Switched to a ceramide cream two weeks ago after my skin got tight and shiny from over-exfoliating. It stings mildly for about ten seconds on application, mostly around my nose, then settles completely and my skin feels better than it has in months. No redness afterwards. Do I keep going or is stinging always a stop signal?
The feels-better-than-it-has-in-months part matters. Healing skin gives mixed signals for a couple of weeks and I'd trust the trend over the ten seconds.
Scan the ingredient list for the usual stingers even in gentle creams: fragrance, a highish alcohol content, or one of the preservatives a lot of people react to. If one's in there you can find a ceramide cream without it and skip the guessing entirely.
Fragrance is listed, fairly low down. There's a fragrance-free version of the same line so I'll try that.
Patch test on the inner forearm for a few days if you want more certainty, though a face that's already reacting makes that a weaker signal than usual.
@porosity_nerd · last yr. · 3 replies
Ten seconds that fully resolves, on skin you've said is compromised, usually means the barrier isn't intact yet rather than the product being wrong. Things that would normally sit on the surface are reaching places they shouldn't.
The test is whether it's shrinking week over week. Mine went from about fifteen seconds to nothing over three weeks on a bland routine. Same or worse at week four, or redness and itch afterwards, is a different thing and I'd stop.
Meanwhile: no acids, no retinoids, no scrubs, lukewarm water, and give it real time. Over-exfoliated skin takes far longer to come back than it took to break.
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@rebalance_rita · last yr.
Week one was worse than this week, now you say it. Going to write the duration down each night.
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@margot_teller · last yr.
Note it in seconds rather than better or worse. It's the only way to tell slow improvement from wishful thinking.
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