Skip to content
JournalBotanica home

Botanicals for the body

Body

Butters, oils and soothing plants for everything below the chin: dry skin, stretch marks, rough patches, hands and the bath.

8 articles · 8 botanicals

Evidence Check · Oat

Oat and colloidal oatmeal: the botanical dermatologists actually recommend

Journal Botanica Editors · Last reviewed November 3, 2026 · 20 sources

Finely ground oats—sold as colloidal oatmeal—are a centuries-old bath and skin remedy that today appear in cleansers, creams and even coated gloves. Modern research includes laboratory work on oat components, randomized trials of 1% colloidal oat creams, and several clinical studies in infants and people with atopic dermatitis or irritant hand eczema, making colloidal oatmeal one of the best-evidenced botanicals for dry, itchy and eczema-prone skin. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]

A clear caveat: much of the clinical literature tests formulated products that contain colloidal oatmeal alongside other moisturizing or barrier ingredients. Those trials tell you that the oatmeal-containing product works, but not always how much of the effect comes from oats themselves versus the vehicle or co-ingredients. [7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12] Continue reading

Botanicals for body

Full Index →
  • Shea

    Vitellaria paradoxa

    Plant butter that locks in bath-time moisture.

  • Sweet almond

    Prunus amygdalus var. dulcis

    Light, nutty workhorse for massage and everyday moisture

  • Aloe

    Aloe vera

    Leaf gel darling; latex wallflower. Soothing, with caveats.

  • Calendula

    Calendula officinalis

    Cottage-garden marigold with diaper-cream credentials

  • Oat

    Avena sativa

    Finely milled oats for calmer, better‑behaved skin

  • Rosehip

    Rosa canina

    Light seed oil with linoleic punch and folklore charm

  • Tea tree

    Melaleuca alternifolia

    Acne ally from Australia, but cranky when oxidized

  • Coconut

    Cocos nucifera

    Lauric‑rich oil that actually gets into hair

Everything on body

  1. Origins

    • Skin
    • Body

    Calendula

    Calendula: the marigold in your diaper cream, examined

    Calendula officinalis (pot marigold) has long been used on wounds and rashes. Recent laboratory and animal work is extensive; human trials are small and formulation-dependent, so clinical conclusions are tentative.

    4 min read

  2. Myth Busting

    • Body

    Body care

    Body oil vs. lotion: which works better on damp skin

    Oils don’t add water; they mainly block water loss. Moisturizers that work combine water-adding humectants with emollients and an occlusive. Clinical studies repeatedly show emollient-containing lotions or creams help dry or eczematous skin, but direct trials pitting a plain oil against a lotion applied to damp skin are sparse in this set of abstracts.

    4 min read

  3. Evidence Check

    • Skin
    • Body

    Tea tree

    Tea tree oil: real antimicrobial, real allergy risk

    Laboratory work and small clinical trials support tea tree oil’s antibacterial and antifungal activity, and a recent meta-analysis found topical tea tree reduced acne severity; reviews and formulation studies also warn of local irritation and stability problems. Current evidence is useful but limited, and safety concerns in topical use are repeatedly raised.

    3 min read

  4. Index Explainer

    • Body

    Sweet almond

    Sweet almond oil for massage and dry skin

    Sweet almond oil is a light, commonly used carrier oil for massage whose cosmetic claims are modest and supported mainly by small human trials, formulation studies and narrative reviews. The evidence shows modest increases in skin hydration and benefits when almond oil is part of emollient products, but few studies test sweet almond oil on its own for body dryness or stretch marks.

    4 min read

  5. Index Explainer

    • Skin
    • Body

    Shea

    Shea butter: why it works for dry skin

    Shea butter works mainly as an occlusive lipid-rich butter with some minor bioactive components; clinical studies in babies and children and several small trials of mixed creams support its role as an effective emollient, but many trials test blends rather than shea alone.

    4 min read

  6. Evidence Check

    • Body

    Rosehip

    Rosehip oil for stretch marks: the trials, the blends and the caveats

    A randomized, double-blind pregnancy trial found fewer new stretch marks in people who used a cream that included rosehip oil — but the product also contained several other actives, and the benefit was preventive rather than restorative.

    5 min read

  7. Evidence Check

    • Skin
    • Body

    Aloe

    Aloe vera: what the evidence says beyond sunburn

    Aloe vera has more controlled human trials than many botanicals, but the strongest, most consistent signals are in wound‑care and post‑surgical healing rather than glamorous skin fixes. Much of the recent work is engineering (dressings, gels, vesicles) or preclinical; the human trials that exist are small and context‑specific.

    5 min read