Skincare for rosacea prone/sensitive dry skin

[zippyswife]

Yes I have problem skin, prone to rosacea flare ups, very sensitive and also dry.

At the moment I use avene gentle cleanser and their moisturiser.

I tried the hot cloth cleansing which made my skin feel Great initially but then made it flare up.
From reading all the threads it sounds like I need to add a toner an oil and a serum. Given my skin type what products would you recommend.
And... As I'm at it. What would be the best primer?

I have your skin type. I don't think you actually need to add stuff, just change your cleansing method. I've found that I need to not use water at all for cleansing, but use a wipe-off creamy cleanser - so no hot cloth cleansing. Alcohol in products is also a big trigger. I don't think toners are really necessary either. Burts Bees Intense Hydration made my skin look and feel so much happier, to the extent that it made me realise how dry it was before. My rosacea causes bumps on my forehead and it totally got rid of them.

Is your cleanser a wipe-off kind? I would use that with cotton wool, then the Burts Bees moisturiser or at least their night cream - when your skin is really unhappy (due to central heating or whatever) then you could use an oil between cleansing and moisturising. Waitrose of all places used to do a great one for sensitive skin in their Pure range but the buggers have discontinued it. I'd use plain almond oil, I find that most facial oils contain essential oils which my skin finds irritating.

I've recently been using Clarins Santal Facial Oil and I've also just ordered some Nourish Relax products (mini set of cleanser, toner, moisturiser and serum) but can't comment as they haven't arrived yet!
I've just finished Pai serum but I didn't repurchase as I wasn't amazed by it for the price so I'm hoping the Nourish stuff is good.

My skin is prone to rosacea too. I use products from this range: iwostin
I just order them on ebay or wherever I can find them. They made a big difference.
Hot cleansing makes my skin flare up really badly, not sure if it's ever recommended for skin with rosacea.

Thanks for your replies. Yes I use a wipe off cleanser which seems to work well for my skin.

This is probably a really stupid question but where would I buy almond oil? I'll give that a go first I think and if that works add in the burt bees

So Ive just ordered almond oil from tescos with my food shopping. It says 100% pure almond oil (used for skin hair cooking and frying?!!). How and when do I apply it?

Just use it like any other facial oil - a few drops massaged in after cleansing, if your skin is feeling particularly dry/unhappy. I don't use mine all the time, although seasons changing like about this time of year are the most common times for me to use it. Central heating in particular plays havoc with my skin. I find using it at night is enough. Other than in the summer, generally I only cleanse at night - my morning shower is enough in the morning, then I just apply moisturiser and sunscreen. Cleansing only at night might be worth a go? Dry skin basically has a malfunctioning lipid layer which causes moisture to evaporate more easily, and cleansing too much (along with showers that are too hot) can strip it further. Also now radiators are going on, try a radiator humidifier? Doubles up as an air freshener if you put some essential oil in it!

And yes that almond oil is fine, is it the HTC one? They do a bunch of different oils (sesame, coconut, almond etc) and you normally find them in the world food aisle, or ethnic haircare/beauty if your supermarket has one. You can also find almond oil in pharmacies and Wilkos - Wilkos also does little bottles of pure argan oil.

Burts Bees were doing samples of the night cream but I don't know if they've stopped now - worth seeing if they still do them?