Natural Remedies for Eczema

The Diet Connection:

I feel it is important to note that all of the topical remedies in the world didn’t help us until we addressed the underlying problem, specifically: diet and lifestyle factors that were causing/contributing to the eczema to begin with.

Just as you can’t out supplement a bad diet in other areas, topical remedies don’t address the underlying problem that is causing the eczema to begin with.

Certainly, eczema and other skin issues are complex conditions with a potential variety of causes, but there do seem to be some common things that help (both dietary and other).

What is GAPS:

“The protocol in Gut and Psychology Syndrome is basically an intensive nutritional program to heal the gut lining. It focuses on soothing and healing the gut lining with foods like bone broth and beneficial fats while boosting beneficial gut bacteria with probiotics and fermented foods.

Depending on the severity of the patient, one either begins with or works up to the Introduction Diet, which is the strictest part of the protocol, focused on intensive healing. There are then stages as the person begins to introduce other foods. The most difficult factor of the GAPS diet is that in order to be effective, especially in the beginning, one must be 100% compliant. This means a lot of preparing foods at home, as practically any foods prepared by someone not familiar with the protocol will have things that can aggravate the gut.”


If you or a family member struggle with skin problems, allergies or behavior struggles, I’d definitely recommend at least checking out the book Gut and Psychology Syndrome to see if the protocol would be helpful for you.

Of course, once diet has been addressed, there are some things that can be used topically to speed healing or limit discomfort during the healing time. For us, these things were helpful:
1. Coconut Oil

You can use coconut oil for everything. It is one of the things that would absolutely be on my list in a you-are-going-to-an-island-and-can-only-bring-five-things type situation. You can use it for skin, hair, teeth, health and even soap making at our house, but it is also great for eczema (as long as the person isn’t allergic/intolerant to coconut!).

Use a thin layer of coconut oil or a coconut oil lotion bar helps cool eczema itching and pain. For those sensitive to coconut oil, these hypoallergenic lotion bars work really well too.
2. Sea Spray

For eczema that is wet/oozing, I’ve found that drying it works better than trying to moisturize it and offers relief. For this, we use a homemade salt and magnesium spray. I’ve often heard people with skin problems say that they felt better at the beach, and it makes sense. Between the Vitamin D, the magnesium and the minerals in the water, the beach is great for skin health!

For those who don’t live near the ocean, this homemade spray can help achieve some of the same benefits at home.
3. Fermented Cod Liver Oil

Sounds nasty (doesn’t taste so great either) but fermented cod liver oil is one of the supplements we take daily. From a past post:

“Fermented Cod Liver Oil (FCLO) is recommended by the Weston A. Price Foundation and is a great source of healthy fats for the body. This supplement is also an integral part of the tooth remineralization process as detailed by Dr. Price and by Rami Nagel in Cure Tooth Decay. These two help reduce inflammation in the body and lead to healthy cell, hormone and brain development. They are especially important during pregnancy and for children while their brains are developing.

Cod Liver Oil/High Vitamin Butter Oil are a great source of the fat-soluble vitamins A,D, E and K and as such are supportive of hundreds or processes in the body. The supplements are rather pricey, but we’ve seen a big difference from adding this to our regimen (including skin health!)

I take Fermented Cod Liver Oil in Capsules or Fermented Cod Liver Oil/High Vitamin Butter Oil blend in Gel Form.

Yes, the taste is terrible but you can sneak the chocolate flavored gel into smoothies though icon smile 7 Natural Remedies for Eczema
4. Magnesium Baths

For some people with eczema, soaking in water makes it worse. For those who tolerate it, magnesium baths and other types of detox baths can be helpful in skin healing.

I regularly add a cup of epsom salts or magnesium flakes and a few tablespoons of Himalayan salt to my kids baths. When I have the time, I take relaxing baths in this mixture also.

When I can’t take the time for a bath, magnesium oil also helps. Amazingly, I notice the benefits of transdermal magnesium (baths or magnesium oil) much more quickly than when I take internal forms of magnesium.

My favorite magnesium bath recipe is:

1-2 cups of epsom salts or magnesium flakes(magnesium flakes are absorbed much more easily)
1/2 cup Himalayan or Sea Salt
1/2 tsp of natural vanilla extract
10-15 drops of essential oil of choice (I love lavender and mint)

These three detox bath recipes are also all great if the person can handle warm water.
5. Probiotics

Just as with the Fermented Cod Liver Oil, probiotics are one supplement that seems to make a noticeable difference with skin health (if the problem is diet/gut related). For us, high quality probiotics were vital when we were intensively doing GAPS.

Probiotics and probiotic-rich foods are another element that is often missing from the modern diet. I’m constantly seeing more research on the many ways that gut bacteria influences our health. In the past, people often preserved food by fermenting it, which also was a good source of probiotics for them. Now, most foods are dead, and we rarely ferment them in the traditional ways, so we don’t consume probiotic rich foods without a specific effort to do so.

We also make an effort to wash our hands and our food (a good thing with the chemicals on them these days) which also wash off the beneficial soil-borne micro-organisms that provide friendly-bacteria to the gut.

Since gut bacteria is so important, probiotics are one supplement I always make sure to take. You can get some probiotics in fermented food and drinks such as:

Kombucha Soda
Water Kefir
Sauerkraut
Lacto-fermenting almost any vegetable using whey (how to make whey)

You can take Bio-Kult Probiotics (developed by the founder of the GAPS diet… it doesn’t have to be refrigerated) and I’ve heard about digestive improvements from this brand. We all take these as a daily maintenance, but at the first sign of digestive troubles or illness, we double or triple the dose until we are better. I also took these to heal after I got food poisoning, and was back to normal in a couple of days.


6. Additional Gelatin-rich Foods

I’ve mentioned that bone broth was an important part of a healing diet for us, and this was partially because of its high gelatin content. Gelatin is very soothing to the gut and is also great for hair, skin and nail health.

Homemade, nutrient dense bone broth is incredibly easy and inexpensive to make. There is no comparison to the store-bought versions which often contain MSG or other chemicals and which lack gelatin and some of the other health-boosting properties of homemade broth.

In selecting the bones for broth, look for high quality bones from grass fed cattle or bison, pastured poultry or wild caught fish. Since you’ll be extracting the minerals and drinking them in concentrated form, you want to make sure that the animal was as healthy as possible.

There are several places to find good bones for stock:

Save leftovers from when you roast a chicken, duck, turkey or goose (pastured)
From a local butcher, especially one who butchers the whole animal
From local farmers who raise grass fed animals (ask around at your local Farmer’s Market)
Online from companies like US Wellness Meats (also where I get grass fed Tallow in bulk- they sell pre-made high quality broth) or Tropical Traditions (I order high quality beef, bison, lamb and chicken bones from them at good prices)

This recipe for broth is my favorite and is an adaption of the recipe in Nourishing Traditions.

For those who aren’t ready to jump in to having a pot of boiling bones on the stove, some of the same benefits can be obtained from taking Gelatin as a supplement instead. We use Great Lakes Kosher since I was able to verify with the company that it is sourced from grass-fed, humanely raised cows, and as such is higher in nutrients.

I also use Gelatin in recipes like:

Homemade chewable vitamins
homemade probioitc marshmallows
homemade “Jell-o”
Homemade fruit snacks

7. Homemade Healing Salve

For scars or blisters from eczema that take longer to heal, a homemade healing salve can be helpful. One thing that is helping is this homemade healing salve.

My homemade healing salve is helpful on eczema as well as: cuts, bruises, stings, poison ivy and skin irritations. It also helps diaper rash and baby skin irritations- just don’t use with cloth diapers or line them first!