Home Remedies for Eczema

These are the best natural home remedies for eczema I have found that really work to reduce or even eliminate eczema symptoms without the risk of side effects from medication. For BEST results with your sensitive skin, try ONE remedy at a time.

Do a skin test first on the inside of your forearm or behind your ear, to make sure your eczema home remedies will not cause an allergic reaction. Take it from me, the last thing anyone with eczema needs is to have MORE skin rashes!

Home Remedies for Eczema - Healing Oils

I have eczema and have tried a number of different home remedies for eczema to reduce the terrible redness and itching, skin cracking and other painful symptoms of this VERY unpleasant chronic skin condition.

Healing, natural oils are one of the best home remedies for eczema I've found. The right natural oil can provide a soothing and moisturizing balm for red, inflamed and dry eczema skin.

Here are some of the natural oils which can bring relief to eczema symptoms.

Emu oil is one of the best and most promising eczema home remedies you can find, because it has many potent natural antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties that are perfect for eczema symptoms. The oil is soothing and will not clog your pores, and it provides fast relief for inflammation, itching, cracked and burning skin.

Emu oil is used for a number of health conditions and can also be massaged into aching joints for pain relief, and used on facial skin for diminishing scars and wrinkles on the skin. It is considered one of the most potent natural cures for eczema.

Quality of emu oil can vary quite a bit, so use a source that you trust. I use refined emu oil from a company I trust that that specializes in hypoallergenic products for people with allergies.

Emu oil is an animal product, and so if you are vegan or vegetarian, try one of the vegetable oil natural eczema remedies below.

Jojoba oil - is a light, non greasy and a versatile eczema home remedy. It will not clog your pores and I've even used in on my facial skin with great results. Most other vegetable oils cause my face to look greasy. I put it on my feet at night if I have an eczema outbreak. On several occasions, this completely has cleared up the rash overnight!

Coconut Oil - is a rich, delightful natural oil that smells delicious! Use virgin, unrefined coconut oil for best results. Can also be used as an overnight moisturizer for hair. Yum! Coconut oil IS greasier so I don't recommend you use it on your facial skin.

Olive oil - this can be used on the skin and also rubbed onto the scalp for scalp eczema to reduce the scaling.

Evening Primrose Oil taken internally in high doses as been known to reduce eczema symptoms. This can be expensive, so you may want to try a good quality essential fatty acid supplement instead.

Home Remedies for Eczema - Healing Foods

Eczema is a chronic skin condition, and unfortunately you can't just take a pill or apply home remedies for eczema to your skin and expect to go away for good. It WILL return, unless you make some changes in your overall lifestyle.

One of the most powerful home remedies for eczema is to strengthen your immune system and reduce eczema symptoms is with our good friend FOOD!

Yes, there are many humble fruits and veggies which can help you keep eczema symptoms away, and that you can also apply directly to your skin!

Wear Your Foods!

A paste of raw strawberries applied to your eczema can reduce the pain, redness and inflammation. I've never tried this because I love eating strawberries and they usually disappear from our refrigerator too quickly!

Other healthy foods you can apply directly to your face include cabbage leaf and grated raw potatoes.

Many people who suffer with eczema have found that honey will reduce eczema symptoms. This is a bit sticky but many people swear by it!!.

Eczema Diet Tips

It is possible to completely eliminate eczema with dietary changes. Here are some general guidelines that will help reduce your eczema symptoms.

Eliminate high inflammation and allergy producing foods. These include sugar, chocolate, wheat, and dairy products. You may want to keep a food journal to see which foods may be triggering your symptoms.

Eat alkaline - include an abundance of vegetables and fruits in your diet. This will create an alkaline environment for your body that will reduce inflammation. Drinking fresh vegetable juices is GREAT for the skin. Raw tomato juice, raw carrot and spinach juices are said to be excellent and effective eczema home remedies!

Eat plenty of Essential Fatty Acids - these are found naturally in walnuts, wild salmon and sardines, and if you have problem skin, you may want to take a good quality supplement. I have found it difficult to find a really pure and clean source that gives you enough to make a difference in how your skin looks and feels.

My favorite is Omega 3 fish oil which is excellent quality, free of contaminants, and also very affordable.

If you are a vegan and don't use animal products, a good quality flax oil with lignans will give you similar benefits, although it doesn't have as many of the anti inflammatory factors that your skin needs.

Eat plenty of foods with probiotics like live culture yogurt and kefir. This will work only if you know for a fact that dairy products do not trigger your eczema. You can also supplement your diet with a good probiotics supplement. Probiotics will improve your digestion and strengthen your immune system, making it less likely that you will break out in a rash.

For a complete guide to eliminating eczema symptoms with diet and home remedies, please see Eczema Free Forever which is one of the most popular programs for holistic eczema treatment.

Home Remedies for Eczema - Herbs

There are many home remedies for eczema which use herbs. Herbs are potent natural medicines that contain soothing and anti-inflammatory properties which can reduce or eliminate your eczema symptoms.

If you are highly allergic, be careful to NOT try too many herbs all at once. Sometimes you can have a reaction even to a natural substance.

Many common household spices are used as eczema home remedies which are both taken internally and also applied to your skin. Here are just a few

• Turmeric
• Nutmeg
• Basil
• Aloe Vera
• Ginger

There are also natural skin care remedies for eczema made by natural health professionals that can help your body to heal itself naturally. Some formulations are taken internally, and some are applied to the skin.

Another of the most effective home remedies for eczema is to undertake a program of cleansing and detoxification. This can be done in a number of different ways, from gentle to more intense.

You can start by drinking more pure water. Naturopathic doctors recommend you drink half your body weight in ounces. That means if you weigh 150 pounds, you should be drinking at least 75 ounces of water a day.

Another gentle but very effective method of cleansing is to drink raw vegetable juices, made fresh in a juicer. Yes, it takes a little more work each day but will have a powerful impact on your health! You can also put your fresh veggie juice in a blender and add some whole berries and greens for a nice and delicious "green smoothie" which adds extra fiber to your diet.

Some people with eczema find that they experience an effective cleanse by drinking a simple mixture of apple cider vinegar, water and honey each day. We have a number of gentle, natural cleanses you can try at our Homemade Body Cleansing page.

If you have a lot of chronic health challenges, or really serious eczema, you may want to undergo a more intensive cleanse. I recommend you see a qualified naturopathic physician, Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioner or other qualified holistic health professional if you are new to the process of cleansing. They can help you find a program that will work for you and minimize the "cleansing reaction" that happens as your body detoxifies.

There are generally four ways that you can undergo a more intensive cleanse process.

Herbal Cleansing - using herbs to gently purify the digestive and elimination systems of the body. I like ColoFlush for this, it is made especially for people who are sensitive and need a gentle, soothing and yet effective formula.

Fasting - this gives your body and digestion a chance to rest. Most people do a vegetable juice fast or a raw vegetable and fruit fast.Some brave souls have done a water fast but this is more intense and draining for the body. I tried a few water fasts when I was younger and I was so tired I slept all the time!

Colonics - this is a procedure done by a trained professional who irrigates the colon with water, which helps to release toxins and impurities that may be lodged in the walls of the colon.

Home Remedies for Eczema - Water

One of the most overlooked and least expensive home remedies for eczema is water! There are so many things you can do with water to help your eczema. Water is mother natures #1 natural remedy for eczema!

Drink more water to cleanse and hydrate your body and keep your skin moist and supple.

Take a steam bath to open pores and hydrate your skin. Be sure to moisturize afterwards.

Use cold compresses to relieve the pain, stinging and itching of eczema inflammations.

Wrap your skin in a cotton towel that is wetted with cool water to help soothe arms or legs that have a lot of eczema inflammations.

Take a healing eczema bath using one of the following:

• Oatmeal
• Baking Soda
• Cider vinegar and a healing oil such as Cleure Emu Oil or jojoba

Home Remedies for Eczema - More Ideas

There are some other things you can do to help reduce your eczema symptoms.

Wear cotton clothes, which allow your skin to breathe more easily.

Some people have found mudpacks to be very effective in treating eczema. They seem a little messy but if you go to a good holistic spa that uses non-irritating ingredients, you may be able to find a simple way to do this without spending three hours cleaning your tub!

Another method sometimes used to heal eczema is with light therapy. You can create your own natural remedy for eczema by taking a sun bath. Spend a SHORT period of time in the sun, exposing those areas of your body that have the eczema to the sun's natural rays.

Of course this won't work if you have eczema in places that you'd rather keep private (!) but most of us have eczema in places that work well for a bathing suit.

Last, but not least, is the obvious - moisturize your skin regularly!! Eczema gets worse when your skin is dry. I find if I shower a lot and forget to use a moisturizer, my skin erupts almost overnight into a flaming mass of pain!

It is good to hydrate your skin with water, but be sure to use a good hypoallergenic moisturizer. Most hypoallergenic moisturizers unfortunately contain irritating chemicals that can actually cause skin irritation in some people.

Please see our hypoallergenic products page for more information about this little known fact of sensitive skin care.

It has taken me a long while to find skin care products that are both hypoallergenic and chemically safe. In fact, I've only found one source that is both free of toxins and also free of botanical and plant allergens.

My eczema responds well to botanical free hypoallergenic skin care products which immediately soothe the itching and form a nice, protective barrier of moisture that is a REAL relief!