Even before pregnancy I had sensitive skin. I often have to swap shampoos or my scalp freaks out, and lately my skin has been freaking out more and more. I've tried specialty shampoos, special skin care products, prescription products... all with little to no results. Or, they work for a while and then stop working once my body acclimates to the chemicals that are in whatever the product is. Lame, right?
Patrick and I both get irritated skin from some laundry detergents, too. Plus, with my hormones going crazy with our son almost here, I also have been having reactions to some "fragrance free/hypoallergenic" detergents and fabric softeners. So, I figure, this whole naturalistic thing might not really be so bad. People really didn't have a whole lot of allergies to things before we started mass manufacturing things like shampoo, detergents, body wash... all that stuff. In fact, even into the early 20th century, people only showered once a week if that, and only washed their hair around once per month. If whatever they did worked for them, why not me?
So, even if the excessive sensitivity is due to pregnancy and hormones raging, what harm will it really do to try the natural stuff? I'd been told before that coconut oil is almost a cure all... It has SO many uses, and it's SUPER healthy for you. While out on our nightly walk last night, I spotted some at K-Mart, a tiny jar of it for two bucks-- and snatched it up.
When we got home, I just used plain water to clean off my face (which was burning with iritation) and smoothed on some coconut oil... Even just putting it on soothed! Today, my face doesn't nearly look as bad with "the mask of pregnancy" as it had yesterday, and I can feel it's calmed down a lot. A plus, right!
I read more and talked more to the MamaRev girls and they said it should also calm my scalp... So I found out the best way to do it and applied a couple teaspoons to my scalp for a little over an hour today. I had to shampoo twice in order to get it all out (I had to use VERY hot water, and my regular Head & Shoulders shampoo), but it WORKED! My scalp feels a LOT better, and my hair smells amazing. Plus, you don't even need to condition afterward. Plus! I also smoothed some on the rest of my irritated skin on my arms, legs and my poor overstretched belly. Applied right after a shower, your skin absorbs it right away and it doesn't seem to feel oily at all afterward. I looked up some good natural facial and body washes as well, so I'll be trying those soon as well.
This did make my day a LOT better, as I'm actually a little more comfortable in my skin right now. Baby Tobin is still uber comfortable in my belly, and appears to not have any ambitions of making his grand escape anytime in the next few days. He kept me up all night with lots of amazing heartburn and Braxton Hicks contractions, so I didn't sleep very well. Not to mention when I woke up, I threw up all of the stomach acid that had built up throughout the night. Yucky!
While I've not had the WORST pregnancy experience by far, I wouldn't say that I'm one of those women who has loved every minute of it. Itchy skin and scalp, constant heartburn, backaches, waddling, sleepy... It's pretty much been 6 months of uncomfortable awkwardness, and 3 months of not so bad.
Yeah, I love our little booger but I'm excited to finally meet him!
Anyway, if anyone else is interested in some crunchy-hippy-granola cures-- here's the first website I looked at:
Crunchy Betty
And if you were wondering what all you can use coconut oil for:
160 Uses for Coconut Oil
No comments:
Post a Comment