I know this may make some of you cringe, but I had no face routine up until about 4-5 months ago. I just washed my face with water and whatever soap was in the shower. I never had bad acne as a teen, but post baby it seems to have gotten worse. It's nothing I'd consider terrible, but it's definitely worsened.
I started off with Clean & Clear's Foaming Facial Cleanser for Sensitive Skin. It was inexpensive and something they carried at the commissary on base. Not having to order things online and pay for shipping to our FPO address is so nice, but the base is very limited on what brands they carry (I'm also not big on venturing out in town to search for things and play charades in Italian). It said for sensitive skin, so it had to be okay for my skin right? It started making it all dry, flaky, and redder than usual. I have redness to my cheeks no matter what, but this just made it worse. I got to looking at the ingredients, and soon realized this stuff was not as sensitive as its name states.
A site I've come to love is Skin Deep Cosmetics Database. You input your cosmetic of choice, and it gives you a rating based on the ingredients and how harmful they are (they also have a database for things like dish soaps, detergents, and other household cleaners which is handy too). They also do base some of the overall score on the company (i.e. if they are cruelty free, how they treat the environment, or employees). You can also just look up ingredients individually if the specific product you want to research is not part of the database yet, or if it comes from some place like an Etsy shop. Anyway, the lower the score the better it is for you. If there are concerning ingredients, it will tell you exactly what it is and why it's concerning.
The Clean & Clear contains:
Sodium Laureth Sulfate-skin irritant, and leaves skin dry
Cocamidopropyl Betaine- skin, eye, and lung irritant
PEG 150 Distearate- can contain impurities that are known carcinogens
Fragrance- does not disclose type so people could have a wide range of allergic reaction
Tetrasodium EDTA- made from formaldehyde, a known carcinogen, that can break through the skin barrier and go right to your bloodstream
And that's just a few of the ingredients that are 'gentle' for your sensitive skin. Yay for washing with some cancer face wash that will leave your skin dry and irritated.
I had ordered a few items from a shop on Etsy (MyBeautyAddiction) such as deodorant and lotions. I was on there browsing around and noticed they also had face care items. The shop sells mineral makeup and other more natural beauty products. You'll probably see a lot more about this shop. I've loved everything I've gotten from them so far. Their service is also outstanding as they are always fast, and well packaged. Also, can't beat their sales. They quite often have a coupon for a percentage off, a certain dollar amount off, or free shipping (find these on their FB page). Also note, due to Etsy policy changes they do not currently have the face care items, as well as some other items, listed on the Etsy shop. Instead, you need to head over to their website for these items for the time being.
I ordered their Ocean Mineral Face Wash and Moisturizer. It contains ingredients you can understand without having to look them up like aloe vera, lavender water, olive oil, tea tree oil. The ones I wasn't familiar with I quickly looked up, such as Decyl Glucoside and quickly found it's naturally derived.
What a huge difference this combination has made! I wish I had a before photo to show. My skin feels much smoother. It's less red too! I must confess though, I have not been the best about keeping to washing my face. Sometimes I just do it in the morning, or not at all. I've just gotten through a phase where I wasn't keeping it up. I should take a picture since I've got a recent break out right now. The ingredients are almost all organic too! I also find a lot of the time the face wash is so moisturizing that I do not need to use the moisturizer. No more red, irritated skin.
I've got another order from them on the way. I have some new face care items to try out, as well as some other new things.
I started off with Clean & Clear's Foaming Facial Cleanser for Sensitive Skin. It was inexpensive and something they carried at the commissary on base. Not having to order things online and pay for shipping to our FPO address is so nice, but the base is very limited on what brands they carry (I'm also not big on venturing out in town to search for things and play charades in Italian). It said for sensitive skin, so it had to be okay for my skin right? It started making it all dry, flaky, and redder than usual. I have redness to my cheeks no matter what, but this just made it worse. I got to looking at the ingredients, and soon realized this stuff was not as sensitive as its name states.
A site I've come to love is Skin Deep Cosmetics Database. You input your cosmetic of choice, and it gives you a rating based on the ingredients and how harmful they are (they also have a database for things like dish soaps, detergents, and other household cleaners which is handy too). They also do base some of the overall score on the company (i.e. if they are cruelty free, how they treat the environment, or employees). You can also just look up ingredients individually if the specific product you want to research is not part of the database yet, or if it comes from some place like an Etsy shop. Anyway, the lower the score the better it is for you. If there are concerning ingredients, it will tell you exactly what it is and why it's concerning.
The Clean & Clear contains:
Sodium Laureth Sulfate-skin irritant, and leaves skin dry
Cocamidopropyl Betaine- skin, eye, and lung irritant
PEG 150 Distearate- can contain impurities that are known carcinogens
Fragrance- does not disclose type so people could have a wide range of allergic reaction
Tetrasodium EDTA- made from formaldehyde, a known carcinogen, that can break through the skin barrier and go right to your bloodstream
And that's just a few of the ingredients that are 'gentle' for your sensitive skin. Yay for washing with some cancer face wash that will leave your skin dry and irritated.
I had ordered a few items from a shop on Etsy (MyBeautyAddiction) such as deodorant and lotions. I was on there browsing around and noticed they also had face care items. The shop sells mineral makeup and other more natural beauty products. You'll probably see a lot more about this shop. I've loved everything I've gotten from them so far. Their service is also outstanding as they are always fast, and well packaged. Also, can't beat their sales. They quite often have a coupon for a percentage off, a certain dollar amount off, or free shipping (find these on their FB page). Also note, due to Etsy policy changes they do not currently have the face care items, as well as some other items, listed on the Etsy shop. Instead, you need to head over to their website for these items for the time being.
I ordered their Ocean Mineral Face Wash and Moisturizer. It contains ingredients you can understand without having to look them up like aloe vera, lavender water, olive oil, tea tree oil. The ones I wasn't familiar with I quickly looked up, such as Decyl Glucoside and quickly found it's naturally derived.
What a huge difference this combination has made! I wish I had a before photo to show. My skin feels much smoother. It's less red too! I must confess though, I have not been the best about keeping to washing my face. Sometimes I just do it in the morning, or not at all. I've just gotten through a phase where I wasn't keeping it up. I should take a picture since I've got a recent break out right now. The ingredients are almost all organic too! I also find a lot of the time the face wash is so moisturizing that I do not need to use the moisturizer. No more red, irritated skin.
I've got another order from them on the way. I have some new face care items to try out, as well as some other new things.
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