Wednesday 2 October 2013

Skin Woes - Coping With Couperose And Rosacea

Sidenote: Apologies for the naughty lack of blogging lately!!! Alas, life got the better of me last week.
 Back to our regularly scheduled programming now :)


Today I want to talk about skin, well, the skin on my face to be exact. 
I had pretty good skin as a teenager, it had the usual oily areas and the odd spot but on the whole it was generally well behaved. The only problem I had was that my fair skin was very prone to flushing. I had very rosy cheeks on a good day and looked like a bright red shiny beacon on a bad day (not so cute).


It started getting worse towards the end of my teenage years, my face would struggle to stay calm if I was even slightly to warm and then began to flush when I felt chilly too (which was often since I live in Northern Ireland).It also began to get very sensitive and reacted badly to all the products that my teenage and early twenties self kept piling on to try and hide it.

At twenty one I was doing a course in beauty and loving it. One day one of the teachers was demonstrating a facial on my skin and commented that my skin was great for showing how a facial should be done on someone with Rosacea. I remember thinking 'Wait. What? I have what on my face?'


Turns out she was right. We'll, almost. I do have Rosacea but it's really only developed in the last couple of years. What she saw on my skin ten years ago was the beginnings of Couperose. It's similar to Rosacea and has a lot of the same triggers such as excess heat and stress and can sometimes go hand in hand with Rosacea, as it does in my case.Basically my skin has a bunch of red patches, lots if little red prickly dots and broken capillaries and gets very flushed if I am too hot, too cold, under any kind if stress and is easily aggravated by rubbing of any kind. My chest also flushes very easily and when I'm too warm my entire upper body gets pretty pink to the point I look sunburnt but it disappears as soon as I cool down. 

So, lately my skin has gotten a lot worse, its very dry and easily irritated and all the products that I have been using for ages seem to be making it worse so I decided to go back to basics, a simple cleanse, tone and moisturise routine with a serum thrown in for good measure, all with products suitable for sensitive/dry/redness prone skin. I normally spend a fair bit on my skincare but since my skin is going through a rough patch and reacting to so many things I thought I would see if I could find some sensitive products that weren't too expensive in case my skin reacted badly to them and they ended up a waste of money. I thought I would share with you what I have been using in case it is helpful to anyone out there with similar issues. 

I have been using Liz Earle's Cleanse and Polish for about five years and although my skin tolerates it fairly well I can only use lukewarm water and have to be very gentle with it. In the past I have used Bioderma Micellar water to get rid of makeup and grime and it is fab, really good for sensitive skin as no rubbing is needed at all. It is however expensive and sometimes difficult to get in the uk. L'Oreal have totally upped their skincare game this past year and have released a Micellar water of their own and I think this might be every bit as good as Bioderma! I've been using it for a month now and my skin is smoother and less irritated. I still cleanse with the Liz Earle every other night as well but giving my skin a break from rinsing with water seems to have helped it a great deal. I'm also using a sensitive L'Oreal Eye Makeup Remover as I find the Micellar water doesn't always shift waterproof eye makeup without a little rubbing which I am trying to avoid as much as I can.

Following that I have been using a toner from Superdrug's Simply Pure range for sensitive skin. So far it seems to be doing the job and not irritating me in any way so that's a plus as so many toners really don't agree with me. Next I've been using this serum from Boots Botanics Ultra Calm range. It has been a lifesaver for me! My skin is protected and soothed and feels so soft since I started using this. It's not expensive, I got it on offer with one third off and it was just over a fiver. Bargain! 

The moisturiser is one that I found in Savers Chemist and I can't seem to find it anywhere else! It's this Garnier one for sensitive skin. It has a very light fragrance and seems to provide enough moisture to get me through the day without making my skin shiny and again is soothing enough to calm my redness down a bit.

So far so good, my skin has settled a bit and seems less angry. I do think I need more hydration though than these products are giving me though, especially coming into Autumn and Winter when my skin is at it's driest. A night cream and maybe a hydrating mask would definitely improve the levels of moisture in my skin but I don't want to overload it right now with too many different products. For now I'm just happy that my cheeks are less red/angry/sore and my skin feels a little bit softer and smoother than it did a month ago.

Does anyone have any other great products for sensitive skin? Leave a comment below and let me know, I would be forever grateful!








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