Natural beauty products may feel beautiful on the skin, enhanced by the delicious aroma of organic essential oils and gentle ingredients to soothe and nurture. However the plants from which we derive actives that treat our skin so well are not always so kind to our eyes and noses at this time of year.

That’s because we are just about to enter the first major hayfever season: spring. With as many as 16 million people in the UK suffering from hayfever, this increasingly common condition brings sniffly, itchy misery for weeks and sometimes months for those who suffer the most.

The bright, sunny weather experienced today in mid-March has brought a flurry of telephone calls from those who have just started to go through the tell-tale signs of hayfever: itchy eyes, sneezing, headaches and a blocked nose.

Although there is nothing that we offer that can help with any of these symptoms, hayfever is often suffered by those who also have allergic skin conditions such as eczema. There appears to be a hereditary link that makes certain individuals more susceptible to allergies and hypersensitive to all sorts of things, a condition which is known as atopy.

Here is a calendar produced by the Met Office that provides a handy guide to what types of pollen are floating around during each month of the pollen season:

pollen calendar

Visit Green People to see their fab range of organic skin care products at http://www.greenpeople.co.uk/

  

Alexandra

For as long as I can remember I have held a passion for nature and the countryside. I like to see the things I love being taken care of – from the bees to trees – so I try to live ethically and organically wherever possible. I was delighted to be given the opportunity to join the organic skin care company Green People (www.greenpeople.co.uk), amazingly based a mere few miles from me in rural Sussex, where I write about products that are produced with the environment and ethics in mind at every step. Since joining, I’ve learnt so much about the effects of commonplace chemicals on the skin and body and every day I am reminded by our fabulous customers how much difference using ‘no nasties’ products can make to those with sensitive skin. I am now on a mission to spread the word about the beauty of going natural and organic!