Summer Holiday Skincare | Eczema, SPF, and gentle bath products

Our family’s summer holiday skincare can end up looking quite different to the products we use at home. More so for the boys, whose skin tends to become very irritated, very quickly with lots of sun and swimming. We’ve come to rely on certain essentials that I would never think of going away without.

This is what comes with us in our holiday bag:

You know when loads of people tell you to try a product, and then you finally get round to trying it, and realise they were absolutely right? That’s what happened with Green People Children’s sun lotion. This is one of very few sun creams that don’t cause my boys any irritation whatsoever, and it’s now our go-to sun protection for the children.

Finding suitable bath products for my children’s’ sensitive skin has been a complete nightmare. Over the years, I’ve learnt to not bother with anything from a supermarket that claims to be “hypo-allergenic” or “great for eczema”.

At home, it works best not bathing the boys too frequently, and using only water. But on holiday, it’s not that simple – they are in the water a lot more, and need something to wash off the daily accumulation of sun cream, chlorine, and sweat.  Washing with water just doesn’t cut it, especially for their hair.

Since discovering Child’s Farm products, we haven’t looked back. The combined hair and bodywash is perfect for holidays, and amazingly, it doesn’t react with their skin at all. Hallelujah.

After years of trial and error, we’ve found that products that are as natural as possible, and with no SLS, parabens, or drying ingredients, are the best bet for the keeping the boys’ skin happy.

After success with Lush’s Dream Cream as a moisturiser, we went on to try the Dream Wash for bath time and also had great results. The calamine in it leads to a very chalky bath, the residue sticks to the bath toys, and proves difficult to completely wash out of their hair. It is, however, really soothing for eczema. So, although it’s not our every-day choice, we still pack our Dream Wash to use in the event of a flare up.

At the end of the day, easily irritated skin is easily irritated skin. We’ve not yet survived one summer without rashes or eczema yet, but with the help of Green People Children’s sun cream and Child’s Farm bath products, 2015 has been our least rashy year yet. High hopes for 2016.

And for my own skincare?

Sam and I are happy to use any sun cream going, but I am a little more particular about what I put on my face.

If I’m staying bare-faced, then it’s Body Shop’s Vitamin C Daily Moisturiser SPF 30, which gives me all the sun protection I need and comes in a handy-for-travelling tube.

I like a light, very low maintenance make up routine whilst on holiday. I get so irritated by heavy makeup in warm weather, plus the fact that I just can’t be bothered to put on a full face of makeup when I’m on holiday. At the most, I just want something that evens out skin tone and gives a healthy boost.

Green People DD tinted moisturiser SPF 15 fits this bill nicely. The tinted moisturiser comes in two shades, the lighter of which was still a little too dark for me until after I’d had one summer holiday under my belt already. But at that point, it really came into its element. I LOVE the healthy, natural glow that it gives. It also works brilliantly as a base for your usual foundation on days when you want more coverage. Added SPF factor makes Green People DD cream very well suited as a holiday base.

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Once upon a time, Green People sent us the sun cream and the tinted moisturiser to try. Both products have since been purchased many times over.