It’s gotten cold and very dry and my skin isn’t liking it. I’ve got body lotions that I’m happy with and that are working well, but my face is prone to breaking out at the drop of a hat so any of the heavy creams (e.g. Eucerin) that are so good at preventing dry skin aren’t so good on my face. I usually use a Neutrogena facial moisturizer, but it’s not helping at all right now, and my whole face is red and peeling. Not very attractive.
What can you recommend that is good at healing extremely dry skin while not causing massive zit attacks?
Clinique’s Dramatically Different Moisturizing Lotion.
I have combination skin, in that some areas get very dry in the winter, while my chin and around my nose are still oily and prone to breakouts.
This stuff heals up the dry areas without making the zit-prone areas any worse. It’s not heavy like regular lotions, and even says it’s for use on the face right on the bottle.
I like using Origins. They have a night cream (Night-a-Mins, I think) that’s always worked well for me. Kiehl’s has a good line of moisturizers as well.
Do you just use moisturizer? During the winter I use toner and serum as well, which helps a lot. Shu Uemura has a toner (they call it lotion, for some weird reason) and emulsion (serum) that’s worked well for me. (Their cream is overrated, though, IMO.)
I used to worship Shu Uemura’s cleansing oil. (I weaned myself off it after beginning the life of a poor grad student.) It cleans everything off and doesn’t leave your skin feeling dry at all. It doubles as a foam cleanser as well (you massage it into your face, then if you add a bit of water it foams up). The green tea one is the best, IMO. But it’s also rather pricey, so you should try some samples first before taking the plunge.
(Actually it’s not that pricey in the long run; one bottle lasts quite a while and you don’t have to buy a separate foam cleanser either. The SAs will tell you to use 2-3 squirts but usually 1 squirt is more than enough.)
Jojoba oil, with a bit of carrotseed oil, rose oil (not rose essential oil) and a few drops of chamomile and lavender essential oils. Break open a Vitamin E capsule and squirt it in as a preservative (and incedentally some antioxidant action). 3 or 4 drops of this mix is all you’ll need.
If you don’t want to make your own, you might find something similar at Whole Foods or a local holistic health food store. Rose is great for the skin, and lavender and chamomile address redness and are generally soothing.
I’d stay away from lotions and cremes and look for “serum” or oil. I also have oily breakout prone skin, but I find it’s mostly the preservatives necessary when making a lotion or creme that are the culprit, not the oils. With a serum or oil, all that’s needed for preservation is a bit of Vitamin E, because there’s no water in there to host bacteria.
Thanks for the suggestions. It all sounds totally overwhelming though! I’m the kind of person who just uses regular soap and some sort of moisturizer and that’s it. This girly stuff isn’t for me and the makeup/facial/hair stuff all scares me! I need someone to lead me by the hand and tell me what to buy and how to use it. And then to come back with each changing season to tell me what to do for the next season as well. And convince me that it’s ok to spend more than $5 on creams and lotions and makeup and stuff when I’d really rather save the money for something fun. This stuff definitely falls into the Not Fun category.
I have super super super dry skin. In high humidity, it almost approaches normal, but not quite.
In the winter, I’ve had the best results with Cetaphil cream (It’s the one at the bottom of this link) mixed with vitamin E oil from Trader Joe’s. I get probably a nickel-sized amount of the Cetaphil and add 3 (4 if it’s really dry out) drops of the oil. I rub my hands together to blend the two and then apply to my face, neck and decolletage.
I’ve tried so many things before, and this is one of the best I’ve found, and cheap, too. Also don’t use soap to wash your skin; use a gentle cleanser.
Before you apply this moisturizer, make sure your face is a little damp. It’ll make the moisturizer spread a little easier, and the water will be trapped on your face.
I live in the driest city in the world (at least it feels like it), and I have sensitive skin (just giving you my credentials here). I use Dove Daily Moisturizer for Sensitive Skin (fragrance-free). One thing I’d suggest as well as a very light moisturizer like this one is no soap or cleansers for your facial skin. I use a washcloth and warm water to wash my face - never, ever soap. Soap dries my skin out like nothing else.
Ack, the skin on my face feels dry just from reading that.
On days I don’t have makeup on, I just use warm water and pat dry. On makeup days I use a mild foam cleanser. Drugstore brands work fine, and they’re not much more expensive than bar soap, I think.
I have the same problem as the OP, only I break out on my cheeks rather than my nose and chin. I’ve been using Aveeno moisturizer, but I need to find another one as it’s not taking care of the dry areas anymore.
All of these cleansers mentioned with oil? I can’t imagine putting oil on my face and not waling up to a pizza in the mirror the next day.
I wish I could just wash my face with warm water, but I wear eye makeup and undereye concealer. That won’t come off with just water.
I use that Dove moisturizer, as well. I used to use their moisturizing cream face wash, but they discontinued it, and I haven’t found a satisfactory replacement. :mad: Warm water and a washcloth just don’t take care of barn dirt.
Go down to Walgreens and ask the Cosmetics gal for some Ponds Dry Skin Cream (“The Caring Classic”). You can tell her it’s for your grandma if it embarrasses you to buy “girly” stuff. It’s hypoallergenic, very lightweight (not oily at all), you need to use only a teensy dab to get the moisturizing effect, it won’t clog your pores or cause pimples, it’s extremely cheap as these things go, and it comes in a huge crock which, if you’re like me, will last at least a year if you use it sparingly as you should.
Before you go out and spend a fortune on expensive stuff, try Cerave cream, available at most drugstores (especially CVS). It’s fairly new, and it’s pretty awesome. It’s good enough to help people with psoriasis, and for regular ol’ dry skin it works great.
I use a moisturizer by Shiseido which works pretty well for me. (I have combination oily/dry skin, so I use the moisturizer once in a while and it does help.)
I get far less breakouts when I use stuff with oil than without. Hell, I’ll literally ‘wash’ my face with a mixture of olive oil and castor oil (then rinse and wipe well with a face cloth) when it’s super dry out and my skin just gets baby soft and radiant.
If you have very dry skin, I wouldn’t bother (minus trying a little sample first for a week or so) with the Dramatically Different from Clinique. That stuff does absolutely nothing for me. I’ll put it on and my face is tight not 5 minutes later.
