Face like parchment paper. Help.

[MrsFrankieHeck]

I've been poorly recently and although I have always had dry skin I looked in the mirror yesterday and was shocked at my skin.

I look about 300, grey skin with wrinkles galore and a very papery texture.

What can I do? Are there any miracle products or is all hope lost? I'm 41.

I've been using this Dr Hauschka Day Oil recently and it's pretty good stuff for dry, papery skin. It's shit under makeup, though - the foundation just slides off - so I use it at night.

I have slight skin atrophy due to having to use steroids to control a severe skin condition. I use pure mineral oil in the morning, a tiny amount, as a moisturiser which sits fine under makeup, but it can break some people out so always patch test, then at night I use kiehls midnight recovery. If you go to kiehls they will assess your skin and give you a months worth of samples for free to trial the regime.

It's really helped my skin, it almost looks 'normal' again without my foundation for the first time in years.

I had a really heavy cold at the start of the year and was shocked at how dehydrated my skin looked, so I sympathise. My solution was layering serum then oil under an overnight hydrating mask (I like the Origins one) for a few days on the trot. All hope is not lost!

Facial oils, and a hot cloth cleanser.

Obviously at night, rather than under makeup. I find that if I use oils at night, then in the morning a normal serum and day cream is fine under makeup.

Slop some blue Astral or Nivea on as well (after the oils) if your skin is really dry/dehydrated. Take some fish oils as well.

Best facial oil I've used in ages is the Suti one, I had it for Christmas and am just about to buy another bottle. www.sutiskincare.com/collections/for-the-face Smells amazing and restores my fragile celtic hyper-sensitive skin to glowing softness.

Thank you all so much. Do I literally just rub the oil on after cleaning with something like a flannel and hot water?

Drip feed alert, I'm a total novice at face stuff.

I use Rosehip oil (from amazon) before bed and in the morning apply the blue nivea creme about 15 minutes before makeup. Both sink in really nicely and my skin is softer and less reactive. Plus they're cheap :-)

Hope you're feeling better now? I'd drink more water and eat a couple of avocados. When my skin gets very dry this gets it back to normal really quickly. Fish is good too, and minimising sugar. Avocados for me are the "magic bullet" though.

Astral cream. Or Nivea like the other poster said. And slather it on generously. For a boost break open an evening primrose oil capsule and give yourself a facial massage with the contents.

Use a cream cleanser. Water is very drying so just clean with a cream cleanser and cotton wool.
The body shop vitamin E range or moisturisers are great. You could use the cleanser, toner and night and day cream. Makes skin very soft but is also very gentle.

If you are using an oil to add moisture, as oposed to a cleansing oil, than pour it onto your hands, press hands together and then just press it onto your face and neck. They usually sink in quite quickly and any left on your hands can be just rubbed in making your hands soft too.
Oh and the Dr Hauschka oil mentioned by a pp is lovely but is meant to normalise oily skin, I think you would be better off with the rose day cream (not the light version) if you want something from DH.
I've loved the Suti oil so much I'm going to get the night one too, I was using the day one morning and night.

Really agree with all the advice here, but would also give a vitamin C serum a go. My skin tends to look really quite grey and the facial massage with oil and cleansers helps a lot, but the vitamin c serum just gives it that extra boost. I like the Bodyshop radiance capsule things, but there are quite a few out there.

Thank you all very much, I am.going shopping tomorrow and will report back.