A client of mine, who was an impatient person coming to me one day to show her face redness and dryness, after the treatment of microdermabrasion and chemical peeling. In fact, it takes about a few days or so to return to the normal condition after that kind of treatment. Since she was requesting a quicker solution to the problem, I was tempted to use my professional knowledge to take this challenge.

First and foremost, she had redness in her forehead and cheekbones on both sides, with the dimensions of 1cm (width) x 2cm (length) and 1cm (width) x 1cm (length) respectively. Secondly, her skin was very dry, with flakes developing.

To tackle the problem, I decided to use hydrosols for skin healing, anti-inflammatory, and moisturizing purposes. To further moisturize the skin, carrier oil will be used. The choice of hydrosols and carrier oil were that they are safer and less sensitive to the skin compared to using essential oils. Going an extra mild, hydrosols can also help calm one’s state of mind, and sooth one’s nerve.

Alternating the following combinations every hour or so until conditions have improved to a satisfactory level.

1. Soaking a piece of face lotion sheet with hydrosols: ¼ teaspoon (1.25ml) German Chamomile( Matricaria Recutita ), ¼ teaspoon (1.25ml) Roman Chamomile(Chamaemelum nobile ) and ¼ teaspoon (1.25 ml) Lavender (Lavandula Angustifolia ).

Rationale: German Chamomile is wound healing and anti-inflammatory. It is calming to the emotion. The strong anti-inflammatory effect of Roman Chamomile can enhance the combination as it is renowned for its use on calming the irritated skin. To help calm the skin and emotion further, lavender is added to the whole blend.

2. Soaking a piece of face lotion sheet with hydrosols: ¼ teaspoon (1.25ml) Rose ( Rosa damascena ), ¼ teaspoon (1.25ml) Clary Sage (Salvia sclarea ) and ¼ teaspoon (1.25ml) Helichyrsum (Helichrysum Italicum ).

Rationale: Helichrysum is soothing floral water, it can help to ease the pain and heal the wounds and scars.   The grounding and calming properties can boost the confidence of the client to face the situation with ease. To calm her irritated skin, clary sage is used. Since her skin is very dry, rose is also used for moisturizing purpose, together with its cooling effect on the affected areas.

Put the soaked face lotion sheet onto face for 10 minutes. After that, use the following carrier oil for moisturizing:

¼ teaspoon (1.25ml) Shea butter

2 drops of Argan oil

Mix them well, and lightly massage it onto face.

Rationale: Argan oil is moisturizing and soothing to the skin. It can help to calm the irritated skin while softening the flaking areas. Shea butter is known for its superb moisturizing and soothing, calming effects on the skin. The combination should be able to achieve the desired result.

After the first application of both combinations, redness on her forehead went away for 30%, and 50% on her cheekbones. After two applications, 50% of the redness on her forehead and 70% of the redness on her cheekbones were gone. She was very happy with the result. A week later, she has completely recovered and no scarring was left on her face.

What amazed me was that, she was calm emotionally, and in a happy mood in the whole healing process.

I seldom use hydrosols in my practice as I think that essential oils are more effective in dealing with all ailments. This case study does make me change my viewpoint on that – hydrosols can be a better choice over essential oils some of the time. They can still enhance one’s mood effectively while healing the client physically. This case study also shows that aromatherapy is very commendable in healing the post treatment of microdermabrasion and chemical peeling.

References

Part of the therapeutic properties of hydrosols is from From Nature With Love, and

Part of the therapeutic properties of hydrosols is from Aromatics International.

Catty, S. (2001). Hydrosols: the next aromatherapy [iBook version]. Retrieved from Apple.com

Harman, A. ( 2015). Harvest to hydrosol: distill your own exquisite hydrosols at home. Fruitland, WA: botANNicals .