Best soap for eczema?

[Omar_Little]

Here’s a post I made a couple of years ago. Look for syndet creams or bars:

@Omar_Little

I’m currently 51. Starting in my early 20’s I started having small isolated break-outs on my scalp. This continued on and off for about a 10 years, until I started experimenting with less harsh shampoos with more natural ingredients. I discovered that using more natural shampoos without the harsh chemicals, that my scalp wouldn’t break out.

Then around age 35, I started having mild breakouts of eczema on my legs below my knees and on the backs of my hands. It would come and go. I went to a dermatologist who prescribed a steroid cream that help fight back the flare ups. I’d have a month or so free of eczema, and then another flare up would occur. The break outs never were beyond mild cases, but it would still itch like hell, and made wearing shorts in the summer self conscious at times. I experimented using milder body washes, etc. but never found anything consistently that would permanently fix the problem.

If you have never had eczema, it’s a pain in the ass. While the steroid creams help, they aren’t prophylactic, they treat the symptoms. Also for whatever reason, where I live there is a shortage of dermatologists and it takes a minimum of 6 months to get in to just see the physician’s assistant ¶ of my dermatologist. I also tried every type of body moisturizer including the ones branded a for helping with eczema. Again, the ingredients in the moisturizers would help sooth the itching but only temporarily.

About a year and a half ago, I gave up using a body wash poof for cleaning in the shower and went back to just using my hands to clean myself. And more recently I switched from using a more natural less harsh body wash to using a synthetic detergent (syndet) which is designed to have a pH factor closer to the human body.

I haven’t had a single eczema flare-up/break out in the last 18 months. I credit the primary contributor is giving up the poof, but the syndet I feel is adding to less irritation to my skin. I’ll never go back to using a poof, those things are horrible for your skin, bacteria filled scraping devices.

It’s nice to be itch free for the last year and a half.