Eczema, CP Soap and Essential Oils.....help?

[tincanac]

Hi

I'm going to visit my brother next week. He has battled with eczema all his life, right now - his skin just about tolerates Dove soap. He is too wary to try anything else. Anyway I want to make up real soap as I am sure that it will be less irritating to his skin than even Dove. I'll use a basic recipe but I want to lightly fragrance it. I was thinking of using Eucalyptus Essential Oil or Aniseed or maybe Sandalwood. Do you think that this would be alright? I think Dove is scented so I figure that a little essential oil wouldnt be too bad. What does everyone think? If you do make soap for eczematics what do you use to fragrance it? What could you suggest? Any help would be much appreciated!

Thanks

 

[Guest]

I have eczema , my skin can tolerate FO's but not EO's . EO's make my skin super itchy . I make soap with eo's in them , I just don't use them . Having said that if he can use Dove ( I can't), you should be able to add some kind of mild scent to his soap.

HTH

Kitn

 

[vivcarm]

When I worled in Lush we got a little of EO training, what I took from that is that Lavender is soothing and balancing, Patchouli, helps heal, great for excema as well as acne, Rose is nurturing, this is what I can remember, it was a while ago. I love the smell of Patch and Lavender, I put that in my shaving soap. I am sure there are others out there with more EO knowledge than me though!

 

[tincanac]

Thanks Kitn and Vivcarm

I didnt know that it was the other way around - that FO would be more gentle than EO. I luuuuurrrvvvv Patchouli myself! Maybe I cpould split the the batch and do quarter Lavender, quarter Patchouli

Will try it!

 

[Ganiggle]

Hey I know your question is about soap, but I wanted to share about a few oils that have really helped my Mom's eczema. She's also suffered with it all of her life and goes through massive bottles of lotion every week to try and prevent her skin from cracking, and it doesn't even do that!

I decided to make some whipped body butter. I used 50% shea butter, 50% soy butter and added lavender for scent. My Mom has been using it for a few weeks now and said it's the best thing she's ever used on her eczema.

She had a big crack in her pinky finger that was really sore so she put a dab of my body butter on it, put a band aid over it, and the next day it wasn't a problem anymore.

She's been using it ever since on her hands and feet, where her eczema is worse, and she says it's been better than it has been since she was really little. It's completely replaced her vaseline intensive care lotion, and she's already asking me to make her more!

I think that including shea butter in the soap you make might hopefully have a similar effect. You could even make him some nice soap and the moisturizer to go along with it.

 

[Galavanting Gifts]

I've recently filled an order for a friends son"s race horses that suffer badly from QLD itch, he is presently using a goat milk soap with all of the following ingredients: palm oil, coconut oil, olive oil, castor oil and sweet almond oil i've added in Sesame oil (i've put that in, apparently very good for skin conditions), I also added in Lavender eo, it is very strong in the seseme seed oil smell but i'm sue the horses will have no complaints lol, but so far the bars without the seseme oil in are working well, we've just added the seseme oil in as a trial this time round.

 

[tincanac]

Thanks guys -

GG - my recipe looks similar to yours, this makes me happy - I think I might be on the right track - I think that Lavender is a scent that is pleasing to a lot of folk - so I dont think my brother will complain that it is too girly!

Ganiggle - thanks for the tips - I think I might make up something similar to yours as a topical cream.

Thanks for all the help guys!

 

[Ganiggle]

No problem Let us know how it goes!

 

[Galavanting Gifts]

You're welcome,

 

[Guest]

I forgot that shea butter in soap or whipped up and , applied helps my cracked hands big time.
The FO , EO thing might just be me .
Also forgot to add ,I make a pine tar soap that works the best over all ,unscented as a soap . I used 20% pine tar and it works very well.

 

[vivcarm]

I'm the opposite to Kitn, I find that some FO set my skin off, but EO, are better for me, but maybe I just haven't used the right FO's!

 

[tincanac]

Hi everyone - sorry for the late reply I ahve been on holiday in the gorgeous Cape! Thanks for all the great advice!