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Moisturizing is one of the most important steps even in a very basic skincare routine. But when you have rosacea, it gains a whole new level of importance. The best moisturizers for rosacea make it super easy to reduce redness, calm irritation, and of course, replenish the skin. That is as long as you find the right one for your skin.
Major facial redness, sensitivity, random red bumps, itchiness, and even acne are among the things we need to keep an eye on all the time. As I’m personally dealing with rosacea myself, I’ve learned a couple of ways to get more out of my skincare.
From essential skincare products, and serums to face masks and facial toners, I make products work double duty to manage my redness. But nothing compares to moisturizers when it comes to redness relief on a day-to-day basis.
Because even though the way you handle your rosacea varies, the moisturizing aspect never changes. But because you’re up against a skin condition that doesn’t even have a prominent cause or treatment, finding the right moisturizer for rosacea can get tricky.
You need to moisturize. But you need to do it without irritating your skin. And you can even be dealing with acne rosacea. Plus, rosacea is not exclusive to any skin type.
You can have rosacea and very dry skin or very oily and acne-prone skin. So when you’re on the hunt for a moisturizer, you still need to keep your skin type in mind.
And there’s always the fact that what works on some skin types may not work for others. But overall, soothing, non-comedogenic, irritant-free moisturizers tend to work great on rosacea skin. And we’ve got them all!
Here you’ll find your new go-to moisturizer to replenish your skin and manage redness. And if you’re not sure what to look for in one or how to make better use of it, you’ll find additional help at the end of the page too!
The Best Moisturizers For Rosacea
Soothing, gentle, and replenishing, find below the best moisturizers for rosacea.
1. First Aid Beauty Ultra Repair Cream Intense Hydration
Rosacea is not exclusive to dry skin. But there’s a close relationship between rosacea and dryness. Rosacea causes dryness, and dryness triggers rosacea. It’s a whole chicken and egg thing. But one thing is for sure. Dryness and tightness will only make things worse if you’re suffering from rosacea. That’s why an intense cream like this one can be skin-saving.
It’s packed with anti-inflammatory goodies like oatmeal, which calms inflammation and reduces irritation. This moisturizer also helps rosacea with other skin-soothing extracts like allantoin and feverfew. They reduce redness while shea butter provides long-lasting moisture. The moisturizer is fragrance-free, absorbs easily, and is an overall great moisturizer for people with rosacea.
Ingredients: 0.50% colloidal oatmeal, green tea, glycerin, hyaluronic acid, squalane
Base: Rich cream
Skin Type: Normal, dry, combination/dry
Good To Know: Fragrance-free, vegan
Size: 6 oz
2. La Roche Posay Toleriane Ultra Moisturizing Cream
If your skin is very sensitive, maybe more than the average rosacea sufferer, you need to pay extra attention to your skincare ingredients. Hydration and moisture are important, but you might want to avoid poking the bears, so to speak. And this moisturizer right here is one of the best ones for very sensitive, reactive skin. It’s alcohol-free, paraben-free, and fragrance-free.
So if you’re dealing with sudden flare-ups, pimples, bumps, and itchy skin, this will instantly soothe. It’s super gentle and minimal. It hydrates with glycerin and squalane, moisturizes with shea butter, and calms with peptides and thermal spring water. And it’s so lightweight that I even use it for my under-eye area. And I have ocular rosacea!
Ingredients: Thermal spring water, squalane, glycerin, shea butter
Base: Light cream
Skin Type: All
Good To Know: Fragrance-free, non-comedogenic
Size: 1.35 oz
3. CeraVe Daily Moisturizing Lotion
If you have oily/combination skin and are prone to acne on top of rosacea, cheer up. Because the things that aggravate rosacea are also the things that aggravate acne. So avoiding them will help both your rosacea and acne. And this right here is one of the most affordable, fool-proof, and gentle drugstore moisturizers you can use!
It’s oil-free, fragrance-free, and super light on the skin. The lotion form hydrates without clogging your pores or causing acne. It packs hyaluronic acid and ceramides and practically disappears into the skin. It replenishes for day-long moisture and leaves the skin soft, smooth, supple, and shine-free.
Ingredients: Hyaluronic acid, ceramides, glycerin
Base: Light lotion
Skin Type: All
Good To Know: Oil-free, fragrance-free
Size: 8 oz
4. EltaMD UV Replenish Broad-Spectrum SPF 44
This is an SPF moisturizer for those of you who need a multi-tasker. Sun protection is essential in a rosacea skincare routine. Because your skin is already prone to irritation. And UV irradiation ruins healthy skin, let alone an inflamed one. So using a daily moisturizer with a good amount of SPF is a great way to prevent flare-ups from sun exposure.
This mineral sunscreen contains hyaluronic acid and vitamin C for added antioxidant benefits. The oil-free and non-comedogenic formula is perfect for all skin types with rosacea. It won’t worsen acne if you’re dealing with rosacea-related pimples too. It’s the ultimate sun protection to combat oxidative stress, aging, and of course, UV-induced rosacea flares.
Ingredients: Mineral SPF, hyaluronic acid, vitamin C derivative
Base: Cream
Skin Type: All
Good To Know: Broad-spectrum SPF, water-resistant, oil-free, fragrance-free, vegan
Size: 2 oz
5. Cetaphil Redness Relieving Daily Facial Moisturizer With SPF 20
When in doubt, go back to basics. This drugstore moisturizer is minimal and mineral. It’s a non-comedogenic daily moisturizer made with mineral sunscreen. It’s tinted to help with redness, but it won’t give you coverage.
However, the fragrance-free formula will moisturize without irritation and give you daily sun protection. It also has allantoin to soothe irritation. It’s hypoallergenic, it’s budget-friendly, and it’s all you need to keep the redness at bay.
Ingredients: Mineral SPF, caffeine, allantoin, glycerin
Base: Cream
Skin Type: All
Good To Know: Sheer tint, fragrance-free, hypoallergenic, non-comedogenic
Size: 1.7 oz
6. Biossance Squalane + Probiotic Gel Moisturizer
With squalane, hyaluronic acid, and red algae, this gel moisturizer is super replenishing for the skin. Plus, you get a good amount of anti-inflammation too. The fragrance-free moisturizer contains ginger extract, which is especially perfect for calming redness and rosacea. It’s the ultimate antioxidant paired with anti-inflammation.
It improves skin tone and promotes a healthier complexion too. The gel texture absorbs instantly and relieves redness. With the help of probiotics, it creates a protective shield over the skin to stave off acne-causing bacteria and other skin aggressors. It’s clean, cruelty-free, and a great option for combination skin types too.
Ingredients: Probiotics, ginger root, allantoin, squalane, hyaluronic acid
Base: Gel
Skin Type: Normal, combination, oily
Good To Know: Fragrance-free
Size: 1.69 oz
7. Aveeno Ultra-Calming Nourishing Night Cream
If you need a night moisturizer for rosacea, then this is it. Because a good night cream can help you wake up to fresh and replenished skin by caring for the skin at night. But when it comes to leave-on products, you want to be very careful. This is an oil-free, fragrance-free, and soothing night cream for people with rosacea. It also calms with colloidal oatmeal, feverfew, and panthenol.
You can comfortably use it in your evening skincare routine without having to worry about irritated skin by morning. It’s amazing especially if you have dry skin. But if you have oily skin, you can consider the daily moisturizer Calm + Restore Oat Gel and use it at night as it’s gel-based. It’s lighter in consistency but contains the same goodies.
Ingredients: Oatmeal, feverfew, vitamin B5, glycerin
Base: Cream
Skin Type: All
Good To Know: Fragrance-free, oil-free, non-comedogenic
Size: 1.7 oz
8. The Ordinary Natural Moisturizing Factors + HA
The Ordinary offers some quality products for rosacea skin. Certain ones are especially helpful and equally affordable. This one basically mimics your skin’s own composition. It hydrates and moisturizes with goodies that are already part of your skin’s protective barrier.
The oil-free cream is also fragrance-free. And it hydrates with glycerin, hyaluronic acid, and amino acids to thoroughly replenish the skin and also help restore the skin barrier. It softens the skin texture, reduces dryness, revives dehydrated skin, and leaves the complexion supple and calm.
Ingredients: Rich blend of amino acids, hyaluronic acid
Base: Cream
Skin Type: All
Good To Know: Oil-free, silicone-free, fragrance-free
Size: 3.3 oz
9. IT Cosmetics Bye Bye Redness Sensitive Skin Moisturizer
If you’re looking for some cosmetic benefits too, this moisturizer will multi-task big time. This green-tinted moisturizer is made for reducing facial redness. It instantly evens out your skin tone by canceling out redness. It also provides moisture with shea butter and coconut oil.
And it soothes irritation with oatmeal, aloe, and cucumber. The lightweight cream is not too green like a primer. But it’s more than enough to instantly fade any redness. If you aren’t into heavy color-correcting primers, apply this one under your foundation for an even complexion.
Ingredients: Oatmeal, aloe, ceramides, hyaluronic acid, allantoin
Base: Light cream
Skin Type: All
Good To Know: Sheer green tint minimizes redness, fragrance-free
Size: 2 oz
10. Dr. Jart Ceramidin Skin Barrier Moisturizing Cream
When you have dry skin, it doesn’t end with moisturizing. Because dry skin lacks the necessary lipids to prevent transepidermal water loss. That’s why people with dry skin tend to reapply moisturizers every couple of hours. This moisturizer is rich in ceramides, which are lipids that help retain moisture.
By forming a layer on the skin, they repair the skin barrier and protect the skin from external damage. It has a little thick consistency, but it applies like a face primer. And it has a nice, herbal scent to it too. The Korean cream also contains shea butter and vitamin B5 to make dry skin more resilient, making it one of the best soothing moisturizers for rosacea.
Ingredients: Ceramides, vitamin B5, shea butter
Base: Cream
Skin Type: Normal, dry
Good To Know: Contains fragrance
Size: 1.69 oz
11. Kiehl’s Ultra Facial Cream
All skin types have trouble retaining moisture in the face of harsh winter weather. That’s why a tiny bit thicker moisturizer is useful for all skin types during the winter. As the concentration is thicker and heavier, you’ll be able to reverse the irritating and drying effects of the wind and cold.
With squalane and several plant extracts, this one repairs the skin’s barrier function and makes sure it remains intact and healthy. It’s fragrance-free too! It’s a great moisturizer for rosacea, no matter your skin type, to use in the winter to avoid tight and irritated skin.
Ingredients: Squalane, glycerin, avocado oil, almond oil
Base: Cream
Skin Type: All except for blemish-prone
Good To Know: Fragrance-free
Size: Various sizes
So these are some of the best moisturizers for people with rosacea to gently moisturize and manage redness. Personally, I’d recommend going for Cerave’s moisturizer for basic, everyday skincare if you don’t experience a lot of redness. It’s budget-friendly so you can use it generously. And it’s super replenishing too.
And if you frequently deal with flare-ups, irritation, and overall sensitive skin, I can swear by Dr. Jart’s Ceramidin Cream. It is super moisturizing and not just hydrates the skin but also repairs the compromised skin barrier and reduces irritation.
If you haven’t found what you’re looking for here, keep reading to learn more about moisturizers for rosacea.
What To Look For in a Moisturizer For Rosacea
Ingredients To Look For
Look for hydrating and anti-inflammatory ingredients in a moisturizer for rosacea. For example, your moisturizer should contain at least one humectant like hyaluronic acid or glycerin.
Additionally, if you actually want to calm your skin, it should contain at least one calming ingredient such as aloe, oatmeal, or green tea.
The Texture of The Moisturizer
The texture is also important because you want to make sure your moisturizer is gentle enough for rosacea but also suitable for your skin type.
A good starting point would be using gel-based, non-comedogenic formulations for oily and acne-prone skin. And for people with dry skin and rosacea, try a gentle, oil-based moisturizer that’s more emollient.
Ingredients To Avoid
As a general rule of thumb, and this is what the National Rosacea Society recommends too, it’s better to avoid using a moisturizer with fragrance. They’re very likely to irritate. But hey, this isn’t something I always follow.
I love a scented moisturizer. As long as it doesn’t cause any redness, I don’t see any problem. Neither does my dermatologist. But know that fragrance is a common trigger for rosacea.
FAQ
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