Today's Make it Yourself project is an easy one, but one that can not only save you money, but can provide you relief for several afflictions. What am I talking about? Colloidal oatmeal, that's what. Now you may wonder what colloidal oatmeal is, and I will tell you a big industry secret, it is simply ground oatmeal. Now it should not be eaten, and is not your breakfast cereal, but it is made from that same oat, the cooking kind, not the instant kind.
So what will this oatmeal do for you? Oatmeal will help to smooth and comfort itchy, scratchy, and dry skin. Specifically, colloidal oatmeal works great to help relieve the dry skin patches of eczema, psoriasis, acne, bug bites, sunburns, and other minor skin irritations. It also helps relieve chicken pox, poison ivy, poison oak, poison sumac, and other itching and scratching rashes. When your skin is itchy and irritated, its pH level may be higher than normal. Colloidal oatmeal helps to bring the pH back to its normal levels, which in turn, reduces the need to scratch. To easily and affectively get the benefits of the oatmeal and its anti-itch properties, add oatmeal to a bath tub with warm water, then hang out and relax a while, as the infused water works to soften your skin. It feels silky, coats, moisturizes, softens, and protects your skin, because when its added to bathwater it creates a milky dispersion, one that prevents the oatmeal from settling to the bottom of the tub rapidly. So the oatmeal stays mixed in the bath water, coating your skin.
Colloidal oatmeal is simply oats that are ground into an extremely fine powder., and can easily be made at home. Many vendors get a good dollar amount for this "special" bath additive. But you can save yourself money by grinding your own. Just buy regular oats, not the instant ones and put them in the grinder, the blender or the food processor. Set them to powder and grind away. Test to ensure that the particles are small enough by floating some in a bowl of water. If the particles sink to the bottom right away, they need to be smaller. Also, when they are a correct size, your water should turn a milky color.
Once ground, you can store in an airtight container and have ready for when you need it. It is easiest to do a whole batch of oats at once, and then you will have plenty for when you need it. When you do need it, run a bath with lukewarm water, not too hot, not too cold. A cold bath is just too cold to stay in, and a hot bath will only irritate the skin, not to mention that it dehydrates the skin, so a warm bath is preferable.Then, while the tub is filling, add two to three cups of the colloidal oatmeal, placing it under the faucet to help with dispersement. Soak in this bath for about fifteen minutes, and when you get out of the bath, make sure you use caution, as the tub will be slick, making it easy to slip and fall. When you dry off, make sure that you pat the skin dry, rubbing may irritate the skins' sore areas. You can take up to three baths a day, depending on the severity of your condition
Soaking in colloidal oatmeal is safe for everyone, children and adults alike, and it even makes a good treatment for the family dog or cat. There are no known drug or ailment interactions, and it is it an allergen. So the next time bug bites are driving you nuts, or poison ivy has you itching and scratching all day, ir you are just tired of extra dry skin, try using this easy bath treatment!
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