u/CouldTryMyBest

I've been dealing with sensitive and dehydrated skin for a few years now with no real fix. As an example, my skin feels so tight even after just washing it with water and I don't get any relief until I use a moisturizer. Speaking of moisturizers, I've tried so many different ones and the only one that provides some relief is the Dieux air angel which is too expensive.

At the moment I am running a very minimalist routine which is to cleanse with the Vanicream gentle facial cleanser and then moisturize after. If I am going to be in the sun for more than 20 minutes than I also use sunscreen, but I hate it since almost every sunscreen causes my skin to feel uncomfortably tight even on top of a moisturizer. I've also tried using a heavier moisturizer at night time but most of them never fully sink in and make my skin even more uncomfortable. The only one that has worked to some extent is the Aestura365 barrier cream, but this one makes my skin itchy for some reason.

The reason I think my skin barrier is still damaged is because it has this strange redness where it feels tight and it has that weird "leathery" look to it. I saw a dermatologist recently who wrote off my concerns and said everything appears normal. This is very frustrating since on top of all this I still get some acne, and the best thing I've found to combat it is adapalene but I can't use it often because of how dehydrated my skin gets. I don't use the word dry since my skin doesn't get flakey.

I would really appreciate any suggestions you guys might have.

I've been dealing with sensitive and dehydrated skin for a few years now with no real fix. As an example, my skin feels so tight even after just washing it with water and I don't get any relief until I use a moisturizer. Speaking of moisturizers, I've tried so many different ones and the only one that provides some relief is the Dieux air angel which is too expensive.

At the moment I am running a very minimalist routine which is to cleanse with the Vanicream gentle facial cleanser and then moisturize after. If I am going to be in the sun for more than 20 minutes than I also use sunscreen, but I hate it since almost every sunscreen causes my skin to feel uncomfortably tight even on top of a moisturizer. I've also tried using a heavier moisturizer at night time but most of them never fully sink in and make my skin even more uncomfortable. The only one that has worked to some extent is the Aestura365 barrier cream, but this one makes my skin itchy for some reason.

The reason I think my skin barrier is still damaged is because it has this strange redness where it feels tight and it has that weird "leathery" look to it. I saw a dermatologist recently who wrote off my concerns and said everything appears normal. This is very frustrating since on top of all this I still get some acne, and the best thing I've found to combat it is adapalene but I can't use it often because of how dehydrated my skin gets. I don't use the word dry since my skin doesn't get flakey.

I would really appreciate any suggestions you guys might have.

I'm a guy with medium length, straight, fine but dense hair. I usually style it in a middle part since that's how it naturally parts when it gets long. I've had this hairstyle for a while but I've noticed it looks worse than it did before. Before there was a lot more lift in the front and volume all around. Now the natural middle part is more aggressive causing it to become very flat very quickly. I'm using the same styling products I did before. I have three ideas why this could be:

1. The haircut. Back then I used to get only a few haircuts every year. I would get a short-ish haircut and then grow it out for 4-5 months. I did some searching online and read that layers help with the flow hairstyle and with volume, so my last few cuts I've been asking for a ton of layers and texture. My hair does look a little "choppy" now, maybe this is causing the issue?

2. Over-hydrating. I shampoo and condition once a week. Whenever I condition I use a lot of product. I apply it from root to tip and leave it on for at least a few minutes and then rinse it off. My hair would always be left super silky and flat. I recently read that this isn't a good thing and I've been toning it down and switched products after using a cleansing shampoo. I don't remember how often I was conditioning before but it definitely wasn't more than once a week, and from what I recall I was using the same conditioner.

3. Hair thinning. I'm a guy so I've noticed my hairline slowly go back over the years but it is minor and I still think I have a lot of density up top. Could it be that this is an early sign of hair loss?

Anyone know what could be causing my flat hair?

I almost always have these small red bumps on my skin. They're not itchy and don't look like acne but they are raised and can be felt, they're somewhere between a pimple and hives. I also get some redness near them. They're on my forehead and cheeks. The closest image I could find to what I have is this:

https://preview.redd.it/aou0xqorimzg1.png?width=390&format=png&auto=webp&s=f89e9a9db358ff890768db5c169aa7534ba98eb0

I'm not sure what's causing it but I'm starting to think I may be allergic to something in my routine, which is pretty simple at the moment. I use:

- Vanicream gentle facial cleanser

- Dieux air angel moisturizer

- Aestura 365 moisture barrier repair cream

and that's it. On days that I will be out for anything more than a quick drive I also use a sunscreen.

Anyone know what could be causing these red bumps? I've also been thinking that it might be early signs of rosacea?

I've been looking for a good prestyler but I haven't found anything to replace original by Blumaan ever since that got reformulated. I have medium length fine hair that I try to style as a middle part with a lot of volume and movement. Because of my hair texture if I use too light of a product (like Kevin Murphy's free hold) it ends up falling flat and I don't get the volume I want, if I use too heavy of a product (like claymation) I get some more hold but my hair looks too stiff and eventually gets weighed down.

I've also tried hair mousse which gives me exactly the volume I want but the hold is terrible. Sea salt spray doesn't seem to do anything for my hair.

I think the reason original by Bluuman worked so well for me is that it's stickiness helped give me volume and texture without being too heavy. Based on the description for Rio it seems like a similar product. Anyone have any experience using it as a prestyler? I'm also open to other product recommendations.