These beauty products helped me get back to normal after a car accident
Last month, I was in an intense car accident. I was a pedestrian, I was hit, and I ended up in the ICU for five days. When I was hit, I didn’t realize how serious it was until the employees at the ER kept telling me I was lucky to be alive.
I was very beat up; broken bones, bruised lungs, liver laceration, you name it. For two days, I wasn’t allowed to move. For a week straight, I couldn’t wash my face, hair, or really anything, and I wasn’t able to brush my teeth, massage my muscles, or put on lotion. I’m talking the negative of self-care.
You don’t really notice how much it takes to upkeep your body until you’re not allowed to do shit. I had to find certain products to help my body recover from the damage that was done. These products had to be specific enough to help where I was having issues, and they had to be easy enough to use as to not strain myself.
Minus the obvious recovery needs like physical therapy, plastic surgery, root canal (yes), and more, there are so many other things you need to be prepared for. Now, I’m not expecting others to need these products due to an accident, but, in case of an emergency, the list below would be extremely handy to you.
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1. Dr. Teal’s Epsom Salts
Dr. Teal’s is a classic brand for a reason – their epsom salts work really well, and the price point is worth it. I have always used the lavender, but post-accident, I switched to the muscle specific one called Pre & Post Workout. It’s meant to help muscles recover and help with aching, and it’s made with epsom salt and menthol.
My back, even though everything was technically intact, was where I had the most intense pain. I couldn’t feel relief for even five minutes throughout the day. You’re meant to do a 15-minute power soak with the Dr. Teal’s, but I’ll be honest, I sat in the tub for hours with this stuff. It’s one of the only things that could really give me relief from my back pain. If you get into an accident or even just have regular muscle pain, I definitely recommend getting the bath salts in bulk on Amazon, because I went through a bag pretty quickly.
2. Weed
Thank god weed is accessible here in California, otherwise, I’ll be honest, I would be shit out of luck. Before I was able to smoke, I was in so much pain. It was excruciating. I had to switch positions every two minutes because of my back, and the meds they gave me were starting to rip apart my stomach. I was writhing in pain from all over.
There’s so much debate on how helpful marijuana is for pain management, but I experienced the effects firsthand. As soon as I would smoke, my pain would disperse. Weed was quite literally the only medicine that worked for me after a while. Also, shout out to vaping, because as douchy as it is, it made me able to remain a social human being while feeling like shit.
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3. Nurse Jamie
The Nurse Jamie Healthy Skin Solutions tools I used for my post-accident care were the UpLift massaging beauty roller and the NuLipsRX kit. The UpLift beauty roller is a long stick that rotates, and it holds 24 stones meant for massaging your face as you roll. It’s designed to be portable so you can bring it to work or when you’re traveling.
I had to get my forehead stitched up and it wasn’t a cute look. The scar was long and wide, and my skin was uneven. I used the UpLift on the uneven skin twice a day for a minute, and saw the immediate results. All of a sudden, my scar started to deflate, and while it’s still extremely noticeable, the UpLift is one of the main products helping me to get rid of it.
The NuLipsRX kit comes with an exfoliating lip-shaped lip brush, and a moisturizing lip balm. It was designed to plump, moisturize, and soften your lips in a quick and easy process. The NuLipsRX kit was like a sugar scrub without all the mess, which was necessary for me. I wasn’t able to deal with a messy routine.
4. Vitamin E Oil
This one I tried as per recommendation from about 2o people. Almost every time I told someone I had scars (3 large ones on my face), they mentioned vitamin E oil. Now, you can get it in pill form and break it open to use, but my local health food store had it in the form of a bottle. I chose the bottle form so that there would be minimal work on my part.
I used this mainly on the days when I was staying inside, or would just put it on for a few hours before leaving the house. This is because 1. it goes on your skin as a burnt orange color and 2. it’s an oil, so it’s messy, smelly, and get’s everywhere. But, it works. It’s helped with the discoloration of my scar, and the healing of the opening where the stitches were.
5. SUNSCREEN, SUNSCREEN, SUNSCREEN!
Scar remedy #2 is SUNSCREEN. This is another one that everyone, including my mother, hounded me to use. I don’t have to explain to you why this is important. I used and still am using sunscreen on all of my scars all day every day. This helps avoid discoloration and in turn helps you heal faster.
6. Skin Nation Miracle Potion
Skin Nation actually reached out to me when I was asking people on Instagram for scar solutions. They sent me their miracle potion, which is made of coconut oil, mango butter, and lavender essential oil. While it’s meant to be a full body lotion, I focused on using it for my scars as per their advice. They mentioned that it would be good for my scars, and they weren’t wrong.
Coconut oil is directly related to diminishing scars, mango butter is said to help with discoloration of scars, and lavender oil is known for it’s relaxing effects. I had been putting tons of lavender oil on in my diffuser to help me sleep. This body lotion made it so that I could stop wasting so much of the expensive essential oil. Also, the coconut oil and mango butter mixture did wonders on my scars. I put the lotion on my face every night, and my scars have disappeared by half so far.
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7. Generic scar gel and silicon pads
These two products will save your ass during the day. You can get them both at your nearest pharmacy, Rite Aid, or CVS. If I’m going somewhere that I need to wear makeup, I use the scar gel and let it dry, then I put sunscreen on top of it. When I don’t have to wear makeup, I put on sunscreen and the silicon pads.
They may be the most basic solutions, but they have worked. I use these products during the day so that I can use the others at night — that way everything that is working is being utilized.
8. Thayers rose petal witch hazel
Witch hazel is what helped me with my post-accident acne. After not being able to wash my face for *literally* a week and a half (thank you, stitches), I had something similar to a pre-teen acne takeover. It was an issue. Nothing was helping other than the good old-fashioned witch hazel on a cotton pad twice a day. I’m telling you that this stuff works wonders for any skin type. You can buy it on Amazon or at a store like Target.
9. Foreo Iris
This gadget by Foreo is an eye massager that saved me from the bags under my eyes. A car accident give you dark circles like you’ve never seen before. You’re stuck inside all day, sleeping for hours, and you have an irregular sleep cycle due to pain. I used the Foreo Iris when I woke up and at night, and it made my bags go away in around a week. I have continued to use it as a sort of prevention for it happening again. It helps make my eyes look less sunken in.
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10. Traer Joe’s body scrub
A body scrub is essential when you haven’t showered in a week. I was also exposed to air conditioning 24/7 which dried out my skin, so I knew I needed to scrub down a few times. But, I hate spending money on scrubs. They’re super easy and cheap to make at home, but I didn’t have that luxury this time around. This Trader Joe’s scrub is cheap, effective, and it comes in a decently sized tub. I think this scrub is great for any time your skin needs a little lovin.
11. Candles
Candles. Any candles. This one was mainly for my sanity, because let’s face it, when your whole body is tensed up, you need all that you can to try and relax. My personal favorite brands are Diptyque or Voluspa. You can’t beat a lavender scrub, lavender lotion, and some dope ass candles.
12. Family
Last but not least is family. Without my family and my boyfriend, I would have lost my fucking mind. Sitting in bed for a month, needing assistance when showering, and basically needing people to do everything for you, is aggravating. It’s weird doing nothing when you’re used to doing everything, and I mean everything, for yourself. Without a patient and loving support system, I wouldn’t have been having the swift recovery that I’ve been having. You cannot recover alone. You may think that you’re strong enough, but you’re not. Don’t be afraid to ask friends and family for help, because you know you’d do the same for them! It’s important to take recovery slow, and to have people help you with even the smallest of tasks. One wrong move and you can set yourself back another 2 weeks. Trust me, I know this firsthand. Be careful, and tell your fucking people that you love them every single day!
