The best cream for dry skin on the face is one that moisturises, soothes and nourishes but above all is gentle enough not to damage delicate skin around your eyes and mouth. Here’s our guide to choosing the cream that’s right for you.
Dry or sensitive skin can be hard enough to live with at the best of times but when the dry or flaky skin happens to be on your face it can feel both physically and mentally overwhelming. There’s not just the soreness and redness to deal with but also the frustration and embarrassment of it being so obvious! It means that the quest to find the very best and most effective cream for dry skin on your face becomes not just a casual search but a total necessity.
Balmonds customer Elena Haydon explains that “waking up one morning to discover I looked like I'd been burnt was a teenage girl's worst nightmare. I could no longer wear makeup because it was too painful and it would make my skin flare up”.
Elena says: “my sore face started to take up my whole life, I found myself looking down when I spoke to people to try and hide it.” Poor Elena felt self-conscious and worried because of how visible the sore skin on her face was: “people would stare at my face and ask what was wrong with my skin - I knew it looked so burnt and horrible - it was humiliating”.
What was really difficult was finding skincare products which would keep her skin in good condition without irritating her already sensitive face. Elena eventually found the perfect natural moisturisier, one that wouldn't flare up her sensitive skin but would hydrate and soother: Skin Salvation Intensive Moisturising Ointment. Her aunt had read about in a magazine and recommended it to her.
Since using Skin Salvation, Elena has been able to keep her face feeling fab and looking good; she's felt so much more confident and cheerful that she says it’s like getting her life back.
How Skin Salvation Products Help Your Skin
So how does the Skin Salvation range work as skincare products for the face rather than the body? Well, for a start all our products are incredibly gentle and exceptionally soothing. The WebMD states that harsh chemicals, preservatives and perfumes are known to exacerbate damage to skin susceptible to eczema, so they are definitely worth avoiding on the delicate skin of your face. Instead, the site recommends choosing moisturisers that are especially gentle and pure, so look for a cream for eczema on the face that is made from totally natural ingredients.
Oil-based ointments don’t need preservatives in the same way that water-based creams and lotions do, and are also the most intensive hydrating emollients, so they are a good start. The advice from the NHS is that “ointments contain the most oil so they can be quite greasy, but are the most effective at keeping moisture in the skin”; in the case of dry or sensitive skin on the face it’s definitely worth making an ointment your first choice to avoid flare-ups.
After Flare-up Advice
Once a patch of dry skin has been brought under control and the skin isn’t so sore or broken then you can think about using a lotion or a cream instead or as well as your ointment. As beauty sites often point out, creams are easier to apply and many people prefer the softer texture to that of an oily ointment; even though they might need a tiny amount of preservative and aren’t quite as effective at locking in moisture as thick salves, sufferers are more likely to want to use them regularly, reapplying several times during the day; that frequency of use is absolutely key to keeping your skin in tiptop condition.
Our Daily Moisturising Cream is a really good cream for dry skin on the face; it uses the same nourishing oils as the Intensive Moisturising Ointment but in a shea butter base. You can use it anywhere on the body but its gentle formulation and non-oily feel means that it works particularly well on dry facial skin.
Combining Ointments and Creams
Using both the ointment and cream in combination is a wonderfully effective strategy against dry, sensitive skin; working together they keep the skin hyrdrated and supple as well as protecting against aggravating a more severe skin condition.
Despite its name, you can even use our rich Intensive Hand Cream on sensitive facial areas without worrying about potentially irritating chemicals. Give it a go and see what works for you!
Follow Instructions for First Time Use
As with any skincare product you’re trying for the first time but especially important for the sensitive skin on your face, it is recommended that you follow allergy advice for using new products, so “use a small amount (about the size of a pea) on the pulse of your wrist or the crook of your elbow.
Do not wash the area for 24-48 hours and watch for any allergic reaction such as redness, a rash, any form of breakouts on the skin, itchiness, pain, flaking, etc...” Even though we only use the mildest of natural ingredients it is better to be safe than sorry when you're dealing with already sensitive skin!
