As I was growing up we used hand lotion, but when the winter months came and my hands started cracking I always fell back on Bag Balm. If you've never used it, it comes in a square green tin with a cow on it because it was originally for cow utters in the winter. Anymore, I have to go ask a pharmacist for it because for some reason they keep it behind the counter instead of on the shelf with the other balms. Maybe because it works better like everything else behind that counter. Anyways, my mom would give us vitamin E cream and she would squirt out capsules of vitamin E into our hands. She tried a ton of different things for us because we all had eczema.
Now, as a parent, I am struggling with not only MY eczema, but my daughter's as well. My poor little princess has got elephant elbows, dry cheeks, speckled chest and legs and worst of all, a dry itchy hiney! She is now potty trained so there is no diaper to keep her from sticking her hands down the back of her trousers and scratch away. No joke, this kid has massive scratch marks on her bottom! Now, while I'm aware the cow's milk can make eczema worse, I have not noticed any difference in either of our eczema with or without milk so I guess it's all because of this ridiculously hard water here in Las Vegas. I can accept that. I once lived in Ohio and didn't have ANY problems with eczema there so perhaps I should just leave this dry dry desert. Ok, so I won't go to extremes, but I did need to find a solution.
Bag Balm is greasy and not pleasant for anything other than sock covered hands at night. Vitamin E cream isn't working. Lotion isn't working and I'm just annoyed! That is until my cousin's mom sent me a link to a recipe for eczema friendly moisturizer. Let me clarify that my cousin is actually married to my cousin so her mom is not my aunt although I may just start calling her Aunt Janne because I love her so much! Anyways, the recipe she sent me was basically olive oil, raw honey and beeswax. I added some avocado oil and jojoba oil too. It IS very moisturizing, but it's very thick, sticky and difficult to spread around. I only put it on my daughter after baths and I put it on her toosh before bed. This recipe cost me $20 to make and it has lasted, but I needed something that would be easier to use and easier on my budget.
So my search began for a lotion recipe that would be better suited for us. There are a lot of things that are good for eczema, but many of them are pricey. I wanted simple, easy and as cheap as possible! I zeroed in on a recipe that was made of olive oil, coconut oil, and beeswax from A Sonoma Garden. I made MY version a little different though. I used jojoba and avocado oils since I had them on hand from my last eczema experiment. They are both very good for eczema. I figured that since olive oil doesn't clog pores, I could use this lotion on my face so I opted to add grape seed oil. Grape seed oil is supposed to be very good for your skin and is good for oily or combination complexions. I didn't add coconut oil because, well I didn't have time to track it down and I didn't have the extra cash to spend. All in all I spent $15 on ingredients that I didn't already have, but with this exact recipe each batch (which is small) would cost approximately $4.24. It would be cheaper if I bought my ingredients online or in larger quantities.
Well, here it is:
Ingredients:
1/2 cup cold pressed olive oil
1 oz grape seed oil
1 teaspoon jojoba oil
1 teaspoon avocado oil
1 oz beeswax (I bought 1 oz bars so I just cut the bar into pieces for easier melting. Pellets would be easier)
Supplies:
1- 8 oz mason jar (should have a lid for storage)
1- pot
1- jar lifter (helpful, but not needed. Photographed above, if you don't know what it is)
And something to stir with, I used a couple of wooden skewers so I could just throw them away.
This is going to be the easiest project to clean up ever. Prepare to have your world rocked! Put all of the ingredients into the mason jar.
My little helper
Put the jar into the pot and fill the pot with water until it's about 3/4 of the way up the jar. Do not get water in the jar! Then bring the water to a very slow boil. Be careful not to let the boil get crazy or you'll get water in your oils.
Once the beeswax is all melted you can use your jar lifter to take the jar out of the pot, stir it up, and let it cool to room temperature.
I put mine in the fridge to speed up the process since I had an 18 month old sitting at my feet crying. You want to stir your oils about every 15 min or so. If you're using the fridge I would say every 5 min or so.
If you don't mix, the beeswax will separate and harden. Rather than lotion you'll have a mess. If that happens, just reheat it in the pot again and start your cooling process over! When it's all said and done, you'll have a very nice cream. If you want to make a lotion to use in a pump container, just add extra oils or less beeswax.
The lotion was still a bit warm when I took this picture so it looks kind of greasy. Once it's cooled completely, it is very creamy!
So that's my venture for today. I think I may make some with just olive oil and beeswax for my mother in law who has been struggling with some skin problems recently. It should turn out about the same. I think if you wanted to add some essential oil or fragrance oil to give it a scent it would be fine.
What sorts of things does your family use for skin problems?
