6 weeks you will likely be lotion free.
The chlorine shower filter [http://www.healthegoods.com/product/new-wave-enviro-premium-shower-filter/bath-and-shower-products] benefits are noticeable in about 3 days – some people notice the difference after the first shower. Of course it depends on how much chlorine your city water has and how sensitive you are.
