We all will experience some unfortunate skin issues in our lives. You may find yourself scrambling to hide a new pimple that formed a day before an important meeting or photoshoot, or you may wake up to extra itchy skin. While minor, these issues are incredibly annoying. Luckily, they can be treated without seeking medical attention most of the time.
You’ll find a list of remedies below. While these can be used for mild symptoms or those with explainable causes, if any of the following are extreme, constant, or are otherwise impeding your life, then seek medical attention.
Just be sure to brush up on the key differences between medical malpractice and medical negligence beforehand so you can defend yourself if something goes wrong.
Acne
Over the years, you’ve probably researched and hunted for anything that may help treat your acne. The red bumps sometimes appear and disappear without much fuss while others cause mild pain, itch or just sit there and grow.
Acne has a few causes, from being an allergic response to appearing due to oily surroundings. For example, people with oily hair may experience more acne near or even on their scalp. These annoying red bumps have pestered us for years, so we have many remedies on how to remove them.
One of the most common suggestions is to take zinc supplements or apply ointments or soaps that contain zinc to the area. While scientific evidence for this remedy is scarce or undecided, it can’t hurt to try.
However, if you’ve done any research on how to treat skin issues, you’ve likely encountered the seeming cure-all that is tea tree oil. It can provide two different benefits to your acne: it makes them shrink and become less red due to the antiinflammatory properties it has and it can help get rid of the bacteria that may be causing your acne problem, clearing it up as a result.
If you’re looking to try a home remedy to help at least ease your acne a bit, try tea tree oil.
Rashes
We all get rashes from time to time. Many things can cause them, from allergic reactions to skin conditions. Each cause has a different treatment route, from avoiding the allergen to ointments or creams.
Aside from the potentially large area that is a different color from the rest of the skin, the biggest problem with rashes is that they tend to be itchy, and scratching them can lead to other issues, so the main remedies for rashes relate to how you can eliminate this itchiness.
Some options you can try include baths and cold compresses. Sometimes just bathing in cool water is all it will take to calm a rash down and decrease its itchiness while other times you’ll want to add something to the water.
Bathing in oatmeal or baking soda are great ways to decrease how inflamed your rash is, which leads to less itchiness. Be sure to use moisturizer on the rash after this so it doesn’t get too dry.
Small rashes may not require full bath soaks to be dealt with, however. You could instead grab some ice from the freezer or run cold water over a washrag and set that on the rash for a few minutes to achieve a similar effect.
Eczema
One of the most common and annoying skin conditions is eczema. Eczema is a type of rash, but it’s being covered separately from the rash selection because of how much it varies from person to person. You could suffer from dry skin, itchy patches or even scaly and flaky spots.
While this already sounds unpleasant, it gets worse when you realize it can occur just about anywhere. While the hands and neck are common spots, some are unlucky enough to experience it on their face or even in more private locations. Treating eczema becomes a top priority to sufferers as a result.
Once you discover and remove the causes from your life, you’ll still need to somehow deal with the remaining rash until it clears. While some of the previously mentioned remedies may help, like cold compresses, the best options are to moisturize the affected areas a few times a day and to locate and apply creams to help your body fight it off.
Any medication that reduces inflammation or allergic reactions may also help alleviate symptoms and provide a little bit of much-needed relief.
Overly-Itchy Skin
Few things are as annoying as intensely itchy skin. It doesn’t matter how much or even how hard you scratch; the itch will either persist or seemingly move to a new location. The most common cause of this itchiness is dry skin, which can be resolved by applying moisturizers and lotions to the affected areas at least once a day.
Obviously, outside factors could cause this problem as well. Itchy skin is a common allergic reaction, but it is also caused by being bitten by certain insects and coming into contact with certain plants or animals. As expected, discovering and avoiding allergens will reduce how itchy your skin is. Bug bites will either stop itching on their own or can be calmed with creams.
Avoiding plants like poison ivy will help, but so will being aware of where you swim as many creatures in the water can cause itchy rashes or bumps. No matter the cause, try and reduce how much you scratch or you may find yourself with other problems like open, bleeding sores.
Dandruff or Itchy Scalp
Typically, those suffering from dandruff will also have an itchy scalp. This is because dandruff is caused when your scalp’s skin cells clump together and get stuck as opposed to invisibly shedding like they’re supposed to. These clumps obviously aren’t supposed to be on your head and cause it to feel itchy as a result.
To solve both issues at once, scrub a dandruff shampoo thoroughly into your scalp, let it sit for a few minutes and then thoroughly rinse it out. This will help remove any dandruff that is stuck, take care of the itch and hopefully even help your skin shed its dead cells properly in the future.