My Skin

I have really sensitive and problematic skin. It's eczema prone, I have acne, I'm allergic to a lot of make-up, it's normal-ish in my T zone and dry everywhere else. It's just frustrating.

A brief history:
I've had acne since late high school and it hasn't gone away. I've tried loads of things. The best it got was when I got a legit prescription from a doctor. He told me I had surface acne AND cystic acne. Sounds lovely, doesn't it? He didn't put me on accutane luckily. I'm not exactly sure what it was but it involved taking 2 pills a day, putting a cream on in the morning, and spot treatment at night. My skin looked great and I kept taking great care of it after the treatment was over, but the acne just came right back.

I had eczema as a child and that comes back every now and again, especially under my eyes.

Through testing a lot of face products, I've found several that are NOT good for me. Anything with benzoyl peroxide or salicylic acid is a no no, since those are irritants and don't work well with sensitive skin. Unfortunately these ingredients are in a LOT of drug store face products. Basically all Clean and Clear products use it and surprisingly a lot of Neutrogena do too.

Here are a few that I had to stop using...

Neutrogena Fresh Foaming Cleanser worked for a while but it started drying out my skin after continual use



Neutrogena Oil-Free Acne Wash Pink Grapefruit Foaming Scrub immediately irritated my face, dried it out, burned around my eyes, etc. NOT GOOD.



I'll be able to post more failed products when I go home next month. These are just the 2 that I remember off the top of my head.

My current routine:
I thought I was lactose intolerant for a while but it turns out I'm actually gluten intolerant. Since I stopped eating gluten (just a few weeks ago) my skin has really been clearing up. I'm wondering if this has been the root of my skin problems since I'm not sure how long I've been gluten intolerant for (I've always just had a sensitive stomach). I guess I'll just have to wait and see!

As far as the products I'm using, my skin has come to a standby lately after finding some things that don't seem to upset it.

I wash my face with Cetaphil Daily Facial Cleanser once in the morning and once at night. This is by far the best facial cleanser I have ever used in my life.



Every time after I wash my face I gently pat a tiny bit of Dermalogica Intense Eye Repair under my eyes and on my eyelids. It's really important to use a moisturizer around your eyes that is specifically for eyes and not just a normal facial moisturizer because the eye area is so sensitive. This product is, unfortunately, really expensive and the only reason I had a chance to try it out was because my mom had a gift certificate at a spa and it's what they recommended to me. However, I haven't had problems with dry, itchy eczema spots around my eyes since I started using it, so I sucked it up and forked over the $36 for a new one when my free one ran out.



Lastly, I apply a generous amount of Cetaphil Moisturizing Cream on my face and neck (everywhere except for around my eyes) to my clean face. I put on a lot right before bed and a lot less in the morning.



HERE'S THE CATCH
I've been studying abroad in Galway, Ireland for the past 4 months and have been away from my favorite products. I brought Dermalogica Intense Eye Repair and Cetaphil Moisturizing Cream with me, but I was running out of Cetaphil Daily Facial Cleanser, so I slowly shopped around for something new.

I tried Eucerin Gentle Cleansing Milk which was like 9 euros. It made my skin SO FREAKING OILY and it just felt like I had a layer of ick on my face. I hate it



While I was in Dunnes, I found Nivea Visage 2 in 1 Cleanser and Toner on sale for 2.50. It smelled exactly like the Cetaphil Daily Facial Cleanser, so I thought I'd give it a go. I LOVE IT! It makes my skin so soft and clean and it's not irritating in any way. I definitely recommend this product. It's what I'll use until I go back home to my Cetaphil products.



If I were to run out of Cetaphil Moisturizing Cream in Ireland, I'd definitely try out E45 Cream. From what I can tell, their products are recommended for the same crowd as the Cetaphil products.

So that's basically it! I'm going to look through all my products I have at home and post more about what worked and what didn't. I just don't remember what all is there right now.

P.S. None of these pictures are mine, I found them through Google searches.