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?
