A few weeks ago, I developed contact dermatitis around my eyes due to a sudden allergy to nail polish. But before I figured out nail polish was the cause, I thought it was due to me upping my usage of the DKR AHA from a couple of times a week to nightly, so I quit using it. As a result, my skin got VERY dry and flaky. I had read on the forum to try mixing some baking soda with my cleanser as a natural exfoliant so I did that each morning. Well, unfortunately, that was too harsh for my skin and now the area around my nose, chin, and a bit of my forehead are really red, dry, and flake A LOT.

I've now also stopped using BP because it also is too harsh for my skin right now. My skin care routine for both morning and night is simply washing with the DKR cleanser and then using the DKR moisturizer with a few drops of jojoba oil mixed in.

Despite using plenty of moisturizer and jojoba oil, my skin still develops huge flakes which it doesn't normally so I guess it's a side effect of having overexfoliated. So my questions are:

1) What can I do to gently exfoliate these flakes? I tend to rub gently with my fingers when I'm in the shower but this leaves my skin looking redder than it did pre-shower.

2) Is there anything I can take to reduce the redness? Some sort of allergy medicine, maybe? If so, which kind should I use (not familiar with the different kinds of allergy meds)?

Thanks in advance!