Remember that pretty pink liquid your mother used to put on your bug bites, and apply to your skin when you had poison ivy?

That was calamine lotion. This natural remedy that’s still useful today. It’s a clay-based lotion that can also be used for sunburn or other types of skin irritation. It’s believed that calamine lotion, in one form or another, has been used since antiquity.

I remember my grandmother talking a lot about calamine lotion. She seemed to think it was good for any type of itchy skin problem, including raised red rashes or chicken pox.

How To Make a Calamine Lotion

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Calamine lotion is widely available. You can find it at your local drugstore. However, the drugstore version is generally made with zinc oxide and ferric oxide. Depending upon the brand, this type of calamine may also contain calcium hydroxide and natural Bentonite clay.

You can also order calamine products online. Or, you can make your own calamine lotion with clay. Keep reading and I’ll share a really easy recipe.

Calamine Lotion Anti-Itch Cream

it’s good to have this clay-based remedy in your natural medicine cabinet. It’s typically used to soothe the skin. Calamine lotion is often used to relieve poison ivy itch. Bentonite clay is also a good natural bee sting remedy. (However, if you have a bee allergy, or experience any unusual symptoms after a sting, get yourself to the emergency room.)

How to Make My Own Calamine Lotion

It’s easy to make DIY calamine lotion. Actually, in my humble opinion, this is preferable to using the store-bought kind. For one, any time you can make something yourself, you usually save money.

Even more importantly, though, homemade calamine lotion recipes contain only natural, wholesome ingredients. Store bought versions be made without zinc oxide. In recent years, there’s been growing concern over nano particle zinc oxide. Nano particles are laboratory-made molecules that are extremely small. These tiny molecules are found in a wide range of products, including personal care items, such as sunscreen.

Unfortunately, there’s few studies on the long-term effects of nano particles. However, there’s some tentative data linking them to DNA damage, which could potentially set the stage for cancer. By no means has this been proven.  But I like to play it safe and avoid nano particles whenever possible.

How To Make Calamine Lotion at Home

All you need are just a few ingredients to make your own anti-itch lotion. These ingredients are so basic that I always have them in my house. Maybe everyone else doesn’t. But several years ago, I decided to get rid of my chemical cosmetics. At first, I started buying commercial all natural replacements. Then I realized how easy it is to just make them myself.

DIY Calamine Lotion Recipe

Instead of using zinc oxide as the active ingredient, you can make all natural itch lotion with volcanic clay ash and essential oils. My recipe also calls for aloe juice, which is renowned for its skin healing properties. I’m a firm believer in using what you have at hand. So, right now, I own a jar of green European clay and a jar of tan Bentonite clay. (That’s why my calamine lotion has a greenish hue.)

However, if you want that familiar pink color, you can use pink kaolin clay instead. If you can’t find it locally, it’s available online.

Calamine Lotion With Essential Oils

My homemade calamine lotion recipe calls for lavender essential oil. That’s because this aromatic extract is extremely soothing to the skin. A couple of years ago, I had a nasty bee sting.

Providentially, I had already made a clay and lavender oil recipe, because I was using it as a natural face mask. Then I stepped outside for a moment, and encountered a bee. Once I applied some of the clay mix, the pain immediately went away. The aloe very juice provides the liquid. Bentonite clay is a popular natural remedy for sunburned skin, as well as minor skin irritations.

DIY Non Toxic Calamine Lotion Recipe

1 tablespoon of clay. You can use either natural tan colored Bentonite clay, European green clay or pink kaolin clay. (Pink kaolin clay is available here)

3 drops of lavender essential oil. (It’s available here)

2 tablespoons of organic aloe vera juice. (It’s available here) This is optional. I included it because aloe vera juice is also very soothing. It’s believed that mixing multiple natural remedies together creates a more powerful synergy. But you could use water instead. With the addition of aloe, you have three skin soothing remedies working in tandem. Lavender is also noted for its skin soothing properties.

Mix these ingredients together and store in an amber colored bottle, or a clean glass jar with a lid. If the glass jar you use is not amber colored, you can put it on a paper bag and store this mixture away from heat and light. It should last several months. If you desire a less watery consistency, and prefer a cream, add less aloe vera juice. Or add more clay. You can also reduce this recipe by half if you plan to use it just once and don’t mind mixing it every time you need it.

Disclaimer

These statements have not been approved by the FDA. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. Women who are pregnant or nursing should not use essential oils unless directed to do so by a healthcare professional.

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