My husband has nightmares of his childhood undiagnosed itchy skin problems that were so severe on his feet that he couldn’t wear shoes. I think he had to wear socks and sandals to his “grammar school” and go home and soak his feet at lunchtime. He finally got better when he spent a week at Lake Elsinore in California and ran around barefoot. I don’t think they ever determined if it was athletes foot gone amuck or what. But that lake held magical properties.

Now, he is always careful to treat every little itchy skin patch. But going to the lake is not his solution. Instead he uses this little potion I mixed up. My husband uses it daily to prevent jock rash — he calls it his swamp ### cream. His feet are cured. This homemade anti-fungal cream works better than prescription creams. So, if you are tired of all those anti-fungal creams, try this. It works better than Desenex, Lotrimin, Tinactin, Monistat, and Lamisil.

Here’s what you need for homemade anti-fungal cream:

Shea Butter:

One of the main ingredients is shea butter — a white or yellowish fat composed of five fatty acids. Shea butter is extracted from the inner seed of the shea fruit, which grows on the African Shea tree or shi tree (be careful blending that word together). The trees take about 15 years to start producing, but by 20 to 30 years they are in full production, which lasts for 200 years. Now that’s a crop.

Here’s some good points — Shea butter has anti-inflammatory effect(Ref) as well as anti-skin tumor properties (trials showed it inhibits skin cancers(Ref). And it’s an antioxidant as well. And it’s edible. It also blocks UV rays.

Extracting the shea butter

African Shea butter varies in quality. The first one I bought was yellow and grainy.  I prefer the white creamy shea butter. If you can, get the creamy ivory one. But avoid any of the grainy ones — they remain grainy.
shea butter
shea butter

Avocado Oil:

Avocado oil has been used for eczema and other skin ailments. It’s high in unsaturated fats and vitamin E. The trees are super easy to grow in Southern California. They fruit in just a couple years. Since I moved to Northern California, I have really missed growing my own avocados.
Avocado Tree Image

Olive Oil:

Tea Tree Essential Oil (Melaleuca Oil):

Tea Tree oil is an essential oil from the Melaleuca tree, so you don’t need much of this one. It has anti-bacterial, anti-viral and anti-fungal properties(Ref). Studies have shown that it is effective against candida infections which are the yeast infections(Ref).

melaleuca

shea butter
homemade anti-fungal creammelted lotion

Homemade Anti-fungal Cream #1

This is my original anti-fungal cream that does not have any beeswax in it. This takes a little longer to solidify than my homemade anti-fungal cream with beeswax.

1/4 cup shea butter (4 Tablespoons)

1 Tablespoon avocado oil

1 Tablespoon olive oil

10 drops tea tree essential oil

Melt the shea butter and oils in a glass Mason jar in a saucepan of water. Remove jar from pan after it melts, add the essential oil and allow to cool in the refrigerator. Shake it every 15 minutes or so.

Disclosure: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links, meaning that if you click on one of the links and purchase an item, I may receive a commission.

If you prefer to buy from me, I sell the anti-fungal cream in 2 oz, 4 oz, and 8 oz sizes. The ingredients for the one I sell are as follows: Almond oil, Sunflower oil, Shea Butter, Beeswax, Essential oils of tea tree, bitter orange, lemongrass. Shipping is $5.00.


Anti-fungal Cream



 

More anti-fungal recipes:

1.  Natural Homemade Anti-fungal Cream made with shea, beeswax and essential oils:

homemade anti-fungals

 

2.   DIY Anti-Fungal Cream with shea, beeswax and bitter orange oil:

DIY anti-fungal cream

DIY anti-fungal cream