Dear Ora, What can I do to get rid of my eczema naturally?!! 

I get a million emails and calls a day asking how to get natural relief from eczema. I of course, do not have a magic answer and am not a licensed healthcare provider, but here is my quick list of things that I see help alleviate symptoms of eczema. With your precious time in mind, in this list, I am not going into all the scientific explanations of how and why these changes work. But I do encourage you to use these tips as a starting point for some personal research to empower yourself with a deeper understanding. At Ora's Amazing Herbal we believe in a holistic approach to health, that food is medicine, and that the topical use of herbs for healthy skin is an integral part of wellness. 

Ora’s 8 Quick Tips for Eczema Relief

1. Check for food triggers, and try to eliminate dairy from the diet completely for one month. Yep, just try it. In my experience, the chance of dairy being a major trigger is about 90%. It is true that most studies have not proven conclusive that eliminating dairy has enough benefit for patients with eczema (atopic dermatitis) to make it a recommendation that most allopathic doctors feel confident in making. Most naturopathic doctors and functional medicine doctors do. As seasoned mother of 4, with training in nutrition and as founder of a natural skincare brand that began with my child's steroid free eczema care, feel very comfortable saying, give it a try. 

It was Benjamin Franklin who said “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail." It is important to increase other protein and calcium sources in the diet, and this does take some intention and planning. In my experience, it is worth a very good try. If your child lives on cheese and yogurt, and has eczema, it may be worth working with a nutritionist to plan before taking this step. In case you don't know where to start, here is a link to finding a holistically trained nutritionist from my alma mater. 

Ok, this is tip #1 and is not actually very brief. Please see below for truly brief tips, I promise.

2. Drink water, not sugar or sugar substitutes.

3. Check your laundry detergents. No Tide, Bounce, All, or anything that smells. I have a few different ones that I use, Country Save and Charlie’s soap are a few.

4. Eat more healthy fats such as avocados, salmon, walnuts, and coconut. Eat green leafy vegetables. Broccoli counts as a green leafy, by the way! 🙂

5. Limit the hand sanitizer, when you need to clean your hands, wash them.

6. If you wouldn’t eat it, don’t put it on your skin. Everything you put on your skin goes into your body. Anything that would irritate your digestive tract, would also irritate your skin. Of course there are medical emergencies and  circumstances where exceptions should be made, but we find this general policy to be helpful.

7. Bathe less, skip the soap. The best soap for eczema is no soap at all! Water exacerbates eczema, soap damages skin. We use Licorice Love herbal cleansing powder when a deep clean is needed. The herbs in here soothe as they gently cleanse.

8 . Moisturize with healing botanicals every time your skin gets wet. Alternate product textures. We find that even our Touchy Skin Salve, which has proven itself effective over the past 10 years, begins to become less effective when it is the only product used. We find the skin needs a salve, a butter and an oil at different times.

The best way to figure out when to apply each is trial and error as it can be different for each person. We often use a salve after bath, oil during the day when we are in a hurry, and a butter at night. If applying an anhydrous product to dry skin, mix with a drop or two of water in the hand before applying. Note: All Ora's Amazing Herbal products are anhydrous.

To view all of Ora's Amazing Herbal's natural eczema treatment products click here.

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I hope these tips help. We find them to be consistently true with children and adults.

Be Well,
Ora

Please note: none of our information is intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or replace advice from a qualified healthcare practitioner. Though, we’ve seen a lot as a skincare company and can tell you what has worked for our own families and thousands of happy customers, we always recommend you check in with your healthcare practitioner for medical advice. If you have product related questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out as we’re always happy to help.