Back to Basics

Life has been stressful lately and my skin has suffered. I've been trying all sorts of things to help it out but to no avail. My skin is generally very dry and prone to eczema, and the dryer it gets the more sensitive it gets. Everything seems to make it worse, or not make it worse so much as do absolutely nothing, therefore increasing dryness and sensitivity.

So, because nothing makes any difference and I could go on forever buying $40 jars of gloop until I am homeless with several big bags of skincare products to carry around, none of which I can use, I have decided to cut back. And go back to the most basic stuff I can find. Enter:


I'm going to use up my Avene Extremely Gentle Cleanser, which is lovely but expensive, and I cant really find any difference between it and Cetaphil, which you can buy a litre of for less than half the price of 250ml of Avene. I'm also using Avene Skin Recovery Cream because its honestly the nicest moisturiser I've ever used. Its soooooooo good for sensitive upset skin, but I only use nit when my skin is sore cos its expensive.

So today I went down to Priceline and picked up some Vitamin E Sorbolene, and guess how cheap it was. $2.80. No kidding. And you really cant beat sorbolene for a moisturiser. Once the cleanser runs out I'll buy a giant Cetaphil, and combined with sunscreen will be my whole routine.

Oh, and I've also got some rosehip oil I'll use as a serum thing underneath the sorbolene. The hard part about all this is that I feel like I am not doing the right thing by my skin regarding anti-ageing/sun damage etc. I'm pretty sure thats just because I read so many magazines that all go on, and on, and ON about new developments in anti ageing, and skin technology, and what the new thing you can do for your face it....... its magazine peer pressure.

I think though, that the main thing is the sunscreen. Also, Vitamin E is so good for skin, so supplementing with the rosehip oil or bursting vitamin e capsules on your face has got to be good for you. And having skin that is happy and moisturised and calm is going to be better than having red, itchy, angry, sore skin.

So I will push past the peer pressure and try keeping things simple. And see what happens, and hopefully i'll get good results. And if not, I think the next thing for me to try is hard core mega expensive stuff to use in combination, to improve the skin at the same time as keeping it nice.

Skincare is so tricky and complicated, and its made more so by all those freaking articles out there.... its wierd deciding not to have anything to do with them, kinda like deciding to throw out all nice handbags in favour of using a hiking backpack to carry stuff in or wearing polar fleece jackets instead of nice smart jackets, cos they keep you warm..... Its like stepping off the train, not travelling on with all the new skin developments but instead stopping in a nice field where you can hang out and just relax. And its way cheaper, and much easier. And if the economy is falling apart, we need cheaper, and if your life is as stressful as mine has been lately, you need the simplicity.