H
about 2 months ago
Barrier Repair Rx
I updated the INCI information for all of my current products and at least 12 of them have niacinamide. Now, not all of these products are used every day, but at least 5 of them are. I wonder if chemical overload is why I can't seem to get over this current reactive phase. My skin specs are combo, mature, rosacea, sensitive/reactive (i.e. lobster!).
My question for the group is when you have to strip down your skincare routine because of a flare up or for barrier repair, what are your go-to safe products? (Without niacinamide, lol)
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Comments (41)
Love the photo of the lobster by the way 🦞 Sorry that you’re dealing with this.
Thanks! I didn't choose the lobster life. The lobster life chose me.
I don’t know how to answer about the chemical overload part but I’ve noticed niacinamide breaks me out for some reason at least for the two products I tried in different occasions my skin didn’t adapt much! About my safe products, hands down Aestura Atobarrier cream! I bought their travel kit and I absolutely loved it! It helped calming down my skin so much! I got the recommendation from C Young channel 🩵 I would recommend checking ingredient lists before buying new stuff because these days anything has niacinamide, hyaluronic avid etc is not even something that makes the product stands out anymore, it’s just the standard apparently. I don’t think we need niacinamide in every product however the industry likes the trend so they will add it in as much as they can 😂
🧠 You’re so knowledgeable @Viivihtips , I honestly like reading your comments especially since we’re both oily skin. I think I read somewhere that you have a blog or channel? 😯
Thanks for the rec! You're right about checking ingredients. I still have a lot of self-educating to do around actives and ingredients. I have a spreadsheet where I've been logging all of the information about the products I have, including the INCI lists. It's hard to do a comparative analysis though. The Skin Log tool makes it much easier to see overlaps while providing factoids about the individual actives, so I'm hoping to be able to avoid this in the future. And no joke about the industry overhyping actives! I'm waiting for the trend to jump industries. I just know I'm going to drive through Starbucks one day and there's going to be PDRN in the matcha lattes. ☠️
@Paul Thank you! I have been learning a lot in the past few months but you will also like @Mariacasino a lot because I said the exact same you told me to her hahah she’s an absolute beast on ingredients! About the blog I’m just a new/very small content creator on IG/Tiktok and I post about skincare, my empties reviews and finds in the UK and Ireland area! On TikTok I’m reviewing all my products in a written way (going against 99% of the internet because everyone likes videos only these days) but yea, you can check it out it’s viivihtips on both! Just have in mind I’m also learning so still trying a lot of formats and seeing what makes me more confident 😂
@Mariacasino was actually the 1st person I started to keep a conversation with on her reviews, I liked the way she used her natural plants & flowers as her background for her product reviews and plus I like to learn, even if doesn’t pertain to me or my skin type. 💙 Oh @Viivihtips don’t worry about it, we all have to start somewhere, love reading when I get a chance. I really hope your TikTok blows up for you, I unfortunately only use Facebook. I am not so big on social media apps but I will definitely check it out on my partner’s TikTok account and add you on it if you don’t mind? 😬
Can I ask where or how you check all of the ingredients? Is it through this app or another? Most of the products only have it written in Korean on the box lol
@Sora to be hornet I just check at yesstyle/sephora/amazon websites then I copy and paste the ingredients here when adding a new product to my shelf, but yea most of my products are also in Korean so the websites definitely helps!
@Sora Seconding @Viivihtips. Copy them from other websites like YesStyle, Olive Young, etc. The Skin Log tool says it will add ingredient information eventually but I've yet to see that happen. I keep a spreadsheet (Virgo sun/moon, lol) of all my products with their benefits/targets, ingredients, and my experiences so often time I can grab straight from there too. But the tool makes it a lot easier to see overlaps.
@hazelmoss i LOVE that energy. I take notes on CYOUNGS videos (Capricorn lol) so I might have to make a spreadsheet too. If you’re ever willing to share what you’ve gathered so far plz lmk!!
I'm so sorry your skin is reactive lately. I just finished a course of steroids and my skin has become quite fragile. Even touching my face hurts. So I've been using De:maf milk cleanser, Clinique moisture surge hydro infused lotion (it's an essence), and Avene cicaflate+ restorative protective cream. I'll be using this routine till my body gets back to normal or somewhat normal! I hope your skin feels better soon! 🤗
@Adele 😩 Oh, friend, I'm so sorry! Take good care of yourself. Thank you for the recommendations. I have De:maf but haven't tried it yet. It looks like Ulta has some promotions going on with the other two.
@Adele How's your skin doing? Thinking about you.
@hazelmoss Thank you so much for checking on me! Many apologies for the delayed reply. Work has been extra busy and on top of it my fibromyalgia has flared since stopping the steroids, too. My skin sensitivity and pain got worse and it was so thin that just existing seemed to cause multiple tears in my hands. I think I'm slowly getting back to normal. I didn't know my body would react this way! I hope you are feeling better and your skin has calmed down. 🤗 Thank you again! 🩷
Hi! I'm also sensitive, mature, prone to redness, and cumulative niacinamide overload is SO real! It's in everything now, and on reactive/rosacea skin, high cumulative doses directly trigger capillary dilation and stinging. My absolute go-to safe kit when my skin is flaring (completely niacinamide-free, unfragranced, and zero essential oils): Hydration Base: Naturie Hatomugi Skin Conditioner (huge Japanese bottle, watery, soothing licorice extract, never stings). Barrier Cream: Avène Tolérance Control Cream (sterile pump, squalane-based, zero filler actives or irritants) or ZEROID Soothing Cream (pure multi-lamellar lipid repair). The Seal: A tiny dab of pure petrolatum/Vaseline over the most raw patches before bed. Stripping it down to just a bland cleanser, Naturie, and a sterile cream for 5–7 days is the fastest way to put the fire out. Hang in there! 🦞🤍
@hazelmoss @Mariacasino I know we all love k-beauty but Maria’s recommendation on Avene is just really good! Sometimes when my skin is really bad I just feel like going back to the most “simple product” out there helps so much, I do love the Aestura kit because it’s that simple/no gimmicks as well but brands like Avene, Eucerin, Bioderma omg they have done amazing to my skin! I use Avene thermal water every day and also Bioderma cleansing gel and they are so gentle to the skin, almost like you are using nothing on it! I’ve also used Eucerin Hyaluronic acid many years and it’s just simple and effective. Everything no scent, light in texture, no overload of ingredients.. those brands are almost always a safe try!
@Mariacasino Thank you!!! I have the Naturie Hatomugi Skin Conditioner on my shopping list from your recommendation in another thread. I'm completely unfamiliar with Avène and ZERIOD, so I will look into those. Vaseline I am definitely familiar with, lol. In the winter I have to put it on my entire face before taking a shower so I don't come out blistered.
@Viivihtips I got my hands on the Avene thermal water and it is saving my bacon right now. I did a review of my village's water report and....yikes. Not helpful at all for barrier repair! My skin feels much better under the vaseline now that I'm misting with the thermal water. Thanks for the rec!
@hazelmoss I’m happy it worked for you! I think it’s the most gentle thing ever, pretty much boosted water 😂😂 on summer I also use it when I get overheated, it lasts me a long time until I have to repurchased it but I do only use it once a day most of days!
@Viivihtips I used to use distilled water, but I think it may have been pulling minerals out of my skin or perhaps there was nothing to help it "stick." So the little boost helps like adding electrolytes when dehydrated. That's my uneducated explanation to myself, haha!
@hazelmoss pdrn in a match made me laugh so much 😂😂😂 but honestly is just like the Protein trend, now everything has protein in it too! But the thing is: niacinamide is just a fancy name for vitamin B3 so probably many things already had that in their composition before but now it’s trendy they want to advertise you know? A lot of our skincare is pretty much vitamins (and other things too) but in different form and names so we already have that in our routine in food, drinks etc!
@Viivihtips Agreed! And I'm not helping myself by being overly eager to try new products and all at the same time.😶🌫️
I'm sad that you're going through this. The things that help me over come any irritation is stripping down my routine to bare bones. I'll just use a gentle cleanser(usually sebamed one) and go straight to moisturiser(its either Klairs midnight blue cream or lrp cicaplast depending on the season and the skin condition that day). This helps a lot and calms down my skin in almost 2days.
@MangoShake Thanks! I'm loving everyone's suggestions. I just added LRP cicaplast to my collection about a month ago and it's definitely on my list of "bare bones" barrier creams.
Hi @hazelmoss ! Sorry you are going through this! 💔 It takes time to figure out the culprit. I have found that my skin gets oversensitised by low molecular HA what I never expected could happen 🤯 When my skin barrier is down I love mists with minimal amount of ingredients like Curel deep moisture spray. I layer it a few times if needed and then follow with Zeroid soothing cream/ Zeroid Intensive Oint-cream depending on which consistency is needed that day. I also enjoy to use Celimax Dual Barrier Creamy Toner if you need more moisture. Although it has more ingredients, it's packed with ceramides and has glycerin, panthenol and allantoin that could help your barrier. Hope your skin feels better soon 💕
@lemon_skin I have definitely experienced issues with HA (I can't say if it was low-molecular or not) and I suspect, for me, it's a similar issue that I'm experiencing with niacinamide right now -- because it's in everything! I need to jump on this Zeroid bandwagon. I don't think I've ever seen it promoted in the YesStyle sales, so I'm really glad to be learning about new brands from all of you. Thank you!
@hazelmoss definitely try Zeroid! Some videos say that a lot of Koreans got it at home for after in-office treatments so the ingredients are super barrier-friendly. I love to see what is popular in Olive Young or stores in Korea as they are usually few weeks ahead of the reast of the world lol The HA issue for me was mainly the products that have many different types of HA in them(like Torriden Dive-In toner). HA and Niacinamide are almost in everything so it makes it difficult not to overload them 😥
@lemon_skin They are in everything -- I've been checking the ingredients in my makeup and HA, B3, and squalane are in almost all of my primers, skin tints, and foundations, too! 😳
@hazelmoss I know! Don't get me started 🤣 I bought Kleenex tissues last week and it turns out they have niacinamide in the ingredients 🤯 I don't understand 🤦🤣
@lemon_skin Not the kleenex! I'm dead. 😵 I always buy tissues with lotion in them. I have to go look this up now.
@Paul ofc I don’t mind! Let me know the name if you would like me to follow back or just stay hidden and anonymous 👀👀😂 I’ve been meaning to post on Facebook too but I keep forgetting it exists ☠️
I will give you the name only so you know its me but you don’t have to follow back if you don’t want to, they’re not that interesting 😂😭 I’m honestly on this site more than I am on Facebook, it gets so boring even with all the memes in the world 🥱 >>TiKToK: JustBeingJosh71
La Roche posay cicaplast is my go to when no Korean skincare can save it or bioderma cicabio crème. I’ve read reviews from many korean influencer who has acne skin and they use this as well.
@BeauteAddict Thank you! I only knew about the Bioderma micellar water. I will take a look at their creme too. I appreciate your suggestions!
I used Skin & Lab's barrierderm intensive cream! It helped me recover from my damaged skin barrier previously.
@Choupette Ah, I just trialed their azulaic acid on my arm. It was my first introduction to their products. I will look into their ingredients. Thank you!
I just saw your Barrier Repair post after replying to you about my holy grails, and now I completely understand why you’re specifically looking for products without niacinamide 😂 I actually went through some of the products I use because niacinamide really is in EVERYTHING these days. Since we both deal with very sensitive/reactive skin and rosacea, these are some of the niacinamide-free products I’ve personally used and would look at for a stripped-down barrier routine: AESTURA Atobarrier365 Hydro Essence – probably one of my first picks. It’s hydrating and one of those products I can reach for when I want to keep things very simple. AESTURA Atobarrier365 Hydro Soothing Cream – so the good news is that the tube you already have waiting for you is actually one of the products I’d choose 😂 I really like this when I want hydration without something extremely heavy. AESTURA Atobarrier365 Cream Mist – another easy way to add hydration without adding another complicated treatment step. Laneige Cream Skin Cerapeptide – another favorite of mine, especially when my skin feels deeply dehydrated rather than just dry on the surface. My skin can usually handle this even when it’s being temperamental. ILLIYOON Ceramide Ato Concentrate Cream – I use this one too and really like it when I want a simple barrier-supporting moisturizer. I’ve also had a good experience with the ETUDE SoonJung line. I use the toner and cleanser. I haven’t personally tried the 2x Barrier Intensive Cream yet, so I can’t call that one a personal recommendation, but the SoonJung products I have tried have been very gentle on my skin. And one I REALLY have to mention is ONE THING Centella Asiatica Extract. When my skin was in full lobster mode 🦞😂, I bought plain dry toner pads, soaked them in the Centella extract, put them in a container in the fridge and used them all over my face like little DIY sheet masks/toner packs. The combination of the cold pads and Centella felt amazing and really helped calm the appearance of my redness. It became one of my favorite little tricks when my skin was angry. La Roche-Posay Cicaplast Baume B5+ is another emergency product I use when my barrier is REALLY struggling. Sometimes I apply it as my final layer at night and leave it on overnight. One correction from my other comment though: even though AESTURA Hydro Cera-HA Serum is one of my holy grails when my barrier is damaged, it DOES contain niacinamide, so I’d leave that one out while you’re doing your niacinamide-free experiment. The regular Atobarrier365 Cream also contains niacinamide, so I’d stick with your Hydro Soothing Cream instead for now. I also have a few other sensitive-skin/barrier products that I’m currently testing, but I don’t want to recommend them as holy grails until I’ve used them long enough. I’m really curious to see whether cutting out all the overlapping niacinamide makes a difference for you. Please update us after you’ve tried your stripped-down routine for a while because now I’m invested 😂🦞
@Veky I'm glad to bring you along on my lobster journey 😝 What's great is that I have a lot of these products in my collection now (or will when my Amore Mall shipment comes in). I need to check if my Illyoon creams are the "ato" line. I know I have the intense repair (?) and the MD itch relief lotions.... I think if I can keep niacinamide and acrylates to under 2 products and further down the INCI list... and avoid my eyes, then I may be ok eventually to reincorporate it. Thanks for your thorough list!
@hazelmoss Oh great, then we basically have almost the same products! 😂 You really can’t go wrong with Amore Mall and their brands. ILLIYOON has a few different lines that can be easy to mix up — the Ceramide Ato line, the Ultra Repair line, and the MD Red-Itch line. I’ve actually wanted to try the MD Red-Itch products because I’m really curious whether they genuinely help with itching and redness like they claim. How have they been for you? Have you noticed a difference? Also, how did you figure out that niacinamide and acrylates specifically were bothering your skin? Was it from comparing products that caused reactions and realizing those ingredients kept showing up? I still haven’t managed to pinpoint exactly which ingredients my skin dislikes. I know fragrance usually irritates me, although strangely there are a few fragranced products my skin tolerates perfectly fine. 😭
@Veky I suspected sensitivity to niacinamide but finally got the confirmation by adding my skincare products in my Skin Log here. Once I updated all of the products with their INCI lists, the AI feature gave me a breakdown of just how many products contained that ingredient. With all skincare ingredients -- or food -- it's the dosage that makes something beneficial or harmful. I've probably had niacinamide in my products for years but as I started to use more products together, it led to overload. For acrylates, I looked up the ingredients in the Innbeauty cleanser and searched for overlaps with bandaids because they caused similar reactions. Is it hard science? No. But it's given me something to watch out for. In this case, it doesn't have to be an active ingredient. It can be the so-called inactive ingredients that don't make it onto the product attributes section on a website that cause harm.