rayoflight, i'd be interested in what your recommendations for anti-inflammatory & skin barrier repair products are?
It's very fancy names, all comes down to ingredients and concentration, like something with green tea, niacinamide, D-panthenol, oat exacts (think Avenoo) in various forms and things like that are very soothing. Replenix Power of Three cream has a very high concentration of EGCG, is very soothing and has supposed anti-aging benefits due to the green tea and resveratrol and has quite a few other soothing ingredients.
My total favorite however is Skinceuticals Phyto Corrective Gel, it's like the anti-irritant, antiseptic, moisturizing and pigment suppressing serum (less post-breakout redness) all in one bottle, which is great for my breakout prone skin since it's a lightweight gel.
For skin barrier straightening niacinamide and ceramides are my personal favorites, but it's no exactly easy to find lots of skin care with them in. Olay has one cream that has niacinamide in higher dose, but it's not a good cream for me, and I'm told La Roche-Posay products have ceramides, but I can't find which ones.
Most things in a cream do help with barrier repair on some level anyway, whether it's shea butter, squalane, lanonin, cholesterol or some other oil. Just the simple task of finding one that works for *your* skin, although La Roche-Posay Toleriane is a great starting point.
La Roche also claims it's soothing, so that's practically a 2-in-1.
It's kinda rich in silicones and that doesn't float everybody's boat though, but they have different moisturizers in that Toleriane line, I'm loving Toleriane Fluid, which has 8 ingredients in total, no extra stuff and sinks into skin within seconds. Don't shoot me, but I also like pure 100% vaseline on my skin from time to time, it certainly works for me.
Reducing irritating stuff that comes in contact with skin helps a lot, like maybe switching to low or non foaming cleansers, because it's just just sulphates/SLS that dry skin out and the highly foaming stuff does not necessarily clean better. Also minimizing fragranced/perfumed skin care has improved my skin heaps. Same for getting a water filter if you've got hard water, is better not just for skin, but hair as well. Have to get to know your skin and what it likes and doesn't like.