While in Korea... Beauty and Skin Products from abroad

SO I recently went on a trip to South Korea and I experienced their OBSESSION with skin care. For those that live in Ontario you will understand when I say: take all the Starbucks and Tim Hortons and change those into makeup and beauty stores = that's Seoul, South Korea. They were EVERYWHERE. My travel partner and I pretty much went into every one of them (she was fascinated with their products and became a little obsessive herself!)

Now people around me know I have a skin disorder so she knew I wouldn't have as much fun playing potions class in every Etude House we came across. But I was willing to try things that were for sensitive skin... and a face mask or two because they just looked lovely! I tried a tea tree oil mask and I have to say it was GREAT! Take a look:

It was super hydrating and cooling and I never had a breakout or irritated skin after. I liked them so much I got a second pack of them to take home. Roberta, my travel buddy and makeup Yoda, recommends doing them every week (or every other week if that sounds too much to someone like me!)

I have also been trying their SoonJung line and so far after a week no bad reactions and no irritation.

I also picked up one of these (well not this exact one, I bought mine for about $3 in a Daiso in Seoul...) 

And it's a great way to not use pad products/something reusable and better for the environment PLUS it just uses warm water to take off your makeup. For me, less is better with my skin, so to just use water or a tiny bit of light soap like Neutrogena Naturals is great. I highly recommend adding this to your arsenal!

I will repost on more of the products I'm using from Korea, but so far I like how light and non-irritating they are. The makeup all include SPF too which is a necessity with me being a ginger (and the DWD). The ones I am looking forward to are: Baking Powder cleanser, more sheet masks, and this Face Blur.

Having DWD means I deal with a lot more redness and spot treatment than most, and sometimes all the products can be overwhelming so I often just... don't do anything. But it's fun to play with makeup again and build confidence around looking "pretty". It's not an everyday thing for me but having healthy skin should be - I am looking forward to learning how to clean and hydrate my skin in a helpful way as I age with DWD.

UPDATE JAN 23 2020 - I have been back for almost two weeks and I LOVE that face pad, it has become a daily ritual and so great. The SoonJung line has been nice but not exactly an improvement, but still nicely hydrating and not irritating me. The Baking Powder foam cleanser stung the first time I tried it so I steered clear of it since. The sheet masks are still my #1 favourite from this trip!

IT WORKS! An Update on how it's going

Update: all the changes and tweaks and ongoing therapy is working itself out! I'm not "cured" or anything but it is a helluva lot better than a few months ago when I had to hide under scarves and cry from the pain...

Right now this is what it looks like:

 

Not too shabby! Of course the pink bumps are never going to be completely gone (or never say never? *hopeful*) but this is so much better than the red rash and open weeping sores I had this winter.

SO! What is my line-up of therapy and goods to bring my DWD under control? I'm so glad you asked:

-no cow dairy
-the least amount of sugar
-lots of water
*I do drink coffee, tea, and drink cider and wine but always in moderation/occasionally






Daily
-50 mg Pine Bark Extract pill
-Vitamin B (either B2 100 mg or a B100 complex) pill
-15 mg zinc pill
-100 mg magnesium (doctor said it will help with my headaches)
-lavender pillow mist + frankincense/lavender oil mix on pulse points (great for anxiety and to sleep)
-meditation 5 mins (needing to get this up to 10 in 6 months)
-Vitamin A 10000 IU pill (at night)
-Vitamin A cream (on affected area at night)
-SPF 15 or higher (depending on season and outdoor activity but ALWAYS at least 15)

Sometimes
-Multivitamin
-Vitamin D (on cloudy/stay inside days)
-probiotics
-CBD pills for anxiety; situational
-Germolene for spot treatment (when the pink bumps become redder)

So there ya go! That's what I'm doing, remember to talk to your dermo and/or doctor or health care professional when trying new things - and on that note what is working for you?

I haven't had to use Germolene in over a week! And I am glad of it, this stuff is potent and shouldn't be used daily.

I am drinking soy milk instead of any other dairy alternative so I can try and keep my hormone levels up too, at least that's the idea - I don't know if it's helping at all but tofu and soy milk are a part of my diet since I left birth control for an IUD.

I hope this helps you on your journey to wellness!

Living with flare ups.

So my January and February were both nuts. Seriously. I don't think I managed any downtime until this past weekend, the last weekend of February. I had a major major audition that made me live on edge for a week and then a final term paper due the day after. It was a stressful time.

So I needed to unwind! I went to a friend's cottage and kicked back a few beers and eat vacation food (read: sugar and fats) for 48 hours. Guess what happened?

This:

Yup. Sad Panda. 

A flare up so bad that it hurt to wear clothes. The camera doesn't capture just how raw it is (because it's still flaring!) and how much it has grown. It has turned up along my neck again and all down my back. Does your DD move around your body too? Mine used to be thighs and neck. Now it's mainly neck and back? 

I am trying to eat clean: lots of veggies, oatmeal for breakfast, no processed/added sugar, a hault on all things alcohol. It feels like I'm back in detox. I haven't started the food journal but if it doesn't get better in a week's time I think I will have to start one up again - and that means really detoxing. I cycled in Vit E cream but I find it greasy and not as good as Vit A cream but I am hitting Desperate Levels at this point!

I need to remind myself that there is no overnight treatment, that it is every action I take - I need to meditate, eat clean, and drink lots of water. I need to make sure I don't skip vitamins and pine bark. This seems so simple but then a friend's birthday is here and the party is at a bar - pop and booze = ugh. You know this story. It's hard to always stay true to your DD. 

5 Things I Will Do For My Skin

1. Drink Water like I'm a camel

2. Keep up on my pill therapy: pine bark, Vit B, D, Multi, Probiotics, *Zinc and *Omegas (which I am bad at remembering)

3. Lots of clean eating, meaning easily digested and without a lot of sugar and fat (like brown rice, green leafy veggies, oatmeal)

4. Go back to taking my tea and coffee back (sad sigh)

5. Yoga and quiet times. Gotta get that stress down!

What do you do when you flare up?

Skin irritations and Darier's

We all get the little red calloused dots. We all get what looks like a rash too. But sometime ago I noted that I got a flat burn like irritation: http://fightagainstdariersdisease.blogspot.ca/2014/10/ew-flarenew-flare.html That was Oct 2014. Here it is now:

Believe it or not THAT is "better" - it's not as raised and red, but it's still there. It's just above my waist where no clothes chaff it (if it were the 80's with highrises I would be in trouble) and it doesn't hurt at all... I just find it weird. It's the only one like it and it has been there for 4 months... Do you get these? 

I think it's THIS exact inflammation that reminds me I'm not reacting to something, I'm not "doing something wrong" like forgetting my pills or eating too much sugar (which can make this disorder worse) - nope. It's just there. And that's the way it's gonna be. Which is not fun but denying it will get me no where. 

If you have any insight into these flat rather large (it's the size of a nickel) patches let me know! I have tried all the things listed in this blog and it is still there. 

Ew Flare/New Flare

A new kind of flare up has been happening the past month:

The little red dot I'm used to. But the blotchy pancake thing - what the WHAT?!

I have taken this to mean that I am not eating right (I have been stress eating and just this past weekend was Thanksgiving in Canada so there was much imbibing and silly foods that made it into my stomach... I regret most all dairy items...!)

Plus I have been majorly stressed out with going back to school, online classes, work, filming, auditioning, getting a puppy and - hey, that's life! So how am I supposed to live my life and not be stressed?

I think I have to start a plan on curbing my stress, because even though I adore to be busy I shouldn't be stressing out my system. I bought some stand alone Zinc to take 

Advice? Have you seen these types of flare ups before?

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.

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