essential oils for eczema

Essential Oils for Eczema (Recipes and How to Use for Eczema)

If you feel the itching, burning pain of eczema, you want relief–and fast. Fortunately, essential oils for eczema can aid you with this skin condition.

Once you apply the essential oil therapy that works to tame your symptoms, you will feel better and enjoy healthier skin.

Take a look.

Eczema

What is Eczema?

Eczema is a perplexing skin condition, in many cases.

It causes those who suffer to experience itchy, red, scaly, or blistered skin. Although allergies or your gene pool often triggers it, there is no precise cause in most cases.

It’s a quite common ailment, and the National Eczema Association estimates that roughly 31.6 million Americans–just over 10 percent of the national population–suffers from eczema.

Symptoms of Eczema

Beyond the discomfort factors, those who suffer from eczema often feel embarrassed about the appearance of their skin.

Some of the symptoms of eczema are the following:

  • Usually appears in patches
  • Can emerge any place on the body, from the scalp to the feet
  • A primary indicator is red, inflamed, and irritated-looking skin
  • Skin becomes itchy and may even develop into dry, cracking skin
  • A scaly appearance to the affected area
  • Might form blisters–some of these can weep a clear liquid or create a crusted appearance.
EczemaChart

Can You Prevent Eczema?

In most cases, you cannot prevent an eczema flare-up.

However, by consistently treating your skin well and nipping an eczema outbreak in the bud by utilizing the best essential oils for eczema, you might be able to mitigate the symptoms before they become unbearable.

Essential Oils for Eczema

Knowing what the best essential oils treat which eczema symptoms is a crucial place to start before you begin your essential oil therapy.

Essential Oils for Inflammation of the Skin

Lose the redness and soothe the burning with these therapeutic essential oils.

Frankincense

This ancient remedy dates back to Biblical times when the Magi bore Frankincense as a gift to baby Jesus.

It has withstood the tests of time as a remedy for eczema and other skin irritations because it has natural anti-inflammatory agents.

Once you reduce the inflammation, the redness begins to subside.

Frankincense

German Chamomile

German chamomile, aka blue chamomile for its blue hue, is another essential with powerful anti-inflammatory properties.

Not only can it reduce the redness and inflammation caused by eczema, but it can also calm hives and psoriasis.

In addition to calming the redness and irritation, German chamomile pulls double duty and squashes any itchiness that results from the eczema.

If you’re uncertain whether or not your skin condition is truly eczema, German chamomile makes a great choice.

Anti-Itching Essential Oils

Some people who deal with eczema feel compelled to dig at the itch until they break open the skin. Because that habit can cause permanent scarring, it’s imperative that you stop the itchy feeling.

Lavender Essential Oil

Lavender is a well-documented anti-pruritic–that means it squashes feeling of itchiness.

Lavender essential oil combines a potent blend of natural anti-fungal and anti-inflammatory agents. So, no matter what the cause of your eczema, it can offer you quick relief from the itching and burning.

Have sensitive skin? While lavender essential oil is highly effective, it’s also very gentle and non-irritating for most people.

Peppermint Essential Oil

Another powerful way to stamp out the itching feeling of eczema is treatment with peppermint essential oil.

This North American remedy is a documented favorite of Native Americans across the centuries—women used peppermint to cure everything from skin disorders to stomach aches. And, it’s no wonder!

Peppermint contains properties that offer analgesic relief from pain along with anti-inflammatory properties to promote healing. When used on your eczema, you may reduce your uncomfortable itching and alleviate the pain.

Essential Oils for Cracked Skin

When your skin is cracked, you are exposed to fungus, germs, and the possibility of infection. Fight those contaminants with essential oils with anti-microbial properties—they will also soothe the damaged skin.

Tea Tree Oil

Tea Tree Oil is a must-have when treating the broken skin that stems from eczema. This essential oil is a versatile and powerful multi-tasker that is proven to kill viruses, bacteria, and fungi.

When treating eczema, it is useful as a topical antiseptic to help prevent infection and help the wound heal up faster.

Because it’s so versatile in use, you should always keep tea tree oil on hand in your medicine cabinet. While we count it on our list with essential oils for eczema treatment, you can also use it to heal acne, dry cuticles, toenail fungus, chicken pox lesions, and more!

tea tree

Helichrysum

Helichrysum is an antioxidant, antibacterial, and an anti-inflammatory agent, making it an ideal essential oil for eczema. It’s especially helpful if you’re experiencing cracked skin.

The anti-inflammatory helps to reduce the swelling around the cracked skin and promotes healing. Plus, the antibacterial components help prevent the cut from becoming infected. The antioxidant fights free radicals from the environment from assaulting the tender area and causing additional trauma.

helichrysum

Calendula Oil

When skin is so dry and scaly that it cracks open, it can leave you in a very uncomfortable situation physically and cause you embarrassment over your skin mentally.

Calendula oil offers rapid relief from cracked, dry, and scaly skin. It is a high-performing humectant that infuses the skin with moisture while calming the redness and pain.

Taking the approach of using calendula oil for treating your eczema-prone skin can also speed up the recovery time.

calendula

Essential Oils for Skin Scaling

When eczema deals you scaling skin, it’s a sign that your body’s sebum production is out of balance. Sebum is a fatty substance secreted by your skin; its role is to keep your skin—your body’s largest organ—moisturized to protect it.

Too much sebum production causes oily skin and breakouts; too little sebum produced causes the dry and scaly skin that you’re experiencing.

Essential oils can help get your skin back into balance after an episode of eczema.

Cedarwood Essential Oil

Begin treatment with cedarwood essential oil at the first signs of scaly skin. Cedarwood levels the playing field by prompting your skin to amplify the production of sebum. The sebum hydrates the skin on a cellular level while the cedarwood essential oil calms it and improves the flaky appearance on the outer layer of skin.

When used at the onset of the first symptoms, you can minimize the appearance of scales and get your skin restored to optimal health quickly.

Essential Oils for Weeping Blisters

The weeping blisters you get along with your eczema aren’t just painful. In fact, they make some eczema sufferers contemplate staying home because they are ashamed of their appearance.

While staying home isn’t always practical, the sentiment is certainly understandable. Instead, treat your blisters to promote rapid healing.

Roman Chamomile

Roman Chamomile effectively cleanses the oozing of weeping blisters. It features anti-inflammatory, antiseptic, and antibacterial properties that will gently cleanse the blisters to prevent infections.

While the antiseptic and antibacterial agents work to cleanse the wound, the anti-inflammatory components soothe and calm your frazzled skin, giving you some much-needed relief from the pain and inflammation of eczema.

RomanChamomile

Best Carriers Oils for Eczema

So, now that you know which essential oils to try for your specific eczema-related symptoms, you might want to know which carrier oils work best to create a custom mix. Here are the three top choices of essential oil experts.

carrier oils for eczema

Apricot Kernel Oil

Apricot kernel oil is ideal for eczema patients who have especially sensitive skin or who are allergic to tree nuts. It’s hypoallergenic and gentle on the skin—very important when you’re trying to calm skin which is already in a state of imbalance.

Jojoba Oil

Joboba oil is a wonderful option for eczema patients with the driest skin or whose skin is cracking or scaly. This oil penetrates the skin deeply but absorbs quickly, so you don’t end up with a sticky residue that can harbor bacteria. Additionally, its viscosity closely resembles your skin’s natural sebum, so your skin will be very happy to receive it.

Coconut Oil

Coconut oil is an antimicrobial carrier oil, so it will further your efforts to prevent infection; this fact makes it ideal for skin that’s cracked or blistered. It quickly absorbs while delivering deep hydration that can help you find relief from the itch.

Using Essential Oils for Your Child’s Eczema

Child with Eczema

Essential oils are not only effective on adults—but they are also useful for treating pediatric patients.

In fact, eczema is most common in babies and declines with age. As with adults, there is some mystery about the precise causes. They are thought to primarily stem from environmental or food allergies in the youngest sufferers.

Here are four valuable tips for introducing essential oils to your child.

  1. Try only one essential oil at a time; should your child have an allergic reaction you’ll be able to pinpoint the culprit.
  2. Only use diluted essential oils on children—one to two drops of essential oil to an ounce of your carrier oil.
  3. Give your child a “patch test” in an area that’s free of eczema before placing the oil on the affected area. Discontinue the treatment if there’s any sign of irritation within 24 hours of application.
  4. For a first-time use, try hypoallergenic apricot kernel oil mixed with lavender essential oil—it’s a gentle combination.

How to Use Essential Oils for Eczema

Methods of treating yourself to the relief of essential oils are as varied as the types of oils themselves!

Here are three of the best (and simplest!) ways to use essential oils to treat your eczema and find fast relief.

Bathing in essential oils

Mix 6 to 10 drops of your favorite essential oil in 2 tsp of carrier oil. Fill the tub with warm—not hot—water and add your essential oil mixture and 1 cup of colloidal oatmeal. Slip into the bath; massage the oils into your skin and soak for 10 minutes.

A couple of notes of caution. Be careful as the oils make your bathtub extremely slippery. Also, pat dry with a clean towel—don’t rub the skin dry.

essential oil bath

Create your own cream

Add 15 drops of your essential oil of choice to 1 ounce of coconut oil. Rub it into the affected area four times per day to promote healing.

essential oil cream

Make a portable essential oil roll-on

Don’t get caught without your eczema treatment. Custom blend your own roll on to carry with you to work or on your travels each day. Roll-on bottles are an inexpensive, useful investment!

Place 4 drops of your favorite essential oil into a 10 ml roll-on bottle. Top off with jojoba oil and cap the container. Apply your roll-on discreetly when and where you need to feel the relief.

The Bottom Line

Don’t give up on finding relief from your eczema. Essential oils could be the exact treatment you need for effective healing of the flare-up and to promote skin resilience as you recover.

Finding the precise essentials oils for eczema can take a little bit of trial and error. Don’t feel that you must pick and choose oils to address only one symptom at a time. Instead, feel free to create your own custom blends that address a broad spectrum of symptoms and make you feel well again.

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