30 Day Challenge - The Cold Shower Phenomenon for Skin Relief (Day #6)

This is a topic quite close to the heart. Cold Showers. As a young adult late teen I had begun to shed the acne. Relief at last. However, I became blighted with an even more severe skin condition. Having gone to several doctors and skin related specialists, no one was able to provide a definitive explanation to what I was suffering. My skin was peeling on my forehead, lip region, around the eyes and from my nose to my cheek bone.

It was nothing short of horrendous to look at, but it was even worse to endure. Simple facial reactions, such as a smile, would cause cracking and peeling. It was physically painful at times, a burning sensation that limitless water and ice application could not alter. I was prescribed various topical applications with little to no success. During a period of life in which you should be enjoying the splendour of youth, my mental and physical psychy desired the isolated existence.

The beauty of nature is that things are happening for a reason. Yes, its clear that I have genes that are more likely to suffer these fates than the average person. However, there was never a thought that this was an acceptable pattern to live life by. So I researched and looked for alternative forms of treatment. I spoke to naturopaths, gathered well sourced content from youtube and spoke to my food savvy girlfriend. 

One day I came across Chinese face mapping. From my knowledge, the face mapping is more specific to pimples but I felt it may shed some light to my situation. What it did acknowledge is that certain parts of my body were likely inflamed. This may be due to the consumption of pharmaceutical drugs (especially those that sought war on my acne), food choices and stress levels. A naturopath also recognised these issues and listed numerous methods to help shake this physical demon. Those will provide the drive for latter posts but will be broadly based around diet, mental wellness and healthy topical treatments.

One such method was the cold shower. I latter became aware of Wim Hof and the work he had done regarding the cold shower. But my simple mind saw the logic from the beginning. My body was inflamed. I wake up every morning and inflame it some more with my regular shower. How about it instead of inflaming my body, I work against that? Better still, I can get the blood pumping and the breathing started simultaneously. This activation would almost certainly wake my mind from its slumber as well. What's the price? A bit of cold water. Sign me up.

This has been just one of the methods I've used to alter the peeling process. Today my skin is relatively normal. Although flair ups can endure from occasion to occasion. They're something I now have a plan for and an understanding of why they occur. I think my methods probably apply to numerous skin treatments. They aren't easy to apply, but they save money and are far more beneficial to our body than the drug pedalling doctors and pharmacies.

It's difficult to say how effective cold showers as a singular healing agent would be. But I'm certain that this is an effective practice. If you like me have difficulties with waking up in the winter months to send yourself directly to a cold shower, you are only human. The approach I used and still do with regularity is to start out hot but finish cold. Make sure that every part of your body has been exposed to blissful cold water. Learn to enjoy it and you'll have a far stronger body and mind.

Wim Hof (one of the many available videos on his beliefs) -

As you might've guessed, I'm not a doctor who has gone to medical school, but I am someone who has lived and breathed it. So hopefully some of this is helpful to you or a loved one. As always, thanks for reading and a special thank you to all of my new followers!