4 replies to this topic

[Rheks]

I have read around that switching the products you use can cause a breakout as your skin is purging or what not, is this true?
I have switched to using boots tea tree and witch hazel products, and using a bog standard boots moisturizer as I am sick of using all the expensive products and them not working.

I do see that the tea tree & witch hazel products do seem to help spots, however quite a few odd spots have popped up since I did do the switch, especially since I used to the moisturiser.

the moisturiser doesn't seem to have any ingrediants that could possibly clog my pores as its oil free, so I am not going to switch my moisturiser yet again.

How long do you think my skin will stop 'purging' or how will I know if its the products?

[Lilly75]

I've been trying to find out about this too. How long do you have to wait to know if your skin is just purging or to know if a breakout is due to the products?
I'm not sure but you said you are using witch hazel and most witch hazel products / toners i know of contain some form of alcohol and alcohol is thought of as an irritant to the skin... so if it has alcohol maybe that is causing a breakout?

Hopefully someone else will be able to help you more!

[PaulH85]

I found that it depended on the products. I switched cleansers recently for the first time in over a year. Although the one I'd been using worked great for me, it had a light fragrance which I think was irritating my skin and altering the skin tone. I guess because it was a gradual thing, I didn't quite notice. Then a supplement I was taking really started to bring it out and I could see the difference in colour under my eyes, between places I washed with the cleanser and places I didn't.

Anyway, having changed a couple of weeks ago, to Cetaphil, I had wondered if my skin might start breaking out. I've seen no difference at all but I think it might be because of how gentle that stuff is. I always used to see some degree of change though when using harsher products. At the very least, my skin would feel tighter and get dry. I probably ended up over-moisturising to compensate for that, and that's probably what contributed to breakouts the most.

In recent years though, I've switched between products that were really gentle and some that were totally natural, and didn't break out at that point. Perhaps it depends on the type of product and how harsh it is.

[Rheks]

I've been trying to find out about this too. How long do you have to wait to know if your skin is just purging or to know if a breakout is due to the products?
I'm not sure but you said you are using witch hazel and most witch hazel products / toners i know of contain some form of alcohol and alcohol is thought of as an irritant to the skin... so if it has alcohol maybe that is causing a breakout?

Hopefully someone else will be able to help you more!

Hi lilly,

yeah I was wondering if the alchohol may be agrivating too, but I uncertain still, as usually my skin can take a bit of alchohol, even though I should probably avoid it. I've noticed using things like cetaphil doesn't help because they are far to gentle and dont cleanse my skin well enough, my skin gets really oily when I was using cetaphil & just a moisturiser.

@PaulH85.
Hi paul,

Yeah maybe, but I am still uncertain if it is the products this time, the cleanser/toner I bought does seem a bit harsh as it contains some alchohol, but it doesn't seem like its irritating it at all, it is a bit dry from starting to use it, but the moisturiser makes it feel somewhat better.

I have combination skin it seems, as it does get oily in certain areas, but overall my skin is fair dry.

I am a little worried about it, but my skin even though still pretty bad, it looks alot less red and the spots are less red and shrink in size massively, perhaps once my skin is used to it, and my moisutiser tackles the dryness, then it will subside?

[Lilly75]

I've been trying to find out about this too. How long do you have to wait to know if your skin is just purging or to know if a breakout is due to the products?
I'm not sure but you said you are using witch hazel and most witch hazel products / toners i know of contain some form of alcohol and alcohol is thought of as an irritant to the skin... so if it has alcohol maybe that is causing a breakout?

Hopefully someone else will be able to help you more!

Hi lilly,

yeah I was wondering if the alchohol may be agrivating too, but I uncertain still, as usually my skin can take a bit of alchohol, even though I should probably avoid it. I've noticed using things like cetaphil doesn't help because they are far to gentle and dont cleanse my skin well enough, my skin gets really oily when I was using cetaphil & just a moisturiser.

I've been using the cetaphil products too. The cleanser is extremely gentle so I understand what you mean. I still find it ok to use on most days - but on days that I wear makeup it doesn't work to remove it. So to remove makeup I've been using the clinique anti-blemish bar that I have from when I was using their 3 step anti blemish treatment. It worked a little for me but didn't last and was getting way too expensive. I don't love their soap bar that I'm using - I find it drying and I'm thinking it might be breaking me out a little - not sure though - but I use it because I don't have any other cleanser to remove makeup

I don't really like the cetaphil moisturiser either. It makes my skin very oily too when I'm not using anything else. It's fine if my skin gets really dry but if it is how it usually is (normal to oily) it just makes my skin more oily. So I'm trying to find a moisturiser I like better