Super-dry Skin
[ 2 April 2007 ]
“This may sound strange, but I love your skin! It’s really hard to pull off fair skin unless it’s absolutely flawless like yours, which sucks for us pale chicks. I have about the same skintone as you, but I have two major problems…
1) My skin is EXTREMELY sensitive and dry. I exfoliate and moisturize twice a day, but my makeup still always comes out looking caked on due to my extremely dry skin, so through-out the day, my makeup gets this “chipped-off” look. It seems like no matter how much I exfoliate and moisturize, or which products I use, I’m always doomed with dry, flakey skin.
2) I have been wearing makeup for a decade but I still have yet to find “my” shade. As far as foundation and concealer goes, I’ve gone through everything from the cheap drug store stuff, to MAC, to Bare Minerales and I still always come out orange! Even makeup artists who’ve “matched” me have never gotten it quite right. I’m very cool-toned, so it seems like anything that isn’t nearly pure-white will make me look orange; and I can’t seem to find a shade THAT light by anyone.
So, since you’re the epitome of perfect porcelain skin, I was wondering if you could give me any tips for either of my problems.”
Hello!
You say you exfoliate twice a day, which I think is probably overkill. Once a week should be enough, seriously! You’ll probably be doing your skin damage. You really need to be good to your face! Are you using cleanser? If not, start! Buy something that doesn’t foam & is made for dry skin. I would recommend Lush’s Ultrabland. It’s meant to be a makeup remover, but it is very moisturising. Whenever I use it, I end up skipping my moisturiser step, because it’s so nourishing. Of course what you use is up to you, but you definitely need to be cleansing every morning & night.
I remember one winter I had the WORST skin. It was so incredibly dry & itchy & flakey. I felt hideous & I tried about a million different moisturisers to try to fix the problem, but I didn’t know a lot about the subject at the time, so ended up buying products containing alcohol. Ouch! They stung my face & I wondered what the hell was going on.
Anyway, long story short, that was the beginning of my love affair with Lush. I walked into one of their shops & talked to one of the sales consultants about the problems I was having. The girl gave me a sample of their Skin Drink moisturiser, & a couple of days later I went back exhilarated & bought a pot of it. In my opinion, it is the ultimate dry skin fix. I have never found anything that works better, & I really strongly encourage you to give it a try. If there’s no Lush store near you, you could call your nearest Lush mail order outlet & see if they’ll send you a sample to try. You might have to buy something first (like a piece of soap), but they tend to be pretty good about it.
Generally, dry skin is caused by one of three things: genetics, diet or environment. The first one is pretty self-explanatory (how is your mother’s skin?), the other two not so much. With diet, this basically means that if you’re not eating well, it will be reflected in your face. A steady stream of Burger King & diet soda is going to play havoc on your skin. It’s true that what we eat matters! Start drinking a lot of water every day (say 2 litres), eat fresh green vegetables & as much fish as you can handle. If the environment is the problem — cold weather, an air-conditioned office, harsh winds or hot sun can all be culprits — as well as the dietary suggestions, you could try putting a humidifier in your bedroom which runs at night. This will help get some moisture into your skin.
Try taking supplements. If you’re vegetarian or don’t want to eat lots of fish, you can take Omega-3 oil. This comes from fish & flaxseed, you can choose the type you’d prefer to take. Zinc tablets are also helpful. (That page also lists vegetarian sources of zinc, but I personally find it much easier to pop pills than to remember to eat 100 pounds of sultanas every day or whatever.)
You might be unwittingly adding to the problem by using a skin toner between your cleansing & moisturising steps. A lot of toners contain alcohol which is going to make it worse. You should also avoid getting water on your face as much as possible. I find water incredibly drying, & my skin is pretty normal.
Give all of those things a go, but if you’re not seeing any improvement with these things, try using olive oil instead of moisturiser.
If after this you’re still not seeing an improvement in your skin’s condition, I would strongly suggest seeing a doctor for a referral to a dermatologist. It’s pretty rare that a dermatologist is unable to help with a skin problem. They have expert knowledge & a lot of prescription-only products they can get you to try, which often are much more effective than off-the-shelf treatments.
With regard to your orange foundation problem, you could try using tinted moisturiser instead of a foundation, but really that’s a problem that pales (ha!) in comparison to your dry skin. I encourage you to get that sorted out before you start slapping new potions on your face, which may aggravate the problem. You may find that after your skin comes right, it will be so beautiful that you don’t even need to wear foundation. Here’s hoping anyway!
I use M.A.C. shade NC25, which is pretty light, but they have some REALLY light shades (NC15 & NW15 are the lightest). If they’re not working for you, consider mixing your own colour. Of course, this will mean you’ll need to buy two instead of one, but hell, if it works it works. I would also suggest trying M.A.C. Select Moistureblend SPF 15 foundation. It’s a very moisturising foundation with good sun protection.
Good luck!
Hyper-love & bunny kisses,
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Heya – I have really dry skin too (look up ichthyosis vulgaris – that’s what I have, diagnosed when I was a tot). I’ve recently discovered that mineral foundations are pretty good with my skin – the type that contains no talc (if Bare Minerales is the L’Oreal one I’m thinking of, it contains talc – one of the worst things for dry, sensitive skin) – they keep their finish better than others, though they do dry out. I’ve found the combination of using a really strong moisturiser in the morning (I use Palmers Cocoa butter formulation for faces) and spraying with the Body Shop’s Vitamin E facial mist when my face starts to feel dry throughout the day works to keep my make-up from getting worn looking – and I’m absolutely with Gala on the not exfoliating too often – my beauty therapist says no more than twice a week – after all, it is a cleansing process and you’re probably stripping the oils from your skin. Can’t help with the pale foundation much, but I did notice that some international ranges include shades especially for the pale Asian skintones – for all the talk of Asians being yellow skinned, the paler Asian skin tones are neutral to cool, and that might provide some different options
The thing that works for me is Cetaphil + moisturizer :) I use Clinique Dramatically Moisturizing Gel, but the Cetaphil is the best cleanser I have ever used. I exfoliate once in a while, and you are right Gala, 2 times a day is not good. Once a week, max.
Drinking lots of water and avoiding coffee and cigarettes (and other diuretics and vasoconstrictors) is my mom’s advice for pretty much any skin issue. She never tires of telling anyone who’ll listen. She is right, of course :)
opium ~ i use cetaphil too & it is brilliant! where do you buy yours from? i got some from my doktor but am running out & am wondering if i can just buy it from a regular pharmacy? i haven’t seen it on the shelves…
I wash my face with moisturiser – actually, I wash my face with Aqueous Cream – never use toner, moisturise with Trilogy Rosehip Oil. I use a salt and olive oil scrub very occasionally – I’ve never tried AHA exfoliators, because they sound like a recipe for disaster to me. (I’ve heard of people who cleanse and moisturise with olive oil every day.) And I always use a facecloth. I have tried Cetaphil and found it too drying for me. My skin responds really positively to humidity.
as for foundation, im not sure if she (or others with this same problem) have a prescriptives counter near them but their foundations are amazing for pale skin. they make custom foundations and all their foundations go by skins undertones (blue, red, yellow). honestly they’re good for any skin type and color. i had the orange foundation problem for years until i discovered them. they put it on and gasp it looked like my skin only better! what i’d always dreamed of!
When one goes to get a facial they should ask the person doing it what they think would suit them, its sometime shard ot actually tell what is the problem. i always thought I had oily skin but HELLO I have super dry skin, she burnt it off with some AHA’s and my skin was AS NEW, wrinkles totally gone from my forehead even, crazyyy.
I have REALLY dry skin, and have the same promlem as you! I tried a sample of the body shops “hemp Face Protector” and it is amazing! it gives me 24 hour moisturisation and makes my freckly skin look flawless! Its one of the only products i swear by!
we use the same foundation! color & everything!
Skin Drink is one of the few products that has actually made a difference to my super-dry, eczema-prone skin, and pretty much the only product that can make my skin soft and velvety! I know I’m several months late commenting on this article, but I just wanted to second Gala’s recommendation. I’ve also had lovely results from MAC foundation in NC25 (the one in stick form)- it makes a huge difference to the look of my skin, hiding dark circles and blemishes, but feels as if I don’t have any makeup on at all.
Dior makes a white foundation – it’s designed to lighten Asian skintones, but I used to use it for photoshoots and on myself too. Lovely stuff.
I have extremely sensitive and dry skin, and one lotion that REALLY helps me is by a brand called Melaleuca. It’s called Renew intensive Skin Therapy. I think it is intended to be a body lotion, but I use it everywhere. It hydrates my skin without leaving a greasy film. Plus, when I combine it with MAC Prep+Prime, it’s almost magical! I literally buy lots of this stuff off Ebay.