Damaged skin

What can you buy for yourself or as a gift for someone with damaged skin? It honestly depends what the damage is!

Someone who has naturally dry skin, or has Sun damage including premature wrinkles, and has no specific allergies, can use just about everything I make and in any fragrance. Top Tip would be to start with unfragranced shea butter daily after bath or shower. It takes about 3 weeks to get to optimum, where your skin feels soft and silky and wrinkles are visibly reduced. After that if you prefer a fragranced moisturiser you can take your pick.

For eczema, psoriasis, dermatitis, you should start with unfragranced shea cream, and use several times a day, and always after water has been on your skin (after hand washing for example). You should see and feel a noticeable difference after 1 to 2 weeks, and will find it straightaway helps with the itching and discomfort of these skin problems. A really good long term shea cream  for the whole body could include Lavender & Teatree essential oils, but it would be best to use unfragranced for several weeks before trying the one with essential oils added.

If you have or have had cellulitis, you know you need to keep your skin moisturised. Again assuming no allergies you can use any of the fragrances I do, but the very best would be Lavender and Teatree. It's fine under compression hose, and feels lovely on the rest of your skin. With excellent healing properties from the essential oils. If you have sensitive skin use the unfragranced first, then later on give the essential oils one a try.

It can be very expensive buying special creams for problem skin, and finding one you like. Shea butter IS more oily than standard mass produced creams, mainly because it is a pure, unadulterated cream. No added chemicals to make the skin absorb it, or to make it last 3 years and sit on a shelf waiting to be transported from a factory to a shop and sit on a shelf, no, because when you buy direct from the person who makes it, it is made fresh, and thus has a shelf life of a year (preserved by natural ingredients containing Vitamin E, not nasty added chemicals that can do long term damage to skin).

My 120ml jar of Shea Cream will last you a long time because a little goes a long way.
It melts at skin temperature, so if we ever do get a nice hot summer it is best kept in the fridge.