The ingredients every rosacea sufferer needs in their skin care

While some love a rosy flush on their cheeks and pile on their favourite blush with reckless abandon, others are faced with a more unfortunate (and permanent) reality when it comes to pink cheeks: Rosacea. The skin condition, which is characterised by chronic inflammation of the skin, leaves sufferers constantly on the hunt for products, ingredients and methods to reduce redness once and for all. The frustrations associated with rosacea are also compounded as each flare-up and the frequency at which they occur differs, making it incredibly hard to treat.  

In order to help you win the fight against your rosacea, we reached out to three skin experts to discover which ingredients and products they recommend you incorporate into your skin care routine and how long you’ll need to wait to see results.  

#1 / Ingredients to look out for

According to the founder of Paula’s Choice Skin Care, Paula Begoun, “it’s all about what not to use when it comes to rosacea. For instance, it’s best to steer clear of fragrance of any kind as it will cause irritation and inflammation, which makes rosacea worse. Additionally, hot water, scrubs, sensitising plant extracts, witch hazel extracts and denatured or SD [specially denatured] alcohol will most certainly make rosacea worse.”

Additionally, Australian and New Zealand Education Specialist for Jurlique, Danielle Williams suggests watching what you eat, “limiting stimulating foods and beverages such as coffee, chocolate and spicy foods whenever possible”, in order to keep skin as calm as possible.

The ingredients you should look to incorporate into your skin care routine “are those that soothe skin and calm irritation,” says Begoun. “There are dozens of options – my favourites are licorice, willow herb, sea whip, feverfew, beta-glucan and moisture-binding hyaluronic acid,” she adds. 

Cosmetic chemist and founder of hop & cotton, Ee Ting Ng also suggests choosing products that contain the likes of allantoin, bisabolol, niacinamide and oat oil or colloidal oats.

#2 / The most effective products

When it comes to deciding which skin care products to use when treating your rosacea, it’s best to opt for a leave-on product “rather than a rinse-off one as the former has more time to work,” says Ng. However, she does mention, “there’s no one type of leave-on product that is most effective as it depends on production formulation rather than the type”.

Some of our favourite products for tackling rosacea include Jurlique Calendula Redness Rescue Calming Mist, Paula’s Choice CALM Redness Relief Moisturiser for Normal to Dry Skin and La Roche-Posay Rosaliac AR Intense.

#3 / How long until you can expect to see results

While some can expect to see results overnight when they incorporate the correct products and remove the wrong formulas for their skin type from their skin care routine, other rosacea sufferers may have to wait longer for results.  

According to Williams, “you can expect to feel relief within the first two weeks”, however Ng stresses it can be difficult to predict when you’ll see results as the triggers are different for everyone. “If you’re reacting due to certain ingredients, you will see a fast improvement in days by eliminating them. However, if your rosacea is triggered by less controllable or a combination of factors (e.g. stress or the weather) it might take several weeks and even then, improvement may not be very drastic.” 

Ultimately, each of our skin experts recommends consulting a dermatologist to determine your skin’s needs and to formulate a skin care plan that will ensure you see maximum results.

Struggling to nail your base makeup because of your rosacea? Then you’ll love our five tricks that will help cover your redness.

Do you suffer from rosacea? What tips or tricks do you use to calm your skin down? Share them with us in the comments below.

Main image credit: Getty