Whether you have wet or dry eczema, the environment you live in makes a huge difference to how you skin behaves. Having an allergy-free home can make or break your skin regime. You need to pay attention to the following to become more comfortable in your own home:
1. Room temperature
2. Swap Carpets for Vinyl, Wooden or Laminate flooring
3. Green cleaning products
4. Get Leather or leather-look sofas
5. Wear Cotton, Bamboo, Linen or Silk clothing instead of Wool
6. Skin friendly cosmetics
7. No pets
8. No soap – way too drying
As the main culprit to being allergic at home is the spread of dust mites and their faeces, we must do all we can to keep our homes free of these little critters.
They are normally found in large amounts in our bedding and pillows. Changing mattresses every 10 years makes a difference. Vacuuming at least once a month and putting on mattress and pillowcase covers can prevent dust mites feeding on our dead skin flakes as we sleep.
This is the main reason why we scratch and itch in our beds at night. Mostly because we are too hot. Swapping the duvet for a cotton throw will cut the itching by half. Also cotton sheets are cooler and kinder to skin than polyester sheets.
Room Temperature
A room temperature of around 18 Degrees is best and is warm enough to be comfortable without resulting in a scratch-fest.
Personally, I keep my central heating off during summer and only turn it on in autumn and winter 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours before bed, just to warm up the house. I don’t let the central heating run for hours on end otherwise I feel really stuffy and start to itch.
Carpets
Replace carpets with vinyl, wooden or laminate flooring as they do not harbour dust mites like carpets do.
Pets
Pets, especially long-haired varieties, can harbour dander and dustmites due to their hair-shedding. If you have eczema, consider giving your pet away to a neighbour so that you can still see your pet, but will have the advantage of not having pet hairs shed all over the couch or bed.
Green Cleaning Products
I am all for Amway Cleaning products as they are organic and skin-friendly. They have SA8 detetergent or washing powder for clothes and also LOC for general purpose cleaning.
Cosmetics 
Cosmetics should not really be used except for special occasions as they can really be a cause of allergic reactions. As for creams and lotions – I really do only recommend olive oil, shea butter or coconut oil. You may have to do a patch test to see how coconut oil or shea butter suits your skin. I chose those two moisturisers as they are fantastic for cracked skin.
A mixture of olive oil and shea butter makes a very good skin balm for moisturising the skin all day. Very good for flaky eczema. If you only have a little eczema here and there, and it is mild, Lush Cosmetics are recommended. They are natural and animal-free products.
Soap-Free Please!
You may be wondering how to get your body clean of the rigours of the day. All you need do is get half a cup of oatmeal and half a cup of dead sea salts. Then mix it in half a bucket of lukewarm water. Massage your skin with this and rinse off gently.
While your skin is still damp, apply your moisturiser. Then wear either silk, satin or loose cotton clothing. Tight clothing will wick away moisture from your skin and result in you itching again. Wash your hairy parts with such things as Liquid Black Soap (Akamuti.com) or Forever Living Shampoo and also their Jojoba Conditioner. Perfect for scalp eczema.
My other posts about juicing and liver flushing and bowel cleansing tell you how to keep internally free of allergens. The good thing is that if you follow a good routine of bowel cleansing at the change of every season, you will see a lessening of your allergic reactions. Liver flushing is the icing on the cake and also parasite cleansing is something you should also consider.
No Woollen Clothing – Use Silk, Cotton, Linen, Bamboo
The fibres in woollen clothing are very irritating to people with eczema and so it is best to use silk (very cooling) or cotton, linen and bamboo. Bamboo is very very soft to children’s skin especially babies. You can buy bamboo baby-gros at Baby Care shops in your city or online.
Polyester and nylon clothing cause the body to heat up and this could lead to a scratch fest. So be warned before you buy that neat little blouse.
It is also best to layer your clothes rather than put on a very thick layer. This way, if you start to feel hot, you can just take off a layer at a time until you are at a cooler temperature.
Puffer coats are taboo as you will feel like a furnace. Trench coats are lighter and non-irritating to your neck and wrists.
As for socks, wear cotton-rich from places like Marks and Spencers.
If your eczema is chronic, invest in Tubifast bandages over your limbs, to keep the moisture in and your hands off. If you have wet eczema – do a dry wrap. If you have dry eczema, wet wrap then put on the dry Tubifast bandages, then a cotton T-shirt. Change this every day to keep your skin clean.
Get Leather Sofas – or Leather-look sofas
Choose this kind over fabric sofas which tend to harbour the dreaded dustmites and are harder to clean. With a leather or leather-look sofa, you can simply wipe clean with a damp cloth, then use a dry cloth to finish off.
So there you have it – think clean, soft surfaces to walk, sit on and and feel, then you will feel much cleaner and calmer.
Also try to keep your environment tidy as a tidy environment leads to a tidy uncluttered mind. Go on -! you won’t know til you try it!
