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I know this has been asked a lot... but I'm really wondering WHY my skin reacts so badly to certain moisturizers and not others. I'd been using Neutrogena, Combo Skin with the full regimen for a week and had only experienced mild redness that went away very fast. However, it wasn't really doing a good job at keeping the flakes at bay, and sometimes I felt like it was barely moisturizing at all, even with 8 full pumps of the stuff. Last night and this morning I tried CeraVe Moisturizing Lotion because I'd read so many good things about it... and WHOA NELLY! My face just caught fire! Turned bright red, leaving me with white circles around my eyes, and the burn was INTENSE. Four hours later I can still feel it.
But the thing is... the CeraVe is an amazing moisturizer otherwise! It sinks into the skin, doesn't look too oily, and does a fantastic job of replenishing moisture! I've had almost no flakes, whereas normally the region around my mouth turns into flake city after eating.
Should I keep using CeraVe, or go back to the Neutrogena for now? I don't know which is worse... constant flaking, or going around feeling and looking like my face got dunked in sulfuric acid.
Could it be the alcohol content? I noticed that Neutrogena only has stearyl alcohol, whereas CeraVe has cetearyl and cetyl alcohol, and Cetaphil (which cooked my skin when I did the reg over a year ago) has stearyl, cetearyl and benzyl alcohols... but then again, some people find that CeraVe doesn't burn while Cetaphil does, and vice versa, and etc.
I know that once I'm more used to constant BP, the irritation should get better... I think... but still, getting my skin burned to a crisp like this is ridiculous.
I was thinking alcohol too. My mum commented on having a burning feeling after using cetaphil to moisturise after she'd used a baby wipe /face wipe to take off makeup. Those wipes would have alcohol in them and I think Cetaphil has too.
What you've described is exactly what I was going through with Cetaphil! It's a really intense burning feeling and my skin was super red. I wanted to put ice on my skin!The burning decreased but my skin stayed very red. But this all stopped about a week and a half into the regimen.... I have no idea why... I'm thinking that my skin was completely used to the amount of BP I had been using. So maybe how sensitive your skin is has something to do with it too. I'm guessing I'll go through it all again when I increase my BP again...
Being this early into the regimen will cause that burning feeling. I'm not really sure why, but it does go away. The regimen is never an easy process to get into especially in the beginning where you have to go through uncomfortable side effects. In my opinion, I would stick with the cerave.
Hmm... well I stuck with two pumps BP, but this evening instead of using CeraVe I went with 8 pumps Neutrogena again, albeit mixing it with 5 drops of jojoba. The burning was absent, and surprisingly, flaking was also kept to a minimum despite my face feeling a little tight. So I don't know... I'm kinda scared of CeraVe now to be honest. Maybe I'll give it another shot once my skin gets more used to the BP. Thanks for all the replies!
I had the same reaction with cerave moisturiser. My face was like a baboons under-carriage. It was disappointing because of the number of good reviews it gets on this site, and I was excited to try it. (and this reaction was after I was completely adjusted to BP). I guess some people are unlucky....
It's unfortunate really... I feel like an oddball, as it seems a lot of people on this site swear by either Cetaphil or CeraVe... both of which I can't handle. And of course some people like Dan's, but that stuff was just too strange for me.
I bought Aveeno and Eucerin today... gonna try them out, starting with Aveeno, hope they give my skin the moisture it so badly needs without dousing it in lava.
Have you tried to mix the neutrogenia and ceave together to see what happens? Honestly, I haven't tried ceave, but I have the same reaction to cetaphil as you. I think you just saved me from trying ceave.. I won't even bother with it now. Good luck with finding the perfect moisturizer. I'm still looking myself.
Have you tried to mix the neutrogenia and ceave together to see what happens? Honestly, I haven't tried ceave, but I have the same reaction to cetaphil as you. I think you just saved me from trying ceave.. I won't even bother with it now. Good luck with finding the perfect moisturizer. I'm still looking myself.
Aveeno Daily Moisturizing Lotion is one I found that doesn't burn at ALL (for me), controls shine and doesn't do too bad of a job moisturizing. The one catch is that it's not designed as a facial moisturizer (but then again, neither are Cetaphil or CeraVe)... also it's got isopropyl palmitate and petrolatum. The former is on Dan's list of ingredients to avoid. The back of the bottle says non-comodogenic though, so who knows. I've looked it up and people have had success with it, including in conjunction with BP, but everyone's skin is different.
I think CeraVe gave me a chemical burn though, on my temples and upper cheeks, which I made worse by trying out other moisturizers, some of which burned as well. Hence I'm backing off BP to night-only use, and switching to a gentle cleanser so that I let my skin recover a little. I don't want to stop BP cold turkey, but I definitely don't want to destroy my skin either.
Thanks Wombat, I'll give Aveeno a try. I've reduced my BP to only a half a finger length twice a day. Too scared to go less than that even though I've been the Regimen for about a year. I use Moisturel Therapeutic Lotion and Dan's lotion mixed together right now. I add a bead sized dollip of AHA+ at night and add 6 drops of Neutragenia ultra sheer liquid spf 70 to my lotion combo during the day. Not going without Jojoba of course. Good luck with Aveeno it and please keep us posted.
Thanks Wombat, I'll give Aveeno a try. I've reduced my BP to only a half a finger length twice a day. Too scared to go less than that even though I've been the Regimen for about a year. I use Moisturel Therapeutic Lotion and Dan's lotion mixed together right now. I add a bead sized dollip of AHA+ at night and add 6 drops of Neutragenia ultra sheer liquid spf 70 to my lotion combo during the day. Not going without Jojoba of course. Good luck with Aveeno it and please keep us posted.
Just wanted to point out that, after switching to Cetaphil Gentle Skin Cleanser instead of Dan's and doing a nightly application of Cetaphil Lotion (post-BP), the Cetaphil burning was almost negligible. In fact, it wasn't even "burning" anymore, just a warming sensation. Also, I applied CeraVe as a day moisturizer WITHOUT putting BP underneath, and it didn't burn at all. In fact, it ended up being all that I wanted out of a moisturizer - sinks in, doesn't burn, doesn't make me look excessively greasy, and actually moisturizes instead of pretending to.
So, I'm not sure what to think... I think cleanser choice definitely plays a role for me, as well as whether or not there is BP underneath the moisturizer... although I guess the second one is a no-brainer...
Lol, yeah dans moisturizer is weird. It was yellow and it stinged and when it dryed it was like having yellow crust on my face.
I had to switch to another strength of bp. My skin couldn't take 2 pumps of dans bp anymore. I don't remember there websites
name google aspirem acne. It should pop up.It has the strength of 2 pumps of bp without the overdrying. I actually feel normal again.
I use that plus cetaphil moisturizer and 30 drops of jojoba oil.
Lol, yeah dans moisturizer is weird. It was yellow and it stinged and when it dryed it was like having yellow crust on my face.
I had to switch to another strength of bp. My skin couldn't take 2 pumps of dans bp anymore. I don't remember there websites
name google aspirem acne. It should pop up.It has the strength of 2 pumps of bp without the overdrying. I actually feel normal again.
I use that plus cetaphil moisturizer and 30 drops of jojoba oil.
Are you sure Aspirem is the name?