Your mileage will vary depending on your skin profile and activity. However, some important mechanical things to remember that I learned many years ago from an L.A. Times article: - Mineral-based lotions such as minerals oils, petrolatum, glycerin or lanolin don't moisturize the skin, instead, they work by sealing moisture IN, by the same token, they don't allow new moisture in. If you use these products, use them on moistened skin for best effect. - Vegetable-based lotions actually help moisturize skin cells (note that dead cells are dead and no helping them, but you're still moisturizing hard, cracked skin so it can slough off and new skin cells can replace it). You know what these are, vegetable/nut oils, butters, etc. You'll find these lotions/butters work easily into the skin and aren't greasy. Personally, like Melissa, I'm at the point where I just like to use things I can mostly eat and I know what they are when I read the label. YMMV. I got on a tangent a couple of months ago after some comments on our mountain community forum regarding lip balm. You can make your own very easily and inexpensively by Googling "lip balm" but I found another link for Badger Lip Balm. I got the cocoa butter line that come in the large tube and really like them (Mocha, Creamy Cocoa, Mint...) Ingredients are all edible: olive oil, cocoa butter, beeswax, etc. I think they are yummy, so far my mom is the only one that doesn't (not a surprise ;-) That "drugstore online place" mentioned above was cheapest when I bought some. Any lip balm that has phenol, formaldehyde, salicylic acid, camphor will dry the top layer of skin and make your lips peal. That's why if you are a Carmex lover like I was, you keep having to put it on all the time. For skin, almond oil is great (Neutrogena makes a nice one) as is olive oil, tho' I haven't used the latter straight. You can make your own inexpensive lotions/butters with shea butter, olive oil, jojoba etc. The Body Works advertises butters like this but haven't been by yet to try - I think I'd like to try a couple different ingredients before I make my own. If you should want to make your own with shea butter, you should read this website first (yes, I DID get on a tangent ;-) because many sources don't sell either the correct product or it is inferior: http://www.sheainstitute.com/ If you look at reviews of different vendors on Amazon, you will see quality can depend on lot number even among the same vendors. Seeing as how I don't think I'll use it a lot, when I get around to it, I was going to order this one from Amazon as it's the only certified product I could find in the U.S. (you can find literally tons not certified, but then you never know about extraneous ingredients). Unfiltered is supposed to be superior as filtering takes out some of the good stuff. http://www.amazon.com/AAA-Shea-Butter-Premium-Unrefined/dp/B000GREPOY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1357863683&sr=8-1&keywords=aaa+shea+butter If you have sore joints, you can add Arnica, my friend swears this helps his arthritic hands and started to make his own. Two other ingredients I've actually been using are argon oil and seabuckthorn (seed) oil. If any of you has rosacea, seabuckthorn (seed) oil sounds like it's very, very helpful, read it on this Amazon review: http://www.amazon.com/review/RT9NTG9VWSTDC/ref=cm_cr_dp_title?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B003IU9HI0&nodeID=3760911&store=beauty I wonder if it would work for other dermatitis as well. Tangentially yours, Kerin ;-)

I don't know, Nicole; I never questioned it, had never been told it was life-long, either. I'm 62 now with no redness, but I still get a huge pimple or two or three in clusters that put me in panic mode every couple months. My doctor warned me that menopause might cause a recurrence, but fortunately it didn't - but I didn't have hot flashes, either, or need any hormone replacement therapy. I was 55 when menopause began, 57 when done. As I said in my first post, I was unable to use anything to hide or control it. I had a hideous pizza face (and neck) that I was terribly conscious of for eight years. I had an official diagnosis from a dermatologist because my doctor (who is still my dr and aware of my history) sent me to the derm because I was pregnant, hoping the derm's expertise might be useful. He had nothing in his arsenal for a pregnant woman with rosacea at the time, but that was way back in the early 80s. My 34 yo son and 41 yo dtr had major bouts of acne in their teens and twenties. The same dermatologist who couldn't help my rosacea helped their acne tremendously. My dtr remains clear skinned at 41, but my poor son still has bouts of acne now and then, and pock marks, but he does not have rosacea according to his derm. He is treated for adult acne. Sherry

I just got home from taking my son to SFO to fly to Spain for a year of study abroad, and on the way home I stopped in Berkeley to see an old school friend who I have recently reconnected with via Facebook. She and her husband make organic skin care products and it was fascinating to see all the natural ingredients that go into them. They had pots of things bubbling away that will eventually be distilled and incorporated into their products. She sent me home with some products and I will report back on how I like them.

boop, I've been the same way--I *did* give up, though, for way too many years, because I just didn't want to take a chance breaking out again. EVERYTHING made me break out, it seemed. I've just started back, and through research and taking a chance I've found a few things that not only work, but work *amazingly* well and my skin is better than it ever has been. (The wrinkles are still there but much less prominent, and the rest of it is so smooth!). My main go-tos now: 1) Burt's Bees Willowbark & peach (something) scrub--moisturizes while mildly exfoliating, and doesn't make me break out; 2) Burt's Bees Garden Tomato Toner--delicious stuff, and even though they say it's for oily/troubled skin it's not too much for my 49 y.o. skin, and it doesn't make me break out :); 3) Cosmetic Skin Solutions C E Ferulic Acid Serum--it's evidently a match for a much more expensive serum, but available through Amazon, and it doesn't make me break out :); 4) CSS Phyto + Gel, again a match for something else that clears up any little issues that might arise (not many anymore with the above elements) and is also helping with reducing brown spots, and 5) Korres Sugar Crystal multivitamin antioxidant treatment. Korres is a line from Greece, so it's not exactly local, but this stuff is so great I will deal with the energy use issues. It's an intense moisturizing treatment that is a bit sticky so I put it on at night about every other night. I also use Korres Evening Primrose eye cream at night too. I found out about these things at truthinaging.com (the CSS serums -- I am eternally grateful to truthinaging for alerting me to them), and combined the results with reading reviews at Sephora. Never thought I'd be such a skincare hound because I've always had adult acne (not horrible but some) and it was then starting to combine with wrinkles which really made me depressed...but I'm finally in a place with products that make a *visible*, *touchable* difference and are really easy on the skin so I thought I'd share specifics. Hope they help! (I also tried other products in the course of this search but they did make me break out, so I stopped them. I can tell within about 3 days whether something's going to be problematic. I feel like the dermatological canary in the coalmine, I'm so sensitive!) Here is a link that might be useful: website mentioned above