My son started showing signs of eczema around his first birthday. It began as patches on his cheeks. Then spread. Some weeks were manageable. Some weeks were miserable. Summer was always the worst! The heat, the sweat, our special summer trip to the Bahamas that should have been fun left his skin angry and inflamed for days afterward.
We tried everything our pediatrician recommended. Some things helped, but nothing fixed it. And somewhere in the middle of all of it I started paying very close attention to what was actually touching his skin and more importantly, what was making things worse.
Here's what I actually learned. Some of it surprised me.
Not all essential oils are safe for eczema skin
This is the one I wish someone had told me earlier.
The clean beauty world talks about essential oils like they're universally safe and beneficial. They're not, at least not for everyone. My son is specifically sensitive to citrus essential oils. Lemon, orange, grapefruit, lemongrass...all of them would trigger a reaction on his skin despite being completely natural.
This taught me something important. The question isn't natural versus synthetic. The question is: what does this specific skin react to? For some people that's synthetic fragrance. For others it's citrus EOs, or tea tree, or even lavender. Eczema skin is reactive skin and reactive skin has its own rules.
At small batch lab we use phthalate-free fragrance oils in some bars and certified organic essential oils in others, always at appropriate concentrations, always with IFRA compliance. We never claim one is universally safer than the other. What matters is knowing your skin and reading the full ingredient list before it touches your body.
Summer (or winter) is the hardest season for eczema skin
If you have a child with eczema you probably already know this. Heat increases sweating, and sweat is a direct trigger for many eczema sufferers. The skin barrier that's already compromised becomes even more vulnerable when it's hot, wet, and exposed.
Beach days were particularly difficult for my son. Salt water, sunscreen ingredients, sand as a physical irritant, heat, and then the long drive home in a wet swimsuit — by the time we got home his skin would be in full flare-up.
What helped most wasn't avoiding the beach, it was what we used on his skin before and after. Rinsing thoroughly with clean water immediately after ocean exposure. Applying a minimal, fragrance-free moisturizer while his skin was still slightly damp to lock in moisture. And making sure everything touching his skin before we left the house was as clean and minimal as possible.
The ingredient list is your best tool
I'm not a dermatologist. I'm a mom who spent years paying very close attention.
What I learned is that a short ingredient list is your best signal, not because long lists are inherently bad, but because every additional ingredient is another variable. When something triggers a flare-up you want to be able to narrow down what caused it. Five ingredients gives you five things to investigate. Twenty-three gives you twenty-three.
Every small batch lab product contains 5 ingredients or less. That decision wasn't just a brand philosophy, it was a direct result of trying to figure out what was causing my son's skin to react and eliminating variables one by one.
What finally worked
Grass-fed tallow was the ingredient that changed everything for us.
It's biologically similar to your skin's own sebum, the oils your skin naturally produces. For eczema-prone skin that means it works with your skin's barrier rather than disrupting it. No stripping, no irritation, just deep nourishment that your skin recognizes and absorbs.
Combined with colloidal oatmeal, one of the most clinically studied ingredients for eczema relief, our Colloidal Oatmeal bar became the bar we could always trust on his skin regardless of season, regardless of what else was happening.
It won't be everyone's answer. Eczema is personal. But it was ours. And that's why small batch lab exists.
If you're in the same place I was:
Start simple. Fragrance-free. Minimal ingredients. Patch test everything new on a small area before full use. And pay attention to patterns like what season, what activities, what products correlate with flare-ups. Your skin, or your child's skin, will tell you what it needs if you're watching closely enough.
Our most gentle starting point is the Colloidal Oatmeal bar. Grass-fed tallow and colloidal oats. Three ingredients. Completely fragrance-free. Safe for the whole family.
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