I’m at Dave & Busters, taking advantage of their half-off games day to give the 11yo a special day this break. He and his friend are out playing and winning tickets for prizes, while I’m on my computer working on a tedious school thing that was accessible offline. I just completed as much of the work thing as I can today, so I thought I’d get a post written.
Jenny just asked for help with face care, because she has rosacea and is experiencing a flair. I also have rosacea, and it’s taken me quite a while to find a skin care regiment that doesn’t provoke it. I was already considering writing a post about what I use on my face, and her post prompted me to finally do so.
I used to have VERY oily skin. When I was a teenager I washed my face with Dial antibacterial hand soap. The orange kind! And this was when I swam, so I already had chlorine drying out my skin. But back then my face could not be dried out. Eventually I took Acutaine, which dried the shit out of my skin, and everything else in my body. I have big feelings about what that drug did to me, but I’m not going to go into that here.
In my 20s and 30s my skin was great. It was one of my best features! After 40, not so much. I started getting blotchy discoloration on my cheeks, and then I started getting red bumps across my cheeks and nose. I can’t pin point anything that first triggered the rosacea (I eventually looked it up and learned what it was), except maybe perimenopause? I think they coincided, but I’m not sure if it’s correlation or causation.
For years I used Cetaphil Gentle Cleanser on my face, but now I’m a big fan of oil based cleansers. I love this one, but Costco stopped carrying it. Then I got this Japanese cleanser a bunch from Costco. Now I’m using the Korean face cleanser shown below (because yes, you guessed it, it was on sale at Costco). This stuff almost wants to make my rosacea flare up, but I really love the way it makes my face feel. I’ll probably go back to one of the other ones when I’m done with the THREE giant bottles I bought.
I LOOOOOVE my Acure Argan Oil. I get MANY of them from Whole Foods when they are on sale and will never stop using it. No matter what else I put on my face, the Argan oil is a base. The Adler New York Nourishing Cream was given to me (I believe it was in an event bag) and I like it, and it doesn’t irritate my skin. I use it probably 2-3x a week (when I wash my face upstairs before bed, because I didn’t shower). I got a bunch of the Alba Hemp SPF 15 lotions from Grocery Outlet and have been working through them. They don’t feel greasy and they don’t irritate my rosacea. I only use it in the summer though, I should have spf on my face more. The Naturium Azelaic Topical Acid 10% was purchased after I read that two of it’s ingredients help with rosacea. I do think it helps with flares, and I use it when I see my skin is starting to get red. The Clinique redness solutions is for when shit is bad and I need to cover up the worst of it.
The thing that helps manage my rosacea best? This Gotucream, which I ordered for my daughter’s ring worm (it would NOT go away), and then saw on a list of products that might help manage rosacea. Since I had it already, I gave it a try. And I have to say, it’s been very helpful, which is almost annoying because the tea tree smell is STRONG, and since it’s on my face, I smell it for a while! I use it every time I take a shower, which is 4-5x a week (and why it’s not in the photo – those are products I use in the upstairs bathroom, where I brush my teeth and wash my face most of the time (the water gets hot in like 10 seconds up there, instead of several minutes downstairs). My little pot is almost out and I’m realizing I will have to get a new one. It’s definitely the most effective thing I’ve found for my rosacea.
The only other thing I use on my face is Cetaphil Exfoliating Face Wash in the shower. But honestly, I don’t love the smell and when the second tube is out, I’m going to get the St. Ives Blackhead Clearing Face Scrub again, which is cheaper and also works well on my skin (my daughter loves it too).
And that is what I use on my face. I wear NO make up. Like none except for very special occasions (maybe 4-5x a year). I don’t wear concealer or eye liner or mascara (despite having VERY small eyes that could use some help). I don’t even wear lip gloss. This is mostly due to laziness. I have never worn make-up and I probably never will. I just can’t be bothered to put it on, and I definitely can’t be bothered to take it off. I did put some on for the party on Saturday and was pleased that it didn’t make my rosacea flare. It’s good to know I can wear it if I want to.
What is your favorite face care product? Do you wear make-up? Do you have rosacea? If so, what makes it flare up and what calms it down?
I do wear makeup most days – but always minimal. A touch of concealer, a bit of blush, an eyebrow pencil. If I want to be fast, I can be done in less than 2 minutes. Some days I wear mascara and some I don’t. I hate washing my face and especially hate removing mascara, so if I know I’m not going to be out and about, sometimes I skip that step (though I’ll admit I feel WAY more “pulled together” when I have mascara on). I just bought tubing mascara for the first time and it seems to be much easier to remove so I’m excited about that!
I had acne as a teen, but I feel like now that I’m well past my child-bearing stage, my face has settled down. I’ll get a few pimples each month, but nothing like when I was younger!
I had rosacea similar to yours and was prescribed Soolantra and it completely cleared it up. That was three years ago. I’ll get a bit of redness once or twice a year, but I put the Soolantra on and it gets rid of it for months again. It’s changed my life! Soolantra is pricey, but if you go on their website they have a huge discount card. Honestly tho it’s worth every penny.
Dermatologist!!!
Thank you for writing today. Looking at blue skies and counting blessings… you and your readers are on the list!
I used to have fabulous skin — I got compliments on it all the time. Over the years, I started developing brown patches (melasma/sun damage), and over the last few years — particularly within the last year — first some eczema (which cleared up with some antibiotics & a prescription cream), general redness and rosacea, particularly in the T zone. I don’t mind the fine lines or grey hair, but the redness and little pimples are really a blow to my ego… I never had this many pimples when I was a teenager! (I’ll be 64 in January!) My doctor gave me a prescription cream to use as needed, and it helps some, but hasn’t completely cleared it up. I’m thinking of asking him for a referral to a dermatologist.
I’ve mostly used Clinique products for years — I was using their All About Clean gel cleanser & scrub a couple of times a week, and I loved that, but I’ve stopped using that because I thought it might be irritating my skin. I use the 3-step system (liquid soap/cleanser, exfoliating lotion/toner and basic moisturizer) plus a supplementary moisturizer — one with SPF if I’m going out — and eye cream. That’s about it. I’ve tried the Redness Solutions cream, especially in the winter, when it’s really dry, but it feels really heavy/rich, and I’m not sure it really helps me. I do like their Moisture Surge (the pink gel), and they have a version now that’s more of a cream with SPF. I rarely wear makeup these days, generally just on special occasions.
I’ve been using Clinique Take the Day off Cleansing Oil, and now wonder if perhaps there are other brands that might be just as good for less money. Hmmm.
You and I could be twins. That photo of your rosacea-YEP. I also don’t wear any makeup- I never have (although I also could have written the sentence “I have small eyes that could use some help.”). Thanks for writing this post- I’m going to order some of the cream you’re talking about. I’m going to mention it on the blog soon, but I ordered something from amazon that seems to be helping! I’m waiting a bit, because what usually happens is, I’ll try something new and it seems like it’s working for a couple days, and then my face gets bad again. So maybe I just need to mix things up?
Thanks for sharing your routine. I do not have rosacea (luckily).
I have that Acure Argain Oil (but haven’t used it consistently – I should put it out from and center again because I do like it). My go-to right now is an e.l.f. moisturizer and the Wet’n’Wild Tinted Hydrator, which gives a little bit of coverage to even out skin tone. I am minimalistic on the make-up front as well, but I do use a little blush and mascara most days.Sa
I am also a non-makeup wearer with rosacea. I had great luck for about 10 years with acnomel, which is an OTC skin cream with sulfur. Unfortunately I developed an allergy to it, so now I’m using a gel from my dermatologist which works fine but is more expensive and I can’t just order it from Amazon.