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Looking for suggestions. I really don't care what it smells like or anything like that. Just something oil free as I am hoping to prevent leg breakouts. Seems the richer the cream I use, the more prone to breaking out. I guess I can only use heavy lotion 2x a week. I was thinking of trying strait baby oil just in case its the combo of oil and wax in the lotions.But?
By chance, do you have a water softener? If you have soft water at home, it might eliminate the need for lotion altogether. If not, you might want to invest in one.
For lotions, try Neutrogena Oil Free Moisturizer or Origins lotions. Origins makes really great stuff. I like their products.
The old fashioned baby oil is nothing more than artificially scented petroleum oil. Personally, I'd avoid it like the plague. In fact, it could be that the stuff you've been using contains "mineral oil" (as it's called in the cosmetics industry), which is -causing- breakouts.
Also, if you experience these breakouts within a day after shaving your legs, it could be that your skin is just too sensitive for whatever perfumes are contained in the moisturizers you've been using. Most of them are synthetic and they are definitely an irritant.
What you might try, is any of three things:
1. Jojoba oil, filtered or unfiltered, doesn't matter which as long as it's *just* jojoba oil. Drip just 3-4 drops into your palms, rub briskly together, and wipe down one leg with your oiled palms. Drip another few drops for the other leg. Then clean off the excess by rubbing it into the backs of your hands and on your elbows (if there's any left of the 3-4 drops).
2. Shea butter, filtered or unfiltered, as long as it's "just" shea butter. Around 1/8 of a teaspoon, applied the same way as the jojoba oil.
3. Olive oil, straight from the kitchen cabinet. Again, just a few drops per leg.
Try any one of those three between shaving, and immediately after shaving. If things are looking good, then you can add a drop of lavender essential oil, or a drop of sandalwood essential oil to whichever you choose. Both essential oils are particularly good for the skin, plus they smell yummy.
Obviously, the cheapest one to try first would be the olive oil. It is very "oily" - so you might not like the consistency. I'd still try it before anything else though.
Shea butter has little use other than for skin preparations, and it can go rancid after awhile. So that would be the least cost-efficient treatment to try, if it doesn't work out for you.
Jojoba is the most cost-efficient, and the most skin-friendly of the trio, and it is technically not oil at all, but rather a naturally liquid wax extracted from a seed native to the southwestern US and Mexico. It is the closest in chemical makup to sebum (your own skin oils) in the plant world.
Lastly, if your breakouts are even remotely related to shaving, I swear by this stuff called Tend Skin. You can find it online and some full service beauty salons carry it.
I live in a condo/apt complex. I dont know if they have a water softener but maybe I could get one of those special shower heads that filter....
I think I am going to give the jojoba oil a go. It says it good for acne prone skin. I have tried olive in the past and it did not stay hydrated. But it did not break me out either. Its actually my back up lotion...lol
But yeh..current lotion has mineral oil and dimethicone...pore cloggers. Never bothered me before but I guess my skin likes to mess with me. LOL
Have you asked a doctor about these breakouts? It may be a condition called keratosis pilaris. I get it on the backside of my forearms near the elbows, and on my upper arms and thighs. It is caused by an overproduction of keratin which blocks the hair follicle and causes the little bumps which may be red or skin colored. If this is what is causing your breakouts, a light lotion with a gentle chemical exfoliant is your best bet. I like the Eucerin formula with AHA. If absorbs fast, is very moisturizing, and it clears KP with continual use.
Have you asked a doctor about these breakouts? It may be a condition called keratosis pilaris. I get it on the backside of my forearms near the elbows, and on my upper arms and thighs. It is caused by an overproduction of keratin which blocks the hair follicle and causes the little bumps which may be red or skin colored. If this is what is causing your breakouts, a light lotion with a gentle chemical exfoliant is your best bet. I like the Eucerin formula with AHA. If absorbs fast, is very moisturizing, and it clears KP with continual use.
Yes. I had that KP on my inner knees once and yes it was easy to clear like you said plus I ate more EFAs. The bumps are infections in my follicles from having fine hair + frequent close shaves. Its like that typical razor bump that everyone can get on bikini lines but all over. I did go to a derm for it before and they gave me some Ben Peroxide script cream but it was $$$$.
Its clearing though..thank goodness...silly skin!
The heavy lotion I do have is zoned for hands and feet only now though. LOL
Definitely try the Tend Skin then. The ingredients are SO simple...primarily rubbing alcohol and aspirin. I don't know WHY the combination works, but it does. And it's remarkable.
Definitely try the Tend Skin then. The ingredients are SO simple...primarily rubbing alcohol and aspirin. I don't know WHY the combination works, but it does. And it's remarkable.
Tend Skin - Before & After Photos (http://www.tendskin.com/b4_after.htm - broken link)
Dang!
check out the before and after.
That is going on the beauty wish list for sure.
Thats exactly what its like. I just never let it get to extremely swollen bumps as I always try to exfoliate the crap out of it with anti acne stuff. The first time when I went to the doctor though it was bad like that. I thought I had some sort of serious issue. LOL
Best thing about it: It's inexpensive. I think I paid $8.00 for a bottle a year ago, and I still have most of it left. Because there's no oil in it, there's nothing that can go rancid. It has the consistency of water, smells pretty much how you'd expect aspirin and rubbing alcohol combined to smell; kinda like, aspirin and rubbing alcohol Oddly..very oddly - it doesn't sting unless you're applying it to an actual *open* sore - like, honestly bleeding, not merely reddened bumps. Even then the sting wears off fast.
You can use it on ingrown hairs too, and on sebacious cysts (aka: zits).
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Oddly..very oddly - it doesn't sting unless you're applying it to an actual *open* sore - like, honestly bleeding, not merely reddened bumps. Even then the sting wears off fast.
