So have you ever heard of KP?
This is short for Keratosis Pilaris, and is more commonly known as "chicken skin." They are the small, red, hard bumps they generally appear on your upper arms or thighs, but can happen just about anywhere! It is generally an incurable genetic condition, so multiple people in a family will suffer from it at varying degrees. Well, my family is one of those.
Now before you start a "Go Fund Me" page for this horrible medical condition, let me say, these bumps are totally and completely harmless. The biggest hit usually comes to a person's self esteem when they wear sleeveless tops. It is nothing to be embarrassed of, and if you are comfortable with it, then good for you! You are more confident than I am, and I applaud you. Because, and I'm going to be real with you here, I am pretty self conscious of it...
It is generally recommended to use gentle lotions and to use a body scrub maybe once a week to help clear it up. But scents can irritate it. Over exfoliation will make it mad. Salicylic Acid can worsen the condition for some people... It is a difficult beast! There aren't many drugstore products out there made specifically to treat KP, which is quite sad to me. I tried the only one I know of, Gold Bond's Rough and Bumpy Skin, and I wasn't impressed. Most of the products out there are high end, and quite pricy!
So I decided to see what I could find on Etsy, bringing us to where we are today! Etsy seemed a nice middle ground to me between drugstore and high end. And, most products of Etsy are natural, which my skin seems to like better. Let me say first, each of these shops agreed to send me these products complementary for reviewing purposes, but all opinions are my own. I received them about six months ago and have spent that amount of time trying to thoroughly test all of these products. The ladies who sent me these wonderful products have waited on me very patiently, and today is finally the day!
So, where to start?
Of all of the products I probably used the most of this one, and it is still half full, so you are definetly getting some bang for your buck! This is the Custom BHA Body Lotion from The Muse Collections. It didn't have a whole lot of smell to it and wasn't greasy at all, and both of those things are VERY important to me. I probably ended up using the most of it above other products because I am a low maintenance person and this was simply a lotion instead of a system. It seemed to keep some of the redness as bay, but as far as the actual bumps I can't say I saw much difference. But that said, simply taking away a certain amount of redness can be a blessing! This was overall a nice product, and you can get it for about $20.
This is a system I received from Agatas Natural, and can we just talk about how gorgeous all of these products are? And this isn't even the half of it, the box they came in was even better, and they were each wrapped gorgeously in their individual packaging. This lady goes all out! This system includes a Rosemary Bar Soap, A Coffee Polish, and Calendula Oil.
First is the Rosemary Bar Soap, which also contains aloe and rosehip seed oil. Rosemary is an antiseptic and anti-inflammatory, and aloe is very well known for its healing properties. That combination seems perfect for KP, and I believe with prolonged use this could really make a difference! The bottom of this bar also has rosemary in it, so I imagine that once you reach that point further wearing down the soap, it would become a good exfoliant as well. This bar of soap retails for $6.
Coffee Scrub is something I am super familiar with and have always loved. Like others, this is a very corse scrub, so you have to be careful with how often you use it so you don't exacerbate the problem. But at the same time, it will definitely take off the dead skin, which helps to unclog the pores causing the KP. This is an awesome body scrub with that nice morning cup of coffee smell, but I wouldn't use this on your face for any reason. This Coffee Polish retails for $19.
According to their website, "Calendula oil is the most successful oil for assisting us with dry, damaged skin & various skin inflammations. Calendula is one of the best traditional treatments for various skin disorders and has been used as body oil for centuries." Until this I had never heard of this oil, but now I see that it comes in a few of these products! It says it can be used in a bath as a soak, or massaged in muscles and feet. The smell isn't my favorite, but very very faint; it is mostly just an oily smell. I have wanted to get into body oils in the past, and this product has been a great way to start! The Calendula Oil retails for $8.
All together this system would be $33, but hey, if it works then why not? The products are a nice size, and you would probably pay almost that price for ONE of the high end KP products.
This is the Keratosis Pilaris Cream & Soap Sample Pack and is another system from New Dawn Organic Skin. They are very tiny, but this is sold as a set just to try out, not for prolonged use.
This soap is the Range No:5 Tea Tree natural soap for face, body, and scalp. This is another lotion and soap that contains aloe! I am big on aloe, and I think it is pretty cool that this has came onto the scene as a KP product. The soap also contains poppy seeds, which I imagine will be a nice gentle exfoliant once I work down the soap enough to reach them! The lotion is described as a light cream, and I agree with that, it absorbs quite nicely. The smell is very Tea Tree, and tends to linger, so it's kind of a personal preference if you like that kind of thing or not. This small set retails for $7.10, but you can get the standard size of the soap for $6.69 and the full size lotion for $17.51.
First of all, how cute is that packaging? I'm low key obsessed with shops that have cute packaging, if you can't tell. This is the Skin Rehab Ointment from SuzyQ's Earth Remedies. This was a very thick salve, and was a bit too greasy for my tastes. I used it for quite some time, and I really do think it made a difference, and was very moisturizing if nothing else! It just took too long to dry, and stayed tacky for quite a while after application. This salve came in a larger tub than the rest, and despite my prolonged use there is still quite a bit left, so I passes it on to my mom and brother so they could give it a try (like I said, this is totally a family thing...) You can buy this one for $10.
This is the Soothing Salve and Soothing Salve Plus from Simply Owl Natural. First of all, can I say that I love they include a little scoop? As you get further into these pots it gets harder and harder to get the product out without getting it all under your fingernails, so I really appreciate that. They both have really natural smells if you knowwhat I mean, especially the "Plus," which includes chickweed, plantain, and calendula (there that is popping up again!). Though these we salves they absorbed quite nicely and weren't overly greasy. They did seem to soften my skin during use, which is the goal. These retail for about $14, but apparently November is also their customer appreciation month and they are offering 15% off orders of $10 or more on their site with the code THANKFUL, so go take advantage of that!
This is the Lavender Skin Salve and Lavender Hydrosol, a system from Point One Acres. As you can see, she also sent me a Lavender Lemonade Lip Balm as a little bonus, and I have been really loving it as well!
First lets talk about the hydrosol, which is a very interesting product... As quoted on their website, it can be used for a "room freshener, smudge spray, linen refresher, pillow spray before sleep, facial toner, bath additive, car freshener, lingerie spray, bug bite relief, the I-don't-have-time-to-shower-but-need-to-smell-better spray, pet bed freshener, pet relaxer, sunburn soother, spray before meditation or yoga, potpourri or sachet refresher." So... thats a lot! I can confirm it is good as the air freshener and bug bit relief! In terms of KP I believe it is supposed to be used like a toner for your arms. I have used it on a cotton pad on my arms periodically, and though it does make me smell quite nice, I can't say I noticed a monumental difference. It it still an amazing product though and I guarantee I'll use it all up! This product retails for $12
As far as the Skin Salve, I love the little lavender buds on top in terms of looks, but they are a bit hard to get around when getting out the product. The salve is at first hard to the touch, but then melts nicely into the skin. The smell is actually quite faint once it is absorbed, which I kind of appreciate, but that is a personal opinion. It stays tacky longer than a lotion would, but not long enough to really bother me. This product retails for $12 as well, so $24 isn't too bad for a full KP system plus a multi-use product!
I want everyone to know that I wasn't going in to this hoping any of these products would actually cure my KP. As I said, this is an incurable condition. These are meant to treat the symptoms of KP, so unclog the pores causing the bumps and tone down the redness, and all of these accomplished that to some degree! My favorite probably had to be the Simply Owl Natural Soothing Salve, but I would reccomend any of these products to someone looking to try something new and affordable to treat their KP!
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