by solveeczema | Sep 19, 2007 | About Eczema, Solveeczema.org
Eczema from detergents – per solveeczema.org – is caused by how detergents affect skin membrane permeability and function and is not a true IgE-mediated allergy to detergents. In fact, very few people (if any) have a true allergy to detergents, most detergent allergies are actually allergies to product enzymes and additives. Sodium lauryl sulfate, known to be highly problematic for people with eczema, is a detergent analog of a surfactant our bodies make and use to regulate membrane permeability, among other things. I’m not sure we even could be allergic to it in the true sense; again, the eczema comes about from how it affects the skin membrane.
Thus you could not test for detergent reactivity with traditional allergy blood tests. Initially I sometimes used the word “allergy” in regards to this reaction, with some justification, but it’s not a true allergic reaction to the detergents themselves.
by solveeczema | Sep 13, 2007 | About Products
Natural Choices makes a good oxygen-based bleach product called Oxy-Boost Oxygen Bleach. (Please note that not all of their products are non-detergent.)
To contact Natural Choices Home Safe Products 1-866-OXY-BOOST and www.oxyboost.com .
I have no connection with this company, but I use this product and like it a lot. My only caveat is to be careful when using this product with very dark blue fabrics. I experienced color transfers to other fabrics that didn’t happen without this product. I expect this isn’t much of a problem since most people would never use any kind of bleach with dark blue, but if you do, simply don’t mix the blues with anything else – the product doesn’t seem to fade the colors much, it just seems to sometimes facilitate transfer of some blue to other fabrics if the load is mixed.
by solveeczema | Sep 13, 2007 | About Products
As I wrote in an earlier post, I have recently tried dozens of bar soaps. The prospect of sharing that experience is somewhat daunting. I share my own personal opinion; the experiences of others will depend on factors like skin type, individual sensitivities, individual needs, even local humidity. My experience will not be everyone’s.
I have done my best to determine that each of these products is a true soap, but as I recommend on the site, always, always check first.
Because I tried so many soaps, I am going to split this feedback into several posts, and sort the soaps into broad categories only:
A) Bar soaps I liked the best: neutral, relatively non-drying, but still left the skin feeling clean, even soft and neutral.
B) Bar soaps I thought were pretty good and neutral, but didn’t make my A-list for one reason or another, such as leaving a lot of soap residue on sink surfaces, having an overwhelming perfume, etc.
C) Bar soaps I found moisturizing that perhaps didn’t leave the skin feeling as clean as I would like.
D) Bar soaps I personally found too drying to use regularly. (Note that some of these are very popular soaps; individual experiences will vary. I list them here to provide as many choices as possible.)
Since I’ve already posted some of my A-list, I’ll start with a few choices in
Category B:
Bar soaps I thought were pretty good and neutral, but didn’t make my A-list for one reason or another.
Canus Goat’s Milk Soap, Naturally Rich Moisturizing
Johnson’s Baby Soap Bar
Skin Milk Bath Bar
Fruits & Passion French-Milled Soap Fieldberries
Green Tea Herbal Soap by Earth Therapeutics
Savon Deluxe Almond and Oatmeal
A special comment on the last two products: both would have made my A-list except for two reasons: strong or unusual scents and the fact that both are exfoliating products with hard granules in them. That’s a problem for me, but it might make the products desirable to someone else.
by solveeczema | Aug 28, 2007 | About Eczema, About Products, Solveeczema.org
Early on in my search for soaps, I asked a local saddlery about products. I must have had the term “saddle soap” in the back of my mind – I figured I’d find soap products for washing horses that would likely be fine for humans, too.
I was surprised to find that all of the products available for washing horses were detergent-based, most using sodium lauryl sulfate. I did a little hunting on the web, only to find that horses are having eczema problems in recent years, especially certain breeds. Family pets get eczema, too – You don’t even necessarily have to wash them to expose them to detergents, they get significant exposure just from detergents in modern household dust.
And it sure seems to me from everything I have read that the underlying causes (plural) as outlined on my site are the same as in humans. Makes sense.
I hear myself say this over and over, but … Although my site is geared to parents of babies with severe eczema – people who need to see rapid and dramatic results for infants who have the most permeable skin – if you read and understand the underlying issues, it’s possible to make sense of and solve eczema in pets.
I don’t know if eczema in pets makes them less cute and cuddly and more likely to be abandoned or worse (especially since detergent-caused eczema would be present early on), or if current trends of offering more advanced medical care to pets would make caring for a pet with eczema more common. The information I can find about eczema in family pets is very sketchy, so I fear the former may be an issue. I’d love to know more about the problem from anyone who works with animals.
Please contact me through the web site, via the feedback links on the home page.
http://www.solveeczema.org
by solveeczema | Aug 22, 2007 | About Eczema
We stayed recently with friends whose soon-to-be toddler has detergent-reactive eczema as bad or worse than our son did at that age. Going detergent-free in their home took more work than we did in our case, and what we did was enough! Fortunately, as their baby enters toddlerhood, their baby’s skin will become naturally less permeable and so can tolerate more detergent exposure without breakouts. But, I warned, at their baby’s age, they have one more difficult autumn, then it should be smooth sailing from there.
I encourage people with this problem to maintain the changes over time – even when susceptibility to breakouts decreases as children get older and their skin becomes naturally less permeable – to keep that reduced antigen load and hopefully reduce asthma and other allergy risk. Their skin should also stay more substantial and less dry that way. But when that threshold to breaking out increases, it is no longer is necessary to sweat the small stuff. As toddlers enter early childhood, they may even seem to “outgrow” the eczema. Unfortunately, sometimes, then “autumn eczema” hits.
As everyone with eczema knows, weather and humidity modulate eczema severity.
Summertime humidity can be such a help to those who are in the problem-solving stages, or who have a baby whose exposures are very difficult to control. Unfortunately, when autumn rolls around, and the heat comes on indoors – drying the air – people with detergent-reactive eczema become more susceptible to breakouts from lower levels of detergent.
I have in the past told friends to write a note about this in their calendars and not to panic if they see new breakouts at this time – they just have to be a little more vigilant to bring detergent exposure down to a lower level for awhile. (Usually they forget and panic anyway, but soon sort it out with just a little more vigilance.)
As I point out on my site, absent detergents that increase skin permeability, even dry air will not result in eczema in susceptible individuals. If you’ve gotten lax like we always did over the summer, now might be a good time to increase vigilance about exposures to prevent those autumn breakouts. (Or, wait until the heat comes on and just remember not to panic…)
