*new* Soothe Thy Eczema| Things you shouldn't do!

So, I never knew I had eczema until recently and thinking back about the stupid things I did, it really hit me hard in the face to know that I WAS THE CULPRIT TOO!!

Let's get into the knowledge of Eczema in a bit:

1. Eczema isn't triggered by your personal hygiene, but the environment's. 
   Sure, the moment you hear this familiar term, your head starts to focus on the word "Unhygienic" or maybe even "Ew." But eczema is truly triggered by external factors that leads to internal damage. By internal, I mean your inner level of skin haaaaah. Of course, there are other factors too.
   
   Causes of eczema: stress, allergy to food, smoke, pollen, bacteria infection, hormone-related, strong soap/detergents/shampoos, hot baths, etc.
   Other reasons: Asthma, hay fever, ADHD, damaged skin, nutrient deficiencies, etc.
2. There are so many types of eczema!
   Common ones: Allergic contact eczema (dermatitis), contact eczema, dyshidriotic eczema, neurodermatitis, nummular eczema, seborrtic eczema, stasis dermatitis, etc.
   
   Consult a skin specialist to know your symptoms better.
3. Nope. No cure at all.
   You can only "treat/soothe" it, but there is no cure to eczema for now.

See, the reason why I listed these is because I DID WHAT I'M NOT SUPPOSED TO.

Here are the list of things that I shouldn't have and you should avoid to do so:

• Hot baths.
• Hmmmm I know it feels dang good in hot baths, but you know what? That hot temperature of your bathing water will cause your skin to lose more moisture than ever. So you better stop it!
• Strong chemicals.
• Things like strong body soap, strong shampoo, disinfectant that dries out skin very quickly, and your housekeeping chemicals can do more harm to you than a regular person, since your skin is much more easier to damage.
• Scratch. scratch. scratch.
• Those nails of yours have more germs than you think. Better cut them short before your can't control the itch any more! You don't wanna have scars do you?
• Rub your skin vigorously with a towel after shower
• Oh it feels good too, right? BUT did you know that you're rubbing off a lot of moisture off your skin? Pat it gently instead so that you still get to keep some moisture for your skin. 
• Use disinfectant on your face
• I initially thought my skin was just full of germs after all the scratching, so I used hydrogen peroxide (in 6% omg not 35% chill chill) to wipe my face once in a while. Turns out I was too dumb to know that it dries out my skin even faster. Wrong move.
• Neglect skin care.
• I did this for almost a decade and now I truly regret the day I gave into my laziness. Now I'll never dare to do it again.

Eczema is really horrible. Trust me you won't want that ever again.

My eczema made my entire year depressing and now I've finally have better skin. I'll talk about it on another post but until now, STAY MOISTURISED!

*ps: I'll state my eczema story and what you "should do" along with what products to use on the next blog post!