In a previous post about adult eczema treatment, I talked about changing some of our household products to help prevent my husband’s adult eczema. I am please to tell my readers that his eczema is finally gone! Yea! <doing virtual victory dance>
However, our household expenses have also gone up because my husband needs to continue using these pricier household products to prevent his eczema from coming back. This post is a discussion of the changes we made in our household that got his adult eczema into remission over this last year.
Using a mild or soap or non soap cleanser
I banned my husband from using my girly soap from Bath & Bodyworks. He tried using Dove and Olay of Oil for his adult eczema. But what works best is Aveeno Baby Wash & Shampoo. I guess what is mild enough for a newborn is good enough for the adult suffering from eczema. While Johnson & Johnson works in a pinch, it is too drying and when you have eczema, it is a good idea to keep the skin from drying out.
Am I a bad wife for being secretly pleased that my husband stopped using my nice body wash? A new bottle of Bath & Bodyworks body wash actually last more than a month now. And with couponing and sales, I can usually get the baby wash for $2 a bottle. So this household product switch actually saves us money.
Using an eczema scalp treatment shampoo
My husband switched to a scalp treatment designed to control itching and other scalp conditions called Neutrogena T-Gel Therapeutic Shampoo. Though the switch to baby wash has me jumping for joy, the T-Gel actually ends up tripling the cost of my bottle of Pantene. I guess you can’t put a price on love (or wait, you can. It an additional $7!). The T-Gel works much better than the Head & Shoulders and Selsun Blue in controlling the itching on his scalp.
Using a fragrance free and neutral pH laundry detergent
If you visit any forums discussing eczema, laundry detergent seems to be the biggest culprit for flare-ups. Normal laundry detergent leaves behind chemical residues that makes the clothing stiff (hence you need to add fabric softener) and these chemical residues is irritating for people with adult eczema.
We started using Sun & Earth laundry detergent instead of Tide or Gain. I buy the Sun & Earth online since I haven’t been able to find it at my local Target. It works out to be about $0.12 per ounce. This is about the same cost in some places for Tide or Gain, but you Sun & Earth is actually less irritating for adult eczema.
But guess what? I stopped using fabric softener since switching to Sun & Earth. Our clothes come out clean and soft straight from the washer. Though Sun & Earth is slightly more expensive than Tide or Gain, it costs about the same when you factor in the savings from fabric softener. And when you factor in how wonderful my husband’s skin is reacting to this new laundry detergent, I guess it’s priceless. 
Using a topical corticosteroids cream to control adult eczema
Initially my husband used a topical corticosteroid cream prescribed by his doctor. But over time, as the switch from these household products works its magic, he stopped using the cream for his adult eczema. As long as my husband stays away from hot humid conditions, his adult eczema stays in remission. But as soon as he encounters humidity (which is rare in California), his skins starts developing a rash and his adult eczema acts up. At times like that, he slathers on the topical corticosteroid cream and hightail away from the humidity.
Ok so I exaggerated. It maybe cost us an additional $20 a month to make these household product switch to control my husband’s adult eczema. The results are definitely worth it. I had my doubts at first, but as the patches of rashes disappeared from his body, I make sure our house is well stocked of all these household products that helps control his eczema.
Until next time and thanks for reading Small Steps to Health. If you like what you are reading, please share it with your friends.
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