Question for others with rosacea...

Isklar

After doing various tests and eliminating allsorts of stuff from both my food and my beauty routine, I've got a feeling my rosacea is triggered by - wait for it - tap water. :mad:
I've always used rinse off cleansers as I just don't feel clean if I haven't had water on my face...:eek:
So now I need to find a cleanser that's gentle enough for rosacea, tough enough to remove foundation,. and doesn't need to be rinsed away...
I am gutted as I have just recently wanted to do OCM again, but of course if the water is irritating me, I can't do that.

Anyone else with this problem?
And any recs for a suitable cleanser?

A_Phoenix_of_Tangerine

Cleansing wipes by Simple are great at removing make up and dirt, whilst being very gentle to your skin - I've used them for a few years now with no problem. Funny you should suspect water as being a possible trigger for your rosacea - whenever I would return home from uni I would get sudden flare-ups of exczema that seemed to get be more irritated when I'd wash my hands. Since the soap etc is the same, and I was moving from an area of soft water to hard water, I thought this may have been a factor

Isklar

A_Phoenix_of_Tangerine wrote: »

Cleansing wipes by Simple are great at removing make up and dirt, whilst being very gentle to your skin - I've used them for a few years now with no problem. Funny you should suspect water as being a possible trigger for your rosacea - whenever I would return home from uni I would get sudden flare-ups of exczema that seemed to get be more irritated when I'd wash my hands. Since the soap etc is the same, and I was moving from an area of soft water to hard water, I thought this may have been a factor

Funnily enough, I've only had rosacea since I moved into this house. However, I only moved about 100 yards within the same village so even though I've told myself that logically it can't be because the water is different, there's a part of me that believes that something is different about the water in this house.
That probably doesn't make sense. It's late. LOL.

Thanks for the suggestion, I'll give them a try.

belfastgirl23

I have been trying the oil cleaning method http://www.theoilcleansingmethod.com/ and am impressed so far. might be worth a go?

Isklar

belfastgirl23 wrote: »

I have been trying the oil cleaning method http://www.theoilcleansingmethod.com/ and am impressed so far. might be worth a go?

Hi..I'd love to be able to do OCM but my skin won't tolerate water, and if I use oil I need to 'steam' the oil off with a wet cloth,don't I? Is there another way to get the oils off?

Bronnie

I do oil cleansing, but not because of a problem skin, just as a make-up remover. I just wipe the oil off with a damp cotton pad and finish with a splash of water. No steaming with hot cloths. Works great for me. The almond oil is very easily assimilated by the skin. My face is never left greasy, just very soft and smooth.

Tesco bottled water is only 13p for 2 litres. Could you use that, would still be cheaper than buying wipes/ cleansers and a bottle would probably easily last 3 days, used this way?!

Isklar

Bronnie wrote: »

I do oil cleansing, but not because of a problem skin, just as a make-up remover. I just wipe the oil off with a damp cotton pad and finish with a splash of water. No steaming with hot cloths. Works great for me. The almond oil is very easily assimilated by the skin. My face is never left greasy, just very soft and smooth.

Tesco bottled water is only 13p for 2 litres. Could you use that, would still be cheaper than buying wipes/ cleansers and a bottle would probably easily last 3 days, used this way?!

Thanks Bronnie. This sounds as if it may work well for me.

I read your post first thing this morning and decided to do a little experiment. I drink a lot of water so I have one of those Brita filters. This morning I poured some filtered water into a little pot and took it up to the bathroom, and dipped some cotton pads into it to clean my face. It was fine. No reaction. So either my skin just objects to a lot of water on my face - I do go a bit mad normally when I'm rinsing and the bathroom floor looks like a lake afterwards!:eek:
OR there's a mineral in the tap water that the Brita filter removes and so my skin isn't irritated. It's all trial and error with rosacea - it's a right pain TBH!

I've got grapeseed oil and I've ordered some jojoba and almond oil so I'll give OCM a try your way. I'll wait a couple more days to give my skin some time to settle down though as it's been worse than ever this week.
Thanks again!

Bronnie

Hope it helps. TBH as I've got older I've found the fewer cleansing (stripping) products I put on my skin in some ways the better!

I usually apply the oil twice to remove all make-up thoroughly. My skin feels so balanced now, I'm reluctant to even use commercial face masks etc, even though I've got 'normal' skin, I try to treat it as gently as possible and it seems to respond well to this.

Not sure about rosacae, but this website advises against tap water for dry skin.

http://1stholistic.com/beauty/skin/skin_dry.htm


The steaming hot cloths for oil cleansing doesn't sit with me either as I personally now don't think it's a good idea to subject my skin to extremes of temperature, ie steaming hot or an icy cold splash.

I probably did all these things without a thought when I was younger, but at 52 am frantically trying to hang on to what I've got!! Very gentle, consistent treatment and the fewer cleansing/ stripping products the better is definitely the best way for me!

aloise

I've had rosacae for years. never ever wash my face,i use "simple " face wipes and steam my face once a week. Got a cream called Rozex from the docter and it's brilliant.Within 3 weeks my skin was much better and now i only use the cream if i feel i'm getting a flare up

Fen1

My skin was definitely drier once I moved to a hard water area (pre-rosacea). I used to have lovely skin as a youngster in a soft water area.
I then developed rosacea as an adult. I'm sure hard water doesn't help it, given that my skin was already being sensitive.

I'll try the suggestion about the Brita filter water. I didn't think it did anything much for hardness, but we shall see.

I have also found that hair products can trigger a reaction. I have to very carefully apply hairspray away from my face.

Have you tried fish oil supplements? I have found that these definitely help my skin be less reactive.

Isklar

Bronnie, thanks for the link, that's a helpful page and I like the sound of the avocado and egg mask. Although I'm likely to eat the avocado before it gets near becoming a mask!

Aloise the doctor wanted to give me metrogel which is an antibiotic. I said I'd rather try to clear it up myself first as it's quite a mild case. I just get the redness and burning, I dont get the pustules or bumps. Is your cream an antibiotic too?

Fen, I don't have hard water, where I live the water is some of the softest in the country. So whatever the Brita has removed for me, it's nothing to do with the hardness. When I was young I lived in a hard water area for a short time and my skin was bad then too. But whatever the problem is now, as i said it's not because the water is hard. So frustrating. I've just started on fish oils from Boots. It says 'omega 3 fish oil standard' on the label. I hope they help! Interesting point about hair products. That's something else that hadn't occurred to me so I'll be more aware of it from now on.

As a general update. It's now been 48 hours since I put any tap water onto my face and I haven't had a flare up today, despite drinking coffee and being in my very sunny dining room all day. My skin looks much calmer already. I've also not had any wheat products for several days, so that could be helping too. That's a big sacrifice though!