What Natural Soap Is Best for Eczema or Dry Skin?
The causes of eczema can vary tremendously. Some are triggered by stress, others by skin irritants. If you’ve had eczema for a long time, you likely have a routine that helps you manage your skin — but if you haven’t yet given natural soap a try, they may offer some relief. Natural soaps contain a great balance of nourishing oils, butters and glycerine, and have helped soothed my own dry and sensitive skin.
From personal experience, it takes a week or two, and lots of care and patience, before seeing improvement after trying something new. Developing a routine for sensitive skin is incredibly personal and can be a long process, so hang in there! To help you on your journey, I put together some tips and soap recommendations for eczema or dry skin.
Ingredients to look out for when choosing soap for eczema or dry skin
✔️ Nourishing soft oils or butters
✔️ Cold process soap
✔️ Glycerine
Look out for shea butter, cocoa butter, jojoba oil, avocado oil, and olive oil, which contain moisturising and nourishing properties.
The cold process method produces glycerine, a humectant that helps a bar of soap feel creamy and smooth, and acts as a protective layer that keeps the skin moisturised and hydrated.
In addition to naturally occurring glycerine in cold process soap, some soapmakers include more glycerine in their soap for further moisturising properties.
❓ Hardeners or hardening agents
❓ Synthetic fragrance oils
Hardeners improve the texture of soap and help minimise lather, which can dry out the skin. However, too much hardener in proportion to oils or butters can also be drying. You may also find that certain hardeners irritate your skin. It’s all about finding the right balance!
It’s common practice amongst soapmakers to use synthetic fragrance oils to scent their soaps, for good reason. That said, fragrance oils are common allergens and skin irritants, so you may want to try different fragrances, or fragrance-free soaps to test your reaction.
In Singapore, many people travel overseas to buy soap from farmers’ markets, myself included! Don’t be afraid to ask the soap artisans about their soapmaking process to find out if it’s suitable for your skin. For example, since I’m allergic to many synthetic fragrances, and my skin has reacted poorly to soaps with fragrance oils in the past, I avoid them entirely.
Soaps suitable for sensitive skin
Pure olive oil soap
You may know pure olive soap by another name — castile soap! Traditionally, soap must be made using 100% olive oil in order to be considered castile soap. While they have a higher alkalinity than other soaps, they contain the highest amount of glycerine, and least known irritants and allergens. Because this is such a gentle and non-irritating soap, it is suitable for most skin types.
Our Pure Olive Oil Soap is only made with 3 ingredients: olive oil, lye and water. It’s safe to use on both face and body, but if you have oily skin, we recommend using a stronger cleanser on your face, or use more than one round of washing to properly cleanse your skin.
Goat’s milk soap
Goat’s milk contains plenty of fatty acids to boost the moisturising properties of the oils and butters in any soap recipe. With the same pH as our skin, goat’s milk helps to preserve our skin barrier and natural microbiome, and adverse reactions are extremely unlikely.
We produce a version of goat’s milk soap with fresh goat’s milk from a farm in Singapore, plus avocado oil, jojoba oil, coconut oil and lots of olive oil for added moisture. We scent it with organic lavender essential oil, a safe and stable essential oil that’s suitable for all skin types, and for facial use too.
Oatmeal soap
If you are looking for an exfoliating soap, go for a soft and mild exfoliant like whole or ground oatmeal to gently slough away dead skin and dirt. Harsher scrubs or exfoliants are abrasive and can damage or irritate the skin, especially skin that’s on the thinner side. On the occasion that you don’t want to use the soap as a scrub, simply lather it in your hands before applying it to your body.
Besides its exfoliating properties, oatmeal also soothes and softens the skin, and has been shown to relieve itching. For a gently exfoliating face and body bar, try our Patchouli & Oats Soap, which uses baby oats and aloe vera powder.
If you have questions about our soap or soapmaking process, or are looking for soap for a specific skin condition, I’m here to help! Drop me an email at care@pluralsupply.com or a DM on Instagram.
– J, maker and founder of Plural Supply
