My sister, a nurse, told me to stop using a certain type of chemical peel on rosacea-prone skin.

She saw me working on a friend with mild rosacea and said, 'You're going to make it worse with that acid.' I ignored her for months, thinking my training covered it. Then a regular customer in Portland had a bad flare-up after I used a 15% glycolic solution. Now I only use lactic or azelaic acids for those conditions. What other gentle actives do you all trust for sensitive, red skin?

3 comments

3 Comments

quinn_nguyen3mo ago

Portland's water is already pretty soft, but that flare-up story hits home. I've had good luck mixing a tiny bit of oat extract into calming serums, it's not a direct active but really helps the barrier. Sometimes just leaving the skin alone with a basic ceramide cream for a few weeks does more than any acid.

river1823mo ago

Yeah that part about leaving skin alone with a ceramide cream is so true. I feel like we all get stuck trying to fix things with another product when just stopping is the real fix. Quinn_nguyen is right, a basic routine for a few weeks lets your skin actually heal itself instead of fighting new ingredients. I had to learn that the hard way after overdoing it with retinoids last year.

david8211mo ago

Read a dermatologist's blog a while back where they talked about how even low-percentage acids can wreck a damaged barrier. Made sense after that Portland thing went south. A buddy of mine who does spray tans told me she switched to using a cream with niacinamide and urea for her clients with similar issues, says it smooths without the burn. Plain aloe gel with no alcohol in it has been decent too, just keep an eye on ingredients.