Overview of Seborrheic Dermatitis Face Treatments

hi MICHAEL,

i would like to ask if this cleanser , Cetaphil Restoraderm bodywash is suitable for the face?

and also what is your routine on these two products for each day?

how many times do you wash per day with this cleanser and how often do you apply Cetaphil Restoraderm moisturizer ?

i am currently using La Roche Posay Toleriane cleanser once daily with great results as a cleanser and cetaphil classic moisurizer, small amounts of it . Im thinking of trying what you suggested.

Hi Steve,
Same as you I saw this stuff a few times in the store before. However, I wasn’t really sure if it was meant for the face.
On several occasions I purchased other cleansers instead of it (Cerave, SebaMed, Aveeno). It wasn’t until I got a bunch of samples that I gave it a try.

Don’t think there is a face wash version, but this stuff is super gentle. In a way I can’t really see myself using it as a body wash.

The ingredients list of my bottle doesn’t seem to have Lanolin, but it does have Shea Butter and Sunflower Seed Oil (even though oils seems to be bad in general, in this they are fine for me).
Here is a picture of the wash and moisturiser at my local Wal-Mart.

If you have the time please share any updates you may have.

Best of luck and hope this stuff helps.

Hello Again,
You can disregard the cleanser question in the other comment :).

The labelling threw me off as well in the beginning. The Cetpahil Restoraderm is quite gentle.
Can’t really see myself actually using this stuff as an actual body wash.

My routine is now really bare bones. This is what I do practically every single night (have missed an odd day here and there without any negatives):

  1. Wash my face with the Restoraderm using only cold/room-temperature water
  2. Brush my teeth allowing the face to air dry during this time
  3. After brushing my teeth my face still has some moisture left from washing, but is mainly dry. I take a tiny amount of the moisturiser and massage it into the skin. The water moisture helps to spread the moisturiser really thin, and the moisturiser seems to help lock in the moisture.

With this approach I barely use any moisturiser at all, but I feel the tiny amount I do use goes a long way.

For the scalp I actually went against most the suggestions I read online. Instead of controlling the oils on the my scalp I went and bought a quality moisturising shampoo.
This is all I use now. Sometimes I can feel the dandruff flakes start to appear, but a bit of extra massaging the scalp with the shampoo seems to make it go away.
However, my scalp and hair are much better off now that I stopped using Head and Shoulders.

Additionally I’ve stopped the glutamine supplementation and currently only wash my face once a day before heading to bed.
Right now I eat whatever I feel like, can drink alcohol (even beer finally seems to be okay), exercise and sweat are no longer a problem, and even intense stress doesn’t seem to cause any issues.

Hope this helps.
Best of luck and look forward to hearing any updates from you.

Hello again Michael,

thank you for your answear i will check some other potential remedies first and then buy the cetaphil products as i already have the classic moisturizer which is actually very good.

For my hair i use ACV(leave it for 5 minutes) after i shampoo with orzene shampoo every now and then and i dont have so much flaking now . I will also have in mind this shampoo which seems good.

I would like to ask you something. Is it wrong that after i shower i wipe with a clean towel the dead skin out off my face(usually white small pieces of dead skin) ? it really feels good when i do this but im worried if this action damages my skin and then it is easier for incredients or things i might be allergic to,to penetrate my skin(?)

i would also like to tell everyone that i am a member of a forum which one thread is about seborrheic dermatitis . So here is the link and my nickname is the same there:

Hi Again,

Yeah the shampoo is probably much better than I have previously described it being.
The ingredients list includes many things which are suppose to be quite good for helping control seborrheic dermatitis.

For example the main ingredient is Aloe Vera (as opposed to water being the main ingredient in most others). Alongside of this it contains manuka honey, argan oil, arginine (an amino acid the restoraderm actually also contains, supposed to improve circulation), milk thistle, vitamin e, hyaloronic acid, borage oil, jojoba oil and a bunch of others. Granted since there is so much stuff it’s hard to known if there is actually enough of any of them. The smell of the stuff is enough for me (it’s like orange candies from childhood).

So I guess the shampoo is not really a “simple” moisturising shampoo as I have described it before.
It might actually be some of the stuff that’s been controlling the SD on my scalp, not sure though.
Maybe if someone else gives it a try, we will have more evidence.

Thanks for the link to the forum. I’ve gone through that whole thread before and picked out all the potential solutions.
If I’m not mistaken I tried about 75-80% of the stuff that people had good results with there.

Actually used Evernote to collect some of the stuff from there and other places.
Here is my notebook for that: https://www.evernote.com/pub/vzeazy/forumscrape

Hope that helps. All the best and thanks again for updating.

Hi Michael,
I went ahead and bought the Restoraderm, and going to try out. I’ll be giving you weekly updates to see how it turns out. It’s labeled as Cetaphil Restoraderm, Eczema Calming Body Wash. Is that the same thing? It gives me somewhat a burning sensation when I use it, but goes away shortly after I wash it off. Did you experience the same thing? I’ll be also starting on the L-Glutamine to see if that makes a difference at all. Thank you again for this informative website!

Hey man, I just wanted to thank you for all this. I’ve struggled with dandruff since I was young, and then in my teens I started suffering from painfully dry skin and seborrheic dermatitis. Your suggestion for cetaphil restoraderm has been the only thing that has left me essentially symptom free. Thank you so much, you’ve changed my life if even in a small way.

Man, I’m glad I came across your website today.

I just started having flakes and redness on the sides of my nose beginning a few months ago, previously nothing but occasional light dandruff. Thought it would go away but it didn’t and since it wasn’t super bad I did nothing.

Could be coincidence but I think it started when I started using this rose oil for my face, and now that you mention it my diet did change from mainly meat and vegetables to high protein/fat and high carbs. Been eating bit of sugar too, which I normally don’t like. Generally pretty healthy with no digestion/gut/food issues though.

Anyway, decided to do something about it tonight. Went to Shoppers and bought some tea tree face wash and Selsum Blue 2.5% after minimal research. Like yourself I was a little concerned about going so chemical/broad anti-fungal bacterial approach. I also agree with you that the over-researching health issues on the internet really is detrimental if not outright depressing.

I’m going to head back to store and return that Selsum Blue (stuff’s expensive) and head to Whole paycheck and find that Andalou shampoo. Looks to be what l was thinking would work… I agree with you about needing the conventional stuff in perpetuity or risk it coming back worse.

I actually have a bit of glutamine somewhere as well. Couldn’t hurt.

Anyhow, thanks a bunch for the information and well linked pictures of the products you’re using. It helps that I think we’re from the same city. Take care.

I’ll let you know how it works out.

Hi Luis,

Yeah that seems like the same thing. Here is the ingredients list of the one I have, you can compare yours:

aqua (purifed water/eau purifée), butyrospermum parkii (shea butter), sodium trideceth sulfate, glycerin, helianthus annuus (sunflower) seed oil, sodium chloride, sodium lauramphoacetate, cocamide MEA, citric acid, niacinamide, sodium PCA (filaggrin BP), tocopheryl acetate, 1,2-Hexanediol and caprylyl glycol, disodium EDTA, guar hydroxypropyltrimonium chloride, allantoin, potassium sorbate, arginine (filaggrin BP), methylisothiazolinone

For me I didn’t get any burning sensation, how bad is your skin at the moment?
When I started my skin wasn’t flaring much. Has your skin calmed to it since?

Thanks for the positive comment. Hope it ends up working out for you as well. Looking forward to hearing any progress you make. All the best.

Hey Kyle,
Thanks for the update. Glad that it worked out for you and it impacted your life in a positive way :slight_smile:
You have any certain approach with the washing?
All the best.

Hi Scott,
Thanks for the update. I’m in Vancouver if that helps.
Let me know how the shampoo works out? Are you using anything for the face?

Yeah, I’m not really still 100% if the glutamine really helped as much as I think it did. Might be more clear if other people confirm it as well.

Also one thing that I did right before going to the Andalou was use a more natural anti-fungal shampoo. It used a mineral based coal tar variant. This stuff had a transitioning faze and was more of head paste (didn’t sud) than a typical shampoo.

The reason I switched was that stuff was really expensive (+$30) and the only place I could find with a reasonable price was the US Amazon (inconvenient). The ingredients of it can be found on their page here. However, mine doesn’t contain the xanthan gum and recent reviews on Amazon seem to be for that formula (here is mine).

Not sure if that shampoo was a good transitioning step to the Andalou.

Also towards the end you mentioned “Whole paycheck”, I’m guessing Whole Foods? :slight_smile:
Look forward to hearing any updates. All the best.

Hi Michael,

This is the ingredient list for the one I’m using: Water, Glycerin, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Seed Oil, Pentylene Glycol, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea Butter), Sorbitol, Cyclopentasiloxane, Cetearyl Alcohol, Behenyl Alcohol, Glyceryl Stearate, Tocopheryl Acetate, Hydroxypalmitoyl Sphinganine, Niacinamide, Allantoin, Panthenol, Arginine, Disodium Ethylene Dicocamide PEG-15 Disulfate, Glyceryl Stearate Citrate, Sodium PCA, Ceteareth-20, Sodium Polyacrylate, Caprylyl Glycol, Citric acid, Dimethiconol, Disodium EDTA.

Not completely the same…

I did start using the Restoraderm when I had a flare up, maybe that’s why it burned? I was using it daily, but it was irritating my skin somewhat. I would wake up in the morning more red than the night before. I noticed though, that my skin would clear throughout the day. I’m going to use it every other day now, and see if that helps. I’ll wait until I’m a bit more clear and less irrirated before I try it again. I unfortunately could not find the moisturizer at my local stores, so I just ordered it online (a lot cheaper than in the stores too!) so I’m waiting on that. Hopefully that will help with the dryness.

Hi Nick,
Are you using just normal Cetpahil face wash or are you using the RestoraDerm face wash?

Hey Michael,
I want to start your Cetaphil RestoraDerm, but was wondering if it is still working for you and have you changed your application routine with it?

Adam

Hi Adam,
Still using the Restoraderm, and my technique hasn’t changed form the original posting.
Simply just do regular daily washings before bed. Here is an outline of the routine:

  • Rinse face with cold water
  • Wash face with small amount of the Restoraderm wash
  • Let air dry for a few minutes, during this time I typically brush my teeth
  • Massage in a small amount of the Restoraderm moisturiser while face is still moist and let air dry

That's all I do now.

I’ve stopped the Glutamine supplementation because I feel like it finished it’s job.
Hope that helps, and let me know if you need any more details.

If you find the time, would love to hear any updates you may have. Best of luck.

Thanks for the clarification Michael. As of right now Im on the Honey/ACV/DermaZinc Lotion routine. Day 4 right now. Funny thing is, as Im typing this, I have my face smothered in Honey at the beginning of the 3hr mask. Im seeing good results so far. 5 days ago I got off of Elidel so my skin is going through the stages of getting off of a suppressant and flaking lots, but redness and itching has gone down dramatically.

This might sound like a weird question but I have to ask. If you only wash your face before bed, what do you do when you wake in the morning? I imagine you dont splash your face with water because that would rinse off the RestoraDerm from the night before. Do you just do nothing and keep ur skin untouched? How do you get ur hair wet in order to comb or style it without getting ur face wet?

See. Weird questions for sure haha!!! But it would help me out a lot…

Adam

Hi Luis,

Yeah the one you have looks like the same one I saw on Amazon.com (not sure if that is an older formula, newer formula, or a US formula).
That formula you pointed out seems to be mainly sold in the United States. All the Canadian retailers seem to carry the formula I’ve got here.
Since Cetaphil is a Canadian company, I would imagine the would have their most recent SKU available to the Canadian market.

Also unsure if the slight change in ingredients makes a difference.
Maybe as other readers report their results, it will become clear if the small differences have an impact.

If it helps I saw the exact formula I’m using on Amazon.com as well, however it was from secondary suppliers.
US Wal Mart doesn’t include the ingredients on their online listing, so not sure which one they carry. CVS and Wal Greens have the same ingredients as mine listed.

Perhaps if your still not seeing any improvements I can try to send you one of my samples (could show if the ingredients make a difference).
Look forward to hearing any updates. Hopefully it works out in the end.

Hi Adam,

Yeah it’s really not that strange of a question actually :). I do have a bit of a special approach.

Basically I wash and moisturise at night and let it do it’s thing while I sleep. When I wake up my face is good to go.
In the morning shower I just tilt my head back and wash my hair, without getting the face wet.
Perhaps using the stuff morning and night might be allright as well (I believe another reader here is doing that). My own goal was going as minimal as possible.

In terms of other swimming activities (pool, sauna), they seem to be okay.
If anything I just wash my face with the Restoraderm at my last contact with water during the day (if I shower or go to the pool early in the evening I just use the Restoraderm then).

Haven’t gone swimming in the ocean since everything balanced out. In the summer I’ll update on how that goes.

Thanks for the clear response. Now I know how to go about it.

Yeah, I thought I read in one of your posts you were from Vancouver. I just got a bottle of the Restoraderm moisturizer from London Drugs, so now I have both. I find that if I moisturize the nose fold area (only area red and flaky) it flakes very little. Since we’re both from the same city, likely using the same formula.

I just started, I’ll post back in a couple weeks and let you know how it’s working. I’m hoping it goes away completely.

The shampoo seems good. Smells good. I have a bit of Nizoral left, so I’ll just finish it while alternating with the Andalou stuff. I know the first time I had dandruff bad, Nizoral worked completely and I stopped. This time it doesn’t seem as effective, but I’ll finish the bottle. My scalp isn’t bad right now.

Thank again.

BTW, I bought the gluatmine for recovery from weights. Weird that you stayed sore while on it. Seems like the opposite of what it’s suppose to do.