First Aid Beauty Ultra Repair Concentrate Review

Yesterday I shared my First Aid Beauty Ultra Repair Cream review, which is a lotion I've been smearing all over my body all winter to combat the worst of my winter skin issues. While this product is the "concentrate" of that cream, really they are very, very different. Well, I guess they're the same in that they both off a lot of hydration with soothing components, but many of their moisturizing ingredients are different.

The concentrate depends much more on occlusive style moisturizers than the cream does (read more about different types of moisturizers and how they work), which means that the Concentrate will give more of the super silky "I AM HYDRATED" feeling that many of us are used to. I do like to use occlusives on my hand and body, though I don't typically recommend them on the face. They're especially useful when you are sealing something into the skin. So, if you have just washed your hands or taken a shower, an occlusive can really help to seal in the moisture you may have gained. There are also a lot of emollients in this product, so it has a ton of moisture packed into the little jar.

Now comes the part where I admit that I saved this review for the end of the week because I still can't quite figure out how to describe the feeling of this product. In the jar it is a white and waxy appearing solid. It breaks apart very easily with your fingers, and it then feels like a dry-ish cream with a little wax in it (really, this is the best I could do, so I hope that makes some sense). As you rub it in, your body heat with quickly melt the product and it feels like a slightly waxy lotion, though not as wet, when it is sinking in to your skin. Sometimes (when it is cold out) it will feel a bit grainy (like you got sand in it), but if you keep rubbing those sandy bits will also melt away very quickly. It does leave a moisturizing residue on the skin, which is all of those occlusive moisturizing ingredients. So, I wouldn't put it on my face (definitely can't put makeup on over it, though FAB says it is fine for the face), and it makes doing things like turning on a table lamp a bit... slippery for about 5 minutes.

It smells a little medicinal, I can smell the eucalyptus oil and maybe a little peppermint as well (though that isn't in there), but the smell is very subtle and I can't notice it after about 5 minutes or so.

Ingredients:
Colloidal Oatmeal, Water/Aqua/Eau, Carthamus Tinctorius (Safflower) Seed Oil, Beeswax (Cera Alba), Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Butter, Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis (Sweet Almond) Oil, Theobroma Cacao (Cocoa) Seed Butter, Glycerin, Triticum Vulgare (Wheat) Germ Oil, Urea, Dimethicone, Phenoxyethanol, Caprylyl Glycol, Allantoin, Chrysanthemum Parthenium (Feverfew) Extract, Camellia Sinensis (White Tea) Leaf Extract, Glycyrrhiza Glabra (Licorice) Root Extract, Eucalyptus Globulus Leaf Oil, Ceramide 3

• Colloidal Oatmeal: I think it's rather telling that the #1 ingredient is Oats, which shows antioxidant activity, inhibits prostaglandins (anti-inflammatory activity) and works to clean the skin when used in cleansers.
• Safflower Seed Oil: Occlusive moisturizer, contains linoleic acid, an essential fatty acid
• Beeswax: Occlusive
• Shea Butter: Emollient
• Sweet Almond Oil: Emollient
Cocoa) Seed Butter
• Glycerin: Humectant
• Wheat Germ Oil: Emollient
• Urea: Helps with hydration but can penetrate down into the skin and help exfoliate.
• Caprylyl Glycol: Emollient
• Allantoin: Moisturizing, helps to slough dead skin cells and anti-inflammatory all at once!
• Feverfew: Anti-inflammatory that also helps to decrease redness
• White Tea Extract: Contains polyphenols, which are known for their antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, though they even suppress cancer. While most of the research into these effects used intake of the polyphenols rather than topical use, "most researchers agree that tea (black, green, or white) has potent anti-inflammatory properties and that it is a potent antioxidant whether consumed orally or applied topically"
• Licorice Root: Helps to decrease melanin production, so can help with hyperpigmentation
• Ceramide 3: Emollient

I do notice a difference in my skin with just 1 use, though it seems best when I use it a few times a day for several days in a row. With all of the occlusives in the mix, this is best used after your hands are wet, so I tend to leave it next to my sink and use it right after washing. I will often get little areas of eczema during the winter (the harsh midwest winter and tons of extra hand washing due to the RSV and Flu seasons at work), but I've been using this on any dry patches that crop up and I haven't used any steroid cream all winter, which is quite a feat!

First Aid Beauty