I’ve suffered from redness on my face for many years, normally on the cheeks and around my nose.

It was super frustrating and meant that I would wear a medium to full coverage foundation when I went out just to cover it.

But there are ways to reduce the redness on your face through proper, gentle skin care, as well as using the right skin care products and limiting the use of irritating products. As a result of changing my skin care routine to incorporate gentler products, reduced exfoliation and focusing on nourishing skin care, most of my redness is a thing of the past.

Below are 5 things that have helped get my facial redness on my face under control as well as products that helped minimize it.

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What Causes Facial Redness On The Face?

Facial redness on the face can be caused by several things, including:

-rosacea

-eczema

-acne

-hormonal changes

-genetic factors

-a poor skin care routine

-sun damage

-lifestyle choices (e.g. drinking alcohol, poor diet)

This post will address how to reduce facial redness caused mainly by external factors and skin care practices.

How To Reduce Facial Redness

1. Avoid Extreme Temperatures 

I used to swear by using hot water to wash my face and “open my pores” to get a deeper clean. As I am older and wiser now, I know that a) pores do not open or close, they can shrink or become enlarged, b) hot water strips skin of moisture and c) hot water makes my red cheeks even redder.

Extremely hot or cold water can bring out facial redness; use lukewarm water to rinse your face (even in the shower) and avoid steaming your face.

2. Be Gentle

I’ve always had a tendency to vigorously massage my face when washing it or applying any type of moisturizer. I’m not sure why I felt the need to rub my skin to a pulp, but it was a long-time habit that I didn’t really think about.

While facial massage is great for stimulating blood flow, it can wreak havoc on areas that tend to experience redness on the face. When cleansing or applying product to your face, make sure you do not over-rub or apply too much pressure to areas prone to redness.

A good moisturizer will absorb on its own into the skin, so don’t feel the need to continually rub it in once applied. Gentle pressure goes for makeup application as well. Gently blend or pat makeup into place.

A lot of makeup tutorials now feature the “buffing” technique which involves rubbing a foundation brush in circular motions around your face to buff foundation into the skin.

If you are prone to redness, the buffing technique can bring out redness, so keep facial buffing to a minimum. I’ve made an effort to control my massage happy hands and it has really helped. I save my deep facial massages for my night time skin care routine!

 

3. Avoid or Limit Irritating Ingredients Like the Plague

Certain ingredients commonly used in skin care can irritate skin and cause redness on the face. The top offenders include:

-Sodium lauryl sulfate (used in foaming cleansers)

-Alcohol

-Menthol (ingredient used to give you that “minty tingly” fresh feeling)

-Fragrance

-Mechanical exfoliating beads/scrubs (aluminum oxide crystals, nut shells, pumice)

I found that switching to a sulfate-free cleanser and reducing my use of exfoliating scrubs to only twice per week substantially reduced my redness. I enjoy using CeraVe’s Hydrating Cleanser; a gentle and affordable skin care option.

Cream and oil cleansers are also extra gentle on the skin while being soothing and nourishing at the same time. You can shop oil cleansers in this post and my fave cream cleansers here.

Skin care ingredients like acids, retinol and vitamin C can also cause redness on the skin if over used or not used properly. Excess exfoliation can also quickly lead to red, irritated skin.  Find out how to exfoliate gently here and how to use retinol safely here.

6 Amazing Skin Care Ingredients For Healthy Skin

Suffer from acne? Bumpy skin? Fine lines? Dark spots? Redness? Find out how to pick the best skin care ingredients to treat your skin care issues in this post.

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4. Consider Targeted Skin Care

Many skin care brands have lines dedicated to addressing redness. I currently use the anti-redness soothing care lotion from the Canadian skin care brand Reversa.

This lightweight lotion retails for $35 CDN at Shoppers Drug Mart and protects the skin’s moisture barrier to improve skin comfort and reduce redness. It’s a bit pricey, but I only use a very small amount in the morning on my red areas. The lotion also contains niacinamide, which is great for minimizing pores (bonus!). I’ve found that this product has helped reduce my redness big time.

La Roche-Posay also has a fabulous gentle, soothing “Toleriane” skin care range formulated to treat rosacea or irritated skin.

Products containing aloe vera, chamomile, cucumber, centella asiatica (or cica), azelaic acid or oatmeal are also great for soothing and calming irritated skin.

The Ordinary’s Azelaic Acid 10% is another example of a great skin care product that reduces redness and can treat rosacea.

Shop calming skin care products below:

 

5. Conceal or Colour Correct

I apply a concealer onto my red areas before I apply my foundation. I pat (not rub) the concealer into my skin using a damp makeup sponge and then apply a thin layer of foundation over top.

I’m currently using CoverGirl’s Ready, Set, Gorgeous Concealer.  If you are trying to cover areas that are fire-engine red, consider colour correcting concealers.

Colour correcting concealers are tinted to counteract the skin discolouration you are trying to cover. For redness, go for a green concealer. NYX has a concealer in green to neutralize redness that works wonders.

NYX HD Photogenic Green Concealer For Redness

Learn how to use a green coloured concealer to cover redness for an even complexion.

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 Shop redness correctors below:

 

How do you deal with facial redness on your face? Any tips?