I'm going to continue this thread and add one more thing. My eczema came back after a very bad stint of mosquitoes and stress from job woes over the summer. I bought something on a whim for my hair and it actually ended my eczema when I used it on my body almost immediately. What was it?
Freaking Unrefined Shea Butter!
It is miraculous! It's better than my Sebamed lotion. The brand I'm using is called Kuza in the "creamy" formulation and the butter is bright yellow. I found it at my local HEB grocery for $3.99 in the black hair care section. It is a multi-use product and can be used on hair, nails, and the skin. It absorbs so well and is not greasy!
I had a post-scratch attack, dried up weepy patch of eczema on my back of my calves again and just on a whim applied a good helping of the shea to those areas. The day after next I noticed my eczema was GONE! I have had flare ups on the tops of my feet recently and applied it to them as well and the eczema was knocked out the next day.
**Sidenote about Yellow and Off-White Shea: Shea can be natural and still be yellow. I have bought shea before from coastalscents years ago and was under the impression shea could only be off-white. Turns out yellow butter is the result of another Shea nut grown in West Africa. I thought maybe I might have gotten a fake batch or a batch with artificial preservatives or parabens. I was glad to learn this was actually real! It has the same unique, nutty scent and smooth paste-like texture with no grit. So it all checked out to be very real!