DIY Eczema and Skin Repair Cream

DIY Eczema and Skin Repair Cream

Eczema can be merciless. Whether it's a mother watching helplessly as her son scratches away, or a teenager embarrassed by the sudden rash that appeared on her leg. With how widespread it is, we tend to underestimate the frustration and burning that comes along with random flare ups.

Thankfully, there are creams that help with this. However, a problem with these creams is that they are too often filled with chemicals that are later shown to be harmful - not necessarily in their initial dosage, but in their accumulative effects. After all, who only uses a cream once?

We almost expect it with potent creams - if the ingredients are big and scientific it must mean that a genius specifically selected it, and that these ingredients will function exactly as planned. But on the contrary, many are unintentionally but nevertheless toxic.

What is in an Eczema Skin Repair Cream?

After combing through a few products, I found that repair creams are occlusive hydrators. To break that down, Occlusive means that a protective barrier is formed on the skin, to prevent water loss. Hydrator means that it will attract moisture to the skin.

As such, their ingredients are typically chosen to perform one of three main functions:

That's great. Sometimes a simple product is all you need. But that is not all. The ingredients used to achieve these functions often have other unintended side-effects, side-effects that we can and will avoid.

Can you make your own Eczema Cream?

After my initial thinking, I realised that we have done this to some extent before. What is soft, frail and exposed all the time? What human body part is often struggling the most with cracks? The lips. And we create balms for the lips all the time. A key ingredient in lip balms is the beeswax because it creates that occlusive layer, keeping in moisture.

To turn it into a cream, my immediate instinct was to use a basic formulation such as:

That is our cream alternative ready to go - but, like always with us independent formulators - we have a unique opportunity for specificity. We can create a cream so powerful that before use you will have eczema. But after? You will have the you will have the flawless flesh of Naomi Campbell.

Note: For legal reasons, this is a joke :)

How to make your Eczema Cream more powerful:

You can stuff a large variety of active ingredients into a cream but because we are aiming to assist those with eczema, particularly with a flare up, we should consider their needs.

This would often include:

  • An Occlusive layer to keep the moisture inside.
  • Moisturising the dry, damaged skin.
  • Soothing ingredients for the itch.
  • Healing ingredients for the damaged skin.
  • Ingredients to help with pain.
  • Ingredients to reduce redness and swelling.
  • Ingredients to prevent infections from broken skin.

Now, instead of creating a formula including all of those ingredients, from one formulator to another, I think it would be a better idea to let you know of your options and then you can decide yourself how you would like to focus your eczema healing cream.

Ingredients that form an Occlusive Layer

Ingredients that Moisturise the Skin


Ingredients that Soothe Itch:

Ingredients that help Skin Healing:

Ingredients for Pain Relief:

Ingredients to reduce swelling and Redness:

Ingredients to prevent Infection:

Best Practices

As a formulator yourself, you can peruse the list above and select the ingredients that interests you the most. Some may prefer a simple cream that is hyper healing focused, while others might want to create cream with a little bit of each category (this is me). Go crazy, but remember:

  1. Store you cream in a cool, dark place to help maximise the formulation's shelf-life.
  2. Some products are heat sensitive. Try your best to keep those (like certain Essential Oils and Extracts) below the temperature of 40°C.
  3. More is not always better. Please stick within the guided ingredient concentrations, particularly with Essential Oils. If your concentrations are too potent the resulting formulation may actually end up damaging / irritating your skin instead of soothing / treating it.
  4. Patch test before full application and seek out a dermatologists advice if you have any specific skin problems, especially as this cream would be applied to particularly sensitive skin.

Recipe Inspiration

Easy Natural DIY Eczema Cream

This simple nourishing cream will create a gentle barrier on your inflamed skin. As there are minimal active ingredients in here, this is very unlikely to cause any reactions and is a great base to work off of, should you like to play around and create your own formula!

Ingredients:

Storage:

Method:

  1. Make sure all of your equipment is sterilised.
  2. Separate 20% of your Aloe Vera Liquid Juice to be used later (at room temperature).
    Note: If using Distilled Water, no need for the separation in this step as there is no heat sensitivity with Distilled Water.
  3. Heat 40% of your Aloe Vera Liquid Juice to about 70°C.
  4. In another container combine your Shea Butter, Jojoba Oil, Beeswax and Emulsifier HP 30.
  5. Heat until about 70°C and melt until completely mixed.
  6. When both are about the same temperature (around 70°), slowly pour the Shea Butter Mixture into your heated 40% Aloe Vera Liquid Juice.
  7. Blend the two together.
  8. As you blend the two mixtures and it cools to just under 50°C, gradually add the remainder of your Aloe Vera Liquid Gel (that was separated in step 1, the 20%) into your bowl.
  9. Blend well until a thoroughly creamy consistency forms.
  10. Allow the mixture to cool to about 40°C.
  11. Once just under 40°C stir in the Vitamin E and Geogard 221.
  12. Transfer into your sterilized Jar or Bottle.
  13. Let it completely cool before sealing.

Potent Eczema Pain Relief Cream

This is my take on what the eczema cream could be, written mostly to inspire you on what you could do. Due to the extracts, this may take some preparation, but when it is done it will be super powered.

Ingredients:

Storage:

Method:

  1. Make sure all of your equipment is sterilised.
  2. Separate 20% of your Gotu Kola Aloe Vera Extract to be used later (at room temperature).
  3. Heat the 30% separated part of your Gotu Kola Aloe Vera Extract to about 70°C.
  4. Stir in and dissolve completely the MSM, Allantoin and D-Panthenol.
  5. In a seperate container, combine the Beeswax, Shea Butter and Emulsifier HP30.
  6. Heat this to about 70°C.
  7. Mix and completely combine the Beeswax Mixture.
  8. Slowly add the Beeswax Mixture to the 30% Gotu Kola Solution while continuously stirring.
  9. Constantly check the temperature as it cools.
  10. When the temperature reaches just under 50°C, slowly add the rest of your Gotu Kola Water Extract and add the White Willow Oil Jojoba Extract.
  11. Stir continuously until completely combined in one homogenous mixture.
  12. Leave to cool.
  13. When the cream is cooled to under 30°C, add in the Colloidal Silver, Peppermint Essential Oil, Vitamin E and Geogard 221.
  14. Mix until completely combined.
  15. Transfer into your sterilized Jar or Bottle.
  16. Let it completely cool before sealing.

Combat Eczema

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Aiden van Wyk

I'm Aiden, and I’m passionate about helping people live their best lives through mindful lifestyle choices.

I started exploring healthier living at 16 and have since developed a strong interest in botanicals, believing there’s much untapped potential in nature's remedies to improve well-being.


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