An apology, update with pictures and news about oils

Hi everyone!

So it's been over 2 years since I started this journey and this blog and it's been a while since I posted pictures so I figured it was time. I also wanted to apologize to those that emailed me and I didn't get back to you until recently. I feel HORRIBLE about that but for some reason my email was not forwarding like it was suppose to so I just received a bunch today that I replied to, I'm really sorry. I'm actually going to post my business email below for people to email me that way I am sure to get your questions and messages and I can reply in a timely manner. Again, I'm SO sorry about that. I don't check this page as often as I used to, I'm sorry about that too, but I try to check it every other month or so to answer questions and such.

 I am going to do a updated FAQ post soon and I hope to answer some questions more detailed. If you have a question or think of anything that I should cover in a FAQ post please leave it in the comments or email me. I've also had a lot of people ask if I would be willing to pre-mix oils and sell them or make starter kits with the products I use and it is something I am considering. I have a Etsy page where I sell my handmade jewelry and my oil diffuser jewelry so if I do decide to sell premixed oils or starter kits it will be on there. If you are just curious and want to check out my jewelry (or buy some!) my store is called Formed From Fire and you can find it  HERE! I hand make everything on there and I'm always making and posting new pieces. Spread the word, or buy something, it's really pretty! You can also follow my jewelry business Instagram here ;)
(Sorry for the shameless self promoting, but it's my blog so I'm allowed)

Okay on to the update, far as my face routine, not much has changed, I still use the argan and tea tree oil mixture almost daily. I don't really "wash" my face, I use those makeup remover clothes sometimes or tea tree oil face soap if needed but most of the time just some water and my oils. I don't wear a lot of makeup so I can get away with not using a lot of chemicals to clean my face as I try to put as few chemicals on my skin as possible. I haven't had a pustule or a pimple in a long time now and if I do get a pimple it's usually hormonal related. I now put my oils in a little bottle with a roller on top and I'm able to roll it on my face but other than that it's the same.

I'm not sure if I ever mentioned this (pretty sure I have) but about a year before starting this journey and this blog one of the many things I had tried was laser treatments. While they did nothing to help the p&p and dry skin it did get rid of some of the redness that was due to burst capillaries. When I had it done the dermatologist told me that I would have to have it done every few years and I'm getting close to that time again as I can see the broken capillaries. Unfortunately laser treatments are expensive so that won't be happening for a long time unless I find a fairy godmother wishing to bestow laser treatments to me lol.

 As you can see in the pictures my face is pink and it always will be but I can live with that, light makeup covers it easily. If I get warm face flushes pretty easily and can become pretty red if I'm really hot which is awesome since I live in the hot and humid city of New Orleans. I think a lot of it just has to do with the fact that I have very fair skin and my capillaries are close to the surface. It is what it is. My face is million times better than it once was. It's almost crazy to look back at how bad it was now that I'm here. I battled with my face for about 10 years and if you would have told me I would ever be at a place with a clear, but slightly pink complexion without spending hundreds of dollars a month I would have laughed but here I am.

Sorry, I look kinda rough in these and my septum ring is crooked but I just woke up and hadn't consumed any caffeine yet, or brushed my hair, but all of you have seen me look worse! Someone asked me why I don't really look at the camera, it's because I have an aversion to having my picture taken.I absolutely hate it and I'm much more comfortable behind the lens than in front of it so I just try not to look at it and pretend it's not there while sucking it up and taking a picture for thousands of strangers to see. I know, how I ended up making a blog full of pictures of my naked face I have no idea. One day I'm going to have to post a picture of me with makeup and stuff, I swear, I can look cute. And for some reason just now I realized I didn't take any of the other side of my face. Sorry, it looks the same, I promise, I'm not going back in there and taking more pictures of myself today.

These are the busted capillaries, from a distance they just make my skin look pink but up close you can see the individual burst capillaries. My niece actually asked me why my face was cracked  -_-   kids, ya gotta love em! 

All About Argan Oil

   So, I decided to write a post about my favorite carrier oil, argan oil. When I mention this oil to most people they have never heard of it so I figured I would shed some light on this amazing oil. I know that I mostly talk about tea tree oil and how amazing it is and how it has changed my life and face but I never really give any credit to argan oil. Also, I have had a few people write me and tell me that they have had success with the tto but their face seems oily, or greasy, or they have good results but not as

dramatic results as I have and the one difference between them and I is always the use of argan oil.

   Sure you can use coconut oil, olive oil, jojoba oil, grape-seed oil, I even stared with coconut oil because of all of the great things we know about it being anti-fungal, antibacterial and over all a wonder oil, but it just didn't work for me, not on my face. I still use coconut oil for other areas of my body and even in my hair at times, but for my face it was just to greasy and never fully absorbed and I had to blot most of it off and it left my face really shiny so I decided to try to find another oil. Truthfully I don't even remember when I heard about or how I heard about argan oil, but I ordered a tiny .5oz bottle of Josie Maran argan oil for $20 bucks, yes 20, and I loved it! It is what I call a "dry" oil if that makes any sense, when I use it my skin sucks it up in seconds and it isn't greasy at all and I can put makeup on pretty much immediately. The one issue I had with the Josie Maran argan oil that I had was price. I started doing research on argan oil and what makes a good argan oil and the main thing you want is a 100% pure COLD PRESSED argan oil. You don't want argan oil that has been diluted, and you don't want one that has used chemicals or heat to extract the oils because those will break down the healing properties of the argan oil. So after comparison shopping and started ordering my argan oil from Mt. Rose Herbs. I already used them for my herbs, I knew their products were organic, fair trade and I knew they were a good, honest, small company and I wasn't going to get ripped off. Plus I liked their prices better, 4oz for $25.00. You can find them HERE, I highly recommend them for a multitude of products from oils, to herbs, teas, tinctures, bath products, cooking stuff, containers, and much, much more.Back to the argan oil!

   I have has people ask what exactly is argan oil? Argan oil is a plant oil made from the kernels of the fruit of the argan tree that is found in Morocco. In Morocco they use argan oil for various things such as cooking, medicinal uses, and as a beauty treatment for their hair, skin and nails. It's pretty much their go to oil. Now most places when they have a product that becomes popular in western culture it tends to be detrimental to the environment and to the people in that area because people see dollar signs and don't really care about the impact of something as long as it makes money. Argan oil and argan trees are actually very different, the more popular it becomes the more positive impact it has on the land and they economy, especially for women. The Argan tree provides food, shelter and protection from desertification. The tree's deep roots help prevent desert encroachment and the canopy provides shade for other agricultural products and leaves and fruit provide food for animals. It helps landscape stability, prevents soil erosion and producing argan oil has helped protect the argan trees from being cut down. Plus goats LOVE them and I love goats. They climb into the trees to eat the fruit so you basically have goat trees. Who doesn't want goat trees?!





   Not only are argan trees good for the environment (and the goats and my amusement) it is also very good for the economy. The production of argan oil has also has has a positive socio-economic function. At present, argan oil production supports approximately 2.2 million people in the main argan oil producing region. Much of the argan oil produced today is made by a number of women's co-operatives. Employment in the co-operatives provides women with an income, which many have used to fund education for themselves or their children. It has also provided them with a degree of autonomy in a traditionally male-dominated society and has helped many become more aware of their rights. So basically my feminist side cheers with Grrl Power for argan oil! Also most argan oil, at least the good argan oil is all hand collected, cleaned, processed and pressed. No big machines, no chemicals.

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   Now lets get down to why I love this particular oil that has been called "Liquid Gold" and why I think it's more than just a carrier oil for tea tree oil. Argan oil is very high in omega-6 fatty acids and linoleic acid which can provide anti-inflammatory, anti-aging, antioxidant and moisturizing properties for the skin. It also contains omega-9 unsaturated fatty acids and vitamin A which provide high doses of antioxidants. It also contains 620mg of trocopeherols which have the same activity as vitamin E. This is twice the amount of this chemical compared to the more common olive oil. The trocopherol content of argan oil makes it a powerful antioxidant that can help to protect soft tissue by neutralizing the effects of free radicals. When applied externally it cures everything from scars, infections, split ends, acne, eczema, chicken poxs, burns and stretch marks. If you are wondering about it's internal use it's really helpful there too. Research has shown that culinary use of argan oil can help lower cholesterol, improve circulation, stabilize blood sugar, ease arthritis pain, strengthen the immune system, prevent various cancers, reduce the bodies resistance to insulin, help treat diabetes, and protect the body from cardiovascular and inflammatory disease.


If you would like to read more about it you can check out more information here, here, here, here, and here or just google. Well I hope that was informative and spreads some light on why I chose to use a pretty much unheard of argan oil and stick with it instead of going with olive or coconut oil.

Update, new oils and a few more questions answered!

   So, it's been a while but things have changed so I thought I would give update! I am still using the tea tree oil or as I now call it Melaleuca (Sounds way more impressive doesn't it) once, sometimes twice a day. If I stop using it, like if I forget it home for a week when I go out of town my face will start to regress and I will start to get break outs again and I can feel the creepy crawlies again. So basically this is a life long treatment but it's so easy and so cheap I'm okay with that.

   So now to the changes, when I first started using the tto (Melaleuca) I had just gotten some random cheap brand because I wasn't sure it if would work or not and I didn't know much about oils. Yes, it worked, if you have been following this blog or go look through it you will see that but not as well as it could have it turns out. It turns out where you get your oils, and the quality of the oils does matter.

   After I ran out of the first bottle of tto I ordered another one and I don't know what happened but it wasn't the same and didn't have the same results and my face started to break out again. I don't know if it was a different supplier, or old oil or what but it wasn't good. When that happened I started looking into how oils are made, where they come from, how they are harvested everything and I started to look for the best oils I could find and I found Young Living Essential Oils. Let me tell you they have changed my life.

   My face was good before, I was still having some breakouts but it was nothing compared to before so I was happy, my face now is flawless. I can't even believe I can say that so I am going to write it again. My face is FLAWLESS. I get comments daily now on my face but it's how beautiful my complexion in. IT'S CRAZY! I can't help but laugh a little and think in my head "If you only knew what it looked like before!"

   As I have looked more and more into Young Living oils I have started using more and more of their oils and I have started really cleaning out my medicine cabinet and replacing everything with oils. I use them for migraines, I use them to help me sleep, if I feel a cold coming on I use them and it knocks them out, I even use the lemon oil in my water after I read a article on all of the gross crap that comes with that slice of lemon in your water. If you want you can read it here, gross. I have become and oil junkie and I choose Young Living because I know that it is quality oils from seed to seal, I know where the plants are grown, how they are cared for, how they are harvested, tested, and packaged. I trust Young Living. You can purchase directly from their website but please let them know that you found them from me by entering my member number when it asks for your Sponsor ID and Enroller ID by putting in my member number which is 1365808. I'm not going to lie, if you use my number I get points that I can then use to get free oils and who doesn't like free oils. Also if you sign up as a wholesale distributor YOU a discount and instead of paying $34.00 you will pay $26.00 and get 24% discount on all products. If you sign up as a wholesale distributor you have no obligation to sell anything at all, it just provides you with the discount and the option to sell if you would like to. There are two Melaleucas on their site, I use the Melaleuca Alterifolia Essential oil.

  Okay onto a few questions that I have gotten. Yes I still use the oils, just a better brand with better results. I do not use any lotions or creams or anything else on my face. Nothing. I don't wear much makeup so at night I can just splash some water on my face and it gets rid of most of it and the oils remove the rest.

I mix my oils with another oil and not a lotion because I want to use as few things on my face as possible and I especially don't want to use chemicals I can not pronounce. So I keep it simple, Melaleuca oil (tea tree) and Argan, that's it.

I have had some people ask if I have seen a dermatologist or tell me I should see one so let me clear that up. I did, I have been to 6 different ones in 3 different states. They each put me on different expensive medications. I have taken oral medications, daily antibiotics (that can't be good), gels, creams, one doctor had his own concoction that he hand made and mixed of all of this crazy stuff I don't remember what was in it besides sulfur (It smelled) several rounds of laser treatments that cost a fortune and none if it worked, and it was all outrageously expensive. Well it worked to and extent, my face was better on it than off but never completely clear of blemishes and never not flaming red and they left me with lizard skin which was just as unattractive. So I didn't just jump into this because I didn't feel like seeing a doctor, I started doing this because what they were doing wasn't working and I could no longer afford it.

With that all being said, I will post some new pictures! Oh and I dyed my hair red, which I had done before but it never really looked that great when it matched my face ;) Also I made a flyer, feel free to share it but please don't remove my information from it.

Me blabbering about ....

      So I started to write this as a response to someone who has read my blog and thanked me and told me they were to shy to put up pictures. I have actually had a lot of people thanking me for the pictures and well, your welcome. When I was starting out I use to try to look at every picture I could find and try to compare my face to theirs, is mine worse, is their's worse, is their treatment working things like that. The frustrating part is we are all so ashamed of our faces none of us post pictures! I didn't find a whole lot of pictures besides the ones that doctors had taken or grainy pictures people took of their face in a current state asking for advice but not a whole lot. So when I decided to keep a journal taking those pictures wasn't easy...at all. At first I was just going to do it so I can see my progress and then I decided to post them so maybe I can help others. So once I decided I was going to post pictures on here, I wasn't going to show my whole face in case someone might know me or because I was embarrassed that's why my first pictures only show the bottom half of my face. Then I just said forget it, you know what it is what it is, maybe if the people in my life see what my face REALLY looks like they will understand it a little better. So that is where I am at today. This is my face, it's the only one I have, so deal with it and if my pictures help someone else great, I'm not going to lie it was and is really hard to put a picture of myself barefaced into the world but it's to late now! Sometimes it's just nice to see another face like yours and know that you are not the only person dealing with this. Well with that being said no one in my personal life knows about my blog... at all. To me pictures are everything, I get hope from visualization so when I was having a bad day I could look back and be like, well it could be worse.

           The hardest part of having rosacea for me is trying to explain rosacea to people that don't have it. They just don't get it! First they don't understand that it is physically painful, they just think you have pink rosy cheeks, it HURTS. Your face feels swollen and tight and it throbs and it feels like it has been in a meat grinder and it's hot, it's just miserable. I would put cold wet wash clothes on my face and it would feel soooo good. Also they don't get that it's your FACE. It's the first thing people see when they great you and meet you, it's the first impression you give, you can't hide it. You can try to hide it with makeup but you know that heavy makeup is just going to leave you in physical pain later because it's so harsh. It's just as much as an emotional/mental disease as it is physical and other people don't get it. The only people that will get it is others who are going through the same things. When I would get upset and not want to leave my house or cancel plans with friends I would get unsympathetic response of "It's just your face...get over it" I got tired of hearing that. It's easy for others to say because their insecurities can be hidden, their flaws are not on display. So that is where the blog name came from. Every single day, EVERY day, at least one (usually more) person would tell me I look flush or like I got sun or how rosy my cheeks are or ask if I was feeling ok or if I had a fever. I was so sick of it I wanted to just wear a shirt that said "yes my face is red, thanks for pointing it out I would have never known". If someone is really fat people don't point it out, if they are going bald they don't point it out but people have no problem pointing out your face. It is just plain rude.

      So basically that whole rant was to say this. Thank you for reading my blog, thank you for the support and encouragement and all the kind words. I hope if you find this and feel like you are all alone and don't plan on leaving your house ever again you can realize you are not! There are other people out their suffering and hurting physically and emotionally and it can get better! Sorry about typos and shit not making sense, I never re-read before posting (I should) or spell check. I basically have used this as a journal and just let things spill out as they come. Probably explains why things are so all over the place. So yeah, that's it for tonight! I think I will post again tomorrow.

Nu-stock (Please read warning at the bottom of the post)

   So my Nu-stock* came in today and I think I am going to try it out. I am making a batch of 1 tbsp of coconut oil, 1 tbsp of nu-stock and about 7 drops tto. First the bottle is a LOT bigger than I thought it would be, it smells medical, and like pine scented cleaner. Not good but not horribly bad like I was expecting, tolerable. Also it is a lot thinner than I expected, more watery. I thought it would be more pasty like toothpaste or like neosporin, not liquid, I guess because of the tube it comes in I thought it would be thick like lotion or something. Being thin did make it a lot easier to mix it with the coconut oil once I melted the oil. I also made sure I shook the tube really well first to make sure everything mixed well. It's a weird yellow color, another thing I didn't expect, and I wondered if it would leave my skin yellow but it didn't. I used a q-tip and applied it to my entire face, it has a little bit of a gritty feeling to it but not much. The color dissipated right away and it's been about 5 minutes and it is starting to absorb. Coconut oil always takes a bit to absorb, I will give it about 30 minutes then blot my face with a tissue and go to bed. It didn't burn or sting or anything so that is a good sign. I will update the rest tomorrow I guess. Night!

**Update to original post. Please do a test patch to see how you react to Nu-Stock before using it, I do end up having an unpleasant response to it and I'm not sure if it was an allergic reaction or if my skin is just really sensitive. I would recommend putting a tiny bit either on your forearm or under your jawline first and waiting at least 2 days to see how you react before putting it on your entire face.**

Day 12

   Well it is day 12 and everything is still going good. When I woke up today I had about 6 tiny new p&ps. They will be gone by tomorrow. I am not really stressing about them or freaking out about them like I use to because it is just one less mite on my face and these come and go so quick now. Also they are really small and easy to cover.

   My face is noticeably less red and my skin is really healing now and my skin is starting to smooth out and the texture is really improving. The only thing is my face is really dry and flaky so I am going to cut back the tto to just at night since they are not active during the day anyways and I have put some shea butter on it more frequently. If I start to regress I will just add back the morning treatment too. Okay so on to the pictures! Oh and these are pretty spot on the the color of my skin now. Just a slight pink.

Day 12

Crap

So I woke up this morning and first thought was, well my face FEELS good....then I looked in the mirror. Crap. My face might FEEL good but it looks like SHIT. I don't know if it is because I used a wash cloth to wash it last night (that's my thought since it burned) or if it is just more mites dying off. Supposedly each p&p is a dead mite which means they are dying off and I should be happy, but having your face look like this makes it really hard to be happy.  Oh and I found a way to take pictures that shows my skin more accurately.
Day 6

I think I made a mistake.

   So tonight my face (mostly chin) was extra scabby feeling and crusty feeling so I decided to use a wash cloth to kind of exfoliate it...big mistake. My face started stinging right away and I knew I shouldn't have done that. I usually don't use a wash cloth on my face, I just use my fingers lightly. WHY DID I CHOSE TO DO THIS!! Anyways I got of the shower and my face was RED and you could see where every little p&p is at and I must have about 40 of them. There was a spot that I though was a pimple but apon closer inspection it is just a cluster of p&p.

   So tonight I am putting on the wash and let it soak for about 30 minutes and then I will slather on the argan & tto before bed. During the beginning of the day my face feels good, no burning or flushing and the p&ps don't have pressure but by the end of the day I get more flushing, and the p&ps feel like a zit that needs to be popped (gross sorry). So I think when I wake up I am going to slather on more argan/tto mix or do a coconut/tto mix to see if it helps during the day. I wish I could figure out how to take pictures that shows how bad it is IRL.
 

I am a woman who has become obsessed.

     So right now I am not working, I just got back from a month long trip to California and I haven't picked up any clients since I have been back. This has resulted in two things, me being broke and stressed, and me being obsessed with my face and how horrible it looks. I was just looking at pictures of me from two weeks ago with no makeup swimming and my skin was beautiful. Not perfect but as close to perfect as it gets for me. Depressing.

   So since I am currently not working and I refuse to leave my house unless it is related to school I have had a lot of spare time on my hands. What have I been doing with that spare time you ask? Obsessing over my face and how to cure it. For some reason in my head if I fix my face I will all of a sudden have a better life. I will have tons of friends and I will do things and I will go places and everything will be great. I know this is not true. All that will happen is I will sit at home and have a normal face. So now I just spend HOURS researching and looking for cures or fixes for rosacea that do not include me going to the doctor since I don't have insurance. I am pretty sure by the end of the week I will be an expert on all things rosacea, demodex mites and sub derm. I don't know why I am researching sub derm since I don't have it, but you never know, my skin is fickle like that.

   My face has had a few flashes on and off today, none lasting more than 30 minutes or so but man those 30 minutes seem to last FOREVER. Another thing I was thinking about is I ran out of oracea when I was still in California and my face remained fine, but the day after I returned back to New Orleans BAM! it was bad. I am wondering if it was coincidence and the oracea took a while to work it's way out of my system or if there is something in my house that is setting my face off or if it is the weather and humidity down here. Hmmm. Going to have to ponder that a while....or research it.

   One last thing, I ordered some nu-stock sulfur cream today, it should be in next week. I am not sure when I will try it or how often, I will have to go research that too.

I should have kept my mouth shut

I should have never said anything about my face not burning because all of a sudden its on FIRE. I haven't ate, drank anything or done anything. I don't know what has set it off but it BURNS. I might go dunk my head in cold water. 

Day 5

      So last night I took a shower with all of my new tto products, they all have that same tto smell which is strong but I am getting use to it. After my shower I put on the wash and didn't rinse. After about an hour all of the oils had absorbed but the honey left my face feeling kind of sticky so I went ahead and just splashed some warm water on my face to get rid of it. Also almost immediately my eyes started getting gritty, dry and itchy. If you look up close you can see the white dots along the lash line but you can only see it if you look really close.  Also my eyes were kind of dry so I put in some eye drops to help. When I was in the shower I used the soap on my lashes and sat for a few minutes with my eyes closed. Right before bed I covered my face and neck with the argan /tto mixture and then used just what was left on my fingers and ran it across my eyes and lashes. It didn't burn or anything just felt kind of menthol like but it wasn't painful or anything. For the record I am not suggesting that any one else should do this I am just telling you what I am doing. 

     When I woke today I had a bunch of tiny  p&p but nothing big and new. I know from what I have read that it gets worse before it gets better and not to expect big improvements any time soon that I have to wait for a couple of life cycles before they are really under control, still sucks. My face isn't as red as it was  and the burning, fire face feeling has diminished greatly. I do notice that about half way through the day it will start to creep back so I might carry some oil with me to put on when that happens. The areas of my face that are not affected are really soft and smooth, I really hope that one day all of my face will look and feel that way. So for now I'm just going to keep with it and taking pictures of the journey. 

Day 4

     Okay so my face has been really dry and flaky so I have decided to not do the ACV anymore, also it was stinging when I applied it so, no more of that. I also made a few other changes last night, I put on the wash  that I made but I didn't rinse it off I just let it soak in. Also I have been using argan oil for a few months and it has really helped with my dry, scaly skin and my skin sucks up like crazy so I added some TTO oil to it and hopefully the argan oil will pull the TTO into my skin with it when it absorbs.

    So back to the regime, slathered my face with the wash but I didn't rinse and watched tv for a little to see how it would absorb and it absorbed better than I thought it would. Right before I went to bed I covered my face in the argan and tto because I know that absorbs pretty quick. Not long after I got to bed I knew it was working because I could FEEL them and it really freaked me out. Okay now on to the pictures.

Day 4

Okay so redness is getting better, p&ps are getting better and drying up, I did wake up with one really big throbbing zit under my lip that you can see in the last picture. Nice right. Anyways one big difference I had this morning is my eyes were super itchy and crusty and watery and my scalp has been itching like crazy all day. So with that being said I am pretty positive it is the mites. From what I have read from other people doing the treatments they will run to these areas that don't have the TTO and look for safety. You could actually see the little white dots on my eye lashes like in this picture (it's pretty gross) I tried to get a picture but it's really tiny (still really gross). So with that discovery I have decided it's game on, all out war time! Me vs demodex rosacea. So today I went to the store and bought an arsenal of products to combat this and try to get my skin back! I would like to also include that along with these products I plan on trying to maintain a beef, pork and poultry free diet. I already know I am not perfect and I will occasionally eat one of those products so don't bash me for it later but for the most part I will be cutting that out of my diet. I did this before and not only did I feel better and lose weight really easily but my skin looked better.  So this is what I bought today

Tea Tree Oil Shampoo
Tea Tree Oil Conditioner
Tea Tree Oil
Tea Tree Oil soap for face and body
Probiotics
Shea Butter

So tonight I will start my full body eradication and I will keep this updated. Wish me luck!

What I am using on my face.

Okay so I got the original recipe here, but I modified it a little bit and this is what I ended up making

¼ cup castor oil

1 cup olive oil

1 ½ tsp tea tree oil

¼ cup coconut oil

¼ cup honey

Mix everything together. I had a hard time trying to mix the honey, even using a blender it just kind of sinks and sits at the bottom. After I mixed it all together I put it in a amber glass bottle. Since the coconut oil is solid at room temperature it turns into a solid at the top so before I use it I set it in a sink of warm water and this seems to help melt the coconut oil and the honey so it mixes a lot better but still not 100%. The original instructions said to wash it on and use a warm cloth to wash it off and the first few times I did this and now I am just letting it absorb into my skin and not washing it all off. I am doing this at night before I go to bed since that is when the mites are most active. 

For a moisturizer I use argan oil and I put a little bit of TTO in it hoping the argan oil will pull in the TTO when it absorbs. I slather this on pretty good in the morning and whenever I feel like I really need it. I also bought some shea butter to spot treat on those really dry chapped spots. 

Also everything I use is 100% natural and organic and cruelty free. 

The first few days of war.

So since I am starting this journal on day 4 of my battle I will just kind of condense those 4 days here. First how I found out about the demodex mites was by looking for any type of help here, on a rosacea forum. From there I read a bunch of medical articles talking about the link to mites and rosacea and it made sense and the pictures looked a lot like my face and well, what do I have to lose. So in doing more research on tea tree oil I found this recipe on a blog and it seemed to have good results for other people and I had all of the ingredients so...why not.

So this is my before pictures. Really the pictures don't show how BAD it is in real life. The pictures don't show how red it really is or how bad the texture is. It's bad. I have the orange peel texture, LOTS of p&ps and lots of crusty dry scabs. Yummy. Oh and it HURTS! It burns and feels hot, all I want to do is dunk my face in a bowl of ice water.
                                   

So that night I mixed up the recipe from here but I added 1/4 cup coconut oil and a splash more olive oil and upped the TTO to 1 1/2 tsps.  I had a hard time mixing the honey, it just does not want to blend at all, I even used a blender and nothing. Since the coconut oil is solid at room temperature I soaked the bottle in warm water before use to melt it and it seemed to help the honey melt a little and mix better so problem solved! Maybe.

Okay first thoughts, it stinks.. I can deal with the smell, so I put it on, rub for a few seconds and wash it off by splashing some warm water on my face (I have dry skin so leaving some oil seemed like a good idea). And went to bed. The next morning I used the wash again and took pictures

Day 1

    Okay, so I know day one looks worse in pictures but in person it actually looked better. My face was WAY    Less red but there was still p&p. Also doing more research I had red the Apple Cider Vinegar is suppose to be good for rosacea also so I decided to try that. So I used the ACV, let it dry then did the wash morning and then at night.

Day 2

Okay, so day 2 looked even better, the p&p are drying up and the redness is diminished. I know it still looks like crap and its hard to see any difference in the pictures but I promise there is a change. Same thing this day ACV followed by wash morning and night.

Day 3

Okay still nothing dramatic but you can see that it is a little less red, and the p&p are starting to heal. So I will keep up with this and see where it takes me.

And so it begins

So I have decided to start a journal/blog. At first the idea was just to write about my battle with rosacea but I think it might be therapeutic for me to just write about life in general. I am not writing this with the intention of anyone ever reading it, more just for me to track my progress with my face and see what is working and what is not and to get things off my chest when I need it. 

So the events that have led to now go something like this; I am a midwifery student who recently lost my job along with losing my job I lost my health insurance and with losing my health insurance I lost the ability to afford my rosacea medication and with out my rosacea medication my face has revolted against me. 

I am now in a all out war with my face and trying to find alternative treatments for it. I have spent days reading an researching and I have come to the conclusion that I have demodex mites. If you want some more info you can read up on it here and here. So now that I think I know what it is, it's time to start treating problem instead of just dealing with the symptoms. 

From the what I have read there are several creams you can buy which people have had some success with, and maybe I will try that next, but being that I don't have a job right now I need to work with what I have, and what I have is oils. Being a midwifery student I tend to use a lot of natural techniques to help clients with various things in pregnancy and a lot of the ways I do that is with oils, herbs and other homeopathic remedies. As I was doing research on DeM (demodex mites) I saw that a lot of people have had good results using tea tree oil (TTO), well what do ya know, I have some! So I have been experimenting with adding TTO to different things and using it different ways and this is basically what this journal/blog will be about...me and my battle. Let the battle begin.