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:
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 by New Wave Enviro Products. The shower filter by New Wave Enviro has been in my home for about 6 years now. I love it and 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. That drove me nuts - one more step before she was ready to get out the door.
The next few paragraphs are a bit of a tangent but are useful if you're considering a drinking water filter. If you have dry skin and the essential fatty acids and shower filter are not doing it, you may want to consider adding a drinking water filter to improve your skin and overall health.
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.
If you're looking for a drinking water filter, consider the New Wave Enviro 10 Stage Premium Countertop Water Filter. This filter only costs an average of four cents per gallon and the filter has to be replaced only every 1500 gallons which is about a year for a family of four folks. The water tastes excellent coming out of there and it is a no brainer to set up. Many of my neighbors and fellow classmates are using it and enjoying it. I've done my homework on this one and the customer service from New Wave is unmatched. A friend of mine had her filter clog up for some random reason in only 3 months of use - the company shipped her out a new filter right away. It likely was due to her house's water pipes being old and shedding sediment but New Wave didn't care. They wanted her happy.
Toss the Brita - it's bank and honestly is a garbage water filter. I had one of those for years. I got tired of the nasty taste.
To compare the major brand water filters, this website's water filter review seems pretty good. They do not have the New Wave Enviro filters there but they do offer about 10 others.
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 shower filter 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.
In health, Ben
Benjamin Lynch has a BS degree in Cell and Molecular Biology from the University of Washington. Currently, he is obtaining his doctorate in Naturopathic Medicine at Bastyr University. Visit Ben's natural health product store, HealthE Goods where one can use our free health information service where one may ask specific health questions. We provide physician-grade non-prescription natural health products. Wholesale spa products are available to all that qualify. Do visit our Natural Health Information Center. We are here to help serve the public with proper health information and effective products. Products described in the article are available at HealthE Goods.