Bentonite Clay Uses: Calamine Lotion

Roughing it’s one of the best ways to spend a vacation. Immersing yourself in the great outdoors is the only way to enjoy Mother Nature’s splendor. To make sure the trip turns out great, one must bring a complete first aid kit. No matter how careful he is, there’s no guaranteeing that the unknown won’t leave him alone.

For instance, you might brush against some poison ivy, poison oak, or poison sumac, causing you to break out in terrible rashes. If you forgot to bring a treatment for skin irritation, your trip will be ruined. An over-the-counter treatment for skin irritation is calamine lotion. This topical medication is available at most local stores, come in small, plastic, screw-top bottles, and is affordable (e.g., a 6 oz bottle of the lotion costs, more or less, $8.00). But wouldn’t it be better to make some calamine lotion yourself? If you think so, too, you could, by way of bentonite clay.

If you’ve only now heard of it, bentonite clay is a so-called healing clay. Also called medicinal clays, healing clays are substances found in nature that consist of soil, minerals, metal oxides, and organic matter. These clays’ healing properties have positive effects in health. In fact, the clays are used for medicinal purposes and to get rid of acne, which include treating skin conditions like chicken pox, eczema, and psoriasis.

At present, bentonite clay is the popular healing clay. This clay became so because, according to authors, it’s the most effective healing clay in treating skin conditions among the known healing clays.

Bentonite clay can draw toxins into itself through the skin, like a sponge, through electric attraction. As such, bentonite clay is added to over-the-counter calamine lotions.

Although over-the-counter calamine lotions are effective in treating skin conditions, as far as we’re concerned, a DIY calamine lotion to which some bentonite clay is added is better than any of them. If you make some yourself, you’re assured the topical medication is made of high-quality ingredients.

The effectiveness of over-the-counter calamine lotions is based only on what the ads and the labels will tell you.

If you’ve never made calamine lotion with some bentonite clay yourself before, don’t worry; you could find recipes for this topical medication online. To avoid having to sift through them all to find the recipe you like, here’s one that we find simple, easy, and effective:

Ingredients

4 tsps of [thirstylink linkid=”8861″ linktext=”bentonite clay” title=”bentonite clay”]

1/4 cup of zinc oxide

1/2 tsp of iron oxide

4 tsps of baking soda

1/4 cup of water

Procedure

Pour all the ingredients into a small bowl.
Using a whisk, mix together all the ingredients until they turn creamy.
Place the bowl in your refrigerator.
After 1–2 weeks, you may start using the resulting calamine lotion with some bentonite clay.*

*You may transfer this topical medication into any container you’d like.

Although the only way to enjoy the great outdoors is to be engrossed in it, you shouldn’t become too care-free. Enjoying yourself entails remaining safe. If you let yourself get hurt, how will you continue having a good time? Given the above recipe for DIY calamine lotion with some bentonite clay, we hope you’ll avoid having an accident while reveling in nature’s beauty.

Amy Taylor

Hi, I'm Amy, the Beauty section editor for Independent Femme! I've worked at a cosmetics distribution company for a number of years and learned my way through beauty tricks by making a ton of mistakes along the way. I'm here to ensure you don't make the wrong choices some of my former clients and I made!

You'll find me at all the trade shows and I'll be listing my appearances and speaking dates soon!