Treating Rosacea Naturally | Minimalist Skincare
Treating Rosacea Naturally | photo: Primavera Life
Once upon a time, I stuffed every nook and cranny of my luggage with the skincare product that was treating my rosacea naturally.
Of course, stuffing my bag with all that extra product didn’t seem like a minimalist act. But I had no idea how long I’d be traveling, and the product I was using wasn’t sold abroad.
When suffering from rosacea, it’s a precious thing to find a rosacea treatment that works. I can’t live without it.
When I finally ran out of that natural skincare product, I had more shipped to me in Europe. But between shipping costs, customs fees, and plastic packaging, it was just too much.
I wanted to find a far more sustainable way to treat my rosacea naturally.
A Successful Treatment for Rosacea?
But, first, I should back up and start from the beginning.
When I was first diagnosed with rosacea, I was told that there likely wasn’t anything that would successfully treat my rosacea.
The doctor still sent me home with skincare, dietary, and lifestyle recommendations. But nothing worked.
I quickly learned that far too many individuals never find a successful treatment for rosacea. This seemed unbelievable to me.
I cannot begin to express the complete and total misery that rosacea can wield. For me, the worst part was that my face never stopped itching.
Even my eyebrows itched. Then they’d fall out.
If I touched my face in the slightest way or slept in a way that allowed my face to touch anything—even a pillow—it flared up worse.
If my long hair (or bangs) touched my face, it was equally tortuous.
I began doing whatever I could to keep my hair completely incapable of flying toward my face.
I also slept crooked so my face wouldn’t touch anything throughout the night.
Things were not pretty.
After years of this, with no success and worsening symptoms, I hoped there might finally be something that could relieve this torture.
So I traveled three hours by boat, back to the doctor, for one last attempt at finding a successful treatment for rosacea.
Soolantra
My dermatologist had a full schedule, so his physician’s assistant took the appointment.
She told me that she had some lotion for me to try. If it worked, it meant I had the kind of rosacea that was caused by an overgrowth of mites normally found on the skin.
Yes, this creeped me out a little, but I felt hopeful.
I was sent home with a few tiny tubes of a cream called Soolantra. It worked. Immediately.
Those few samples lasted a couple of weeks—the best couple of weeks I’d experienced in years.
During that time, my health insurance claimed that the Soolantra prescription wasn’t necessary, so they would not approve it.
A tube of Soolantra was expensive, about $300 at that time (and now about $600), which might explain why my health insurance wouldn’t approve it.
After the doctor’s office sent more of my health history over to the health insurance company, my health insurance company agreed to fill the prescription.
I should confess, though, that I would have been willing to pay $300 per tube, out of pocket, had insurance not covered it. It provided that much relief.
I later learned that one can ask Soolantra's pharmaceutical company for a coupon, which can reduce the cost of this prescription to closer to $75.
I gratefully used Soolantra, as needed. However, I’ve never liked using medication long-term, especially when chemicals are involved.
Thus, if there is a more natural solution to be found, I would rather choose that more natural option. But, with rosacea, I wondered if that would ever be possible.
Microbiology to the Rescue
I began thinking about why Soolantra was needed on my skin and why it was working. These thoughts reminded me of my microbiology professor, who always noted:
microbes thrive in warm and moist environments
soap and water help eliminate microbes on our hands, but
we must use an alcohol-based liquid (not gel) hand sanitizer for the best chance of killing the microbes on our hands
I needed a solution for my face, not my hands, but the logic seemed to fit. I wanted to test this science on my face, but I didn’t want to apply pure alcohol to my face.
I wondered what else might mimic alcohol’s properties. Tea tree oil, possibly.
Having used tea tree oil for other purposes, I knew tea tree oil could also easily irritate the skin. So I looked for a tea tree oil product already on the shelf.
I figured a mass-produced skincare product would more likely contain a ratio of tea tree oil that would not cause irritation.
Tea Tree Oil Cleansing Pads
I first found Desert Essence Natural Tea Tree Oil Facial Cleansing Pads (the name of their original product; they have gone through a slight marketing change, so I’d verify ingredients by comparing them to the ingredients in the image above).
Then I was alerted to Trader Joe’s Natural Facial Cleansing Pads with Tea Tree Oil, which appeared to be the Desert Essence product with a Trader Joe’s label (they had the same ingredients, listed in the same order).
Both Desert Essence and Trader Joe’s tea tree oil cleansing pads worked like magic on my rosacea. Both products were more sustainable than Soolantra, and both products made it possible for me to stop using Soolantra.
Instead of using Soolantra, which cost $300/tube, I could use tea tree oil pads for about $15/month, a more financially sustainable rosacea treatment.
Instead of using Soolantra’s single-use plastic tube, the tea tree oil pads came in a reusable container (with an easy-to-remove label).
And instead of using Soolantra’s chemicals, the cleansing pads were soaked in what appeared to be natural ingredients, making my rosacea treatment more sustainable.
Yet, years later, the shipping costs, customs fees, and plastic packaging had me hoping to find a natural treatment for rosacea that was even more sustainable.
Witch Hazel (Hamamelis Virginiana)
It’s embarrassing to admit, but both of the cleansing pad containers above noted “tea tree oil” in their title, so I assumed (for years) that tea tree oil made my rosacea disappear.
When I was ready to bypass all of that special ordering, I thought I would try to make a similar natural product myself. DIY. From scratch.
So I rolled the cleansing pad container over to read the ingredients for the first time in years.
Hamamelis virginiana was the very first ingredient—witch hazel water. Then natural grain alcohol denat. Then tea tree oil.
I couldn’t believe it. Then I read this research and that research.
This made me want to seek out the very first item on the ingredient list (pure witch hazel), and wipe it on my face to see if it, alone, could relieve my rosacea symptoms.
I trekked to the nearest European health food store, looked for pure witch hazel by its Latin name (hamamelis virginiana), applied it directly to my face, and it worked.
There was no more itching. Soon after that, I rarely needed to use witch hazel at all.
I never actually believed that I’d find a more sustainable (or better) skincare product to treat my rosacea naturally. I just thought I’d enjoy the adventure of trying.
My favorite part? Witch hazel can be found in glass bottles—in the States and the EU.
When oUR climate, our sKIN, AND oUR Rosacea Change
When I had to leave Europe, I had to wear masks 24/7 over a period of about 36 hours while transitioning from a dry/warm climate to a moist/cold climate.
When one has rosacea, we know this climate change might impact our skin. For the first time in a very long time, my rosacea kicked in—and while I was in quarantine.
No problem, I thought. I’ll just order hamamelis virginiana, wipe it on my face, and it’ll take care of my rosacea.
But it didn’t. I wondered why it wasn’t working on my skin in the way it typically had.
I finally turned the bottle over and read the ingredients. I had not purchased pure hamamelis virginiana as I thought, but witch hazel that contained additional ingredients, too.
My skin wasn’t receiving pure witch hazel, but witch hazel with additional various oils, which my skin has always reacted poorly to (because oil traps microbes?). A double whammy.
Then, even after immediately ordering pure witch hazel, my skin wouldn’t correct itself. Had I messed things up this bad or was I even dealing with rosacea at this point?
I thought I should try Soolantra again, to see if it would fix this. If not, I’d know I wasn’t actually dealing with a rosacea issue, but with some other skin condition.
It had been so long since I’d used Soolantra that I had to go through a month of phone calls and paperwork to get a new Soolantra prescription written.
Fortunately, the manufacturer gave me that discount coupon I mentioned above. Yes, Soolantra is now nearly $600 per tube (but I only paid $75)!
The Soolantra worked, instantly. And I only needed to use it for a few days.
After that, if an itch appeared, I used pure hamamelis virginiana witch hazel (no other ingredients), which immediately soothed it.
Soon, I didn’t need to use any products at all.
My Rosacea Emergency Kit
So, due to what I’ve experienced—the realities of rosacea—I keep two items packed at all times for any potential future rosacea emergencies:
hamamelis virginiana (to soothe my rosacea naturally, if needed)
pure hamamelis virginiana witch hazel in a glass bottle—no other ingredients
soolantra (if it's ever needed again for rare, brief, emergency use)
once all is under control, I can switch back to witch hazel, if needed