Having sensitive skin is hard. This skin condition is easily triggered by fragrances in soaps, ingredients in lotions, and even laundry detergents, causing irritation. As someone who has sensitive skin and eczema (a.k.a. atopic dermatitis), a chronic condition that causes dry to inflamed skin, I stopped reviewing skincare and makeup products that may further cause flare-ups but Aveeno is one of the exceptions as this brand has helped me regain my normal skin state after going through a really rough patch (literally and figuratively) during the pandemic.

READ MORE | Living with Eczema: Before and after 6 months of skin treatments

With temperature in the Metro reaching over 40°C last week and people like me probably itching again due to the heat, it’s timely that I share my thoughts about the Aveeno Skin Relief Body Wash and Aveeno Skin Relief Moisturizing Lotion — both of which are being advertised to relieve very dry, itchy sensitive skin in as fast as 60 seconds.

INGREDIENTS

Aveeno now has a new formulation which comes with 50% more oat, making it suitable for people with sensitive skin. The old variant comes with a white and blue cap while the new formulation comes with a brown cap. The “Triple Oat Complex” is composed of oat extract which provides soothing benefits to the skin, oat oil that promotes the natural production of ceramides to strengthen the skin barrier, and oat flour which binds water together to form a film that locks moisture in.

Aveeno Skin Relief Moisturizing Lotion Ingredients: Water, glycerin, distearyldimonium chloride, petrolatum, isopropyl palmitate, cetyl alcohol, avena sativa (oat) kernel flour, benzyl alcohol, avena sativa (oat) kernel oil, steareth-20, avena sativa (oat) kernel extract, butyrospermum parkii (shea) butter, sodium chloride

Aveeno Skin Relief Body Wash Ingredients: Water, glycerin, cocamidopropyl betaine, sodium laureth sulfate, avena sativa (oat) kernel flour, coriandrum sativum (coriander) fruit/leaf extract, elettaria cardamomum seed extract, commiphora myrrha leaf cell extract, hydroxypropyltrimonium hydrolyzed wheat protein, hydroxypropyltrimonium hydrolyzed wheat starch, PEG-20 almond glycerides, guar hydroxypropyltrimonium chloride, tetrasodium EDTA, glycol distearate, polyquaternium-10, quaternium-15, myristyl alcohol. May also contain citric acid.

SCENT

What I love about the Skin Relief set is that they’re fragrance-free. This makes it suitable for people like me who have sensitive skin! I expected a nutty-like scent given the additional oats in the formulation but I was wrong. The body wash only had a faint soap-like scent from the bottle but once you apply it on your skin, it gradually disappears.

TEXTURE

Despite the presence of oats in the product, Aveeno Skin Relief Moisturizing Lotion and Body Wash do not contain particles similar to oat scrubs. The body wash has a liquid-like texture while the lotion is creamy enough to be applied smoothly on the skin. The body wash forms a creamy lather but it’s not as foamy as regular bar soaps. My skin feels instantly smoother after one wash! I’d say that this is on the level of Dove and Cetaphil when it comes to mildness, but the difference is that the Aveeno body wash comes in liquid form that is easier to apply on the skin. The lotion, on the other hand, easily gets absorbed by the skin so it doesn’t feel sticky even if I sweat.

EFFECT

Aveeno wasn’t joking when they said that their product provides relief in just 60 seconds, especially when your skin is feeling super dry and itchy. There are days when I have to level up to Aveeno Dermexa when I have flare-ups, though! The Skin Relief body wash and lotion combination has helped boost my skin’s moisture during my eczema treatment so I continue to use it to this day. My dermatologist also recommended that I keep Aveeno in my skincare routine together with other products for eczema.

I’ll let the before-and-after photos do the talking at this point. Here are the results after 6 months with Aveeno and clinic treatments. Note that I’ve suffered consistent eczema flare-ups and hyperpigmentation during the pandemic (around 2 years):

PRICE & AVAILABILITY

You can get the Aveeno Skin Relief Body Wash (1L) and Skin Relief Moisturizing Lotion (345mL) for only Php 1,477 via Lazada. When bought separately, the Body Wash (532mL) costs around Php 910 while the Moisturizing Lotion (532mL) costs around Php 1,363 online and in drugstores nationwide. I would suggest that you purchase online via e-commerce pages in order to avail discounts and cashbacks.

Overall, I would say YES, BOTH PRODUCTS ARE EFFECTIVE but you also need to look after your overall health while moisturizing your skin. Don’t forget to eat healthy food, avoid food that may trigger eczema or worsen your skin condition, hydrate, and exercise to help your skin from within. Hope this helps! I only trust a couple of brands when it comes to my sensitive skin. I’ll write about the rest in my blog as soon as I can.

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Note: The products featured above are samples provided by Aveeno, but I have already tried three variants (Skin Relief, Dermexa, and Daily Moisturizing) prior this package. 🙂

READ MORE:

Meet Aveeno’s answer to different levels of skin needs, sensitivities (eczema included!)