I’ve had eczema on my arms and legs since I was a kid, and last year it really started to become really dry, itchy and painful every time I took a shower and used soaps on it. I tried using lots of different soap brands and formulas, from those that were gentle to those that used expensive ingredients, but nothing worked, they just further irritated my eczema.
So I looked on the internet for a solution and found out about Grandpa’s Brand Company which has been around since 1878. Grandpa’s uses all natural ingredients in their soaps and I saw that they carried a Wonder Pine Tar Soap which was supposed to help relieve eczema.
I decided to buy a bar of the soap from my local health food store for $3.25. The Pine Tar Soap comes in a pine green box with a picture of grandpa framed in black in the center. When I got home I saw that the bar of soap itself is a drab olive, brown color that didn’t exactly scream fresh and clean.
The Pine Tar Soap contains coconut oil, palm oil, purified water, pine tar oil, and vegetable glycerin. The box claims that it’s excellent for bathing, showering, shaving, and shampooing and that it’s great for cleaning, moisturizing, and deodorizing. Grandpa’s Brand also states that it’s helpful in treating psoriasis, dandruff, eczema, and other skin irritations. And even though the Pine Tar soap is a drab green color it’s supposed to lather white.
When I used the bar the next morning I noticed that it cleansed my skin well even though it’s made mostly of oil. Unlike a lot of soaps, however, it didn’t strip my skin or leave a weird film on it. It also moisturized my skin and didn’t leave the eczema feeling dry or irritated. And the best part of the Grandpa’s Wonder Pine Tar is that it didn’t leave my eczema burning or stinging like other soaps have.
Once I began to use the Pine Tar Soap regularly for around two weeks my eczema began to soften and heal. I also began to notice that Grandpa’s stopped new eczema rashes from developing, which was great.
Even though I didn’t buy it for that purpose, I also wanted to see if the Wonder Pine would really work as a shampoo. It did. My hair and scalp felt clean but also soft and moisturized so I really liked the results.
The only thing that bothered me about Grandpa’s was the pine tar scent. It literally smells like the smoky tar people spread over their roofs. I used this soap everyday because it helped my skin, and at first the scent really didn’t bother me, but after using it for a few months the tar smell just became torture. I started to long for a floral fragrance or a citrus scent – anything as long as it was better than the scent of fresh tar early in the morning.
Also I noticed that this Grandpa’s soap never really lathered into a pure white, so it left my towels looking a dingy brown color.
In the End…
Grandpa’s Wonder Pine Tar Soap is a great soap for everyone in general but especially if you have skin conditions like eczema or really dry skin. It gently helped to soothe my skin and heal it while also moisturizing it. Although the scent is unpleasant to me, I’ll continue to buy the Wonder soap and use it a few times throughout the week to keep my skin healthy. 4.5 out of 5 stars.
