Warning: Giant Post. May contain excessive use of exclamation marks.
SKIN UPDATE!
This was me six days ago:
And this is me today:
Flare has been gone for the past two days and my skin has never looked better since the beginning of TSW!
Ok, reality check, my skin isn't close to healed yet. There's definitely patches of what some would call "eczema" between my fingers, on the back of my hands, knees and tops of my feet. There's still some redness as you can see, but everything has greatly improved to the point where I almost feel normal again. Skin is thinner in texture, though there's still a red outline of where my normal skin stops and my TSW skin begins. I still get itch fits but my skin is strong and doesn't break under the force of my nails.
And what's more, the last two nights I slept without a long sleeve shirt and stayed asleep!
I'm certain this isn't the end of the road but these days really reinforce that I'm healing and getting closer to kicking this topical steroid withdrawal! I feel joyful on these days where it's no longer at the forefront of my mind and I can't wait for what's to come at the end of this.
MAGIC CREAM UPDATE!
Since my last flare began, I decided to try to make my own magic cream. I was really feeling down in the dumps because I kind of liked Egyptian Magic after finding it at the local Costco but $40 USD for 6 oz of a cream didn't seem reasonable for my skin's needs and the alternative, Sweet Bee Magic, runs at about the same price. I had just hit the bottom of my first Vaseline jar in a few months of use and I didn't think using these would be very nice on my wallet.
The ingredients of Egyptian Magic and Sweet Bee Magic are the same: Olive oil, Beeswax, Honey, Bee Pollen, Royal Jelly and Propolis. I read that raw honey contains the latter components already. Then I realized, I could easily make this myself.
I stumbled upon this
blog posting with a DIY recipe suggestion and on my worst flare day, I called in sick and went on a mission: To find (1) Raw Honey, (2) Beeswax and (3) Olive oil and make my own Magic Cream. I picked up olive oil and honey from Trader Joe's then found beeswax at Whole Foods.
Took a while to carve out that pie of beeswax.
I picked up 16 oz Ball Wide Mouth Jars from Orchard Supply Hardware. They're about the size of a pot of Eucerin cream.
The recipe is quite simple, according to her blog, 2 part beeswax, 2 part olive oil and 1 part honey.
I settled on:
5.3 oz beeswax (or 1/6 of the 2 lb block)
6 fl oz olive oil
3 heaping tbsp raw honey
I premelted the beeswax in my home fashioned "double boiler", first bringing the water to a boil then adding the jar and simmering on low heat to keep the bubbles going. I added the beeswax and used a disposable chopstick to swirl it around until it was entirely melted. Then I added the olive oil while the jar was still in the boiling water to maintain the melted beeswax. Finally, I removed the pot from heat but kept the jar in the water. I added the honey when the water stopped bubbling and kept mixing.
Waiting for my little wedge of beeswax to melt. Note the water is barely boiling.
I kept mixing and mixing as it cooled because the olive oil tended to settle on the bottom.
Everything mixed together and cooling. Must keep mixing, mixing mixing...
Finally, my own "Magic" cream is complete.
Almost solid!
PRODUCT COMPARISON
There are a few differences between Sweet Bee Magic, Egyptian Magic and this one. First, in order of most greasy to least greasy: Sweet Bee > Egyptian > DIY. Second, in order of waxi-/balminess most to least: DIY > Egyptian > Sweet Bee. I think the latter helps the staying power of the cream and even helps it stay on when I put clothes over it. I've found that when I use my own "Magic" cream, I don't have to remoisturize for over 8 hours. With the two store bought options, the moisturizing effect wore off pretty quickly.
Sweet Bee Magic tended to be a little bit reactive on my skin. I'd randomly find myself scratching all of it off after a few minutes of having it on. Egyptian magic on the other hand was less reactive. I really liked it which is what lead me down the DIY road in the first place. I don't know how or why but the smell of honey is more distinct in Sweet Bee than Egyptian Magic. Does that mean there's less in Egyptian Magic and we're just buying an olive oil beeswax balm? Who knows.
If I had to choose between the two, I'd choose Egyptian Magic because it is balmier and less reactive, resulting in a slightly longer lasting effect. But happily now, I have my own to replace both of these products.
Top Panel: Sweet Bee Magic, Bottom Panel: Egyptian Magic. Notice how just taking a bit on my finger creates some oiliness on my finger for Sweet Bee. It has a bit more shine to it than Egyptian Magic.
Final thoughts
I also bought peppermint extract and when my skin is extra itchy, I take a glop of my cream, add a drop of peppermint extract and mix. This creates a great tingling sensation to stomp out my itch.
I'm very happy with my creation and all in all, it cost about $5USD of ingredients to make a jar of about 15 oz of product. Much better than $40 for 6 oz. I do admit it came out a bit balmy as I have to melt it in my palm before I apply. In the future, I'd like to adjust the ratio of more olive oil to beeswax. But it's really great to have found something to occupy my time while I'm at home itching away that also helps me on my road toward healing :)
