I've tried prescription creams, massages, and DIY treatments for my eczema, but this $13 lotion is the only thing that's worked
- After years of trial and error with prescription creams and oil massage treatments, I found the $13 JUA Essentials Premium Natural Hydrating Body Lotion to be the most effective for my eczematous skin.
- It soothed my itchy, flaky skin, and left it more hydrated and supple after just one week. The light, floral scent also lingers on my skin longer than some of my most expensive perfumes.
- It's not meant to be an eczema treatment so you should check with your dermatologist before incorporating this into your routine.
My itchy, eczematous skin tends to flare up in the summer - and there's nothing more annoying than a distracting itch when you're at the beach, a barbecue, or really just trying to sleep.
Anyone with eczema or itchy skin has probably ridden the same - expensive - merry-go-round of trying to treat their eczema. I've tried prescription creams that cost hundreds of dollars, baby powder, my mother's homemade Indian concoctions, and even oil massages in Thailand. Everything changed within just one week of my using the JUA Essentials Invigorating Body Lotion.
My life pre-JUA meant that I'd find myself awkwardly scratching my arms, legs, and back uncomfortably between meetings at the privacy of my desk. The scratching would result in scarring, which would then cause uneven skin tone - I was caught in a cycle. I had truly given up on finding something to ease my irritable skin, and I wasn't even looking for a solution for it anymore, when JUA sent me the lotion to try.
JUA is marketed as a regular lotion and not an eczema treatment, so I tried it on a randomly one day before going out. It was super lightweight on my skin, so I didn't expect much from it TBH. But when I came home after work and worked out right afterward, I realized my skin wasn't itchy at all.
I thought it was a coincidence but decided to try using it with more frequency. Two weeks later, I was hooked.
No more uncomfortable itch after a long day at work or a workout. Gone were the days of asking my boyfriend to scratch that itch on my back I never could reach. I even wore this as a base under my sunscreen during a day at the beach and experienced no flare ups - something I usually would've been nursing for weeks after.
The lotion uses high-quality natural ingredients you'd recognize in a lot of skin-care products, like shea butter and vitamin E, but only costs $12.35 for a large pump bottle.
Dermatologist Dr. Debra Jaliman highly recommends shea butter for its moisturizing quality. She says it contains has cinnamic acid, an anti-inflammatory that gives shea butter the ideal combo of moisture and the ability to soothe skin.
The formula also has baobab oil, which contains vitamin E to replenish lipids. Vitamin E is a compound naturally present in our skin that strengthens the skin's protective barrier, but people with eczema have a compromised barrier to begin with. Together, shea butter and baobab oil help hydrate, ease inflammation, and strengthen the skin - the holy trifecta for an eczema treatment.
But just as important as the ingredients is the frequency and times at which you apply the lotion.
Jaliman recommends applying right after a shower and right before bed - the former because the water and heat on your skin aids in locking in moisture from the lotion, and the latter because ingredients can penetrate the skin more deeply when we are asleep and our bodies are in recovery mode.
But eczema and those itchy dry patches aren't always caused by a single underlying issue. For the true reason behind what might be causing your eczema to flare up, it's important to see a dermatologist. But what you can do is take Dr. Jaliman's sage advice to always read ingredient labels.
According to her, things like glycolic acid, salicylic acid, and retinol can aggravate irritated skin. While I love my retinol serum for acne scars, it's an ingredient far too aggressive for my sensitive, dry skin.
But JUA Essentials Premium lotion isn't just free of those aggressive ingredients. It's also free of pore-clogging petroleum and mineral oil, and questionably harmful aluminum, parabens, sulfates, and synthetic fragrances. Despite being free of artificial fragrances, the delicate scent has also gotten me compliments on more than one occasion.
I had been conditioned to think that a healing, hydrating lotion had to be thick like petroleum, so admittedly, when I first used this, I didn't think much of it other than that I loved the light nutty scent of shea butter and floral scent of the baobab oil. But once on my skin, the lotion was surprisingly lightweight and fast absorbing. Now I reach for it every day, sometimes twice a day. My eczema often flares up when I'm sweating, so it's important for me to put this on before I go out in the morning.
The one thing JUA doesn't do is heal the scars from years of flaky, dry skin. For that, Dr. Jaliman recommends a hydrating cream with calendula oil. "It's an excellent humectant for dry skin, as well as for severely chapped and broken skin. It also has calming and anti-inflammatory properties which can help soothe very dry, irritated skin," she says.
Eczema is a chronic condition that differs from person to person, so while this lotion worked for me, it might not work for everyone and you should definitely talk to your derm before trying this.
For now, I'm satisfied with having been able to treat the symptoms of my eczema. For the unbeatable $13 price tag, the only other thing I'd want from the lotion is that it graced my skin many years ago.