Stanky-Sensitivity

I’ve run into a second product in the past year that my skin reacted badly to—Oil of Olay’s Silk Whimsy body cream in Rose fragrance.  I used the product once and noticed that the fragrance was very strong but didn’t smell much like roses-almost a fake chemical smell.

I wanted to try it out anyway-my truly fragranced products like Philosophy’s Falling in Love body lotion or Laura Mercier’s Pistachio body creme don’t have this effect, but these less expensive products have something in them that makes my skin VERY upset.

Within a day of using the product I got a few little spots–I thought it was heat rash because I went “trotting” which is slow jogging.  I shrugged it off.

Used the product again and noticed that the spots became more numerous. Immediately stopped the product and applied a little cortaid cream which pretty much took care of the rash.

To mention another product, I tried St Ives body lotion, don’t remember the   fragrance but also had a severe reaction to that as well. That reaction was so bad, my friend who is a personal injury lawyer thought I might have actionable issues.

I guess people with sensitive skin to start out with know to avoid these fragranced products but as I age, I think I am joining the ranks.

I read about Cerave’ products recently and a reader also suggested their lotions for their moisturizing properties.  I bought the body cream version-I always go for the most heavy formula because I like extremes, and this morning my skin is pretty silky soft.

Cetaphil products have always been a hit with me and I really love a new product Aveeno Baby lotion with 24-hour moisture with oatmeal to calm the skin.  Tried it at my mom’s house in Maui and really kicked Vaseline Intensive Care’s Aloe body lotion (which if I continued to use that would probably cause a reaction). Besides Intensive Care is so 80-s – I guess they have a lot of old faithful followers.

Johnson&Johnson baby body washes in the apple and honey or shea formulas are great too!  Their baby body lotions don’t quite do it for me, but their baby body cream is pretty good.

Anyway.

It probably makes sense in the long run to make the switch to products made for sensitive skin-hopefully they have less chemicals?

k

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A Place in the Sun

Hah! On my first date with the blue-eyed man aka man-in-my-life, he was telling me how much he enjoyed golf, kayaking and the water in general. I told him right then and there that I am a sunphobe.

Things were great up to that point, but just reading his face, I could tell he was a bit disappointed. To his credit he had a nice recovery and countered, but if it were later in the day when the sun isn’t so strong, that would be ok?

Life is a negotiation.

Sun exposure in and of it itself is a non-negotiable in Hawaii-most days we have a lot of sun. But people know to stay out of the sun during the hottest points of the day and wear plenty of sunscreen.

But when you are planning a day in the sun – like golfing when you haven’t golfed regularly and probably in for hours, well….

I’m starting off this morning by moisturizing mask of a thick layer of my ReVive’ cream.  I have jazz class later this morning and will drink at least a liter of Deep Sea Water (from the depths of the Big Island, underneath the sea I think.  Real deep sea water is more expensive because they have to desalinize it etc).

My plan is after my shower, Kiehl’s Power Line Concentrate vitamin C, followed by Rosa Artica to seal in that first layer.  Under my eyes I will try out Laura Mercier‘s Eye Serum.  After that has a moment to sink in I will follow with my Clarins spf40. Let that dry a bit and put on a physical block, Neutregena55.   Over that, Laura Mercier Radiance Primer, and then Laura Merceir Tinted Moisturizer – both spf20.

I asked the makeup artist from Laura Mercier, Mark the other day at the Nordstrom’s event, why the color products did not have higher spf and he said because it would effect the formula. Makes sense. They did recommend a chemical and a physical block, and that you can’t really put more spf over foundation if you want to be flawless.

For face color, I will do brows, and line with Laura Mercier tight liner in Bleu Marine, her creme shadow, and maybe a smudge of Caviar shadow in smoke – all products that have staying power.  For lips, I will line a little, put on some initial lip gel color in Courtesan(by Laura) and carry around my Baby Lips, spf25 lip balm.  I also keep a little pot of moisturizer in my pocket which I shamelessly apply in public.

Multiple layers yes–and that vitamin C layer is its own block in the form of anti-oxidants.

Onto the bod.

My plan is to moisturize with my Johnson&Johnson 24 hour (my last bottle). On top of that I have Kiehl’s spf30 which I will put on my neck, arms and legs.  For my chest I will also apply another layer of Neutregena55.  I’ve noticed the times that I am out in the sun a little bit the neck area gets pink on me.

For my hair, believe it or not that’s a consideration as well.  I use the Kitoko Oil in my hair which has anti-oxidants which provide UV protection-probably not a lot but something is better than nothing.  Since I use a gloss on my hair, my color doesn’t really fade-it washes out after 6 weeks or so, but my grow out is faster so I am on a 4 week schedule at this point.

So that’s pre-sun. What about apres soleil?

I think we are going out to dinner so this may follow later. But I plan to do a Korean cloth mask with hyularonic acid.  HA is a naturally occurring chemical in your body which is basically a moisturizer.  They also use it in products like Restylane which is injected into your crevices to plump up lines.

Follow that with a mask of Orlane, and a generous slather of Rosa Artica and Vitamin C. I think that will help repair any exposure damage.

For my body, I have my new favorite moisturizers-CeraVe’ body cream and Aveena Baby 24 Hour Body Cream for Sensitive Skin.

I know-it’s a lot but I take skin and sun exposure seriously.

Anyway, this is what I do—

k