It is amazing how many people suffer from various skin maladies that can range from just mildly irritating to completely debilitating.
Relief from these conditions does not always come easily, particularly since much of the prescribed medication used for these situations can have serious side effects.
Yet, most of our population is completely uneducated about what causes many of these conditions, and what can be done about them.
My wife and I own a stand at a rural farmer's market in southeastern Pennsylvania, and the testimonies and reports we get back from customers tells the tale.
We see people who have everything wrong with their skin from chemical abrasion from industrial work, eczema, psoriasis, poison ivy, acne, skin rashes, dry and cracked skin, rough skin, and everything else under the sun.
We have learned that natural salves work best in alleviating the itching, raw irritation and pain from these conditions.
One of the main effects, is that the salve stops the itching and irritation, which causes a person to scratch the area to the point of bleeding.
The salve has Phenol as an ingredient (once called "carbolic acid" which has been used for decades for disinfecting medical instruments).
This helps to heal the skin.
The salve has a non-drying petrolatum base which provides lubricating action to help prevent reopening of healing tissues when skin is flexed during normal movement as well as a low-level anesthetic action, which helps to depress pain perception.
Other ingredients natural healing and soothing elements as well.
Black drawing salve is another pseudonym for the salve, as has also been used for years to draw out splinters and infection from sores and wounds.
To share a bit of our experience with a few of the testimonies from our customers would be appropriate.
I had a man in a wheelchair come by the stand and he told me that he had sores from spending all the time in the wheelchair and nothing seemed to help.
I suggested he try the salve.
Three weeks later he came back and bought another tin.
I asked him how it was working, and he said "We'll see".
A month later he was back and thanked me, as he was getting great relief, the sores were healed.
In another instance, a man who worked in the steel mills showed me his hands.
They were severely cracked and bleeding.
He said he worked around the furnaces and had to wear heavy gloves, and all day during his work, his hands would sweat and that caused the condition.
I suggested that he treat his hands with the salve under his gloves.
In a few weeks time, his hands were completely free of symptoms and were normal.
There have been many instances of psoriasis and eczema where people have come back to us with great joy and positive reports of relief and pain-free lives.
If this were not so, we would have to pack up our little stand and go home.
To obtain such relief without having to use the steroids and chemicals that had been prescribed, with little or no results, is very gratifying to say the least.
As word has spread, we have more and more individuals with these problems wanting to know how they can be helped.
It is important to note, that the salve does not heal the condition, but simply brings relief to the symptoms.
Many of these skin diseases are the result of lifestyle or working conditions, and changes have to be made in those areas for a permanent cure to take place.
However, relief of symptoms is certainly a blessing, especially since it can be obtained without side effects.