DIY Eczema Cream Recipe
This gentle and effective eczema cream recipe contains colloidal oatmeal, olive oil, beeswax, honey, aloe vera, and other natural ingredients. It's a cream with a fluid consistency that's very high in soothing honey, so it can initially feel sticky on your skin. Its formula is inspired by the very popular Eczema Honey skincare product, but is formulated to be more stable. This is a true skin cream recipe made up of an oil phase, water phase, and a cool-down phase, and it makes just over 4.05 oz (120 ml).
Servings 120 ml
Cost $5
Equipment
- 2 ramekins or other small glass/ceramic container
- stainless steel spoons
- cloth or pot holder
- milk frother optional
- pH testing strips optional
- digital kitchen scale optional
Ingredients
Oil Phase
- 8.5 tsp olive oil (organic) 35.6 grams (29.62%) / or sunflower oil
- 6 tsp sweet almond oil (organic) 22 grams (18.3%) / or sunflower oil
- 3 tsp beeswax 9 grams (7.49%)
- 1/2 tsp emulsifying wax NF (or BP) 2.4 grams (2%)
Water Phase
- 3 tsp distilled water 12 grams (9.98%)
- 1/4 tsp colloidal oatmeal 1.2 grams (1%)
- 1/4 tsp vegetable glycerine 3 grams (2.5%)
- 1/32 tsp baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) 0.2 grams (0.17%)
Cool Down Phase
- 3 tsp honey (organic) 19 grams (15.8%)
- 3 tsp aloe vera gel 10 grams (8.32%)
- 1 tsp distilled water 4 grams (3.31%)
- 1/2 tsp Geogard Ultra* 2.42 grams (2%) - you may also use another broad-spectrum preservative such as Leucidal SF Complete*
Instructions
Preparation
- Begin by mashing the vegetable glycerine and colloidal oatmeal together to form a paste. This step ensures that the oatmeal doesn't form clumps in the end product.
- Scrape the oatmeal mixture and the rest of the water phase ingredients into a heat-proof glass jar. Mason jars are fine, but I'm using beakers in the images.
- Place all of the oil phase ingredients into a second jar.
- Measure the honey and aloe vera gel from the cool-down phase into a small dish/ramekin.
- Place the distilled water and preservative into their own small dish and mix with a spoon.
Heating the Ingredients
- Heat the oil and water phases on indirect heat on the stove top. The simplest way to do this is to make a double boiler by first placing a folded cloth or pot holder at the bottom of a saucepan. Place the two jars on top and then fill the pan with warm water up to the level of the ingredients in the jars.
- Bring the pan to a simmer and stir the phases as they heat and melt.
- When the oil phase is completely melted and both phases are about 158–167°F (70-75°C), remove the jars from the water.
Making the Eczema Cream
- Stir and then pour the water phase ingredients into the oil phase ingredients. Use the spatula to scrape out as much as possible.
- Now it's time to emulsify. If you have a milk frother, it's a piece of cake—submerge the head and turn it on. Move it around to stir, but keep it under the surface. The ingredients will emulsify and begin to thicken as they cool. You can also continuously stir the ingredients with the spatula until they emulsify and thicken. It may take several minutes.
- Once mixed, allow the cream to cool until it's under 104°F (40°C). Then stir in the cool-down phase ingredients—the honey, aloe vera gel, and the preservative in water. Stir to mix it thoroughly.
- Pour/scrape the cream into a cosmetic jar and allow it to come to room temperature before sealing. It's best to let it sit for a day for the ingredients to settle before using it. Shelf-life is dependent on whether you used the Geogard Ultra or another preservative*.
Notes
Though I strongly encourage you to use the ingredient weights to make this recipe, I've used volume measurements as the main unit for those who don't have a kitchen scale. The finished cream, made using the same ingredients, will have a pH of about 6, which is ideal for sensitive skin.
*Geogard Ultra is a brand of gentle, broad-spectrum preservative that's suitable for organic skincare recipes. It comes as a powder and is also known as Neodefend or 'Gluconolactone and Sodium Benzoate'. If you cannot source it, please use another broad-spectrum skincare preservative to stop microbes from colonizing your recipe and making it unsafe for skin. Refer to the manufacturer's instructions for usage rate and how to mix it in.
*Geogard Ultra provides eighteen months of protection against bacteria and other microbes as long as the pH is not altered in any way, it's kept at room temperature, and isn't used. Once open, you must use it within six months.