Sigh. Yep,
another line. I’m so tired of buying stuff and trying stuff and hoping every
time but knowing it will most likely be another fail.
Seriously,
how much have I tried over the years?
Product
lines
- ACO. The toner didn’t seem to do anything and the cream seemed too fatty and irritating.
- Bulldog. It’s specified for male skin but I tried this it anyways because it doesn’t have parabens, sodium laureth sulphate, artificial colours, and artificial fragrances but instead contains a bunch of natural extracts and stuff. My skin didn’t care for it and I really missed having a toner in the line.
- Clinique 3 step line. My skin actually seems to be pretty okay with this line, but I’ve heard and read a lot of critics to the line from people who really know their skincare stuff. It sucks though, it seems to be the line my skin liked the best out of the list!
- Decubal. I love, love, love the body cream! But didn’t care for the facial line. The cream was too fatty for my face and I really missed having a toner in the line.
- Dove deep moisture. Made my face itch.
- Dr. Hauschka something-something cream that contained sea buckthorn. Made my skin boiled-lobster-red and my face swell!
- Dr. Hauschka. The products felt too heavy or greasy for my skin and I really missed having a simple cleansing gel available, I never liked using cleansing creams.
- Elisabeth Arden 8 hour line. Made my face itch and I hated the scent.
- Garnier Scandinavian skincare line. For the first time ever I found a cream that was too light for my skin!
- L’Oreal youth code. My last attempt of using an anti-age-line. Sensitive skin and anti-age doesn’t mix!
- Lancôme something-something I can’t remember. My skin didn’t care much for this.
- Matas basic line. Cleansers and toners don’t seem to do anything at all and my skin didn’t care for the creams.
- Neutrogena rapid clear. My skin didn’t like it and the cooling effect felt mildly uncomfortable.
- Nivea the classic blue cream. Makes my face break out but I love it on the rest of my body!
- Ole Henriksen. Expensive! And my skin didn’t seem to like it.
- Plaisir Scandinavian skincare line. My skin seemed to love it at first but gradually developed irritation to it.
- REN clearcalm. Holy crap this was expensive! And my skin didn’t seem to care.
…And
probably a bunch I’ve forgotten!
“Alternative”
products
- “Kitchen witch routine”. This was a rather funny routine where you exfoliate with ground almonds, dap cold coffee on your eyes, wash with oatmeal and stuff like that. No effect.
- Aloe vera gel as moisturiser. Didn’t seem to do anything for my skin, but I guess I should be glad! I have later learned that I’m allergic to aloe vera but since I didn’t break out from this particular aloe vera product, it seems I’m allergic to aloe vera pressed with the skin and not just the pulp.
- OCM. I have blackheads and whiteheads extremely rarely so they didn’t do anything for me. They do feel quite nice though, but are too much upkeep for no effect on my skin problems.
- Rubbing raw, undiluted lemon juice on my skin as cleanser and moisturiser. It bleached my eyebrows and my skin ended up being tender to touch.
- Spraying cooled green tea on my face several times a day. No effect.
- Washing and moisturising with honey. It bleached my eyebrows platinum blonde but otherwise had no real effect. Honey as once-in-a-while face masks are nice though.
Things to
eat or drink
- Fasting with protein drinks to maintain a protein intake. Well, this shot a big fat hole in the “Processed foods are bad!”-theory. There can’t be a lot of foods that are more processed than protein drinks.
- Fasting. My skin seemed to like this, but of course this is not something I can keep doing just for my skin!
- Grapes. Supposedly really good for your skin, but had no effect even when I ate so many I got sick of them.
- High water
intake. It did seem to help a little when I had increased the “dose” to some
- Organic only food. Expensive! Also no effect on my skin.
- Pineapple. Supposedly really good for your skin, but had no effect even when I ate so many I got sick of them.
- Raw food diet. I missed meat!! No effect on my skin.
Things to
not eat
- Avoiding dairy. I don’t eat a lot of dairy products anyways and it had no effect on my skin.
- Avoiding gluten. Had no effect.
- Going vegetarian. I missed meat!! No effect on my skin.
- Not eating anything processed. This was pretty troublesome and it had no effect.
- The master cleanse. My skin seemed to like this, but of course this is not something I can keep doing just for my skin!
- No soda at all in any form. I missed soda! A friend remarked it made my eyes clearer though (Eh?) No effect on my skin.
- No sugar allowed at all. This was mildly troublesome and had no effect.
- No white bread or pasta. I don’t eat a lot of bread or pasta products anyways and it had no effect on my skin.
Supplements
- Aloe vera in pill form. This was where I added two and two and realised I’m allergic to aloe vera when pressed with the skin. It made my stomach burn and my skin didn’t improve.
- Birth control of various forms. Estrogens and/or progestin only pills. None of them made a difference, even that one brand that was marketed as “The modern pill that also fights acne!” Yea. Right.
- Evelle. Expensive! No effect.
- Fish oil. This actually seems to help my skin.
- Grapeseed extract. No effect.
- High dose vitamin B complex. I read it was supposed to “purge” the skin and a lot of people recommended it. Yea, I wasn’t always that boring anti-biotin-nutcase, hah. It didn’t improve my skin and I got a huge cyst on my chin from it (It hurt for months before I could finally steam open and drain the disgusting ball of puss)
- Hudpleje (“Skin care”) No effect.
- Imedeen. Expensive! No effect.
- Ren hud (“Clear skin”) No effect.
Things to
do
- A weird little tapping/massage routine. It was supposed to improve circulation and natural skin processes but it had no effect. I guess it couldn’t harm though.
- Disinfecting things you touch a lot every single day: Keyboards, headphones, phones, remote controls, tables. It’s supposed to be good for people prone to picking. Every day is a little too much but I still think it’s a good idea to do once in a while. Especially keyboards get icky!
- Exfoliate often. This just pissed my skin off further. Sensitive skin shouldn’t be exfoliated more than once a week!
- I tried wearing those white cotton gloves at every chance I had (Wasn’t in public) to keep myself to touching my skin.
- More sleep. The theory was that if you go to bed so early that you wake up on your own in the morning before the alarm goes off, you give your body the time it needs to finish the natural processes it needs to go through to cleanse and regenerate itself and stuff. Yea, lol. It may have had a little effect but was actually quite annoying!
- Steam face daily. I guess it couldn’t hurt since it does stimulate circulation but other than that it took a lot of time and had no effect.
- Wash + tone + moisturise several times per day. I think it made my skin a little happier but not enough compared to the time and effort!
- Washing my hands every hour. It’s supposed to be good for people prone to picking. Every hour was a “little” excessive, but I still think it’s a good idea to remind yourself to wash your hands often.
- Zone therapy. It was very comfortable and I guess it couldn’t hurt, but it had no effect.
This got
really long and I still think I forgot something!
It's so funny that you're writing about this, just the other day I stumbled upon the concept of homecooked skin and hair products, properly mixed, emulgated and preserved as opposed to using stuff straight. I found a lot of good information here shenet.se (although some of their info on haircare isn't really longhair friendly according to me but I just alter any ingredients I don't agree with). Anyway I've started to experiment a little bit. I'll be starting on my hair rather than my face, making products of the stuff I usually use straight, just combining them into one product instead (which so far has been a successful experiment but we'll see how it turns out over time), I also want to try to make my own CO conditioner using my own recipe since it'll be a LOT cheaper in the long run and I'll have complete control over anything that goes into my products. If this turns out successful I'm thinking I'll venture into facial products as well. If you want to try it too we could experiment and ball plank off eachother :)
ReplyDeleteMaybe I missed it, but what are you trying to get your skin to be? Less spots, less oily, less dry, etc.?
ReplyDeleteFirst I have to say I’m really happy with the responses so far! Usually when I tell someone about the 43932684 things I have tried for my skin, I get the 43932685th “advice”… And always delivered with that stupid smug look on peoples faces, like they have fixed the problem I’ve struggled with for 15-20 years in just 30 seconds. Sheesh… Yeah, its one of those things that can really piss me off!
ReplyDeleteRockPaperScissorLizardSpock: Hahah, that IS pretty funny! When I was new in the whole long hair “circuit” I always thought the idea of kitchen witches were pretty weird and dumb. Why go through all that trouble when you can just buy something? But I’ve really warmed up to the idea over the years. For instance, how awesome is ACV rinses? A simple kitchen-product is so much better than anything you could buy!
Anonymous: I have very sensitive skin that turns red and irritated. It is not dry, not oily, not combination, I don’t get whiteheads or blackheads or nay breakouts like that. It’s just perfectly normal, *maybe* if you want to be splitting hairs a bit on the dry side. Just very sensitive and tends to get red “patches”. I want it to be calm and not get red. And no, I don’t have roseca. Or any other “thing” that people always diagnose me to have.
Ugh---sensitive skin is so much harder to manage than oily skin or acne only in that acne is usually due to dirt/oil. Remove that and in theory, problem goes away. Sensitive skin? Well, anything can set it off.
ReplyDeleteDo you think you are sensitive to the sun? Are you on medication that could cause sun sensitivity? Or has this been an issue since childhood?
Because you are so pale, being a red head/strawberry blond, that might be the root cause--your pigment makes you very prone to sensitivity.
If you just wash with water, do you break out? Is it facially located or all over?
I mean, there is another issue it could be. Lupus---discoid. It's skin related, but that's an auto immune issue and you would notice many more symptoms. But, characteristics of Discoid Lupus is red skin/blisters on the skin once exposed to the sun. Systemic Lupus is more inflammation of organs etc (my mom has systemic, but will get a 'butterfly' rash over her face when in a flare)
I hear you Igor! Sensitive skin is one of my biggest issues too. I have an additional mild break out pattern that follows my monthly cycles, which makes the things more complicated. My face blushes with any facial gesture I do; smiling, frowning etc. Anything that presses lightly to my skin leaves its shape in a nice vibrant red.
ReplyDeleteI've been trying new stuff since I don't know, puberty? The worst thing I've done so far was using topical creams that peeled the skin which were prescribed by several dermatologists who were sooo so sure that they would cure my problems. Some said I have rosacea (which I don't), some prescribed antibiotics (seriously? antibiotics for just a bunch of zits?) which f.cked up my digestive system and natural flora of my lady bits. My skin was once sooo bad that I wasn't able to lean on someone's shoulder, because I would leave a while layer of broken and peeling skin on their t-shirts, even though my skin was not dry overall!
I tried neutrogena (irritating and caused flaking), la roche posay (it made my skin really red when I was applying them, which took a lot of time to return to normal), effaclar(ugh, tell me about irritating products), clean and clear (it leaved residues that itched) and lots and lots of medical creams. Going WO for a while but when water contacts with my face, it blushes. And that doesn't go away for about 15 mins. I guess I don't need to mention what clarifying lotions or peelings do. Going natural fixed things a bit. I was using a solution of vinegar, glycerin, ethanol, mineral water and rose water. Then moisturizing with apricot oil. It leaved my skin a little sticky, though, so I quit. I now use shiseido products, which made my skin clear and it looks healthier overall. I still have breakouts in certain days of the month, and I still try to keep my dirty hands of my face since it still itches if I do. Basically I try to clean my skin with a tiny drop of soft cleanser, barely enough to foam up, and use a light moisturizing cream immediately after. I will share if I have new experiences, and hope your skin will start behaving the way you want someday :)