Hellobee Boards

@JMOM: I have contact dermatitis -- I'm allergic to fragrance mix and a handful of other chemicals that are in a lot of cosmetics, shampoos/conditioners, lotions, etc.

I haven't tried Physician's Formula (it's not on my "safe" list), but I can use bareMinerals, so that might be something to try.

It's not cheap, but you can ask your dermatologist if he can do a patch test, which might help you narrow down what it is you're reacting to. He should then be able to give you a list of all products that don't contain those irritants. If your dermatologist doesn't provide that kind of list, there are some allergy doctors out there who do the patch tests too. My allergist was able to give me a "safe" list of products that I try to adhere to. If you go the patch test route, I would highly advise finding a doctor who can give you such a list. The first dermatologist I went to didn't provide one (and at the time I didn't know those types of databases/lists existed, so I didn't know to ask) and basically just told me I was screwed.

Another option is to temporarily switch over to something like Vanicream and Free & Clear (https://www.psico.com/) for a little while to see if your skin clears up. If it does, slowly add one of your old products back at a time to see if you can figure out what it is that's causing the rash.

You can also take the opposite approach and remove one product from your daily routine and see how that goes. If you're still breaking out after several days, remove another, etc. and go from there.

It's a total PITA to figure all of this out, and I can totally sympathize with you!

@JMOM: I switched a lot of my makeup to beautycounter when I was having a weird rash/reaction on my face. I threw everything out and started adding the BC stuff back. Its an MLM, so some people are opposed, but they use very little fragrance, and nothing is just labeled "fragrance" its the actual item (i.e. orange oil, etc) so you can isolate ingredients.