Oily skin nightmare

[gourd]

Since about age 25 my skin has been combination/oily with break outs of spots around ovulation and period time, but after LO was born it has seemed worse than ever. I use products supposedly designed to clear pores (Garnier Pure Active range mostly, plus Superdrug own pore cleaning nose strips) but after about 30 minutes of using a pore cleansing scrub followed by a toner, my skin feels greasy and i can see sebum in the pores again. Even the nose pore cleaning strips don't seem to shift much and nose pores look full again within a few hours of using. I have enlarged pores on my nose, on my face either side of my noise and a few between my eyebrows, but I don't suffer from spots in the areas with enlarged pores, it's my forehead, around the hairline particularly, and in my eyebrows (perhaps 'cos it's difficult to scrub/clean the sin underneath the eyebrow hair well) and also on my chin and around my mouth where I suffer most with spots. I wash and scrub my face 3-4 times a day.

I wear make up 4 days a week, and use MAC longstay foundation designed for combination/oily skin. I wash all my make up bushes at least every 4 days. I sometimes wash my foundation brush more often, if I bring it home from work with me to wash it at home. I usually get made up at work (I cycle there) and there isn't even a mirror in the changing room, let alone a sink (the only water is the shower) so it's difficult to wash them every day, (you tend to get your clothes wet doing it!) but the most they ever get used between washes is 4 times. I don't use moisturiser at all at the moment as my skin is so oily, even the Garnier mattifying one that supposed to absorb excess oil for use under make up, only seems effective for about half an hour. I'm pleased with my MAC foundation and powder- it doesn't slide off and does stay on really well all day at work, although I do have to blot my nose, forehead and chin every 2 hours or it's super shiny.

Is there a moisturiser that works for super oily skin or am I doing the right thing not bothering with one? Also, is thee an "anti aging" one that will temporarily plump out wrinkles for use under make up but that isn't greasy? Why do manufacturers assume that only those with oily skin get wrinkles - sebum production isn't linked to collagen at all, is it? Is using these presumably oil striping products actually increasing the oil production? I have tried 4 days just using Simple face wash, but can't say there was much difference.The only thing that gets rid of them is foreign (sunny) holidays! After a week cycling in Italy I am always spot-free. Am I wasting my money on scrubs? With make up on the spotty redness is covered well, but my faces still look like the surface of the moon with huge bumps and craters! The spots leave scars sometimes too. Any tips on how to deal with super oily skin and resulting huge lumpy spots would be welcome. At wits end here!

Is using these presumably oil striping products actually increasing the oil production?

Yes. Steer clear of harsh toners. Do use a moisuriser, but a gentle one. MAC's Oil Control one is quite good, or Dermalogica Active Moist which isn't overly rich. If you're using a scrub, make sure it's a gentle one, not one with big scratchy bits in which can actually tear the skin, causing trauma and spreading spots. It's better to use something that has AHAs as their exfoliating ingredients rather than an actual scrub. Something with Lactic acid, Salicylic acid or Glycolic acid.

The main brushes you need to keep clean are your foundation, concealer and powder brushes. You can get make up brush cleaning wipes if you are finding it hard to access a water supply. Or use what make up artists use, which is Isopropyl Alcohol. Put some on a piece of kitchen roll and then wipe your brush through it a few times until it's clean. It evaporates quickly. But, it stinks so your colleagues might not be impressed! Oh and it's quite drying on your brushes so it's good to shampoo and condition them once a week too. Another thing you could try is the Milton surface sterilizing wipes to clean them. A lot of make up artists use Milton sterilizing fluid to clean brushes. I've seen the wipes but not sure what they are like - ie. whether they would leave a residue or not on the brushes. Might be worth a try though.

Pregnancy does seem to bring out acne in some people unfortunately. I had reasonable good skin until I started TTC and since my first pregnancy it's never been the same again. If it's hormonal you might have more luck taking supplements to balance your hormones. I can't do this at the moment as I'm still TTC. Also, go and speak to your GP. Antibiotics can help a lot with these breakouts.

Hi, there was a thread a bit similar to this a few weeks ago. I've suffered from really bad skin since I was about 14 and it was only when I went to a clinic I found that actually underneath the excess oil I had really dry skin and it was these 'shine free' etc moisturisers and ones for oily skin that were making my skin worse. I went to a sk:n clinic for an assessment as I originally thought a skin peel would help but they said it was necessary. I'd recommend going as it is free and they give you a list of products based on an examination. I got a facewash for about £8 that they also sell in boots, is avene thermal soaples cleaner and it's a turquoise colour and that's been amazing. They told me that I didn't need to change my moisturiser as that was for dryer skin, I've got the lancome hydra zen gel moisturiser and my lancome teint miracle foundation was fine too. On top of that I use mac blot powder but nothing else for oily skin. I also agree with the poster above on getting a facewash with glycolic acid in, if you get a good one it will make your skin worse for a week or so but then the improvements are amazing. I use one that was about £30 in the morning and then the avene at night and I no longer have to use any extra creams or serums or scrubs to unnecessarily dry out my skin. Hope this helps

Thans for your replies. The Garnier stuff does have salyclic (sp?) acid in it. I did use Dr Perricone pore closing toner thing which did seem better and less drying but is really, really expensive.. hmmm.. will have a look in Boots for that face wash - thanks.

I've recommended this before but the only thing that helped my oliy skin is Dr Hauschka Normalizing Oil. Yes I know it sounds funny to use oil on oily skin, but it sinks in beautifully, moisturizes and keeps the face shine.free the whole day. They have trial kits as well so you don't have to buy full size to test.

Come over to the Oil Cleansing thread gourd. Oil is your friend if you have oily skin. Oil attracts oil, therefore draining your pores and leaving skin moisturised not stripped and panicked.