I have combination skin on my face but the rest of my body is drier than the Sahara Desert! Since I am pregnant right now I am also prone to breaking out like a 14 year old boy in the summertime! Normally I can predict the breakouts when I'm not expecting and can head them off. Most women have monthly breakouts around the time they are ovulating. When I was younger I often times made these monthly breakouts last a lot longer than they needed to. Many of the things we do to "hide them" make them worse. With a few daily routines you can make them less often and shorten how long you have a zit! Not to mention makeup applied over a poorly cared for face can make you look much older than you are and can cause more serious irritations.
First you have to wash your face! But that doesn't mean grabbing a bar of soap and a wash cloth and scrubbing the hell out of it! You have thinner skin on your face than the rest of your body and it is very delicate. It can scar and tear a lot easier than the skin on your body can. Your face is also exposed to everything you encounter! If you scrub your face raw you can get an infection that can leave behind scars. I know Clarisonic has a facial cleansing brush that many women on Youtube worship but I don't think you need a $150 tool to wash your face. It can even become a problem if you are over scrubbing your face with it.
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| Clarisonic Mia 2 |
If I have any breakouts I apply a special acne cream to the pimple itself and not my entire face. Even with oily skin I find that an all over acne medication causes my face to become dry and raw. Many of the ingredients in acne medications can be harsh and over drying to your facial skin and can cause more irritations. Before I apply my makeup in the morning I put a little dab of cortisone cream on the red place where the bump is and it helps to relieve a lot of the redness and swelling. Most importantly don't try to forcefully pop a zit! If it's not anywhere near having a head on it all you are going to do is force the bacteria deeper into your skin and if you break the skin you can make the infection much worse and end up with a nice ugly pock mark. Leave it alone! Treat it daily and many times you will find it goes away by itself. If it does have a whitehead on it where the bacteria has come to the surface and you must pop, do so gently! Use a clean sterile lancet and prick the top of the white head to prevent tearing. Gently place a cotton swab on either side of the bump and press out away from the bump until it lifts up and then press inward and under the area. Use very gentle pressure! If you see blood stop! Cleanse the area with alcohol and apply an antibiotic ointment like Neosporin.
If you have very acne prone skin you need to discuss with your doctor about treatment options. There maybe another underlying cause. If you have sensitive skin and tend to break out easily you need to limit the amount of products you use on your face and look for those that say they are for sensitive skin. Once you figure out what you can and can't use the breakouts should stop.
After you have washed your face you should apply a moisturizer to your skin to help relieve and dryness the washing has caused. I know when I tell people with oily skin this they look at me like I'm crazy but it's true even they need to do this step! When you wash your face the soaps and cleansers strip it of it's natural oils. This can cause drying that will lead to your face overly producing pore clogging oils. By adding that moisture back you can help prevent breakouts. If you are oily then you should use an oil free moisturizer that says it is for oily skin. I use the regular old fashioned Oil of Olay with sunscreen. It's just the only one that doesn't cost an arm and a leg and doesn't irritate my face. Yes, the same stuff your grandma used! If your skin is dry the act of washing it can cause it to become overly dry and the extra stripping can cause extra tugging and stretching of your face and create fine lines. Adding a moisturizer that is long lasting can help relieve any dry areas.
Fine lines are gonna happen! It's a fact of life and you can't stop them forever, you just don't have to help them along! Don't needlessly pull on your skin or use overly abrasive facial cleansing. Restore the moisture you strip from it and every now and then LET IT BREATH!!! That's right go without the makeup! If you are going to the gym or to do yard work you do not have to cake the layers on. Apply a little sunscreen and let nature shine! All that work and sweating causes your pores to open up. Not only are they pumping out sweat but they are also being flooded with anything you have floating on top of them. Always wash your makeup off before you go to bed. Never sleep in it if you can help it and never apply the new over the old. This can force stuff into your pores and create a layer between your skin and makeup where bacteria can grow.
I don't like to use toners because with my skin they are irritating, but if you have oily skin they can be a way to help control the oily build up on your face. Do this before you apply your moisturizer. However, I have had people tell me that if you use them too much even oily skin can get irritated.
Most of the products for treating wrinkles are a joke! There is no way to cure wrinkles with a cream! However, fine lines caused by drying can be plumped back up and appear less noticeable with these creams. Many fine lines are cause from dryness. If you have frown lines, smile lines, or worry lines there is no way to cream those away! They are caused by natural creases in your face where the muscles are. They are cause by the repeated movement of smiling or crimping the area. (I have 7 children you should see the worry line between my eyes!) The only real way to avoid them is to just not be human! Never show emotion! All joking aside you cannot take a face of lines and creases and reverse it with a cream or gel. Those creams and gels should be marketed to the younger girls who don't know the desperation of lost youth! The only true way to avoid wrinkles it to take care of your skin at a very early stage of your life, before they happen. After that the only way to reverse them is with a nip and a tuck or injections of botulism and other chemicals. And who can afford that? Not me!
As for stretch marks on your body, there is no real way to avoid them. They are caused by the genetic predisposition of your skin type. I didn't get a single stretch mark until my last child. As I've gotten older my skin is weaker and more likely to have problems. But honestly I don't have time to worry about them! I think they are lines of honor! I know there are lots of creams that say they will prevent them and old wives tales about stopping them but none of them work. There are a few creams out that reduce the look of them by reducing the redness, but the only way to really reduce the look of them is to seek professional advice.
Take care of your skin! If you are still young start now, don't wait until you are older to worry about it! Even if you wear little else wear sunscreen! The sun will damage your skin and make you look much older. I know tans are marketed as a "youthful glow" but there is nothing youthful about a tanned hide. If you have a pair of leather boots check out the condition on the material. That was tanned! Do you really wanna do that to your face?One thing I try to stress to my daughters is to take very good care of their skin now. There have been several of my older family members who have had to have skin cancer spots removed and I never want my daughters to have that. The number one thing these people have is very tanned skin and the idea when they were younger that tanned was the way to be.
Love,
Mom
Love,
Mom
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