Every emollient on the list, and one thing that never changed

The Solen Base Journal

I've climbed the whole ladder. New base, thicker ointment, the 50/50. What I never changed was what went over it.

By Haider Jafri, founder · 6 minute read

A dramatised story. The routine, the objects and the quotes come from real posts and reviews we read while making Solen Base, and the people quoted were writing about other products, not ours. The narrator is a composite, not a customer.

If you've lived with dry, reactive skin for long enough, you'll know the ladder.

You start with whatever you're given. It's fine, then it isn't. So you try another. A different base. A thicker one. An ointment instead of a cream. The one that's basically half paraffin, half more paraffin. Back to the first one again, because at least you knew where you were with it.

I've been up and down that ladder for years. And every single rung was a change to what was in the tub.

The notebook

A while ago I was clearing out a drawer and found a notebook from a few years back. I'd kept notes during one of the bad spells, partly for appointments, partly so I didn't lose my mind.

Near the back I'd written a list. Why the emollient "wasn't working". Six lines.

I read them back sitting on the floor.

It's gone by the time I'm asleep.
The socks go stiff.
Pyjama cuffs are covered in it.
The sheets need washing twice a week.
I can't do the full routine every night.
Once I stop, I never get back into it.

At the time, each of those had felt like a reason to try a different emollient. I remember asking about switching at an appointment, and switching.

What I noticed years later

Reading the list with fresh eyes, I saw it straight away.

Not one of those six lines was about the emollient.

Not one was "it stings" or "it's too thin" or "it doesn't do anything". Every line was about what happened after it went on. Where it went. What it got on. How hard the routine was to keep.

I'd spent years changing the half of the routine that was in the tub. And the half that was over the emollient, the cotton sock, the pyjama leg, the bedsheet, had stayed exactly the same the whole time.

I've started calling it the half nobody changes.

"Socks absorb a good amount of the lotion, so occlusion is needed if you want it to soak in over time."

Someone on a skincare forum.

Not a fight with anyone's prescription

I want to be clear about what this isn't.

It isn't me saying the emollients were wrong. Or that anyone's advice was wrong. The tub is the part my nurse and I choose together, and I'm keeping that exactly as it is. Same for the wet wraps, on the nights they're prescribed.

This is only about the other half. The layer over it, on an ordinary night.

For me, that was always a cotton sock. Which by morning was stiff, and felt like it had soaked up most of what I'd put on. I can't prove how much. I can tell you it was stiff, and it was in the wash basket, and so was the emollient on it.

Changing the other half

So I finally changed the half nobody changes. That's what led me to Solen Base.

For nights, it's a Night Sleeve. One dry layer. Cotton on the outside, lined with gel on the inside, which is the side that sits against your emollient. Open at the toes, covers the heel.

For the mornings I do my feet before work, there's a Day Sock. Closed toe, same idea, invisible under shoes.

You use your own emollient, the one you and your nurse already chose. There's no fragrance and nothing is soaked into the fabric. They go in the wash at 40 degrees, in a mesh bag.

What I want

I want to keep the emollient that works for me and stop blaming it for things that were never its fault.

I want the pyjama cuffs to stay clean. I want the sheets washed once a week. And the next time I write a list in a notebook, I'd like it to be shorter.

If your shelf looks like mine, have a look at how the Night Sleeve works. The safety notes are on the page before you buy, and there's a fourteen night guarantee.