The range of products out there now for eczema and sensitive skin is quite mind boggling, but we’re featuring a good cross-section price wise, and price funnily enough didn’t appear to play a part in how well something worked (or didn’t work!)
I grew up with sensitive skin. It wasn’t pleasant. I am a little on the ‘mature’ side, and the range of skin products available in my youth either from the chemist or the pharmacy was small or non-existent. But then I am old enough to remember when you could only buy margarine with a prescription – so maybe that is not a lot to boast about!
I have a 16-year-old niece Caitlin who comes to visit me from the farm in the Bay of Plenty. We love having her, as she is an absolute bundle of fun, and a real joy to have around – and she is absolutely adored by her cousins. We enjoy a spot of clothes shopping together, and generally just take in the sights of Auckland. She has sensitive skin, and has struggled with eczema most of her life – so whenever she comes up we try new products, make-up, and shampoos, to see if any of them make her life any easier.
This time before she came we managed to organise some new products for her to test. The range of products out there now are quite mind boggling, but we got a good cross-section price wise, and price funnily enough didn’t appear to play a part in how well something worked (or didn’t work!)
When she arrived this time, her skin was quite ‘inflamed’ – rather red and very dry.
The first thing we tried was the Aveeno Soothing Bath Treatment. You put a sachet of it into your bath, and it worked almost instantly. For those of you who don’t have sensitive skin, it is hard to explain how nervewracking it can be trying a new product for the first time in case it causes some sort of reaction. My niece is allergic to cats, dogs and dust mites, so her skin is pretty much always inflamed. But after the very first bath, the redness went right down and she was really impressed with how soft and moisturised her skin felt after a bath. Most of us with eczema know not to shower or bath too frequently as this can sometimes make the skin worse after robbing it of the natural oils.
We followed that with the Aveeno Skin Relief Moisturising Lotion Fragrance Free, at $17.59 for a large bottle. This did an excellent job of hydrating the skin and keeping it soft and supple. I think Caitlin would have been perfectly happy if those were the only two products that we trialled – she had had such good results. I think it probably helped having her Aunt reminding her everyday to put stuff on her skin as well!
The next three products we tried were from the same range – Eau Thermale Avene TriXera+. This is the first time that I had seen this range so I was quite interested to see how it would stack up. The products are specifically designed for Atopic Skin – it is designed to deal with the two main symptoms: hypersensitivity towards environmental factors, and secondly, severe dryness. Caitlin tried the Eau Thermale Avene Selectiose Emollient Cleansing Gel rrp $42.70 and found it just brilliant. It is a soap free cleanser, and comes in a pump dispenser. She had no reaction at all when she used it on her face, or on her body.
The Eau Thermale Avene TriXera+ Selectiose Emollient Cream she used both morning and evening and again she found it excellent. Although it doesn’t have a fragrance as such it has a pleasant scent, which was much appreciated. It retails for $48.72. It also has a lip balm as well. I do have to say that after I tried both of these products myself, that I really liked the feel of the Cleansing Gel and will probably get some to use myself.
By this point, her skin was in the best condition it had been in a while, so I decided to give a friend of mine, Erin, the chance to try out the Dr. Hauschka Med Ice Plant Body Care Lotion.
It is part of the Dr. Hauschka Med range and it is designed for very dry, flaky skin. Erin often has very raw red hands as she handles fabrics all day and may possibly have a reaction to them. She is unhappy about using steroid creams so tries to manage without them. I offered her the chance to use the cream when she was visiting one day, used the handy pump dispenser (it looks good on the bathroom sink) and rubbed the lotion in. Within 5 minutes her skin was calmer! She has been using the lotion morning and evening for a month now and has found that once she has got her eczema under control with a bit of help from steroid creams, she is able to maintain it in good condition for a lot longer than usual. Her skin has a much more pleasant texture. Though the lotion is expensive at $95, she thinks she will get about 5-6 months use out of one container. It has a pump dispenser, and her advice is that half a pump is enough to do her hands two times a day. She is really very happy with the look and feel of her hands.
The last three products were all quite different from each other. Pure Golden Jojoba is, you would assume, a jojoba oil. Actually it isn’t! Jojoba, unusually, produces a liquid wax. It comes in a pretty little 30ml bottle and is priced at $24.90. We found that a little bit goes a long way. It can be used as an intense moisturiser, a make up remover or to ease rashes and skin conditions. It softened the skin almost instantly and was very calming.
We also got to try two products from Dermalogica Ultra Calming for sensitive skin; Ultra Calming Cleanser $74.50 and Ultra Calming Mist $84.50. Both were good – but she did have a mild reaction. Read more about the Dermalogica Ultra Calming NZ launch on Thread.co.nz here.
Lastly we tried (though I think we knew it would work as we have been using it for years) the good old QV lotion. This has been the go to product for so many of us who have children with skin issues over the years. It is price competitive and consistent – and just always works. No perfume, good coverage, and good price! Some things never change – nor would you want them to.
I think the thing that surprised me with all of this trying new product is that not one didn’t work. Not one product caused a major reaction. Not one product didn’t do what it said it would do. Maybe I am a little cynical after all the years of trying stuff when I was a kid, or maybe things have just got a whole heap better… and all of you with sensitive skin get to reap the rewards!
By Anya Brighouse 28 April 2011
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