RSS Healing Butter & RSS Zinc Butter Recipes

In honor of Independence Day, today I'll share a recipe with you that we used along the road to gaining independence from topical steroids for my son's eczema! 

As you know, he went through the brutal process of topical steroid withdrawal. After using topical steroids (over-the-counter hydrocortisone cream) on his eczema as directed by his doctor, he developed a worse condition known as Red Skin Syndrome. You can see my posts about it here, but today what I want to share is the natural body butter recipe I formulated to help him through TSW. 

This recipe can be used to make two different body butters: RSS Healing Butter (for all stages of TSW) and RSS Zinc Butter (for the raw, oozing stage). The only difference between the two is that one is made WITH and one is made WITHOUT zinc oxide. See my notes below about how I used them. 

Here's what you need:

• 1/2 cup mango butter
• 1/4 cup coconut oil
• 1/4 cup sunflower oil
• 1/2 tsp Vitamin E
• OPTIONAL: If making RSS Zinc Butter, include 2 TBSP pharmaceutical grade zinc oxide (non-nano). If making RSS Healing Butter, skip it. 
• 15 drops each of:
• Frankincense
• Lemongrass
• Melaleuca
• Helichrysum
• German Chamomile
• Lavender
• Myrrh

Melt all but the essential oils together using the double broiler method. Let it chill in the refrigerator until it's beginning to firm up but isn't solid (it may take a few hours). Then whip it till peaks form. (I use my immersion blender for this.) 

Add essential oils. (If you have some, but not all of these oils on hand, start with what you do have!) Last, scoop into containers and chill. 

How I Used Them... 

I used these two butters on my son during TSW and both were excellent throughout the process. I used the RSS Zinc Butter mostly when his skin was super red, raw, and oozing. It dried out the wet parts and he said it helped the itching. Even after TSW loosened its grip on us I used it on wet eczema. The RSS Healing Butter (same thing but no zinc powder) helped a great deal with itching and healing throughout all stages of TSW but we used it mainly when he was in the dry/flaking stage and for less extreme areas and non-oozing skin. 

Curious about when/how others used zinc creams vs. non-zinc creams during TSW, I posted a question in my TSA Caregivers group on Facebook. Everyone agreed that zinc creams were most helpful on angry, red, inflamed, itchy skin, especially if it has any oozing. They also found (like I did) that it helped them progress from the raw, oozing state to the dry, flaking stage of skin regeneration. 

Beyond that, their uses varied. One mom (who makes and sells her TSW creams) layered her zinc cream underneath a lemongrass balm, using more zinc cream when her son was oozing and less when he wasn't. Others skip the zinc cream altogether when the skin doesn't need to be dried out from oozing. I included lemongrass oil in both butters so there's no need to layer them. Between my own experience and others, the consensus seems to be trying zinc for oozing and non-zinc for non-oozing stages, and go from there. 




To read my posts of my son's experience with allergies, eczema, Red Skin Syndrome and topical steroid withdrawal, click HERE. 

For More Info about topical steroids, their addiction and withdrawal, check out itsan.org 

*All essential oils are NOT the same... in fact, only 2% of essential oils sold in North America are medicinal grade! Please read thisbefore buying any!