There are very few things that have caused me more grief than my skin. After many years of treating my body with a holistic approach I think I’m finally getting somewhere. I’m ready to share my experience and give some advice that truly has helped me.

When eczema first showed up in my life I was about 20 years old.  I had never been someone that had great skin to begin with, but eczema seemed to be something that I couldn’t find an easy fix for.  That’s probably because their isn’t truly an easy fix for any chronic illness, in my experience.  After years of dangerous amounts of cortisone cream, I realized that the quick fix was no longer working for me and now my skin was worse than ever.  I tried using every kind of lotion and body butter to “keep it moisturized”, but most lotions seemed to be making it go more downhill than up and any doctors that I talked to just prescribed more cortisone cream.  This is where my dis-trust for doctors started…  all they were doing was trying to clear up my symptoms and nobody bothered to try and figure out why it was happening in the first place.

A friend of mine recommended that I try out a Naturopath.  The Naturopath recommended that I change my diet – no dairy, vinegar, yeast or sugar – not even fruit.  I did this for 6 months.  The first few days were horrific and I went through a serious healing crisis, but after that things finally got better… and they stayed better for a few years.  It was wonderful.  But then it returned…

I finally found an incredible Holistic Doctor.  He changed my life.  He tested me for Celiac Disease and Hashimotos (an auto-immune thyroid disorder), both of which came back positive.  He then continued to treat me for leaky gut and do a heavy metal detox on me.  He sent me to a Holistic Dentist to have my 2 amalgam fillings replaced properly and put me on special thyroid medication.   He did food allergy testing on me and had me follow a specific diet to help me tolerate my favorite foods again.  Needless to say – he treated me holistically and I believe that’s what every doctor should do for their patients.

This was 10 years ago… in the last 3 years I’ve had 3 babies, moved across the country twice and I haven’t been on top of my health like I know I should be.  The eczema recently started to cause me grief again but I am keeping it under control with this home-made cream.  Dairy is a culprit for almost instantly causing a flare up.  I’ve also recently learned how harsh hard water is for eczema and how important it is to have good quality water.  We’ve installed a vortex pipe and a good water softener into our home and after a few weeks my skin is almost perfect!  So between the softer and more “alive” water in our home along with my home-made skin soothing cream, I feel that I can keep the eczema under control while I get serious about my diet and healing my gut again.

Skin Soothing Eczema Cream (or just everyday lotion!)

You will need:

-1/4 cup coconut oil

-1/4 cup shea butter

-10 drops of lavender essential oil

-10 drops of tea tree essential oil

-A double boiler

-An electric mixer

-A jar for the finished product!

 

Instructions:

-Put both the coconut oil and shea butter in the top of the double boiler.  Put on low heat and melt the oil and butter.

-Add the drops of essential oils and wisk together.

-Remove from the heat

-As the mixture cools over the next few hours, continue to mix with the electric mixer every 10 minutes or so.  You will want to mix for at least a minute each time until the mixture becomes frothy.

-As it completely cools it will end up turning into a nice “lotion” texture.

-Pour the lotion into a jar and either keep it on the counter or in the fridge depending on what consistency you prefer!

 

I use this lotion as often as I need it.  It’s definitely a favorite!