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The climate in Israel is tough on African skin. Granted, it's
no tougher than many places in Africa, but since you're reading this English
site instead of a Hebrew one, it's safe to assume that you're likely used
to someplace with very different weather. This page covers normal
skin problems that people have here. However, there is a problem
that is sadly becoming more normal, which is bird mites and bed bugs.
Click here for the special page on
how to treat bird mites.
Immunity Boosting
The temperature range here is septic. In the north and central area,
it usually neither gets too hot nor too cold during the year to seriously
kill any germs. This is also a very diversely populated country with
many new immigrants, and lots of ports, so new strains of germs appear
regularly. So the first thing you need to do for your skin is
keep your immune system healthy. If you don't, you'll get sick
often, and pick up the various fungi and bacteria plaguing public places.
The sanitation isn't so good here, so it's easy to get a skin problem just
from touching the wrong bathroom sink.
Take a multivitamin daily, and drink plenty of water. If
you can handle it, try to drink a litre and a half of clear water, or water
with a squeeze of lemon juice every morning before you eat anything else.
If you've been sick or feeling tired alot here, you'll feel the difference
within a couple of days.
Also, pay attention to what Arabs here eat, and what they don't.
They do eat alot of fresh foods, and they don't eat alot of processed foods.
Olives are important, and so are hot peppers, and somewhat salty or vinegary
salads. If you don't have high blood pressure, you should eat some
small portion salty food every day to help your body and skin to retain
water. Coffee with hel (cardamon) is good for you too, in reasonable
quantities. It can be hard on the stomach for some though.
Sun Protection
If you're Muslim, and haven't been wearing a khimar (also called hijab),
the Israeli summers will convince you of its practical virtues. I
don't mean just the knimar, but the good sense of wearing loose, flowing
garments. Those who wear revealing clothing here, though it is popular,
suffer from terrible wrinkling on their face, cleavage, and thin skin on
their hands, as early as their twenties. If you don't want to go
back home and told you look 10 years older even though you were just there
last year, at least buy some shawls.
A head scarf, headwrap, or hat is also a good idea. If you don't
want to wear it too strictly, that's okay. Look around, and you'll
see lots of styles. Many women here who aren't so religious wear
a scarf loosely draped around the face, with their hair showing a bit.
Wear sunscreen no matter how dark you are. Those hours do add
up in time. I recommend pure, unrefined shea butter, or Sebocalm
or AHAVA's moisturizer with sunscreen.
Sanitation
After nutrition and sun protection, portable sanitation supplies are the
second most important skin saving items you can have. There are also
antibacterial wipes in the pharmacies. Keep some wipes in your purse
to wipe down areas where bacteria are often picked up. Wipe down
public toilets, or don't sit down on them. Also try to find a dry
sink to wash your hands in. Use your own hand soap or hand sanitizer.
The reason why is because many places are so cheap that they dilute the
hand soap in their bathrooms. They do this with regular tap water
in an unsanitary situation, and it is like washing your hands with water
from the toilet.
As far as hygiene, shower or at least take a washup daily. It
is difficult to shower daily in winter, since most of us here don't have
central heating, and running electricity to heat water is very expensive.
If you can't shower, take a washtub of washing water, and another of rinsing
water, to a room where you have some heat. Use one washtub
to lather up and dunk your washcloth in. Wring it out, and then use
the water in the other tub to wipe off the soap lather. It works
pretty well once you get the hang of it.
Moisture
If you have dry skin, it is best to use a body oil in summer and a body
butter in winter. For the face, use a good moisturizing cream.
You may have to wash your face and reapply it a couple of times a day because
it is very dusty here. You may return home from work with a nasty
sludge of dust, pollution, and oil on your face. This is why special
facial wipes are so popular here. Use them.
Peeling
From the various traumas your skin may receive here, you may accumulate
patches of dead skin, dry, flaky areas, and dark spots. The solution
for this is a weekly habit of peeling, also known as exfoliation.
Jade makes a rose hips peeling facial cleanser that I think is one of the
best on the market here. Great big loofah sponges are sold in most
of the shouks, Get one, and tear or cut a piece off as needed.
Therapy
You may have come across this article after some damage was already done.
In that case, here are some solutions:
Clammy, chafing, irritated skin in the folds of the body
Chafing can be caused by a couple of things here: normal contact burns
from rubbing, and tinea cruris, also known as "jock itch". You can
tell the difference by how it looks. A tinea infection will itch
a lot, and cause dark or light patches because this fungus messes with
your melanin production.
If you have normal chafing, you just need to stay clean and dry, and
treat any very raw spots with alcohol. Take occasional baths with
Dead Sea salts, unless you get irritated by it. This will
help your skin to heal. Also use Redskin Polygonum ointment
which has polygonum extract, for prevention and relief.
If you have a fungal infection, put alcohol or vinegar on the areas
after showering, and try Agisten Baby, a combination zinc oxide
and anti fungal cream. Apply twice daily after washing. Some
people don't like the ointment, and do better with just alcohol or vinegar.
If alcohol and vinegar don't help, use Spirits Whitfield.
Bear in mind that this stuff is very painful. It is like a chemical
peel, and should be a last resort.
Other common skin problems in Israel
Scars and hyperpigmentation:
Oblipicha oil - for the body
Oblipicha face cream - for the face
(available behind the pharmacy counter at Superpharm)
Dry hands:
Sea Beauty hand cream
AHAVA mineral clay hand cream
Dry feet:
Sea Beauty foot cream
Dry lips:
L'Occitane or other shea butter
(more likely to find at local pharmacies than at large chains |
Braids by Niki LaSher
Carmel Center, Haifa
052-686-1613 (English)
052-549-8989 (Hebrew)
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