We hear so many things about what helps KP, I was just wondering what irritates it? I know it will be different for different people, but I am curious.

Personally, I can't scrub mine too much. When I first went to the Dermatologist, she said to 'scrub, scrub, scrub'. Well, I went out and bought a loofah and went to town. Well, a day or so later, it was worse and had 'spread'. I thought it might be the cream she had gave me and stopped using it...but just kept on scrubbing ...not pretty.
I can't use salt scrubs, either...oh, just thinking about it makes my arms turn red.
The sun also makes mine inflamed...red. I remember it happening when I was young & riding on the school bus. Not knowing what it was, I thought I must be allergic to the sun, since every time I got in it my arms turned red and broke out.
When I get cold or stressed it makes my arms flare up, too.

the cold also inflames my kp, to the point that my arms have a purple tint. Scrubbing, with a sugar or salt scrub makes my arms look really red for a few hours and then it settles down. Sweating also seems to make my kp look worse.

The cold is definitely the worst thing for my KP. The skins gets so rough, I couldn't even bear to touch it, so I always wear long sleeves in the winter, even when it's warm inside.

That is so strange to me. That is one thing I hear most is that cold makes their KP worse. It does mine, too. And not just dry winter air, but in cold rooms, too. I was at a meeting with a friend and it was cold in the room and her arms had a purple hue to them, too.

Cold does make my arms have a more purple tint, but heat makes it break out and flare more than cold. Tanning helps, but I'm so fair skinned that I don't tan...I burn...(which is worse....KP or skin cancer?) I live in Louisiana, and the humidity tends to make the red worse....it also makes many moisturizers gummy the second you walk outside.

Chemicals in the water really irritate my skin as well. When I travel, it always takes my KP a week or two to recover from the change in water. I've spent the majority of this summer traveling different places, so my arms are in really rough shape right now, but they are starting to get back to 'normal.'

I also find that when my stress levels are overly high, my KP reacts to it.

Anything I do to it makes it inflamed and red. But when I do nothing it cycles between bad-looking but bearable, and sickly.

My KP is actually the same all year round, regardless of temperature/humidity. Guess it can't get any worse.

The only thing that does make it worse is if I squeeze the KP, after which it'll turn into a pimple-like spot.

Cold weather makes my Kp very red and sometimes even itchy and dry. Also when I rub my arms/legs with any kind of peel, it makes my KP very red and inflamed (where I only have the redness, and not the bumps). BUT when I peel my upper arms, where I have the bumps, it feels good to exfoliate... Weird....

I've been trying to figure out if my laundry detergent irritates my KP. I'm going to switch to Free detergent and see what that does. cold air also makes my KP look worse. But what can you do about that?

I wonder what it is about the cold that makes it so much worse? I know that when you get cold it constricts your blood vessels some. And I know the air is dryer (in most places) in the winter, which could make it worse. I am anxious to see how I do this winter.

Like I said before, scrubbing usually makes mine worse, too. But since mine has been doing good lately, I may try it again to see how it does. I have the Awakening Sea Salt Scrub (Arbonne) and I use it, but not on my KP. I love the way it makes my skin feel, though. So I may try it again and see if it eats me up or not.

And as far as 'peels' go, I have also used the Intelligence Masque with Thermal Fusion (which is called the 'mini acid peel' by some), and it done fine. That is one of my favorite products. What kind of 'peel' do you use, Belgiangirl?

You live in Louisiana? I do too and I always read that the humidity is better for KP. I find that mine is worse. I have flare ups when I am stressed, when the weather changes and sometimes when I travel. Changes in city and water also makes a difference. If I eat too many sweets it makes mine worse. The redness, however has gotten better in the last 24 years.

Yeah, I live in Baton Rouge. I've found that my skin hates Louisiana and it's stupid humidity. UGH! My skin, oddly enough, did the best when I lived in New Mexico for 10 weeks on a summer job in college. I think the drier climate forced it to shed the dead cells better....who knows. I went down to New Orleans a few weeks ago to spend a week with friends of mine. My skin freaked out. It never like New Orleans water to begin with, but it was even more anti-NO-water now.