Darier's White Disorder and wearing COVID-19 face masks

I have been seeing some people talk about how they hate that their new mask wearing routine is making their DWD freak out! I have been having a good reaction to Kiehls Ultra Face Cream and SoonJung creams (as mentioned in a previous blog). It feels nice, no burn, and has really helped create a barrier to the friction of the mask.

Here is more on them:

https://www.etudehouse.com/int/en/index.php/collections/soonjung.html


https://www.kiehls.ca/en/skincare/category/moisturizers/ultra-facial-cream-622.html



And from that time I talked about Black African Soap: http://fightagainstdariersdisease.blogspot.com/2020/02/trying-african-black-soap.html

And that time I talked about trying Korean Beauty Products: http://fightagainstdariersdisease.blogspot.com/2020/01/while-in-korea-beauty-and-skin-products.html

Trying something new: Saje Restoral Ointment

I'm a bit hooked on Saje what with their amazing smelly stuff - but being so prone to flare ups and finding the more natural I go the more my skin seems to be happy with me... I started trying things other than their lavender pillow mist (which I HIGHLY recommend...) but their skin stuff.

Restoral Healing Skin Ointment's first ingredient is PINE TAR! See a theme here? My Pine Bark Extract pills are something I can't live without - and here I find this pine tar ointment?! I have to try it.

It is like a potted lip balm in texture, it's brown and it leaves a bit of an orangey brown colour on my skin when applied. BUT it is soothing and it doesn't make my DWD itch or flare. I have been using it for about a week now and my neck bumps (for lack of technical term for the bumps that are ALWAYS around) are not chapped or red, they are pink and soft. This bodes well...

I will keep trying it out and add it to the routine - though I am still applying Vit A cream at night this is something I have started to put on when I get home from work or in the morning under my make up. (Yes I sometimes use Cover FX on my neck to cover up the redness...)

I will report back after some time but I do think it might be worth a try for those who want an alternative to anti-itch creams and ointments. I used this on mosquito bites too and it helped as well!

Having to change (creams) is hard

Recently I had to stop using the great A Cream that Shoppers Drugmart Life Brand makes because they discontinued it. Major fail. So I switched to something in the same price bracket but at a health food store:

My face has been okay with it, but the rest of me is not sold on it. First: it smells like...roses? I think it wants to be roses. And that means there's more than Vitamin A in there :(

It's been a few weeks, and a hot summer. I spent all last week in the sun on vacation, mind you I was never in a bathing suit I was mostly covered up and always wearing SPF 60. This summer has given me a lot of freckles - so is this flare-up (see picture below) from the sun, from the new moisturizer, or…

I haven't had flat flare ups in a really long time. They have mostly been the little red dots but  I'm used to them. I'm starting to think I might have to take more than just Pinebark Vitamin B and D to deal with this again, like when I started.

I hope it's just the increase of sunshine/acting stupid on vacations and that I should probably be more careful about how much sun/sugar I'm consuming. But it could just be what it is - with age it does get worse. Here's hoping it's a blip on the radar and not a full "storm" coming on.

Yes to... carrots?!

In a search to find products that are less irritant - read: less chemicals and more organic/natural - a friend who has been having skin issues since the birth of her son found this:

http://www.yestocarrots.com/ingredients.html

She swears by it now. I have yet to try it but it looks promising (as long as I don't use the ones with actual carrots!)

Have you found something that works for you?

Pine Bark = my best friend

This whole journey started way back when I was working at Davids Tea and a woman scoffed (rather loudly) at a book we had on our shelf beside the teas. It was a book about what you can eat to defeat cancer. She was very audible about hating the notion that cancer could be cured by just eating more leafy greens.  I stepped up to serve her and, seeing she clearly wanted to rant about healthcare, I asked her how one should attack something like cancer which led to a conversation about my skin disorder.

She grabbed the receipt tape and jotted down some things for me to take. The thing that I latched on to was the maritime pine bark pills. And I still take them to this day. It's been about 5 years since this chance encounter with "Nadine" and I am so happy that we happened to chat that day.

Here is a visual of what I'm taking now: 5 years later.

Internal:

Vitamin B 1xday
Maritime Pine Bark 1xday
Greens+ 2xweek
Vitamin D  1xday
Probiotics 2-4xweek

And a multi-vitamin geared towards woman's health 1xday

Topical:

Fragrance free moisturizer
gentle/fragrance free foam cleanser
FX make up
gentle Toner
Tea Tree Oil (spot treatment)
Vitamin A cream

A little (cheap) piece of heaven

I recently got an email from a reader asking how things are going -

The short answer is good!

The long answer is...

My boyfriend started using my face/body cleanse schtuff and I started to get mad. But, in due turn, he "bought the next round" but couldn't find the Vitamin A cream I had bought from the local health food store (from my last post http://fightagainstdariersdisease.blogspot.ca/2012/12/vitamin-creams.html) What he brought home was this:

Life Brand Vitamin A and Life Brand Vitamin E

The Vitamin E stuff is THICK and doesn't really do it for me. - But the Vitamin A cream? I could MARRY IT. No scent. No thickness. Easily my favourite new thing to add to my MUST have list for my skin disorder. After a few days my face cleared of redness. After a week - I didn't wear foundation. Me. NOT WEARING FOUNDATION. Guys. Girls. World. Hear me: this is my new favourite thing! If you don't see it at your local store - inquire. Or buy online?

I mean LOOK: - this is me with just eye make up and some sunscreen (because that's how I have to roll)

So my neck and face are truly thankful. I hope you have been testing and trying new things too - if so - share please! 

All the best to you and yours,

Adrianna

Vitamin A creams

Having a flare up this month - I think it's because (sorry gentlemen but) I'm starting new birth control pills and my hormones are everywhere. Plus I'm stressing about work, and not watching my sugar intake. Or it could just be that I'm getting older and my skin is not as resilient as it used to be. 

I went to see my useless dermatologist who asked ME what was working. Huh. 

The only thing he said that was useful was about Vitamin A - I forgot it is one of the top vitamins in skin rejuvenation. So I passed on the hundred dollar cream and went and got that cream you see above at the health food store for 9.99$ So far so good. The only thing is, it has "fragrance" - which could mean an irritant. But so far that hasn't been a bother to my skin. It actually smells nice! But it is very light - made for wrinkles apparently - so it absorbs fast and I usually like heavier creams like the Lifebrand vitamin E cream. 

Anything working for you?