My eczema-friendly bath routine : A blog post by Lowri Hawkins
Lowri Hawkins understands all too well the challenges of bathing and skincare for those with eczema. In this guest blog post, Lowri shares with us her skin-friendly bath routine:
Baths are a controversial topic for eczema sufferers. There are many conflicting opinions as to whether it hinders or helps our sensitive and dry skin. I personally find baths to be a really helpful tool to managing my skin and I get a lot of comfort from a soak in the tub.
My bath routine can change from day to day but I have some products that I always come back to time and time again.
What I use in my bath:
Oats
Oats are a great way to calm irritated and inflamed skin. What I do is use a reusable veg bag with a few handfuls of oats and leave it in the bath whilst it’s running. This makes the water really milky and soft, perfect for extra sore skin. The fine powder that comes off oats is considered an emollient and is called Colloidal oatmeal.
Colloidal oatmeal has the ability to bind to your skin and form a protective barrier. It also aids the lipid barrier and helps to retain moisture as well as reducing inflammation.
Salts
Both Epsom and Sea salts are a great addition to any bath. Salts contain various trace minerals like zinc, calcium, magnesium and many more which all get absorbed into the skin. Magnesium in fact absorbs the best into the body through the skin. I find salts really help to calm down and relieve my itchy, dry and sore eczema. Salts help to reduce inflammation and stimulates cell regeneration.
Oils and Butters
There are A LOT of oils and butters out there but the ones I personally use are cocoa butter, shea butter, castor oil and calendula oil. Oils are a great way to avoid drying out too quickly when you get out of the bath. I don’t personally find that baths dry me out too much but if you do then I highly recommend adding these into your bath.
I struggle with bubbles and bath bombs, they just don’t help my eczema in any way so I tend to avoid them. To make my bath time more exciting and less focussed on my eczema I’ll create a nice atmosphere and I’ll usually mix most things I’ve mentioned above to create the ultimate bath cocktail.
Adding music and mood lighting always help set the mood and if you haven’t already got a bath board then I highly recommend you invest as it’s so handy to place things on instead of using the side of the bath.
What I use after my bath:
I’ve been round in circles with my doctors and dermatologists about when and how to apply my emollients after washing. Some have said straight away when you’re still damp and others have said wait until your skin is cool and go from there. It’s hard to know who to listen to sometimes but I’ve found trial and error is your best bet to finding your own routine. Recently I have been moisturising as close to coming out as possible, I found waiting too long meant my skin wouldn’t absorb the cream as well and this method seems to work better in the summer months.
Emollients
Emollients come in all sorts of forms and I’ve used them ALL!
My all-time favourite is gel based as I find it absorbs quickly, it doesn’t sit on top of the skin and it’s really cooling. This has been prescribed to me since I was a child and it’s stayed with me till today. Isomol gel is a term often used for it and there are many brands out there that produce it.
Another favourite of mine is a colloidal oatmeal-based cream. This is extremely soothing and non-greasy which I often need when I’m putting clothes on straight away.
A new type I have recently been introduced to, is spray form. Emollin have cleverly compacted the benefits of a normal emollient into a can. I think this is ingenious as it takes out the middleman, our hands. Often when my skin is particularly sore, rubbing my cream in just causes me more distress. My favourite thing about this spray is the feeling of it on freshly shaved legs.
I have also recently discovered the ultimate pre bed hydration routine where I spray the Emollin as soon as I come out of the bath, let it soak in slightly then apply my gel-based emollient. This gives my skin the best possible chance at not drying out too much whilst I sleep as I often wake up sore and flakey when I haven’t given my skin enough hydration in the evening.
What is Emollin?
Emollin is a spray-on emollient that provides a barrier to protect vulnerable skin from external irritants and helps lock in precious moisture. It contains a mix of pure white soft paraffin BP and liquid paraffin BP, dissolved within silicone which quickly evaporates on application, leaving only pure emollient on the skin.
Ideal for those with sensitive skin, including water contact allergy. The spray-on applications allow children and adults to maintain a consistent emollient application routine, even when skin is sore to touch. I have been there many times in my life where my skin has been incredibly painful to touch so having this spray as an option really helps during those tough times.
Emollin is:
Preservative free
SLS free
Lanolin free
Paraben free
Fragrance free
Water free
How to apply Emollin:
For best application, spray 15cm from skin, in a continuous motion
Simply allow to settle and soak into the skin
Able to spray at any angel, ideal for hard-to-reach places
Apply as often as required
I think it’s so important to find a routine and products that work for you. When my skin is inflamed and flared up, I know exactly what to use and what won’t exacerbate my symptoms. It has taken years to get to this point so testing and trying different creams will help to find what works for you.
Thank you to Lowri for sharing her skin care and bathing top tips with us. If you’d like to follow more of Lowri’s journey, you can follow her on instagram @lifeoflowri or visit her blog here.