Skin under my eyes will not absorb anything I put under eyes
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Fri Oct 14, 2011 4:43 pm

I have oily skin but the area under my eyes seems to be dry. I also have fine lines under my eyes. I have tried so many under eye creams and moisturizers however my under eye area is not absorbing anything I put there. Anytime I put something under my eyes it just sits there until I wash it off. Can someone help me I'm desperate to do somethign about these fine lines. Thanks.

free skin care · Fri Oct 14, 2011 11:19 pm

kychic wrote:

I have oily skin but the area under my eyes seems to be dry. I also have fine lines under my eyes. I have tried so many under eye creams and moisturizers however my under eye area is not absorbing anything I put there. Anytime I put something under my eyes it just sits there until I wash it off. Can someone help me I'm desperate to do somethign about these fine lines. Thanks.

Hi Kychic:

I'm not sure why you're having this problem, but I will share my thinking on this and what I do for my eyes.

I do know that there are fewer pores under the eyes than anywhere else. Because of this, I reasoned years ago, that perhaps we didn't need as much moisture under the eyes as we seem to think we do. If you think about it, sebum is nature's way of moisturizing our skin and in the places where it's most necessary, I assume pores are a-plenty. So perhaps we don't need so much moisture under the eyes....

My thinking came about when after a few years of using nothing but Vaseline under my eyes, thanks to Eva Fraser's advice, I was told by a lady at the cosmetics counter at a department store that I needed eye creams. She called it "taking preventative measures". Her eyes were not great, but I assumed she probably waited too long, so I gave her suggestion a try. My eyes puffed up. I stopped and my eyes returned to normal. This happened in my mid-twenties. I went back to what I had been doing and by the time I was 35 my eyes were still beautiful. I have shared the suggestion to use Vaseline in lieu of eye creams and a few people are now believers too. Years later, on Extreme Makeover a doctor operating on someone's eyes explained that the gunk that was under the skin under teh eyes is common in people who use eye creams, which reminded me of my experience. I therefore thought that if God really felt we needed "moisturizing" under the eye the way we think, wouldn't he have given us more pores?

Another thing I want to mention is I do find that sometimes we ourselves are why our bodies act like they do. I used to have "dry combination skin". I would have to moisturize with a water-based lotion immediately after washing my face or it'd get tight and have dry patches. A friend with beautiful skin told me she doesn't use anything but water on her face. Scary as it sounded, I tried it. In a day or so, my face was fine. I tested it with those strips at the Body Shop and it turned out to be "oily". It's as if when I stopped interfering with my body's mechanism by smothering my face with stuff, I allowed it to return to what it would have been doing without my meddling. I do not use water-based moisturizers and haven't used them for years. I either wash my face with OCM or with water, and the only thing I apply to my face is sunblock that isn't water-based. Otherwise I just go bare. My face is no longer combination-dry.

That said, I do know that dead skin cells can make product just sit on the skin. But I'm not an expert on exfoliation and don't know what people use around the eyes for that--or if they use anything at all. Whatever your problem, I do find water-based products look good on application but then the water they contained evaporates and skin looks lined and dry thereafter. That is what used to happen to my skin. You would have to get really close to see the lines. That's why I don't even moisturize my body with water-based lotions; I use coconut oil. So if you're using a water-based eye cream, maybe that is why you are seeing lines and your skin is looking dry?

So what exactly does Vaseline do? To be honest I haven't the foggiest idea. Laughing

I suspect it stops moisture loss? I know it's too thick to be absorbed so there's no fear of puffy eyes. I have used it since the beginning of the nineties and except for that time I tried eye creams in mid-nineties, and it works for me. It is also wonderful on my hands.

Perhaps you should share what creams you've tried and see if perhaps it's the choices you're making. People who find my use of Vaseline scary and who have good success with eye creams have shared that sometimes it takes a few trials to find the right product. There may be someone who had the same issue with the products you've tried thus far who can point you to the product that will work. Unfortunately I can't be much help there, but just wanted to give you my point of view in case it may make some sense.

free skin care · Sat Oct 15, 2011 7:39 am

Nonie aka AD wrote:

So what exactly does Vaseline do? To be honest I haven't the foggiest idea. Laughing

I suspect it stops moisture loss?

That is exactly what it does - prevent the water loss. On a side note, I knew a woman in her late 70's who had gorgeous skin. Yes, she had sagging at the jowl, but no wrinkles. She used to slather her face with vaseline, jump in the shower and let the steam do its thing and then wipe the vaseline off her face. That was all she did. I think genetics obviously plays a huge part, but the inexpensive vaseline was her miracle product!

free skin care · Sat Oct 15, 2011 1:45 pm

Your eye area cannot be oily and dry (not enough oil) simultaneously, but it can be oily and dehydrated (not enough water). If that is the case, oil-based eye creams may not be the solution. Have you tried a water-based serum containing 1% hyaluronic acid? You don't need a fancy brand, basic HA serums are widely available. Another ingredient to consider is <5% urea (e.g. Eucerin); both HA and urea are the skin's natural moisturising agents.

You might also consider how you are cleansing your skin - if you are using a foaming cleanser containing sulphate surfactants these could be contributing to both the oiliness AND the dehydration. Last thought is whether you might have atopic eczema or contact dermatitis (reactive skin), which can cause skin to thicken, resisting humectants or emollients (moisturisers). A pharmacist will be able to advise on this if you do not have access to a dermatologist.

free skin care · Sun Oct 16, 2011 7:47 am

I also have this issue but firmly beleive it's because there are no pores in the eye area and of course if there are no pores then it's harder for the skin to absorb the products.

I dont use actives that need to be absorbed for this reason instead opting for a AHA based product that also contains cell communicating actives.

free skin care · Wed Oct 19, 2011 2:07 pm

Thanks for the tip on using vaseline. I have the same problem as kychic. I tried many different eye cream, and I can't seem to get any of them to be absorbed and my undereye area is dry and I hope it will be a bit softer feel. I have got to try the vaseline trick. Thanks again!

free skin care · Wed Oct 19, 2011 3:59 pm

I just purchased these little capsuls from NCN skincare. The serum glides on your skin..so soft and absorbant. I'm a strong skincare critic..and I loved my first application of this product. I think it would absorb nicely under your eyes. The cost is not that much..and the product is so incredible that I have some left in my first capsul for tonight, so you could use just half a capsul a day if you wanted to stretch the product.

Here is the link.
http://ncnskincare.com/new-items-c-23/egf-serum-epidermal-growth-factor-30-capsules-p-176

free skin care · Wed Oct 19, 2011 11:58 pm

rileygirl wrote:

Nonie aka AD wrote:

So what exactly does Vaseline do? To be honest I haven't the foggiest idea. Laughing

I suspect it stops moisture loss?

That is exactly what it does - prevent the water loss. On a side note, I knew a woman in her late 70's who had gorgeous skin. Yes, she had sagging at the jowl, but no wrinkles. She used to slather her face with vaseline, jump in the shower and let the steam do its thing and then wipe the vaseline off her face. That was all she did. I think genetics obviously plays a huge part, but the inexpensive vaseline was her miracle product!

My mother uses vaseline on her face a lot- she just seems to prefer that and she does not look that old- if it were not for grey hair she would look sooo much younger!
-she does not want to colour her hair anymore though Sad

She is 63 and pretty much has no wrinkles.
She never uses eye creams or masks,never goes to a spa (she hates all that stuff).
-she has tons of $ to go for those things and never goes (unless it is a massage).

For eye cream maybe try something with acids in it to make the eye area smoother?
For me there is not many eye creams with acids or even vitamin C I can use- they all burn my skin...

But recently I got a tube of Nucelle eye as a gift with an order and that is great for me. No issues with it- it is only 2% acids though,so maybe not strong for most people?

Or Bioelements has a eye cream with acids,
I forget the name but it is in a 30ml pump.
That one is really good too.

For the Nucelle eye cream that is cheap,I just bought the SkincareRX Beauty Cache sampler and it had a full size Nucelle eye in it.
Normally just the eye cream is $30.
I also found Nucelle eye was light enough to wear during the day!

free skin care · Fri Oct 21, 2011 12:05 am

I have to say I agree with the eye cream thing, the only time I have puffy eyes if when I've used a cream around them. It irritates the eye area, causes edema and bagging and wrinkling. The skin care industry is out to sell us stuff, somewhere along the way someone thought selling us tiny jars of eye creams would make a fortune. It did. I've never looked better since I stopped sticking stuff on my eyes.

free skin care · Fri Oct 21, 2011 7:10 am

I use a lot of Evan Healy products, and her philosophy is that no eye cream should be used at night. (Actually she believes nothing should be used at night unless you are going through a dry phase.) She believes that using eye cream at night causes puffiness/fluid retention under the eye area.

Ottawa Shopper - very interesting about your mother and her use of vaseline. I wonder if just preventing the TEWL is the key for some people (other than genetics) when it comes to the lack of wrinkles?

free skin care · Fri Oct 21, 2011 9:51 am

WHAT an interesting thread! Thanks for sharing your discoveries Nonie, v interesting!

I make an eye oil with a recipe I got out of an essential oil text years ago, with a light base oil, & few drops of borage & carrot oils, vit e and a couple essential oils - fennel is one. I'm not sure if it does much, but I feel better using something to "protect" my certain areas - especially in the outer corners where there's a little discoloration, I think due to salty tears (in the wind) collecting in my smile lines. Also to protect from concealer which I sometimes use for dark circles. I'm not sure if it absorbs. I wipe off the excess. I use a bit of vitamin c & tretinoin in those corners too, so I feel like some extra nourishment is in order there. After reading all this I'm wondering if I'm all wrong!

At night I swear by CASTOR oil. It makes my lashes full and healthy and my skin incredibly soft, hardy, and nourished afterwards.

For some reason it dries my skin out horribly if used in even a 50/50 ratio in ocm (and I have oily skin!), but used straight on my eyes, its AMAZING! Does anyone have any theory as to why that is? I've heard/read several people say the same thing - and that it doesn't collect garbage under the skin like some eye creams. Is it something similar to the reason vaseline works?

free skin care · Fri Oct 21, 2011 10:56 am

LoriA wrote:

WHAT an interesting thread! Thanks for sharing your discoveries Nonie, v interesting!

I make an eye oil with a recipe I got out of an essential oil text years ago, with a light base oil, & few drops of borage & carrot oils, vit e and a couple essential oils - fennel is one. I'm not sure if it does much, but I feel better using something to "protect" my certain areas - especially in the outer corners where there's a little discoloration, I think due to salty tears (in the wind) collecting in my smile lines. Also to protect from concealer which I sometimes use for dark circles. I'm not sure if it absorbs. I wipe off the excess. I use a bit of vitamin c & tretinoin in those corners too, so I feel like some extra nourishment is in order there. After reading all this I'm wondering if I'm all wrong!

At night I swear by CASTOR oil. It makes my lashes full and healthy and my skin incredibly soft, hardy, and nourished afterwards.

For some reason it dries my skin out horribly if used in even a 50/50 ratio in ocm (and I have oily skin!), but used straight on my eyes, its AMAZING! Does anyone have any theory as to why that is? I've heard/read several people say the same thing - and that it doesn't collect garbage under the skin like some eye creams. Is it something similar to the reason vaseline works?

Hi Lori A, I can see Castor oil behaving like Vaseline because it's so thick and so probably hard to absorb. As for it drying your skin if used in a ratio but not if used alone, that's interesting but it does seem to go along with the directions I first came across when I was discovering OCM. The more oily your skin, the more Castor oil your ratio was supposed to have, and the drier your skin, the more EVOO (extra virgin olive oil) you were supposed to use. To make sense of this, I reasoned that perhaps the rationale behind these directions is because Castor oil just sat on your face since it's so thick and so you would wiped it all off along with the dirt and excessive oil since it's also very sticky/viscouse. While EVOO which is a little less sticky and more liquid might get absorbed a little and not "grab" the excessive oil on oily skin as Castor would, but by being absorbed, it'd make the skin less day.

In the case of just applying it as you're doing, w/o wiping it off, perhaps by it being on the skin, the little thermostat in the skin that announces that sebum taps need to get to work coz moisture is needed triggers a shutdown of sebum production because it looks like business has been taken care of up top with the thick oil sitting on your skin. And so you end up with oil sitting on skin that can't receive it, and also with no sebum coming from underneath because those taps have been turned down since there seems to be no need for extra oil with all that is sitting on the surface. So perhaps this double whammy is why skin gets dry when you use Castor oil.

Now I'm not certain of this. I'm just thinking aloud.

free skin care · Fri Oct 21, 2011 11:19 am

Hmmmm... thanks, good thinking... I'll try and wrap my head around all that.

Yes, castor oil is a total bitch to remove when used in higher concentrations on my skin, but when I use it on my eyes at night, I don't remove it at all and don't detect any remnants on the surface that really need to be removed in the morning, though I cleanse w/water anyway. It is certainly annoying to apply due to its stickiness - not the most elegant product!

When it dries out my skin, its after I've removed it via steam & warm microfibre like I remove everything, but now that you mention it, it does require a little more scrubbing. The dryness is immediate though - massive flakiness, even on some of my t-zone. I'm pretty sure I'd never get anything close to that even if I went crazy scrubbing off anything else.
I'm so grateful I only need to use a quarter or so in my ocm concoction, so it comes off easily.

free skin care · Fri Oct 21, 2011 12:05 pm

LoriA wrote:

Hmmmm... thanks, good thinking... I'll try and wrap my head around all that.

Yes, castor oil is a total bitch to remove when used in higher concentrations on my skin, but when I use it on my eyes at night, I don't remove it at all and don't detect any remnants on the surface that really need to be removed in the morning, though I cleanse w/water anyway. It is certainly annoying to apply due to its stickiness - not the most elegant product!

When it dries out my skin, its after I've removed it via steam & warm microfibre like I remove everything, but now that you mention it, it does require a little more scrubbing. The dryness is immediate though - massive flakiness, even on some of my t-zone. I'm pretty sure I'd never get anything close to that even if I went crazy scrubbing off anything else.
I'm so grateful I only need to use a quarter or so in my ocm concoction, so it comes off easily.

Aaah...then you are using it the way they advise people with oily skin to do OCM. It is supposed to work better for them than EVOO. So I do think it is supposed to help with reducing sebum production.

When I was learning about OCM, many of the people who were using it where people with oily skin. They said it help reduced breakouts they got that seemed to be part and parcel of having oily skin. That this was the case got me thinking that Castor oil does help control oily skin when used in OCM. I mean, they even said their skin wasn't as oily when using oil to cleanse their face than when using so-called "oil control products". Again this seemed to agree with my thinking: oil control products strip the skin so it has no oil. That IMO just triggers the "thermostat" in the skin to adjust in a way that corrects this change. So more oil is produced and this becomes a vicious cycle. But when they use Castor oil, this time the thermostat adjust to reduce sebum production because there's already plenty of oil on the surface.

Coz think about it, people with oily skin don't have so much oil being produced till it's dripping off their faces. It's produced till the "Control Manager" is satisfied that there is enough on the surface and then dirt just joins it and you have all the other problems associated with oily skin. So it seems that Castor oil fakes the "oily skin well supplied" message that goes back to the "Control Manager" and so sebum production is stopped.

By the same token, when I used to smother my face with lotions, my face would look great on initial application then feel dry after a while, look dull and have fine lines. I also had dry combination skin. I dared myself to try a regimen of plain water washing and no product thereafter. The person who did this had glowing skin but she had oily skin, so I was a daredevil to do this. By day 2, my skin was looking great. No longer dull with a grayish hue, but just smooth and looked "moisturized". I happened to go to The Body Shop and those test strips for skin gave me an "oily skin" result! Me??? Oily skin? No way! I was one of those people whose face used to feel tight after washing and would have dry patches. All that's history now. I did come across an article about coconut oil that talked about why water-based moisturizers leave skin dry--and so I became an OCM/plain water cleanser and gave up lotions. If I OCM, I just go bare except for a sunblock that I make sure doesn't have water in its ingredients. Even when I plain water wash (I sort of alternate), I still only just use sunblock. What further convinced me that there has to be something to this is I remembered something I was told by someone I "met" online years ago on a forum. He was into face exercises and about my age or younger than me and he told me that water is good for skin when you're washing with it or splashing your face with it, but that it should never be left on skin. So he wasn't a fan of lotions. He used aloe vera for his skin and he looked really good.

The point I am trying to make with the above story is our skin seems to adjust to what we do to it. You do too much, it takes a backseat and figures that since you want to be in charge, then do your thing. But you "slack" on that job and do little, then it wakes up from a long slumber to realize that there's a job that needs to be done and then takes matters into its own hands. So my dry/combo skin wasn't really because that's how it really is but because of what I was doing to it which determined what my own internal mechanism needed to do. When I stopped being in charge of the moisture department of my skin, I seemed to allow my skin to show me what it was capable of if I were not meddling. In other words, I stopped slathering "moisturizer", in time my skin jumpstarted its engine and took care of business.

Whatever the reason for Castor oil doing this, I do know that in the OCM EVOO/Castor oil ratio, you're supposed to use more of Castor oil the oilier your skin is. So it is expected to leave oily skin less oily.

free skin care · Sun Oct 23, 2011 1:44 am

NotMeNotYou wrote:

I have to say I agree with the eye cream thing, the only time I have puffy eyes if when I've used a cream around them. It irritates the eye area, causes edema and bagging and wrinkling. The skin care industry is out to sell us stuff, somewhere along the way someone thought selling us tiny jars of eye creams would make a fortune. It did. I've never looked better since I stopped sticking stuff on my eyes.

That's funny- if I use cream that is too oily around my eye area they look puffy.

I have used eye gels for years that do not contain too many ingredients and have never had puffy eyes or any weird issues.

The only times I have had any problems was when I tried Benefit eyecon cream and it BURNED my eye area badly!

then the only thing that made my skin feel better was Roc lip balm stick (did not have vaseline here..was desperate).

But since then went back to my old "cheap" eye gels most of the time (and Nucelle at night or every second night) and no eye wrinkles yet and I'm 34.

Maybe it just depends on your skin sensitivity and luck?

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