Hydration and Moisture, myths and facts

Someone asked. I forget.
The reason I always have moisturizing balms and creams everywhere I go is because my skin is very dry and sensitive and requires moisture, and not in the sense of petroleum or mineral oil (Vaseline, Chapstick); because that feels disgusting and also feels like plastic wrap on my skin. The lips cannot produce sebum on their own; they have no sebaceous glands. They need constant hydration. It is impossible to become "addicted to lip balm" - however, if one is constantly applying petroleum-based lip balms, they are not sufficiently hydrating the lips and skin, thus fueling the myth of lip balm addiction. Petroleum is an emollient that seals in moisture, but if there is no moisture to begin with, then the petroleum is useless. The idea is to use balms containing vegetable oils, plant oils, botanical oils, beeswax or flower wax. If those balms also contain petroleum/petrolatum, that is fine. An ideal blend would be snow white petrolatum and coconut oil or jojoba oil or shea butter. Blistex and Carmex and even Chapstick have some balms with such nourishing features. The point is, no matter the skin type, hydration and nourishment must happen.
Oily skin actually is dehydrated skin. Not dry - dehydrated. Too much sebum is produced at once, leading to constant, chronic dehydration of the deeper skin layers. Believe it or not, oils are the best solution, as they soak up and dissolve excess sebum. Coconut, grapeseed, olive, macadamia, rosehip, hazelnut, pumpkin, jojoba, shea, cocoa, camellia, flaxseed, hempseed, sesame, tamanu, and other vegetable oils, nut oils, and fruit oils are perfect for this.
Skin myths and rumors abound. Be aware of the facts. No matter the skin type, hydration and nourishment must happen, even if you insist you do not need it. If you must use petroleum based lotions and creams, they should only be applied, if at all, after the application of botanical oils, to seal in that hydration.
When in doubt or on a tight budget: grapeseed oil, olive oil, and coconut oil from a grocery store will do perfectly. In fact, coconut alone is incredibly nourishing and healing. It is highly antioxidant alongside grapeseed; ideal for acne prone skin, rosacea, oily and combination skin, and of course dry and sensitive skin; even scars and bruises will benefit. A tub of solid extra virgin coconut oil will last months; and no, it will not smell like artificial suntan oil. Coconut oil, along with cocoa butter and unrefined shea butter, is one of the original perfect all-around healing, antioxidant, anti-aging moisturizers. Honey, as well, can be carefully blended with coconut oil or grapeseed oil to create a blemish battling ointment, as honey contains various anti-microbial properties. Honey plus cinnamon, dabbed on a pimple of any kind, will help shrink and heal the pimple within days.
In conclusion: Do not neglect your lips. Licking them will not help. Using plain Chapstick will not moisturize them alone. Look for pure, unrefined oils and butters such as coconut, grapeseed, olive, shea, cocoa, pumpkin, flax, hemp, borage, camellia... you get the idea. The price will be worth it, and your skin will be quite grateful.

And now, I am going to bed.

Dancing Neurology

"All those moments will be lost in time... like tears in the rain." -Rutger Hauer, "Blade Runner

Hello, partial seizures. You are absolutely fascinating when I know what you're all doing at the same time. You are like old friends come for tea only to destroy my home and spin like dervishes so mind-bending, so hypnotic, so seductive, that all I can do is stare and feel euphoric and frightened simultaneously, unable to breathe until you end your wild magic dancing.
Hello, fibromyalgia pain. I can feel you weaving and winding through my connective tissue and other biological tissues, like intricate artistic spider webs made of fire and ice and steel and iron. No matter what I hear and read, I know where you are, why you are dancing inside me throughout every bit of tissue and nerve and bone.
Hello, cerebral palsy spasticity and brain damage. I can feel you rushing throughout every part of me, brain and body, shrieking with delight while the wind in my nerves swirls around you at every turn, pulling you close like so many lovers, so many hands and heads attached to a single body that never separates and never sleeps, always hunting for more, in the light and the dark of every system in my body. You are my closest friend and closest enemy and we will never be without each other. Together we will live forever.

"Hello darkness, my old friend. I've come to talk with you again. Because a vision softly creeping left its seeds while I was sleeping. And the vision that was planted in my brain still remains within the sound of silence.
In restless dreams I walked alone. Narrow streets of cobblestone. 'Neath the halo of a street lamp I turn my collar to the cold and damp when my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light that split the night and touched the sound of silence.
And in the naked light I saw ten thousand people maybe more. People talking without speaking. People hearing without listening. People writing songs that voices never shared.
No one dared disturb the sound of silence."

-"Sound Of Silence" by Simon and Garfunkel