Mid Year Resolutions #2

Skincare!

I should have an amazing skincare regime all things considered, and would like to be able to recommend all sorts of wonder products here, but I don’t and if anything I want you to give me recommendations! That is why I am making skincare my second mid-year resolution.

  I have always had eczema, apparently since I was a small baby when I had to regularly visit the hospital, and can’t remember a time when my skin wasn’t itching, red and flaky. This has therefore meant a lifelong love/hate relationship with my skin. For a long time doctors told me that I would grow out of it when I hit puberty as ‘nearly all children did’, until turned out that I was one of the exceptions. Looking back I don’t know why I didn’t do more to get help with it, but the GP would prescribe me Aqueous cream and steroids to manage it and I would try to remember to apply it. At that age it was mainly on my arms and legs and I put up with it. At university it could be bad again, I remember sitting sobbing on the kitchen floor in our student flat next to the freezer holding bags of frozen peas on my hands where I had itched them raw to try and numb them.

As I have got older, my eczema moved to affecting my face a lot more, and this was perhaps motivation to try and find other things to use on it. I quickly determined that the aqueous cream I had been relying on for years was probably making my skin worse and have changed this but I have also found that most products I tested seemed to set it off. So I am stuck between the proverbial rock and hard place. I am desperate to try out anything that I think might improve my skin, especially on my face, but fed up of spending all my money on products only to find that they make me flare up horribly and are of no use to me. The irony is that when my skin is behaving it is actually really good and doesn’t need much care at all.

I suspect I have several other posts I could write, and will write, on this but for now my focus is to get better at using what works at the moment and then I can start experimenting with different options more carefully to see what effect they have.  So here is my ‘routine’ at present, with my goal being to stick to it more rigorously in the next 6 months and see what works and what doesn’t.

Morning

Clinique Soap and Clarifying Lotion: My mother got me on to Clinique a long time ago as they always had a reputation for being good for people with eczema and I have  found their products to be fairly good but affordable. I use the extra mild soap to wash my face (can’t use the liquid soap) and then the clarifying lotion is excellent for removing any remaining dry cells.

QV Cream: I have been using this for about 2 years now as my general all over body moisturizer and it is better than the last ones I had, though like all emollients I find that it builds up on repeated application during the day. I apply a thick layer of this all over.

Suncream SPF50: If I am going out then I always apply this. At the moment I am using the Soltan Sensitive or Baby suncream as I find that is the least irritating. A suncream that doesn’t irritate my skin would be the best find ever! Combined with an SPF lipbalm too.

Clinique Moisture Surge: This goes on last when I remember. It has a nice texture and soaks in to really help plump my skin up. 

Clinique Turnaround Serum: I alternate this day on day with the Moisture Surge. I prefer to use this but I find that if I use it every day my skin can react a little so I swap between them.

Clinique All About Eyes: Self explanatory I hope.

Day

I always carry a pot with me full of QV cream so I can reapply during the day as needed (every hour or so)

Night

Wash again with Clinique and apply QV cream

Clinique Moisture Surge Overnight Mask: I apply this just before going to bed to help my skin get through the night.

Bioactive Organic Manuka Honey Cream: This was something I read about recently for helping people with eczema. I use this overnight as an alternative to the Clinique. I can’t decide yet if I like it or not. It does sometimes make my skin hot/tingly when I apply it, but it does have a nice texture and seems to moisturize well overnight.

Just writing all this out has made me itchy, so I am off to wash my face off to try and cool it down. Hopefully if I can stick to doing all this I will see an improvement in it over the next few months. If anyone has any wonder products that they recommend then please let me know.

Little Owl