I’ve had eczema/dermatitis on my face for years now. It is bloody annoying to deal with – when you’re mid-flare up, only the most gentle products will soothe it. When you’re post-flare up, your skin is insanely dry and needs restoration. Recently, I tried a hemp skincare brand, Cannabella – and I was extremely impressed with the results.
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Cannabella was started by Matthew Steigler when his mum was diagnosed with cancer. Chemo completely dried out her skin, and nothing seemed to be helping. The family tried everything, and then, being aware of the reparative and healing qualities hemp is known for, decided to melt down some skincare she had and incorporate some in.
The results were fantastic and soon he’d started a business. I knew hemp was a hero ingredient for skincare, but had never tried anything based on it before – primarily because I had it drilled into my head that I should avoid anything that isn’t SUPER simple for my skin.
I was sent samples of the Cannabella products but honestly, at first I was skeptical. They’re very… GREEN. Like literally, the colour of a leaf. That’s because Cannabella use unfiltered hemp oil, which they say has more benefits due to the high chlorophyll content compared to processed hemp oil. Whatever the reason, it’s mildly alarming when you’re used to using the most unfragranced, clear or white products on your face in existence.
I started by just incorporating the Hemp Jelly into my existing routine.
It’s a sticky, emollient oil-based product that I applied alone on some days, and on top of moisturiser at night when my skin was mid-flare up. I always put a highly emollient oil-based product on top of my moisturiser at night when I’ve got eczema, because my skin dries out REAL fast as I sleep.
I was surprised the product didn’t irritate my skin because it smells VERY… hippy-ish. I’m not sure if it’s the hemp oil or the botanicals the brand also adds, but even though the smell (which I actually love but I am also a bit patchouli fragrance fan, it’s got that vibe) was strong, the product didn’t itch, sting or otherwise piss off my skin at all. If anything, it actually calmed the existing itching somewhat.
Now, my eczema does clear up after a couple of days – the cycle is usually itching, red, blotchy rash, then really dry, tight skin. Each phase is about 1-2 days in length, so I couldn’t say that the Cannabella Hemp Jelly sped this up necessarily but it was a really great soothing product for the itch and dryness.
I then incorporated the Renewal Serum:
This is a green oil that’s described as a “nutrient blast” for skin. I started using it when my skin went through the dry/tight period because it sounded super nourishing, and guess what – it WAS super nourishing.
I felt like this had all the benefits of a usual face oil, but was far more soothing. Often, even when I use straight jojoba oil (the most similar to natural skin oils) I find face oil would make my skin itchy when it was already irritated.
This serum didn’t do that, and I did feel like my dry skin evened out faster than it usually did. It’s also just easy to incorporate into my routine – it’s an oil but it doesn’t sit on top of my skin, it really absorbed in and I wore makeup over it easily.
I haven’t tried the other products in the range yet – there’s a Detox Face Mask I really want to give a whirl because it’s in powder form, and you add water to activate it, and the coQ10 serum sounds great too.
You can check them all out on the Canabella site here.
