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Skincare Ingredients

999 replies

Pupsiecola · 18/10/2016 16:08

Following on from the skincare routines post, what ingredients do you make sure you include in your products, for example, Vit C, Vit E, Hyaluronic acid?

TIA

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yongnian · 25/10/2016 22:52

enid I do a combo of a heavy CICA-type cream on my patches when they're in a flared-up irritated stage. After the irritation has calmed down, I use one of those really high % urea creams (flexitol heel balm) and this seems to slake the thirst of the super dry 'stain' that gets left behind. This cleared up a really stubborn bout in the summer, though it's now back. (Don't know the trigger, could be weather/temp).
The whole thing can stay for weeks on end too. This time it's come back in exact same place as before. Tedious.
Boots do both Flexitol and other brand high % urea creams plus an LRP cica cream if you don't already use these and think they may help.
hollin Grin at you washing the horse in dr bronners. DH has regularly complained that our horses have got more hair products than him!

yongnian · 25/10/2016 22:56

Oh, so here's a(nother) question on the question of water in routines...I've been using a Uriage Rosealiac non-rinse milky cleanser....really nice, really suits my skin, but I cannot for the life of me get my head around the fact it's non-rinse. So, I rinse! (Well, splash and pat dry).
Probably missing some major benefit by doing this...or perhaps not! Must look back at the product descriptions to see if I can find out more.

hollinhurst84 · 25/10/2016 22:57

I wanted to get the grease out before she was clipped Grin and it was the first thing that came to mind!

yongnian · 25/10/2016 23:08

Grin GrinGrin hollin horse beauty products, it's a whole other thread area of spending

hollinhurst84 · 25/10/2016 23:39

Don't get me started. I'm awful for buying matching saddle pads and bandages Grin

EnidButton · 26/10/2016 01:28

Yong Good ideas! I'll get some lrp cica along with their water whilst it's on offer and hopefully bo might spot a more general moisturiser that'll suit me from Boots. It'll feel better using points as so many products get used for a week before being rejected. DH does well out of it though. Grin
I use flexitol heel balm and Eucerin intensive 10% (urea) lotion. I like urea in body products so don't know why that hasn't occurred to me before. Although my nose patch isn't irritated or itchy just dry and rough feeling. Good thinking.

Have you tried Daktarin gold 2% cream? It says it's for althletes foot on the box but, if you went to a GP or pharmacist it's what they'd recommend for sebhorreic dermatitis, so might be worth a try?

yongnian · 26/10/2016 10:29

No I haven't tried Daktarin enid - thanks! Thinking about what it's formulated for, it sounds like it could be good.
hollin matchy-matchy??? Grin

botemp · 26/10/2016 11:01

Well if it's 3 for 2 on LRP, Enid, why not try one of the Toleriane moisturisers? I think Nabootique likes the Fluide version iirc, which is should be a good one for combo skin.

Uriage Rosealiac non-rinse milky cleanser, I assume is much like the LRP Toleriane Dermo cleanser, to be used with a cotton pad and shows much of the French Pharmacy antipathy towards water but can usually still be used with water if preferred. I used to use my Weleda Almond Cleansing Lotion like this when I was a teen and lazy. I don't think it gets it as clean as with water but I also suspect that might be psychological. It also explains for me somewhat why the French usually have some sort of water stage post cleansing, either toning with floral water or one of the thermal sprays.

yongnian · 26/10/2016 11:35

Yep I've been using it with either tepid tap (but am going to ditch that for a bit to see if skin calms down), thermal spray or some Christian Lennart rose water spray (am going to look carefully again at ingredients of that tho)
Although thinking about it, of course I used to blob cleanser on a cotton pad back in the day too, so presumably that's what you do with it Grin
Next thing for me to look into is the order I'm using things - am starting to get some pilling going on since introducing a serum stage, so going wrong somewhere...

hollinhurst84 · 26/10/2016 12:01

So much matchy matchy Grin

EnidButton · 26/10/2016 17:44

Thank you bo I'll check it out.

MumboNumber5 · 26/10/2016 20:17

Fascinating stuff - making copious notes as I read, thanks! Here's my routine in case anyone wants to criticise/point in right direction/show me where I could be saving ££. I know I need to add SPF.

Standard late 30s skin - dehydrated, some lines, some hormonal spots, sometimes grey, sometimes red :D

AM
Balance Me Pure Skin Face Wash
Rodial Hylauronic Acid or Clearasil fruit pads with salicylic acid
Vichy Aqualia thermal serum
Olay 7 effects moisturiser

PM
Super drug Naturally Radiant Hot Cloth Cleanser
Nip and Fab Glycolic Acid pads
REN Omega serum /oil
Body Shop Vit E night cream

SheStoodInTheStorm · 27/10/2016 00:03

Oh my goodness! I thought I had an understanding of skincare but I bow down to you ladies, especially botemps.

It's late and I've just read the whole thread. I need to have a think about what I am using and when.

I love Caroline Hitons but I don't think what she advocates is necessarily for my skin. I have very red, reactive skin with some acne. I tend to get any product I think might help/have read about on a blog/says it's a miracle and put it on hoping for the best! There have been so many products I've put on my skin I think it's probably overloaded.

However, I know don't really know where to start Blush

This is me (sorry for the awful pics) acne is likely hormonal but I don't want to take medication for it.

Skincare Ingredients
Skincare Ingredients
botemp · 27/10/2016 10:55

I'll answer you both but with the risk of this becoming an ask bo to fix my skin thread (I'm much better with the ingredients!), all I can do is advise what I would do in your place. I have no education in this other than the one I've gathered predominantly from other people that are (educated) experts on the internet but that says little of my capability of interpreting such things.

Mumbo

AM
Balance Me Pure Skin Face Wash - this has citric acid in it (presumably to keep it lightly acidic) and is sulfate free. If you like it and it works for you keep going with it. I'd be hard pushed to find something comparable substantially cheaper.
Rodial Hylauronic Acid - can't figure out what this is, are they pads, a toner? or Clearasil fruit pads with salicylic acid - are these the ones that are bargainous as they're discontinued?
Vichy Aqualia thermal serum - used to be one of the few hyaluronic serums around, was bargainous then, not so much now. Either The Ordinary HA 2% + B5 or Superdrug Simply Pure Hydrating Serum if all you're using it for is dehydration.
Olay 7 effects moisturiser - nothing wrong with this, nothing amazing either but that's the way I kind of prefer moisturisers.

PM
Super drug Naturally Radiant Hot Cloth Cleanser - Hard to economise on this one.
Nip and Fab Glycolic Acid pads - as above, Bravura London Revitalising Ginseng Toner With Glycolic Acid 5% is a possible both have similar concentrations (maybe confusing with the extreme version here) and pH. Assuming a 150ml will last you a lot longer than the pads but with offers I don't know how the economics of it would work out.
REN Omega serum /oil - I wouldn't really consider this a serum, most ingredients are Vit E related and you can definitely economise by just using Rice Bran Oil (currently liking this but should be cheaply purchased H&B, alternatively wheat germ oil. However, in conjunction with Vit E moisturiser below technically you're oversubscribing a bit on one ingredient. I think it would be best to think about what type of issue you'd like to address with a serum stage here or omit the stage altogether.
Body Shop Vit E night cream - see above about amount of Vit E. A different serum and using a Vit E rich oil here (if you like oils) would be a possibility.

On account of the greyness (I'm assuming lacklustre/dull rather than winter sallow that we all tend to get) I'd be contemplating Vit C and a Retinol but on account of the redness I'm wondering if that's sensitivity related and whether that is the wisest approach with the current offerings from The Ordinary. If it's uneven skintone related I'd consider Niacinamide, it's in the Olay but best guesses between 2-5%, ideally it's between 4-5%.

SheStoodInTheStorm

CH has her place but I agree (and think she says this herself too) that her approach is not necessarily universal. Following her does tend to breed the feeling that the next miracle worker is in easy reach but I think the high volume approach is a difficult one to find a workable routine with if you're anything but normal resilient skin with limited issues.

I've never had acne, and have done very little reading about it. As I understand it there's two approaches, the (predominantly western) which is a harsh assault on the skin eliminating every bacteria (good and bad), oils (again good and bad), etc. to the face in an attempt to eradicate it with the hope it then stays gone as the skin 'resets' and finds its balance again. This seems to work for some, others find they need even more high strength stuff under prescription while for others this method of stripping the skin leads to only more oil production putting the entire face in a continual vicious cycle of recovery, overcompensation, back to problematic.

The Asian approach seems to be one that's gentler, working with the skin to slowly restore it to a healthier stage, the pH business becomes very important here as strengthening the acid mantle (or restoring it in some cases) with low pH cleansers, acids, and ceramides gives less of a chance to the bacteria that thrive in skin with an elevated pH. I think while this appears to be the preferred approach, it won't work for everyone and a lot probably won't have the patience for it either.

As I understand it there are very few genuinely oily people, with most it is coupled with dehydration that encourages more oil production as a matter of compensation (which then continual gets stripped out on account of unwanted oils). So the banning of occlusive agents (oils, etc.) and limited care focus on hydration (lack of water in the skin) -the logic being someone is oily therefore anything to with dry seems alien and is therefore overlooked- works counter productive as you need some sort of occlusive to lock in the hydration.

If you don't want medication or see a derm about this, the only thing I can really think of worth pursuing is Blue Light Therapy, it's available in salons/derm offices but there are also a few at home devices that are highly rated (was a thread on it recently) and I suspect daily at home use might actually be preferable in this instance. It works on eliminating the bacteria exasperating the condition and not disrupting the rest of your naturally built up protection system (which harsh acne medications and products take out in the process as mentioned above).

Saying all that cystic/hormonal acne is very difficult to treat, they still don't know what causes the skin's oil glands to become hypersensitive to excess male hormones. Disregarding the skin momentarily I'd focus on the excess male hormones. There has been some recent research that spearmint (not some holistic crap, they are genuine scientific studies but there haven't been many nor are they wide studies) has a significant impact on the testosterone production. It's specifically spearmint not any old mint (I've tried it for PCOS management and do find it makes a difference but fully accept it may also be a placebo effect). I know an Asian Beauty Blogger with cystic acne who is very happy with the result since introducing it (her dermatologist was the one who suggested it), I believe it's two cups of tea a day but I think there are also some capsules out there. Just for balance, certain BC pills (Yasmin) will also aid with hormonal acne.

I don't really know how to advise where to start, I'm assuming you've gone through a lot of product hoping that each individual one was Jesus in a bottle rather than establishing a routine where the individual products play to their strength to support each other in aiding with your specific condition. Going by your unwillingness to seek out medication, the Asian approach may be more suited to you but it's not going to be producing miracles overnight and if it truly is hormonal any skincare routine will simply be maintaining and not exasperating the condition as the cause is internal and needs to be addressed somehow.

botemp · 27/10/2016 10:59

Mumbo, just closing down my tabs I realised I'd been looking at the travel size version of the Balance Me cleanser and judged it on that price, alternative budget wise to look at (it's on my to try list) is the Andalou Apricot Probiotic Cleansing Milk. They sell it at H&B for under £10. Despite being called a milk it's more like an oil cleanser (like the BM) and also sulphate free.

Pupsiecola · 27/10/2016 15:07

I've just ordered a couple of masks. Bo you mentioned a sheet mask upthread. This is sth I've wanted to try for a while. Can you please share what you use?

I've come back from London to my Paula's Choice products. The BHA didn't sting at all. I like that you can buy the travel size.

Does anyone order from Feel Unique? I've gone on to the site to buy some Pureology and this offer seems too good to be true!!

Pureology

OP posts:
Pupsiecola · 27/10/2016 15:08

PS I use Toleriane cleansing milk in the morning with a flannel. I prefer it that way.

OP posts:
EnidButton · 27/10/2016 17:14

I do like a flannel. Can't believe I went years without using them.

EnidButton · 27/10/2016 17:16

Pup I've ordered from Feel unique lots of times. Quick delivery, no problems. They do have some brilliant offers. (If that's what you were asking.)

EnidButton · 27/10/2016 17:18

Sorry for triple post. I'd like to know what sheet masks people have used and liked. I love the Sephora ones but not readily available obviously (yet!!). Especially the avocado one. I think my skin prefers a sheet mask but can't find many in the uk apart from the £££ ones.

botemp · 27/10/2016 17:34

I've ordered with them too, they're slow for me but most things coming in from the UK are dreadfully slow. I like lookfantastic too, always at least 15% off everything. Usually one of those has the lowest price on things with a decent offer.

botemp · 27/10/2016 17:39

Oh yeah sheetmasks...

Don't buy them in the UK, they're ridiculously priced. There's been a recent hygiene scandal in Korea but never really liked theirs anyhow (high alcohol content and fragrance). Prefer them from Taiwan and Japan. It's mostly an intense hit of HA that helps penetrate whatever you put on before it (serums, oils, etc) deeper and quicker.

Am on the phone now, will link some of my current favourites up later. The impatient among you can trawl the Asian Beauty thread. Grin

AuroraPolaris · 27/10/2016 20:59

Marking my place, ladies, so I can follow botemp's evolving encyclopedia Wine

Pupsiecola · 27/10/2016 21:19

Thanks for the reassurance re Feel Unique. Yes was asking as shampoo was ridiculously good deal. Have ordered :)

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yongnian · 27/10/2016 22:57

pupsie is pureology only for coloured hair? Like the look of its ingredients for a tetchy scalp but can't work out which range does what. Does seem bargainous