The Eczema Diagnosis and the Realization That Followed

I think I watched Chancellor so closely in those first months because of what it took to have her.

Before her, I'd been through an ovarian cancer diagnosis, stage 4 endometriosis, infertility, rounds of IVF, and a miscarriage. And then my neighbor carried my daughter when my body could not. I knew what it took to have her, and I wanted the best for her because of it.

I was also a first-time mom, so I was watching everything, from her feedings and her sleep to her little sounds and her skin.

She was about three months old when her skin started to change. The texture was different, and patches started showing up on her legs first and wouldn't go away. Then her face. Then her back. I checked her every time I changed her clothes, trying not to make it bigger than it was, but I couldn't ignore it either.

A month later, her pediatrician said it was eczema. I was relieved, honestly. At least it was an answer.

He offered to write a prescription, and I said no. I wanted to try an alternative that didn't involve putting steroids on my baby's skin as a first option if I didn't have to. She was still so little. I knew I wanted another way, even before I knew what that way would be.

I didn't cry after that appointment. I'm a project and program manager. I don't break down, I plan and solve problems. That's how I became Chancellor's mom, too. If I'd broken down and let my emotions take over without taking the next step toward what I wanted, I wouldn't have my daughter. So when her skin was the next thing I didn't understand, I did what I know how to do. I began researching, documenting, and planning a way forward.

I looked on store shelves and Amazon. It was confusing because every brand offered something different: balms, lotions, creams. I remember thinking, where do I even start, and why?

I researched eczema and why it exists. I wanted to understand skin, why we put different things on it, like serums, oils, and lotions, and what each one is actually designed to do. I tried several products and kept records of what worked on her skin and what didn't.

And little by little, I started to piece together a gentler way to care for her skin. Eczema wasn't going to improve because of one product I bought one time. Her skin had multiple needs, hydration, nourishment, and moisture among them. I realized no single product could do all three. From what I read, the sooner and more consistently I cared for eczema, the better chance I had at managing it. 

I don't have eczema myself, so I leaned on a process I did understand: how I care for my natural hair as a Black woman, liquid, then oil, then cream, to protect my hair. I began to understand that Chancellor's eczema was going to take the same kind of intentional care. It was going to take time, and her skin needed a process as much as it needed the right products: one for hydration, one for nourishment, and one for moisture.

And I’d figure it out.