As you may know by now I have rosacea. So sometimes depending on the weather, what I eat or my stress levels I get flare ups from time to time. Flare ups are a reaction that provokes a vivid red color on one or two of my cheeks and my skin becomes hot. Yesterday I so happened to have a flare up (still don't know why though). As a consequence I decided to try a trick that I saw somewhere on the internet: putting a thick layer of aloe vera and let it sit for 10 minutes.



However when I checked halfway to see if my redness was getting any better, I was super shocked as my skin had gotten even more red! Yep, I had an allergic reaction to Aloe Vera. I am guessing either the Aloe Vera Gel was too old or the bottle was contaminated. Because it's not just me: my friend had tried it too and she had a similar reaction although less prominent as her skin isn't sensitive. But she thought it was something else she had put before so she ignored it. Since her skin isn't sensitive so if we both had a reaction, there is no doubt it's the aloe vera gel.

I immediately washed my skin under water and it was even worst because I could see my skin red -even purplish on my right cheek-, my skin felt tight and the purple spot was also a bit swollen up.

I was a bit panicked that it would leave marks (like new veins under my skin) but at the same time I was thrilled to see if I could sooth my skin easily. I had seen bubzbeauty's video of when she had a bad skin reaction too and I had already checked things to do when I had a flare up, so I was prepared. After I washed my skin with tap water and pat it dry with a towel, sprayed some thermal water on my face and few seconds after I put some of my cosrx all in one snail cream. After that, to try to cool down my skin I sprayed my skin regularly with my thermal water and I used a fan.

The day after most of it was gone but I could still feel my skin was a bit too smooth and shiny, as if I had over exfoliated. So I tested bubz's trick to wash you face with oatmeal. Just like her video demonstrate she just took some oatmeal in her hand and added some water to it. She then squish the excess water to put it on her face and then "scrubbed" the flakes on her skin. This is very gentle and didn't cause me any redness. After I dried my face I noticed that my skin was a bit less weirdly shiny. Again I just used the cosrx after this. I wanted to also make a mist with green tea with honey but I totally forgot and instead I used my thermal water throughout the day and it was gone before I slept that day. The same day at night it was gone. I would also advise not to use any kind of scrub (Vitamin C, AHA/BHA, retinoids) for at least week after a bad reaction.

I will buy another bottle of Aloe vera but from a different store, and I will try the Aloe Vera mask again because I know I am not allergic to Aloe vera. The funny thing though : every website I went to told me to put aloe vera gel to sooth a rash... Nope