Healing Chronic Skin Conditions with Herbs with Holly Bellebuono

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In this episode of The Functional Medicine Radio Show, Dr. Carri’s special guest Holly Bellebuono discusses simple strategies for easing chronic skin conditions with herbal treatments.

Holly provides some great tips on the natural herbal treatments for common skin conditions, including eczema, psoriasis, and rashes. She helps people overcome long-term skin conditions, leaving steroids and other prescription medications behind in favor of natural herbal treatments.

Holly says eczema, psoriasis, and rashes readily respond to key herbs, causing no addictions or bad side effects and leaving healthy skin in the place of blisters or scales.

Using methods she gleaned from women healers around the world, Holly will share her simple strategies for easing chronic skin complaints and keeping skin healthy.

Holly is an award-winning herbalist, director of Vineyard Herbs Teas & Apothecary, and director of The Bellebuono School of Herbal Medicine. Her new book, Women Healers of the World: The Traditions, History & Geography of Herbal Medicine, celebrates 16 world healing traditions and the 31 ancient and modern women whose stories, cultures, challenges, and triumphs inspire medicine today.

Main Questions Asked:

What are your six simple strategies for easing chronic skin complaints and keeping our skin healthy?
Can we use any of the herbs found in our spice cabinets?
How can we use the dandelions that are growing in our yards?
Because stress often results in skin outbreaks what do you recommend as far as natural strategies for easing stress?

Key Points made by Holly:

The skin is one of the easiest places to use herbs – they’re safe, versatile, and easy to find.
Use herbs topically. Take a bath in herbs – add the fresh or dried herbs to a pot of hot water to let them steep, then add to your bathwater.
Astringent herbs to help eczema include: yarrow, sage, rosemary, and lady’s mantle.
Drink herbal teas.
Stinging nettle and alfalfa are extremely high in minerals – magnesium, potassium, iron, calcium – they’re very good for bone, skin and nail health.
Get good sleep – this helps your liver and helps heal your skin.
Dandelion, milk thistle, red clover, yellow dock, burdock are all great herbs for liver health.
You can use dandelions from your yard as long as they haven’t been sprayed with pesticides. Eat the leaves in a salad.
Dandelion root is a great source of iron. Chop it up and add it to a glass jar with apple cider vinegar. The vinegar can be used in your diet or topically.
Reduce your sugar consumption. This helps all skin conditions and helps boost your energy, balance your hormones, and aides your digestive system.
Corn and grapes are big sources of sugar and can throw your skin into chaos.
Moisture your skin with things that are not chemical based.
Great natural moisturizers include: vegetable oils, nut oils, beeswax, water, and some essential oils.
Tip for dry, itchy scalp – stop using shampoo and only wash your hair and scalp with conditioner.
Avocado is a good source of healthy fats and can easily be used topically on dry patches of skin.
These adaptogenic herbs and nervous system tonics help your body adapt to stress – stinging nettle, lemon balm, rose petal, holy basil, and ashwagandha.