Male wanting to cover up facial redness

jobseeker999

Hi all, I suffer from a combination of Rosacea and Seborheic Dermatitis and I now have an almost permanently red nose. I have been to GPs and many dermatoligist visits over the last 10 years and am pretty much resigned to the fact that there is not going to be a cure for the condition, so what I am looking for is ideas of make up that a male can wear without it looking obvious that will cover the redness. Any help would be most appreciated

Have you tried this range? http://www.laroche-posay.com/home/specific-treatments/Skin-prone-to-redness-t66.aspx

vauraine

I second the La Roche Posay range, although if you've been to the dermatologist as much as you say, you've probably tried it.

I suffer from mild rosacea and the best thing I've ever tried is the new Lancome Dreamtone. It's very pricey but you get a HUGE bottle and it really does work. I'm using the fairest shade and while it doesn't mask the redness, it evens the skintone all over my face to minimise the redness. And on its own, it doesn't look like I'm wearing makeup at all.

If you go to a lancome counter and ask for a tester, they should give you one or two so you can try before you buy.

jobseeker999

Thank you. I have been using Rosaliac from the La Roche range for a couple of years now and whilst it seemed to make a difference initially it certainly doesn't now. I will look into the Lancome dreamtone. It is getting so bad now that I make excuses to stay in the house, it has affected my career as I am so self conscious it is always on my mind. My kids and their friends have mentioned it recently and this really sends me into my shell.

Chrisita

The best thing I have found for this is taking betaine Hcl with every meal. Rosacea is often linked to poor production of hydrochloric acid for digestion. Prior to finding this I used Rosex gel for several years and I found it very effective, bot apparently it doesn't work for everyone.

jobseeker999

Chrisita wrote: »

The best thing I have found for this is taking betaine Hcl with every meal. Rosacea is often linked to poor production of hydrochloric acid for digestion. Prior to finding this I used Rosex gel for several years and I found it very effective, bot apparently it doesn't work for everyone.

Thanks Chrisita. I have done a bit of research since your post and it seems a lot of people swear by the Betaine HCL. I have now bought them, they are Betaine HCL with Pepsin (325mg HCL, 59mg Pepsin). It advises 1 per day at mealtime. Is this the sort of dose that you would take?
The digestion theory actually makes a bit of sense, my Rosacea is generally worse shortly after my lunch and then when I'm sitting down relaxing in the evening after my dinner it tends to flare up.

Chrisita

My Gp advised me to up the dosage every few days until I felt a warm sensation in my stomach. At that point I had to take one less. I ended up needing 4000mg of Hcl with each meal, but everyone is different. Too much will cause what feels like heartburn, but ironically so can too little. I really hope this works for you,my brother and I have had a great response.

jobseeker999

Chrisita wrote: »

My Gp advised me to up the dosage every few days until I felt a warm sensation in my stomach. At that point I had to take one less. I ended up needing 4000mg of Hcl with each meal, but everyone is different. Too much will cause what feels like heartburn, but ironically so can too little. I really hope this works for you,my brother and I have had a great response.

That sounds like a very large dose! That would be 12 of my tablets per meal! How long did it take to work with you?, did it really improve redness?

Chrisita

I get high strength ones from Thorne research so only have to take 4. The improvement was over a few weeks, i think.

Tiddlypeeps

If you want to go the cover up route then I would recommend getting a good colour correcting primer. Smashbox photo ready in the green shade is the best I know of for covering redness. You can try that on it's own and see how it goes but it is best coupled with some foundation and/or concealer over it.

For a foundation I'd recommend a BB cream. If you don't want it to look like you are wearing make up at all this is the best because they usually have light coverage. Coupled with the primer it should be enough to at least drastically reduce the appearance of redness without looking like you are wearing make up. Apply a light amount using a clean stippling brush to buff it in. The better you blend it into the skin the less visible it will be.

If this is not enough then you will need to apply some concealer to the reddest parts.

I'm not gonna bet bogged down on brands, a lot of them have their pros and cons but the most important thing you can do is get the colour right. The colour needs to match your neck or it's gonna be super obvious to everyone you are wearing it. To test just run a streak of the colour down your face from your cheek to your neck. It should be pretty much invisible on the areas where there is no redness.

If you go into Debhnams/Arrnots/Brown Thomas and go to a few different stands they should be able to give you sample pots of anything you want to try out, you just have to ask. Trial and error is pretty much the only sure fire way of finding what suits you so if you don't get samples it can get expensive very quickly.

If you want some videos on doing this kind of stuff then I highly recommend Wayne Goss's youtube channel. His make up in some of his early videos is a bit David Bowie, but he does some fantastic natural looks on himself in some later videos. He suffers from redness too so he has some good tips for covering it up.

The Magpie

I had rosacea a few years ago, I was put on Minocin. I had a particularly annoying patch on the tip of my nose. Even when there was no spot I had a red glowing dot!
The dermatologist told me the reason nothing would cover it (makeup wise) was because of the "heat" in the area, the constant supply of blood at the surface meant everything melted off.
What did help was loose powder, as it didn't melt. But it did need fairly frequent reapplication.
Thankfully, it disappeared with no rhyme or reason of its own accord. Hope you find something to help!

Chrisita

The red dot could be a broken capillary and could be treated (removed) with diathermy(electrolysis).

ireland13

Hi, I spent years trying everything from foods, topical treatments to prescription tablets etc. IPL with Dr. Cal Condon was the best solution for my rosacea, acne and Seborrheic dermatitis. Lifechanging!

http://d1068496-30816.cp.blacknight.com/acne-rosacea/

spankmemunkey

Just saw this by chance and thought id throw in my 2 cents.

I heard a very good story about dermatitis and skin conditions, and the main factor in all was the water supply in the home, our tapped water has been treated with acids and fluoride and these chemicals do have an outcome on our bodies either noticable or inside.

Anyway back to the derek mooeny story, a woman told how she harvest rain water to use to flush toilets run washing machine dishwasher etc and even washing, she also started to drink it after it was boiled. anyway long story short, her daughters skin cleared right up she had serious exzema and facial rashes but it all cleared up when drinking and showering using rain water, i cant stand over that but all her skin cleared up and when her daughter stayed with friends within a few days her skin blotched up again, from showering and drinking their tap water.

I would also seriously recommend an elimination diet, it must be something your putting in your body.

there was a good programme on tv3 recently about an australian guy who was eating too much processed food, not only was he over weight but his skin was terrible, he went on a fruit juice diet with veg mix and he lost the weight and his skin cleared up.

maybe u can post what your diet consists of and we could start to investigate where the problem comes from.

BlazingSaddler

Has anybody tried dead sea salt for redness (seb derm / rosacea). It seems many swear by it!
http://curezone.org/forums/am.asp?i=2057688&s=1#i1

jobseeker999

Hi again all. I looked into BB creams but found them a bit too much, felt it was just too obvious that I was wearing make up!, my seborrheic dermatitis is quite bad at the moment so my skin cracks easily which makes it quite obvious that I'm trying to cover up. There seem to be more male products coming onto the general market. No. 7 now have a tinted moisturiser for men. Would this be worth a shot?, or can anybody recommend a good tinted moisturiser for sensitive skin that also has an SPF please? What is the main purpose of a tinted moisturiser?, do they basically give you a gradual tanned appearance. How do they differ from fake tan? Thanks!

BethG

jobseeker999 wrote: »

Hi again all. I looked into BB creams but found them a bit too much, felt it was just too obvious that I was wearing make up!, my seborrheic dermatitis is quite bad at the moment so my skin cracks easily which makes it quite obvious that I'm trying to cover up. There seem to be more male products coming onto the general market. No. 7 now have a tinted moisturiser for men. Would this be worth a shot?, or can anybody recommend a good tinted moisturiser for sensitive skin that also has an SPF please? What is the main purpose of a tinted moisturiser?, do they basically give you a gradual tanned appearance. How do they differ from fake tan? Thanks!

Tinted moisturiers are very light foundations with extra moisturing creams, on the lines but lighter than a BB or CC cream. If your skin is as bad as it sounds, I'd steer clear from these products for now but for future reference, the No 7 product is going to be good as their stuff usually is good.

One thing whch might lessen a bit of oiliness is their T Zone revival mattifier; I adore this on my red and oily nose Somebody suggested Smashbox Photo Finish Primers which are excellent for bringing down skin tones. They do several shades of them and not just the one to counteract redness and come in travel sizes as well. No 7 have an anti red primer as well which I use and can vouch for. Another Smashbox product to look at is the Halo Anti red Powders; use a little of this to set the primer and it will certainly help to tone things down for you

rustyzip

jobseeker999 wrote: »

Hi all, I suffer from a combination of Rosacea and Seborheic Dermatitis and I now have an almost permanently red nose. I have been to GPs and many dermatoligist visits over the last 10 years and am pretty much resigned to the fact that there is not going to be a cure for the condition, so what I am looking for is ideas of make up that a male can wear without it looking obvious that will cover the redness. Any help would be most appreciated

I suffered from Rosacea for about 9 years until I overhauled my diet earlier this year.
I got a facial off a girl and she made me a blend of oils that really helped my skin. Especially across my nose.
Diet is such a big factor though and worrying about it doesn't help.
Stress affects my skin so so much.

jobseeker999

BethG wrote: »

No 7 have an anti red primer as well which I use and can vouch for. Another Smashbox product to look at is the Halo Anti red Powders; use a little of this to set the primer and it will certainly help to tone things down for you

Thank you!, excuse my ignorance but this is rather new to me!, so basically I will wash my face with a little dead sea salt mixed in warm water, then I rinse off with cold water, when dry I currently apply an Aveeno anti redness moisturizer with SPF20, so it if after this I apply the primer?, do I apply just to the nose or all over my face?, do i then apply the anti redness powder on top? I suppose my main concern is that it will be obvious that I'm wearing makeup, but is this any worse than walking around with a nose like Rudolph? If I have a flare up would the makeup still cover or would the heat bring it off? Sorry for all the questions? I suppose instead of wasting my money on useless dermatologists I should spend it on a makeup consultation! I'd be absolutely mortified though! It's hard enough talking to my wife about it.

toddunctious

I had dermatitis on my forehead and was trying different moisturisers but none worked, I then switched to a baby shampoo and no dryness or flaking since

Citizen2011

Hi. From my own experience I stopped wet shaving and switched to electric shaver and saw huge improvements.

cormie

You seem to have missed spankmemunkey's post which is probably the most important. What you put into your body can affect everything, not only what you put into it, but what you put on it too, shower gel, shampoo, aftershave, shaving cream and even clothes washes in chemical detergents.

Try switch to a cleaner, natural lifestyle and you may (most probably will) see outstanding results, not only in this issue but in your overall wellbeing.

You can cover up things like this with drugs and creams but there is a root cause and it could be something very simple so you may not have to make too many drastic changes, but testing all these cover up solutions you'll never find it.

A dermatologist once told me diet had nothing to do with my bad skin, I simply couldn't believe him as I knew myself that when I ate badly, my skin got worse, I gradually cleaned up and my skin got better and better. If I have a lapse now, my skin will be the first to show it. Some people appear lucky that they can treat their body any which way with consumption and use of all sorts and they don't show any side affects, others have more sensitive skin and will have instant reactions.

The real lucky ones are the ones with the sensitive skin, it's giving them an instant warning on what they are doing, the unlucky ones are more likely to keep on and keep on and will likely suffer greater consequences with ill health later on.

clappyhappy

I noticed after Christmas the cheeks on my face became very red and spotty. I looked like a badly made up clown. I was with my sis in law one day who is a beautitician and she said it was Rosacea. I went home and googled it, was looking at the common triggers of it and bacon was mentioned.
After Christmas I started a low carbohydrate high protein diet and most mornings I would have eggs and bacon. I stopped eating bacon straight away.
Result, it has almost gone, only tiny redness left, but if I eat bacon it begins to get worse.
Check your diet, as mentioned above it is probably the main cause. Best of luck!!

How Strange

I've had an awful outbreak of rosacea recently and I went to a dermalogica therapist who gave me a list of products to try for 2 weeks. All were free samples so she was making nothing out of it. She said that I'd have to use the ultra calming serum concentrate every day, leave it on for 10 minutes then apply a hydrating moisturiser like active moist. At first my chin and lower cheeks/jawline used to drink it up. Then always use SPF 50, I use the sensitive dermalogica one anyway, and exfoliate gently 3 times a week at night time and never put anything on my skin at night. Also stay out of the sun as excess heat or cold will make it flare up

It's been 3 weeks and the difference is amazing. My face isn't red raw and full of angry acne looking spots. Even my husband has commented that there's been a huge difference

BethG

jobseeker999 wrote: »

Thank you!, excuse my ignorance but this is rather new to me!, so basically I will wash my face with a little dead sea salt mixed in warm water, then I rinse off with cold water, when dry I currently apply an Aveeno anti redness moisturizer with SPF20, so it if after this I apply the primer?, do I apply just to the nose or all over my face?, do i then apply the anti redness powder on top? I suppose my main concern is that it will be obvious that I'm wearing makeup, but is this any worse than walking around with a nose like Rudolph? If I have a flare up would the makeup still cover or would the heat bring it off? Sorry for all the questions? I suppose instead of wasting my money on useless dermatologists I should spend it on a makeup consultation! I'd be absolutely mortified though! It's hard enough talking to my wife about it.

Wash, dry and moisturise your face as normal. If you are using the primer you apply this evenly and let it dry for about a minute; you only need a tiny dot of primer to cover your whole face. Once it is set (It will dry and not feel sticky to the touch.) it will take your red hue down in a subtle manner over all the face. After than you may apply the anti red powder evenly to wherever it is needed with a brush and that's you done. Apply a tiny bit at first and let it take effect for a minute before deciding if a little more is needed or not; again it will be a subtle difference so don't expect to be Casper the Ghost after it

It will only look obviously like you are wearing it if you have a lot of the powder on because these products are neutralising tones on your skin. Primer is invisible when it's on your face unlike the concealer creams mentioned earlier and it is a lot lighter as well. It won't be as effective but as a day to day thing it and the powder will be a help.

jobseeker999

Thank you all so much for the advice. I will certainly take it on board. Cormie, I didn't miss spankmemonkeys post, I have been down the elimination road with limited success and I do try to keep away from the triggers. If you think people with sensitive skin are the lucky ones then think again, this condition has dominated my life for the last 10 years and I've tried to do all that I can to overcome it, hence why my initial question was about covering up and not about getting to the root of the problem. I wouldn't be at surprised if spankmonkey however is onto something with the water, I do shower and wash very frequently and it would be the only thing that I've never eliminated, If I could find a way to wash in rainwater I'd give it a go!
Clappyhappy, I would only eat bacon maybe once a fortnight but I would generally have ham in a wrap every day. I'll steer clear for a while!
Citizen2011, I did buy an electric shaver a few years but only used it once or twice I think as I didn't really take to it. I'll blow the cobwebs off it and give it another go.

cormie

You could try go completely clean for 3/4 weeks and see how it works, that means regular exercise and a clean diet with mostly veg and fruit and drinking a lot of water. Try eliminate animal products completely (that means your daily ham) and all processed foods, gluten (your wrap) and all that and try eat organic where possible. Even just for this 3/4 weeks and then if it does improve, and there's a great chance of it improving if you're strict, you can gradually introduce things back and see how you get on. Good luck.

jobseeker999

cormie wrote: »

You could try go completely clean for 3/4 weeks and see how it works, that means regular exercise and a clean diet with mostly veg and fruit and drinking a lot of water. Try eliminate animal products completely (that means your daily ham) and all processed foods, gluten (your wrap) and all that and try eat organic where possible. Even just for this 3/4 weeks and then if it does improve, and there's a great chance of it improving if you're strict, you can gradually introduce things back and see how you get on. Good luck.

Thanks Cormie, I would certainly like to give it a go, the exercise and drinking water is not a problem! I am fairly rubbish though at coming up with ideas for breakfast / lunch / dinner with this sort of diet. My dinners would generally be one from
- pork chops, spuds, veg,
- spag bol
- chicken, rice, veg
- fresh cod in breadcrumbs, wedges, veg
- fresh or dry pasta with veg in carbonara
- Turkey & ham, spuds, veg
- Jacket potato, tuna, sweetcorn & peas
- Lasagne & Chips
- Shepherds Pie
- Maybe a cheeky Chinese or Pizza once a fortnight

Does this need a complete overhaul?!

fiona-f

If concerned not to be using female cosmetics, you could try the powder sunscreen from Bare Minerals. It is sold as a sunscreen but has the same properties as a lot of their foundation and if applied right provides good, subtle coverage. But it is not "make-up" so you might be mire comfortable if you needed to carry around with you or reapply during the day, since it is marketed as sunscreen. The shades available are all relatively tanned though so make sure to try before you buy if you are pale.

Otherwise Clinique also do a redness solutions range including a colour correcting powder in yellow, which my friend swears by.

Some beauty experts recommend never letting your face get wet while in the shower, you could give this a go for a period (although I'm generally a sceptic when people claim tap water is the source of all our health woes, but hey, it might work for you.)

cormie

jobseeker999 wrote: »

Thanks Cormie, I would certainly like to give it a go, the exercise and drinking water is not a problem! I am fairly rubbish though at coming up with ideas for breakfast / lunch / dinner with this sort of diet. My dinners would generally be one from
- pork chops, spuds, veg,
- spag bol
- chicken, rice, veg
- fresh cod in breadcrumbs, wedges, veg
- fresh or dry pasta with veg in carbonara
- Turkey & ham, spuds, veg
- Jacket potato, tuna, sweetcorn & peas
- Lasagne & Chips
- Shepherds Pie
- Maybe a cheeky Chinese or Pizza once a fortnight

Does this need a complete overhaul?!

Have a look at something like a raw food diet. I'm not suggesting this as a permanent lifestyle change or diet, but I think it's a pretty good way to pinpoint what may be triggering such things by eating as clean as possible while still getting enough nutrients and you can then introduce things back in bit by bit, although you might feel pretty good and be happy to stay with it.

I had a quick google of "Rosacea raw food" and there appears to be quite a lot of success stories. This isn't some fad diet, it's just a very clean way of eating and eating good, wholesome, healthy food, just as long as you eat enough

A good friend uses Eucerin Anti-Redness Neutralizing fluid. It's an alarming green shade, but disappears when applied and it moisturizes and the green tones down the redness enormously. Might be worth a try for a quick cosmetic fix.

How Strange

Cleaning up your diet will invariably help but I don't think there's any need to eat only raw food or cut out animal fats and protein. I'd say cut back on the carbs and fruit which is mostly sugar and while a little may be beneficial too much isn't. As well as that cut out processed foods, refined sugars etc.

If you think you've a sensitivity to dairy then eliminate it for a couple of weeks and see if there's a difference.

jobseeker999

Hi all, As previously discussed I am trying to cover a very red nose and their were some good suggestions earlier in this thread. I started to use a clinique primer which seemed to help when I put the loose powder on but this was just a standard no.7 powder. I haven't yet invested in any of the anti redness powders mentioned but have now run out so think it's time to give it a go. Are they really worth the investment?, the Clinique anti redness powder is about €40 I think. Any last suggestions before I part with my hard earned would be most appreciated please!

cormie

Did you alter your diet at all?

rantyface

I got the redness in my face removed with 12 sessions of IPL.