National Eczema Week

From the 15th – 23rd September it’s National Eczema Week and the National Eczema Society are spreading awareness about this all-too-common skin condition – an ailment which affects an estimated 15 million people in the UK alone. This year’s theme is ‘Confidence’: feeling confident in personal choices being made to manage eczema; confidence in asking for help when you need it and confidence in every day life, through finding effective ways to soothe your skin.

Here at TINCTURE, we invite you to extend your confidence to something else: the products you use in your home. Pick up a nearby cleaning product and take a look at the label. Are you confident that the harsh ingredients listed aren’t exacerbating, or perhaps even causing your skin troubles? With our 100% natural cleaning products, you can be.

Formulated with love and superhero botanicals, our range was created with your health and wellbeing in mind. Our founder, mother of four, Angelika Davenport, searched high and low for safe cleaning solutions when she discovered that her own children’s asthma and eczema were being worsened every time she cleaned the house. But what she was looking for – gentle, but effective and luxurious natural cleaning products without compromise – didn’t exist. So she made her own.

Today, TINCTURE is transforming the lives of families and individuals impacted by allergies and skin conditions, but how?

Cleaning products are mainstays in the home, used every day as an assumed essential part of maintaining health. But the sad and scary truth is, the average product available to buy on the high street is packed full of incredibly harmful chemicals, which with every use are released into the air and allowed make their way onto our skin and into our bodies. The Environmental Protection Agency reports that the air inside a typical home, school or workplace is now 2 - 5 times more polluted than directly outside, largely due to cleaning products used. These cleaning formulations being bought to maintain a healthy environment are, in fact, making your safe place a toxic place to live.

There are a number of reasons why chemical cleaning products might be the trigger behind your eczema…

Formaldehyde

This colourless, flammable, strong-smelling chemical is released into the air by almost all non-natural cleaning agents. It can also found in cigarettes, varnishes, electrical insulation and (rather horrifyingly) cosmetics and preserved foods.

When it comes to Eczema, the negative impact Formaldehyde has on skin flare ups is well noted and is listed as a ‘common eczema irritant’ by the National Eczema Association.

Fragrance

‘Fragrance’ or ‘parfum’ is innocently listed in many, many products found in the average household, including cleaning products. But this seemingly harmless little word hides a multitude of incredibly harmful chemicals which cause plenty of problems in the body.

There are over 5000 fragrance chemicals that could be used under this simple title and the Environmental Working Group found around 75% of products listing ‘fragrance’ as an ingredient contain the hormone-disrupting chemical, phthalates. Which leads us to our next point… 

Endocrine Disruptors

A hormonal imbalance in the body could be the root cause behind your Eczema, and any number of other symptoms besides. There are many potential contributing factors to this, but one of the most prevalent is endocrine disrupting chemicals entering your body on a daily basis.

Information gathered from 31,575 people as part of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey revealed that girls and women with the highest levels of the top 15 endocrine disrupting chemicals (many of which are found in cleaning agents) had their last menstrual period up to 4 years earlier, or considerably earlier onset puberty than those presenting with lower levels of these chemicals. A clear marker of the impact these ingredients have on hormone levels.

Of course, the list doesn’t stop there...

Chemical anti-bacterials, bleach and soaps are just a few more known Eczema triggers, which will have an effect on the body of someone simply in the vicinity of cleaning, not just the person doing the chores.

So, what about TINCTURE?

In stark contrast, the TINCTURE range has been developed with allergies – and your overall health - in mind. As well as the cleanliness of your home (with the finishing touch of a spa-like natural scent) and our responsibility to the planet too! We don’t do compromise. We don’t do synthetic chemicals either – not one.

Instead, we go right to the power of nature. Taking hard facts from the latest scientific findings and inspiration from ancient monastic wisdom, we create a 100% natural product that is tough on grime, but gentle on you.

And our products aren’t just designed to avoid irritation – many of the ingredients we use might actually do your eczema some good.

Active Silver

Commonly used in the medical sector and a known antimicrobial agent. We include it as one way to fight bacteria, but it is also incredibly soothing and healing for the skin which makes it a popular natural remedy for eczema.

Chamomile

Experts in aromatherapy, Tisserand, recommend chamomile essential oil as an eczema soother due to its anti-inflammatory but mild nature. We love it for its anti-septic and anti-bacterial properties too. 

Stress-relieving Aromatherapy

Another leading trigger of eczema according to the National Eczema Association is emotional stress. Fortunately, anyone nearby will reap the mind, body and soul calmative affect of the Tincture aromatherapy blends which are formulated entirely naturally, using essential oils. You won’t find any vinegar-scented products here, in lieu of synthetic perfumes – we’ve developed enthralling and deeply relaxing scents, with essential oils that also double up as natural cleaning champions!

For National Eczema Week, find new confidence in your household products by switching yours from chemical to natural.