These eczema relief bath melts have been a lifesaver for me over the past year. I’m sure I’ll write about this in more detail soon, but a couple of years ago I developed eczema out of the blue. I’m convinced it was stress related, but I still haven’t been able to shake it. It mostly effects my hands, the inside of my elbows, behind my knees and the top of my eyelids (lucky me). Over time, I’ve been gradually adapting my lifestyle for the sake of my skin. One of the biggest annoyances is not being able to use soap or traditional bubble bath / bath bombs.
A soaky bath is one of my favourite luxuries and luckily there are certain things I can use that actually help my skin. Oats are really healing because they are anti-inflammatory and also create a barrier in your skin that retains moisture. Thick oils like olive oil, coconut oil, cocoa butter and shea butter are great for moisturizing and there are essential oils like lavender which have a much needed soothing effect for skin.
I used to make baths with baking soda, olive oil and oats which are wonderfully therapeutic but it’s kinda gross to be washing yourself in a pool of greasy porridge every day. These eczema relief bath melts have similar ingredients to my porridge bath but the cheesecloth contains the thicker contents, making them more pleasant to use. If you don’t suffer from eczema but you still want a luxurious homemade bath product, just skip the oats and you’ll be good to go. These melts are based on my favourite Lush bath product (Ceridwen’s Cauldron) which is a beautifully calming bath melt, but it’s too pricey for me to use regularly. The ingredients in my homemade recipe can be expensive but because you can make so many products from them, they are cost effective in the long run.
How To Make Eczema Relief Bath Melts
You will need
100g organic unrefined cocoa butter
50g organic unrefined shea butter
1 tablespoon sweet almond oil
2 cups oats
1/2 cup dried lavender
20 drops essential oil (suggestion: orange, lavender, sandalwood, frankincense)
unbleached cheesecloth cut into 8 20cm*20cm squares
silicone moulds
Makes 8 eczema relief bath melts
Instructions
Step 1: Melt the cocoa butter and shea butter in a glass bowl placed within a pot of water on a medium heat. Be careful not to overheat!
Step 2: Once the butter mixture has cooled down a little, mix in the almond oil and your chosen blend of essential oils. You don’t want to add the essential oils to a hot pot of oil because they’ll evaporate!
Step 3: Pour the oil into each silicone mould and sprinkle the dried lavender flowers on the top. Blend the oats in a food processor or blender and divide these up between the moulds. Leave the tray in the fridge for at least an hour to set.
Step 4: Once the bath melts have set you can wrap them up in a piece of cheesecloth. Place the melt in the middle of the square, tie one pair of opposite corners together, and then the other opposite corners. The cheesecloth keeps the oats contained (preventing a porridgey bath) so if you’re skipping the oats, the cheesecloth isn’t necessary.
If you live somewhere warm, you’ll want to keep these melts in the fridge! The cheesecloth doesn’t prevent the oil from melting so if you’re storing them in your bathroom, use a sheet of greaseproof paper underneath to prevent everything from getting oily. To use, simply add to a warm bath and let it melt your stress away! Note that very hot baths are bad for your skin, even though they feel good at the time. Happy bath time everyone!
These sound lovely. I have suffered from eczema off and on too throughout my life, and something like this sounds perfect when you want to soothe your skin and relax. Thanks!
I hope they help you! I have to say just the ability to indulge in a bath without my skin being irritated is such an important thing for me xx
I can’t even imagine how hard it would be having eczema. I freak out over the tiniest bit of dry skin. I never take baths because I never have the patience to wait for the bath to fill up and I can’t just sit there and do nothing, but I think you are convincing me to take me with all these homemade bath melts and bombs!
It’s more uncomfortable than anything but definitely the worst thing about it is not being able to enjoy lush baths anymore! I often can’t wear makeup wither when there’s a flare up on my face. You should try reading in the bath or watching a show in the bath – two of my favourite activities! Although, I spend a lot of time with music / podcasts / tv on in the background so sometimes it’s nice just to sit in the quiet for a little while.
This is awesome! I sometimes wonder if KC has eczema. He’s never had anything looked at, probably should! ha… but I wonder if something like this would help him.
XO – Alexandra
Simply Alexandra: My Favorite Things
There are tonnes of dry skin conditions which are really similar, so he probably has one of them! A nice selling bath bomb never hurt anyone… xx
These sound great! I think I’m quite lucky to have never really had any problems with my skin, I don’t really get acne or spots, and I don’t really get eczema or dry skin either. In the past I’ve had stress-related hives but these seem to have disappeared from the age of about 18 onwards, they randomly started and they randomly stopped. So perhaps if your eczema is stress-related you may end up with it randomly disappearing? It’s good your making changes to accomodate in the meantime xx
I’m lucky also to never have had acne – it sounds painful! I hope my eczema randomly disappears, that would be the best! xx
these sound lovely! and i do hope your eczema disappears out of the blue as well! xx
Thank you! I’ve been doing research into herbal medicine as well so I hope I find something that works! xx
My 5-year-old daughter has had eczema her whole life. We recently discovered bath bombs, and though she loves to use them, I know they aren’t good for her sensitive skin. She’s complained that her fingers burn! (Her fingers break out frequently). So I’ve been looking for a way to make the bath bombs myself! Thank you for posting! I’m excited to try this!!
I added my oatmeal into the oil mix prior to pouring into molds— hope it still works. The love these from Lush— here’s hoping mine are as lovely. Thanks for posting the recipe.