Review: Hada Labo Gokujyun Premium

I have a history of REALLY dry skin issues. I had eczema since I was a child and in my teenage years up my skin gets flaky and peeled all the time. So much that my derm had to prescribe me with topical steroid. The topical steroid later turned out to exacerbate the issue because I later found out the hard way why some people refuse to use the ointment. Basically what happens is my skin looked amazing at first, but after around 5 months or so my skin started sometimes errupting in this weird rash that was painful and dry. I got perioral dermatitis flareups from it, and slowly the flareups got more frequent and more painful.

Listening to your dermatologist is good and important, but everyone should check the things they are putting in and on their body and ask questions with your dermatologist and doctors and let them explain so you understand the risks and options. Research and discuss. If you notice something wrong, contact the professionals. Your doctors aren't magical workers who would know everything about you, so if there are things you notice about your body, you can ask and give inputs to help your health professionals know better about the situation. I was around 18 year old already by then, but I was a dum dum so I didn't research and I didn't ask questions until it was too late and I had really really bad flareups of perioral dermatitis.

I treated it by going clean. Nothing on my face, probably some basic moisturizer sometimes when it gets bad, and basically wait out the flareups. Eventually, they come less and less often until I'm now cured of it. But then my skin returned to its previous state of flake and dryness! My skin's dryness has been a thing I constantly battle over for as long as I do any form of skincare.

So here comes the product:

Hada Labo Gokujyun Premium

The one with gold colour, the blue one is the Shirojyun

Hada Labo Gokujyun Premium is a moisturizing gel-like lotion. The packaging is a plastic bottle with a snap on cap and nozzle like the bottle for liquid soap, shampoo, conditioner, etc. The body of the bottle is pretty soft so you can squeeze it out too! That's a really good thing because you know you can get every drop, plus very hygienic. It costed me around 24 SGD when I rebought it in Singapore, which is around 18$. I can't remember the price I bought it for in Malaysia, but I think there isn't a big difference.

Am I the only one amused by the dick joke the universe painted onto my hand?

And enjoy the heart I'm sending all of you from this pic.

It's said to be a lotion, but when the Japanese says lotion the texture is usually more similar to hydrating toners. This one is a bit more thick and viscous than the ever popular Hada Labo Gokujyun Lotion, but still a tad runny as you can see on this picture. It does sink into your skin if you pat it in, but far less layer-able due to its thicker consistency.

The ingredients list is:

Water, Butylene Glycol, Glycerin, PPG-10 Methyl Glucose Ether, Hydroxyethyl Urea, Diglyceryn, Triethyl Citrate, Peg-32, Glycosyl Trehalose, Carbomer, Sorbitol, Phenoxyethanol, Peg-75, Diethoxyethyl Succinate, Hydrogenated Starch Hydrolysate, Dissodium Succinate, Methylparaben, Sodium Hyaluronate, Potassium Hydroxide, Disodium Edta, Polyquaternium-51, Succinic Acid, Sodium Acetylated Hyaluronate, Hydrolyzed Hyaluronic Acid, Aphanothece Sacrum Exopolysaccharides, Ammonium Acrylates Copolymer, Hydroxypropyltrimonium Hyaluronate, Sodium Hyaluronate Crosspolymer, Pentylene Glycol.

As you can see, it has PLENTY of moisturizing ingredients. They did advertise using 5 types of HA but they definitely didn't advertise the other star ingredient they used: the Urea placed pretty high up on the list. Urea is very good in improving your skin's water retention and can help repair the moisture barrier.  

I found Hada Labo Gokujyun Premium in a Watsons in Malaysia. And instantly, I fell in love. I have a thing for Hada Labo products because they're moisturizing, cheap in Indonesia because our branch of Rohto produce it over here, and has so few possible irritants. Sadly the Premium is not produced over here, but I was instantly pushed to buy it when I found the Japanese product in Malaysia. At the time I was stressing over my face, because I had a huge breakout due to mistakes in using BHA. It was the worst breakout my skin has ever faced, and I have the photo here. I tried some products but nothing worked. That is, until I used this.

On the fifth day of using this product, I could see very visible changes. A lot of my acne calmed down, and the red patches of damaged skin due to compromised moisture barrier actually subsided. I continued using the HL Premium and in 2 weeks since I used it, my breakout healed. I just had to take care of the PIHs left. As I continue using this product I could also see the scaly, peeling parts of my dry skin heal. It was AMAZING. I found that this could actually make my skin as moisturized as with the topical steroid, especially when coupled with the Rosette Ceramide Gel.

I think this product is amazing for dry skin like mine. Of course it should also be coupled with an occlusive layer since it's a Japanese lotion, but damn did it work. For the price of a 170 ml bottle, I think this is something that everyone with dry skin should try. It won't break the bank for sure and a bottle lasts me half a year with continuous use. Definitely a HG product for me.

10/10 for everything. Best stuff ever and should be on more people's vanity.