Natural skin care = Unhappy skin!

[m139]

Ever since starting DE I've become a bit obsessed with skin care and I've been trying different routines and different products.

I realized I was trying too many products and losing track of what works and what doesn't. I decided to get back to basics and try all natural products for a week and see how I do.

I have oily skin so after reading a bit, I decided to try something with tea tree EO. For the last full week, I've cut down tremendously on the number of products and ingredients.

Face Wash (morning before shave and at bedtime) is Desert Essence Tea Tree Face Wash http://www.drugstore.com/products/p...m=goobase_filler&device=c&network=g&matchtype

Pre-Shave is home made mix of 2oz grapeseed oil, 1oz jojoba, 1/2oz olive oil, 1/2oz castor oil and 10 drops tea tree, 3 drops peppermint, 2 drops orange oils.

Cream is TOBS Jermyn Street

Aftershave is Thayers WH Aftershave with Aloe

Nothing else on my face. When I feel like I need to moisturize, I use the pre-shave mix.

The results have not been great. I'm getting a fantastic nick-free shave but otherwise my skin is super dry, especially the shaved area and feels very rough. My forehead is a bit greasy and I'm not happy at all.

I'm wondering what I'm doing wrong. Should I give it more time or go back to what I was using before?

 

[shaverjoe]

I find tea tree oil to be very drying. I would trying reducing the exposure to the same and see if that helps.

 

[Go West Young Man]

Wash your face with a good soap,s have with a good lather, use a good aftershave. Everything beyond that is fluff you can do without.

 

[OkieStubble]

Wash your face with a good soap,s have with a good lather, use a good aftershave. Everything beyond that is fluff you can do without.

This. Wash your face and forehead when you are taking a shower. Use the same soap you are using on the rest of your body. Washing morning, noon and night will just strip your natural oils and dry your face out. When your ready to shave, why would you use a pre shave made out of oil if you already have oily skin? A very good pre shave can be just taking your time with your brush and soap. Load the brush and spend several minutes lathering your face. Add water to your lather slowly keeping it moist. After lathering, let the lather just sit there a few minutes more. This will soften your whiskers greatly.

Use a good AS splash that has glycerin in it. Aqua Velva comes to mind. The alcohol will tone your face and be a antiseptic to your skin. The glycerin will keep it from drying out without making your forehead greasy.

 

[Go West Young Man]

To clarify my comments, if you have a specific issue that a specific product addresses then by all means go to town.
But I'm a firm believer that your skin can take care of itself if you get out of it's way - eat well, drink a lot of water, get exercise, wear sunscreen, use the fewest products possible.

 

[SEnSE]

I'll also agree that tea tree oil could be a skin irritant. I avoid it at all costs after having a few bad reactions to it.

 

[GuanYu]

All those essential oils are probably drying / irritating your skin.

 

[mr_economy]

It's probably the Desert Essence face wash that is drying your face. My skin runs on the oily side, particularly during our hot and humid summers. One summer I also went on a "natural" kick and bought the Desert Essence Tea Tree face wash. After a few days of washing with it, my face was dry, flaky, and irritated. It's not "all natural" (whatever that marketing term really means) but try using a gentle cleanser meant for oily skin like Cerave Foaming Cleanser and see if that helps with the dryness.

 

[bosseb]

I have had serious problems with my skin and my doctor has adviced me along the lines mentioned here. I use one soap to wash my face and the rest of the body. I switch between Savon de Marseille and the Aleppo soap. I use a non alcoholic AS balm (DR Harris and Castle Forbes). For my extremely sensitive skin I use an emollient cream (A-Derma) applied after the ASB on doctors orders.

Aloe vera irritates my skin in prolonged use.

I think that the 'natural skin care' idea should more focus a short ingredients list than exotic essential oils. Also be aware of the fact that a really good emollient creme will fix a dry or sore skin problem, but the smart way is to eliminate the cause of the problem.

This is a short ingredient list (actually the shortest I have seen!):

​

 

[Singledge]

Tea tree While a great Antiseptic, Antifungal, Antibacterial. Heck it's very close to turpentine. But it will dry your skin out. It's not a daily skin product.

 

[m139]

Thanks all for the comments and they are very helpful. I do agree that the tea tree oil is the culprit. Last night, I washed my face with Menscience and followed with the MS lotion, which I've used for a long time without any problems. This morning I showered as usual after my run and I avoided the Desert Essence stuff; instead I used MS again. After getting out of the shower and getting ready to shave, my face was so dry that I sadly had to skip my shave.

By the time I got dressed, my face was flaky, especially around my chin and mustache area. In fact, my chin was so dry that I could not even feel my whiskers coming in.... it was like I had no beard there at all and that's usually my most dense area! Weird.

I applied MS moisturizer but after 5 minutes, it was dry again. I had to think of my heaviest product so I reached for Speick ASB and slathered it on. It's now been about 45 minutes and my face is dry but not flaky. I took the tube to work with me and I'll keep applying it when my face gets flaky. This is new territory for me because I've NEVER had dry skin like this!

What you guys mentioned about keeping the products to a minimum was my approach by going with a "natural" product and using it for face and body. I've been using the Desert Essence on my face and body and only my face was unhappy but the rest of my skin is perfectly fine. The only thing I can think of is perhaps the pre-shave mix that I made is the problem because I'm using that on my face and not the rest of my skin.

Perhaps I'll start by cutting that out completely for a few days and seeing what happens. I always thought that oils (any kind) would moisturize my skin and I never thought that an "oil" would actually take moisture out; go figure!

 

[SalvadorMontenegro]

Your skin could be flaky because it needs to be exfoliated. A build up of dead skin on the surface of your face will make your skin appear and feel dry, when in actuality, it's congested. I don't know if this is the case, or not, but it's possible.

Really, though, man, you need to, like, chill out and just stick with something. Not trying to sound like a *****, but how many products have you purchased in the last 30 days? Find something that you LIKE and stick with it. Stop reading the articles about what else you could be doing, or what you should not be doing. Find something that you LIKE and stick with it. Or see a well reviewed dermatologist and get professional advice and have him/her create a routine for you.

Life is for living, not reading about skincare.

 

[jdto]

Also, just because a product is "natural", doesn't mean it's good for you or is going to work for you. How "natural" can it be for your skin to be washed and stripped of its natural oils all the time by an astringent?

 

[m139]

Your skin could be flaky because it needs to be exfoliated. A build up of dead skin on the surface of your face will make your skin appear and feel dry, when in actuality, it's congested. I don't know if this is the case, or not, but it's possible.

Really, though, man, you need to, like, chill out and just stick with something. Not trying to sound like a *****, but how many products have you purchased in the last 30 days? Find something that you LIKE and stick with it. Stop reading the articles about what else you could be doing, or what you should not be doing. Find something that you LIKE and stick with it. Or see a well reviewed dermatologist and get professional advice and have him/her create a routine for you.

Life is for living, not reading about skincare.

Thanks for your advice but why is it OK to own 50 different shaving creams/brushes/razors/blades and not OK to do the same with cleansers and washes? We're all (B&B members) are trying to find the "perfect" shave and in doing so, we end up spending way too much money and acquiring way too many products over time. And we claim that getting there is half the fun. I guess that I got caught up in chasing the "perfect" skin care routine in the EXACT SAME WAY we (B&B) members are chasing the perfect shave! Same concept; different product.

In any case, I'll take your advice and use the product that makes me feel good and not worry so much about the literature. It's perfectly sound advice and I'd be foolish not to give it a try.

 

[TAZORAC]

This. Wash your face and forehead when you are taking a shower. Use the same soap you are using on the rest of your body. Washing morning, noon and night will just strip your natural oils and dry your face out. When your ready to shave, why would you use a pre shave made out of oil if you already have oily skin? A very good pre shave can be just taking your time with your brush and soap. Load the brush and spend several minutes lathering your face. Add water to your lather slowly keeping it moist. After lathering, let the lather just sit there a few minutes more. This will soften your whiskers greatly.

Use a good AS splash that has glycerin in it. Aqua Velva comes to mind. The alcohol will tone your face and be a antiseptic to your skin. The glycerin will keep it from drying out without making your forehead greasy.

Using the same soap on your face as you do the rest of your body is horrible advice, being that most soaps made for the body are very drying on the face.

 

[PomfretSteve]

I went down the same path as you, I thought that since I was spending so much time and effort on shaving I ought to do the same with skin care. I also have oily skin and have had my fair share of adult acne. About 3 months in to DE shaving I spent about a hundred bucks on cleansers and astringents to get rid of any blemishes. A month later I almost stopped shaving altogether because my face was such a mess. I was referred to a dermatologist who said what others have already mentioned, too much product on your face messes with it. Now I wash once with a sparing amount of soap in the shower and rinse with water at night before bed. I then use my toddlers Aveeno baby moisturizing lotion after washing, this softens my skin without making it oily and gets my face ready for the morning shave.

 

[SalvadorMontenegro]

Thanks for your advice but why is it OK to own 50 different shaving creams/brushes/razors/blades and not OK to do the same with cleansers and washes? We're all (B&B members) are trying to find the "perfect" shave and in doing so, we end up spending way too much money and acquiring way too many products over time. And we claim that getting there is half the fun. I guess that I got caught up in chasing the "perfect" skin care routine in the EXACT SAME WAY we (B&B) members are chasing the perfect shave! Same concept; different product.

In any case, I'll take your advice and use the product that makes me feel good and not worry so much about the literature. It's perfectly sound advice and I'd be foolish not to give it a try.

I actually do not spend a lot of money on shaving products. I did when I first joined this site, many years ago, but I've since realized that my skin reacts negatively to too much monkeying around and now I embrace a minimalist approach.

Your skin has layers and there's more going on than what is apparent on the surface. For instance, acne forms deep within the pore. When I was younger, I used a lot of prescription acne medications and one of the big misconceptions is that the "initial breakout" that often happens with these products is caused by the medication. So, people write reviews where they say the medication "made" their acne worse. The reality is that the medication is bringing the gunk below the surface to the surface, so that it exits the skin. It brings out the previously existing impurities. That stuff was there before and was still going to come out at some point, the medication just expedites the process. For people to notice a real benefit they have to stick with the medication for a while. Generally eight to 12 weeks. Too often, though, people get frustrated, assume the medication is causing acne and give up.

That's just an example. My point is that you have to be patient. There's more going on than just the surface. It's like a body of water. There's all sorts of stuff going on down there and more and more chemicals are just going to complicate things. A zit that appears today is probably not the result of the face wash you used this morning.

There is no quick fix. You can use as many products as you want if that's what you want to do. But you can't use something once and expect a miracle. If your goal is for your skin to look good, you have to be consistent. If your goal is try lots of products because you enjoy it, go nuts.

And what GoWestYoungMan said about exercise, diet and water intake is important, as well. It starts from within.

 

[m139]

I actually do not spend a lot of money on shaving products. I did when I first joined this site, many years ago, but I've since realized that my skin reacts negatively to too much monkeying around and now I embrace a minimalist approach.

Your skin has layers and there's more going on than what is apparent on the surface. For instance, acne forms deep within the pore. When I was younger, I used a lot of prescription acne medications and one of the big misconceptions is that the "initial breakout" that often happens with these products is caused by the medication. So, people write reviews where they say the medication "made" their acne worse. The reality is that the medication is bringing the gunk below the surface to the surface, so that it exits the skin. It brings out the previously existing impurities. That stuff was there before and was still going to come out at some point, the medication just expedites the process. For people to notice a real benefit they have to stick with the medication for a while. Generally eight to 12 weeks. Too often, though, people get frustrated, assume the medication is causing acne and give up.

That's just an example. My point is that you have to be patient. There's more going on than just the surface. It's like a body of water. There's all sorts of stuff going on down there and more and more chemicals are just going to complicate things. A zit that appears today is probably not the result of the face wash you used this morning.

There is no quick fix. You can use as many products as you want if that's what you want to do. But you can't use something once and expect a miracle. If your goal is for your skin to look good, you have to be consistent. If your goal is try lots of products because you enjoy it, go nuts.

And what GoWestYoungMan said about exercise, diet and water intake is important, as well. It starts from within.

Everything you're saying makes sense and of course diet, exercise and water intake are crucial. That is something I do anyway. I don't have problem skin but I'm 39 (in a week) and I just want to make sure I'm doing all I can to keep my skin in good condition. In reality, my skin is just fine and I used to get ingrown hairs not from my oily skin but from cartridge shaving. That's all gone now. The only issue I face today (prior to the dry skin thing) is oily/shiny forehead so I was desperately seeking something that leaves my skin shine free. This is how I started on the massive product shopping spree. Where we look for the perfect shave, I was looking for shine free skin.

 

[OkieStubble]

Using the same soap on your face as you do the rest of your body is horrible advice, being that most soaps made for the body are very drying on the face.

It is horrible advice, because.... You say so? I use Grandpa's Pine Tar Wonder Bar, on my hair, face and body. It prevents my scalp from drying and flaking and it moisturizes so well, even my wife uses it over Dr. Bronner's and Mystic Waters. And both of those soaps are excellent too! Since everybody is different, and we all have our own advice TAZORAC.

And since the OP didn't ask anyone in particular, like you or me... How about You give your advice and I'll give mine and we will let the OP decide what is the best advice for him?
Whadda ya think? In other words, mind your own advice and business, and I'll do the same with mine. Good day sir!

 

[Singledge]

m139 Have you tried alum on your forehead? That might help bring the shine down.