Success story: sea salt

Reproduced from curezone.org:

Okay, let me begin by saying that I’ve had Seborrheic Dermatitis for over 18 years. So I know what you are going through, and I DO have a cure (or CURES I should say) for you. I have tried everything you can possibly imagine over the years, done thousands of hours of research, tested natural sources (oils, etc.), diet, allergens, and even made my own concoctions. There is not a doctor or person out there that is going to tell me about this condition. While I have seen some people providing information that is on the right track, a HUGE percentage is seriously misguided or incomplete.

Before I get into this, here is some immediate action to take:

1.) If you are putting any natural oils or butters on your face, coconut oil, jojoba oil, neem oil, tee tree oil, almond oil, lavender, oil of oregano, olive leaf oil, etc. (you’ll notice I mentioned many anti-fungals, and the list goes on)…STOP immediately!!
2.) If you are using a soap of any kind, natural or otherwise, STOP immediately!!
3.) If you are using steroid creams, cordizones, or various prescriptions with side effects too numerous to mention…for the love of God..STOP immediately!!

There are more action items, but I’ll cover them later. For now the first thing we need to address is Seborrheic Dermatitis itself (and this applies to psoriasis, enzcema, rosacea as well), what and why it is happening, and what it is I mean by “cures” (plural). There are two cures that I am referring and need defining. The first is the “cure” for your symptoms. Depending on how bad your flare up is, this information will get rid of your flare up completely from within HOURS to 1-3 days. And then they are gone. That’s right, not weeks like other “solutions”…which I will touch on later. In most cases you will see a DRASTIC change overnight that will make you say “holy crap” when you look in the mirror. The second cure is the cure for what is causing your Dermatitis. I consider “cured” to be when you have absolutely no symptoms and you no longer have a skin problem. You have probably heard many people say “it’s a food allergy !”, or “it’s your diet and toxins”, or “it’s your detergent”, or “it’s SLS in your shampoo and toothpaste” and confidently proclaim their cure. In some regard, they are correct, but they are also very misguided and incomplete from what I have seen. So this info is to help you to understand everything better avoid all of the wild goose chases this skin issue (and people) can send you on. Here is goes:

CURE #1, Dermatitis and Your Symptoms

Without getting too in depth, Seborrheic Dermatitis or dermatitis in general, is causing your skin to flare up because of yeast; more specifically Mallassezia yeast. This yeast grows on everyone’s skin and feeds off of the sebum (oil) that your body/skin produces. With dermatitis, you are producing more oil than normal in the areas of your flare ups, while also overproducing skin cells. The Mallassezia yeast feeds on this oil (and lipids…in soap!) and grow themselves. This causes skin irritation and flaky skin, due to the rapid oil and skin cell production. The rapid skin cell production, rapid oil, and yeast production, go hand in hand with flare ups. That said, any oil you put on your face is providing a feeding ground for yeast to thrive. Various natural oils, or creams that contain natural oils, may provide you some burning relief temporarily…but you are taking one step forward and two-three steps back! There are many oils that have anti-fungal properties that can help kill or diminish the yeast. HOWEVER, you are still providing food for them to grow! Moreover, you are providing A LOT of that food. It’s more food and growth than you are killing. Most dermatitis is also usually secluded to particular areas of your body or face and scalp. Those are the areas that are overproducing oil, while the other areas are not. So when you start adding additional oil to those areas, AND to the areas that are not overproducing, you are actually encouraging the yeast to spread to areas it normally wouldn’t. Think about it, now there is food there too! Just know that anti-fungal oils may hurt the yeast a little bit in theory, but the amount you are feeding the yeast is WAY more! Go ahead and try putting coconut oil on a flare up for a long period of time. While coconut oil can do wonders for skin…it will sky rocket and spread your flare up over time. The people who have had any cure success with oils is because they UKNOWINGLY solved their “cure #2” (discussed below) problem when switching to natural oil based solutions. Meaning, they may have been allergic to SLS, or something in their previous cream, or the flare up caused them to switch detergents, diet, etc., etc. It was definitely not the oil. Soaps are also no good! Soaps tend to clog your pores no matter how natural, and more importantly, almost all are made of lipids which yeast also feeds on. So in a way you are almost trapping the yeast with an additional food source along with the over production of oil you are producing in that area. So stay away from soaps and oils! What you need is something that has no oils, no soap or lipids, no chemicals, fragrances, irritants, etc., that cleans your pours/skin and kills the yeast. Forget about coal/pine tar soaps or shampoos, pyrithione zinc, selenium sulfide, ketoconazole, or any of those soaps/shampoos. Yes, they have good anti-fungal properties that can be effective, but they also have other properties and chemicals that will not work for many people and can be causing or adding to the problem. So what do you use then, right? The answer is sea salt – unrefined, no frangrances, PURE sea salt with trace minerals. The best, hands down, is Dead Sea Salt. The more trace minerals that are in the salt, the better. I use on be the company Minera, but if you are in a pinch just go to any natural foods store and pick up a pure sea salt that has lots of trace minerals. It will work VERY well. The Dead Sea Salt just takes it to a whole other level. Just research if you want to know why. It’s the lowest elevation on earth and has properties found nowhere else on earth. So here’s what to do:

1.) Take a small bowl and fill it with warm water, mixing in a generous amount of the sea salt.
2.) Put the bowl aside and splash your face with regular warm water for 10-30 seconds to open up your pores. You can do this with a warm wash cloth if you wish. The goal is just to open your pores and make sure they are open when you wash with the sea salt water.
3.) Now wash your face with the sea salt water. If you have a flare up or get in in your eyes, it will sting. But it’s going to be the same sting you would have if you went for a dip in the ocean in your current state. The sting is fine for your eyes too (unlike stings from chemicals) and hurts only initially the same as if you opened your eyes under water in the ocean. So continue to wash your face with the salt water for a few minutes. If you can soak your face in it, even better, as you really want it to soak in and clean good.
4.) Now rinse your face with cold water and pat dry with a clean wash cloth.
5.) If your skin does not feel tight or overly dry after, then leave it alone and don’t put anything else on it. That is ideal. But if it you need to put a moisturizer on, I would recommend small amount of Aveeno Eczema Therapy lotion. It’s oatmeal based, not greasy, fragrance free, and tends not to sting flare ups like many lotions. I haven’t been the biggest fan of Aveeno products, but this one is in a different class. Do not dump tons all over your face. Rub a small amount in, see how your face feels after a few minutes, and if it’s too tight or dry rub in just a little more if needed. Do that until you are comfortable. I suggest patting your face after moisturizing to remove any excess. When your skin is completely healed soon, you won’t even need the moisturizer.

If you do this routine morning and night, your skin will have dramatic results almost immediately. You will be shocked! A friend of mine had a very bad flare up for weeks with the severe sunburn look all over his face because he was spreading it with natural oils. I obviously gave him this information, and he told me that within an hour he saw a 75% improvement and was almost 100% clear the next day. He actually didn’t have the Aveeno until the next morning so he used a very light layer of Neosporin all over his face, then splashed cold water on and patted dry. He wanted as little on as possible that could be greasy which is correct! Anyway, I don’t know about the Neosporin, but whatever works!

CURE #2 – The “real” cure

As I mentioned earlier, the skin is the body’s first line of defense signaling that something is wrong. And let me tell you, something IS wrong. Everyone is different and their body’s react differently to things. Take a shell-fish allergy for example. Some people may break out in hives, some may get lock-jaw, some may have their throat close. In this case shell-fish is the cause, and the reactions can obviously differ. But various body reactions don’t just happen with allergies, they can happen with a myriad of issues. For example, when there’s too much bad flora in your gut and your liver has too many toxins. This is quite difficult to clear and takes a very strict diet/detoxing over time to heal. This is not an allergy, but something that the body will react to. In my, or your case, our body reacts with dermatitis! Wonderful, huh? Hey, it’s better than throat closing! Anyway, what you need to understand is that everyone is different and everyone has a different cause. The causes are mainly going to be an allergies, or something health related. THAT is what YOU need to figure out. When you do, and you address it…Seborrheic Dermatitis is GONE! Just remember, the dermatitis you have is a reaction. It’s not just “hey sorry, this is how your body works” like doctors may have you believe. It doesn’t just happen, just like your throat wouldn’t close under healthy/normal conditions. It’s a reaction…so find your cause. That said, your cause could be an allergy to food, environment, detergent, SLS in shampoos, any chemical out there, or you name it. If it’s health related, it could be bad flora (candida overgrowth) in the gut needing probiotics and diet detox, or it could be a vitamin deficiency where your body is not functioning properly for example. So it’s not JUST a food allergy , or JUST a health problem. It’s different for everyone. The next time you see someone ranting or even selling their “it’s 100% a food allergy ” cure, know that they might be helping some people who it actually is a food allergy, and seriously misguiding many others at the same time. I would try and get health blood tests and allergy blood tests (food and elemental) and see if you can pin point it. PS – I hate to say this but it could be more than one issue – like bad gut, and multiple allergies, etc.. However, remember that the body can react differently to different allergies. In the meantime, try to cut out some obvious bad habits you might currently have. If your eating a lot of crap food, smoking, drinking lots of coffee, alcohol, eating high amounts of sugars, etc., to help your cause. Also keep your skin as clean and dry as possible. Some moisturizing is okay and in most cases needed off the bat, but keep it to a minimum and you’ll be okay.