5 Herbal Remedies for Eczema

Whether you’ve got those itchy eczema rashes on your skin from some allergy or from dry skin, there is more than one remedy that can cure your eczema. These home remedies can cure minor rashes to the oozing sores that you get during eczema flare-ups as well as the underlying causes that give you this skin disease. When taking steps to get rid of eczema, you should understand it fully that external medicines, that you apply on your skin like some gel or ointment etc., can only give you relief from the outer symptoms of eczema. You need to remove the underlying causes to completely cure and prevent the recurrence of eczema by modifying some of your dietary habits, as well as lifestyle choices (stress and sedentary life may also trigger eczema!) Here, are some remedies that will not only eliminate the symptoms but also the underlying causes of your eczema.

Herbal Remedies for Eczema

1. Use Neem for Curing Eczema

Neem or Margosa is a boon for your skin and can fight against any kind of skin disease including, of course, eczema. The two components of neem, Nimbin and nimbidin, are anti-inflammatory substances that work just as any steroid works to give you relief from dermatitis or eczema. Not only this, neem is also analgesic and antibacterial. Thus, it not only give you relief from pain but also protects you from secondary infections that can be caused by eczema wounds.

There are a variety of ways to use neem – external as well as internal- to get rid of skin problems. Here are some of them for your assistance.

• Apply neem leaves paste on the skin along with turmeric. This is perhaps the simplest remedy. Just crush a few neem leaves, mix it with 1 tablespoon of turmeric powder and apply it on your skin!
• Wash off skin with neem decoction. Take 20-30 margosa leaves to add them in about five cups of water. Bring this water to boil for about 15-20 minutes. Cool it off and wash off the area of your skin having eczema with this water. Do it quite a few times in a day.
• Eat neem leaves and flowers as vegetables. Neem helps in purifying your blood. Impurities in blood, as well as blood circulation problems, are one of the causes of eczema. So, to ensure that your blood gets purified to its fulls, have tender neem leaves (the small ones that still have a little shade of red – the sign of their being immature leaves). If you can chew them, well and good. These tender leaves are not so bitter as the mature ones are. If you can’t chew them, mix a little amount (only 4-5 may do) of such leaves with vegetables that you make. You can also make a dish out of neem flowers. They too are established a remedy for eczema in Ayurveda. In fact, all the bitter vegetables like bitter gourd and bitter drumsticks are also good for your health an can be eaten for even curing eczema.
• Apply neem oil to your skin. Neem oil, if used continuously for about a year or so, can stop the recurrence of eczema forever. Neem oil can excellently prevent your skin from drying out which is one of the main reasons for eczema getting aggravated. It is a great emollient and thus heals the cracks in your skin while preventing loss of moisture and restoring skin’s protective barrier. While you can buy neem oil in health stores, you can also make it at home.

How to make neem oil at home?

You will need:

• Neem leaves- 50 g
• Mustard oil- 200g
• Iron vessel

Directions:

• Take the iron vessel and put mustard oil in it.
• Heat the oil.
• When the oil begins boiling, add neem leaves to it and let it boil.
• When the leaves in the oil turn black, put off the flame.
• Let the oil cool down before straining.
• Strain it and store for your usage.
• Apply this neem on to your eczema daily for 3-4 times.

2. Use Natural Moisturizers for Dry Skin Causing Eczema

The commercially available emollients made with chemicals can, in fact, aggravate your eczema. How? Take a look at the components of the emollient you are using. If you find parabens and Sodium Laurel Sulphate (SLS) in this list, you may be sure that you are not getting relief from your dermatitis soon! Many people find parabens irritating to their skins. As far as SLS is concerned, it is an ester of sulphuric acid that can actually dry up the natural oils present in your skin leading to more itching and skin corrosion. They do not at all contribute to treating your eczema. So, it’s wise to use natural moisturizers like aloe vera gel, cocoa butter and even almond oil to soothe your dry skin.

• Take out the gel from aloe vera leaves. This is the best way to use pure natural aloe gel. Take a leave of aloe vera, dethorn and deskin it. You’ll be viewing the thick gel of aloe vera now. Apply this gel on your skin affected with dermatitis. Leave for about half an hour and then wash away. Repeat the process twice a day. You may even add vitamin E oil to aloe gel as it is a very skin friendly oil.
• Get pure cocoa butter. Due to its high proportion of saturated fats, cocoa butter has excellent emollient properties. It is one of the main ingredients in many commercially available skin creams and lotions due to its moisturizing properties. So why not use it in its natural form to prevent all the other chemicals, especially parabens, present in these skin creams! Your dry skin will love this natural moisturizer and will keep eczema at bay.

3. Use Plant-Based Oils to Treat Eczema

Why oil? Because skin suffering from eczema is not that capable of producing as much fat as is required by your skin. It is also not capable of retaining water or moisture which leads to deterioration of skin’s protective barrier. All this, in turn, leads to widening of the gaps between your skin cells making it prone to bacterial infections. This not the only thing. Many external things like soaps and other lotions etc. that come in contact with your skin too remove skin’s natural oils and eczema makes it worse as the skin can break down more easily. The United Kingdom’s National Eczema Society says that managing eczema is all about keeping your skin soft and supple. Emollients can do this work efficiently. They soothe your irritating skin and form an oily layer over it in order to trap the water underneath it. This prevents allergens and bacteria reducing your eczema. Certain plant-based oils are excellent emollients and you should try to use one or multiple of them to grant you relief from eczema. Here is a list of such oils that you can use to home treat your eczema.

• Sweet almond oil is a very good emollient which nourishes dry skin excellently. Using this oil can relieve you from all the itching caused by eczema. The vitamin-rich sweet almond oil contains the plant-derived compounds known as ursolic acid and oleic acid. These elements have anti-inflammatory properties and can repair damaged skin effectively. Massaging this oil on your body before having bath can prevent your skin’s dryness and give you relief from eczema.
• Avocado oil, rich in vitamins A, D and E help in not only maintaining healthy skin but also in relieving eczema. Aubrey Hampton, an author of Natural Organic Hair and Skin Care, says that if anyone uses avocado oil for long-term, it may help in treating eczema. You can apply this oil directly on your rashes and even include it in your diet such as in form of salad dressing.
• Flaxseed oil is a great source of essential fatty acid alpha-linolenic acid which may help in decreasing the inflammation caused by eczema. Also, as this oil has the good fats needed by our body, the regular consumption of flaxseed oil may avoid the eczema flare-ups too. Have 1 tablespoon of flaxseed oil daily to manage your eczema effectively. In fact, you can also apply it locally as suggested by Ayurveda. Mix some lime water with flaxseed (also called linseed) oil and apply on the affected areas of your skin.

4. Make Homemade Ointment with Gotu Kola Herb

From among various herbs prescribed by Ayurveda, Gotu kola is one of them which serves well in curing eczema. You just need to buy some dried gotu kola leaves from a natural health or Ayurvedic store. Using this herb, you can yourself make a fine ointment to apply on your eczema-affected skin. Here is the recipe to make the same.

You will need:

• Dried gotu kola leaves- ¼ cup
• Dried chamomile leaves- ¼ cup
• Water- ½ cup
• Cornstarch- enough to make a paste

Directions:

• Boil the water.
• Add Gotu Kola and chamomile leaves to this boiled water.
• Let it steep for 10 minutes.
• Now strain and add cornstarch to make a thick paste.
• Apply this paste to the affected skin areas.
• Once dried, wash off with water.

5. Babul and Mango Tree Barks for Hot Compress

When talking about Ayurvedic remedies for eczema, one can’t in fact, keep away from Babul (Indian gum tree) and mango tree. Yes, the barks of these trees can cure eczema to the core. Here is a recipe for making a hot compress for your eczema using these herbs.

You will need:

• Babul bark- 30 g
• Mango tree bark- 30 g
• Water- 1 liter
• A Towel- large enough to cover your eczema affected skin when folded.
• Ghee (clarified butter)- ¼ – 1 teaspoon (depending upon the skin area where you’ll apply it)

Directions:

• Add the babul and mango barks with water.
• Boil this water for half an hour.
• Take the towel and fold it.
• Dip this towel in the hot water. Be careful not to burn yourself. If needed, let the water cool off a little.
• Now take out the hot herbs treated towel and check it for its temperature. You need to place it on the skin with eczema rashes but have to be careful.
• Place the hot towel on your skin area affected with eczema.
• Let it be there till the time it cools off.
• Dip the towel again and use the hot compress.
• Do this for about 20 minutes.
• Then pat dry the skin and apply ghee (clarified butter) on your skin.

Remember not all remedies suit everyone. You have to find out the exact remedy that can cure your eczema. So, try one or many of these home remedies to get rid of eczema!