Hey all, so finding skincare products that work for my skin is a constant battle. I have eczema and some spots of my skin get extremely dry, I'm also very sensitive to products and many have made my skin much worse than it already is. I also break out really easily and think these break-outs either come from overly dry skin(therefore my skin overproduces oil to make up for it) or are hormone-driven, depending on the time of the month, stress levels, etc...
A little history of the products I've tried:
- Proactiv: controlled my breakouts and was good for exfoliating dead skin(in turn, encouraging new cell production) but was very harsh on my skin and I ended up with skin drier than the Sahara within a few months time. I stopped using it for a few months, moved onto a different product, breakouts continued, and so I purchased it again. My intent was to use it at night, every other day, so my skin would still get a dose of the acne-fighting products but retain some moisture. Well, this time around my skin had a REALLY bad reaction to it- red, swollen, itchy skin and hives that ended up leaving scars because they itched so badly and I couldn't control my scratching(especially in my sleep). I never purchased the toner or moisturizer because I find toner to be relatively useless and knew the moisturizer would be much too harsh for anything other than spot treatment.
- Aveeno Ultra Calming Foaming Cleanser: this cleanser is really good for dry skin, it kept my skin feeling soft but it did nothing to control my breakouts. if you have dry skin and don't worry about breaking out, I would definitely give this a try. it contains a nice mixture of oatmeal and moisture-enriching ingredients and will leave your skin feeling clean without the stripped-away feeling some cleansers give you
- Aveeno Ultra Calming Daily Moisturizer SPF 15: bought with the cleanser, was too heavy for my skin and I think the SPF contributed to that.
- Bliss Fabulous Foaming Face Wash: this was horrendous for my skin! at first, I loved it because it had a pleasant smell and nice texture. it's a foaming gel that contains tiny beads for exfoliation and is formulated to leave your skin feeling 'clean, nourished, and refreshed.' the first week went okay, my skin felt revitalized and well-exfoliated, as promised. then after a few more weeks of use my skin was itchy, dry dry dry, and I had numerous breakouts in areas of my face that are normally dry(cheeks, sides of the face, and around the mouth). let's just say I used the rest of my Aveeno cleanser religiously until my skin felt a little less like it was going to fall off my face and the Bliss wash was returned to Sephora
- Philosophy Purity Made Simple / Purity Made Simple High Foaming Daily Cleanser: I tried the original Purity Made Simple after my mom purchased a to-go size around December. The formula was nice and didn't seem to irritate my skin all that much, but it did leave me with the stripped-away dryness that other cleansers did. This was made up for with Hope in a Jar, which I'll discuss more later on, but I still didn't enjoy having to slather moisturizer on as soon as I rinsed away the cleanser. my mom felt similarly and decided to get the foaming version, which worked out well for both of us. I'm still using this somewhat regularly because I can't make up my mind between this and my other cleanser
- Philosophy Hope in a Jar: love! it has a really light feeling but still hydrates the skin adequately. the smell isn't terribly pleasant but it isn't unpleasant either and it isn't noticeable after your skin has absorbed it. because my skin is such an extreme combination of dry and oily, I'm not sure how this would work for those with just dry skin but for those with skin like myself or just oily- it does the trick!
- Cetaphil: this used to be the only product I could use as a kid without my skin burning and itching. but as I got older my skin became a little more tolerant and I started to experiment, hence this post, with other cleansers. (side note: I've also tried many products from clean&clear, Neutrogena, and the standard drugstore acne-fighters but with results not different from the Bliss wash) I recently bought another bottle of the cleanser and lotion after I'd had enough of the breakouts brought on by stress/other products. well, shortly after starting to use the products again I had a severe allergic/stress reaction while in a night class. Weirdly enough, my skin has felt really dry after using the Cetaphil cleanser and then, in contrast, the lotion is pretty heavy. Counterintuitive, no?
logically, I know that Cetaphil is extremely gentle and good for those with eczema(which did flare up because of the stress, so the product is at least being used on my body and helping get it back to normal) but I'm not sure what cleanser I should use on my face now. I still have 1/4 bottle left of the Philosophy cleanser and would like to use it up, but now I have a whole bottle of Cetaphil. hopefully you can see my dilemma. I'm just not sure which one to use while I try to control my stress and prevent another reaction like the one I had last week.
Any opinions? Thoughts? Suggestions?
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