Skin Care Tips

I wrote this post to provide some clarity when it comes to skin care.  Sometimes we get caught up in how gorgeous our favorite celebrities look or become obsessed with trying all the beauty regimens in Cosmo or Allure.  One of my latest projects has been improving my own skin, and after lots of research I wanted to share with you my input when it comes to taking care of our body's largest organ.  So here are seven steps you can take in feeling better about putting your best face forward.

1. Know your skin.  You can't take care of a problem if you don't know what the problem is.  Pay attention to where your blemishes are or when they seem to pop up.  For example, you may always breakout out the week before your period.  Or maybe you've switched up your diet, making it a little dairy heavy.  An excess in dairy products is linked to breakouts.  Also, figure out your skin type. You can do this by washing your face with a gentle cleanser, then letting it dry for one hour.  Don't moisturize or put any make-up on.  After that one hour mark, check where you are oily/dry.  Use this chart to make sense of it.

2. Cleanse with a purpose - don't give into product packaging.  I am a packaging junky and if it looks cute, I buy it without a care as to what is actually in the formula.  But over time I have learned what works the best for me, and ironically, it's the ugly yellow Neutrogena Deep Clean Gel Cleanser... how unfortunate for my addiction.

3. Use spot treatments correctly.  It says spot for a reason, do not rub it all over your face to "prevent" blemishes... Spot treatments are meant to dry up the excess oil causing a pimple.  If you dry up "normal" areas of skin, you skin will freak out and start producing natural oils, leading to an excess and voila, you have pimples all over!  My goto spot treatment as of lately is Clinique's Acne Solutions Spot Healing Gel.

4. Don't fall to marketing claims, I guess this is along the same lines as packaging.  When you read about masks, treatments and other skin care routines take everything you hear about their results with a grain of salt.  Companies want to sell their product.  Reviewers usually are plain cynical and will rip apart any product.  Also, your skin's chemistry is personal to you and only you.  Products on the markets are meant for a broad audience and cannot possible be 100% effective.  So those pore strips will not rid you of black heads, but they canplace you in a step in the right direction.

5. Be thorough with your routine. Once you figure out what works, stick to it! It takes about two weeks for a routine to produce results.  So don't get frustrated if you see a blemish during the first few days.  For example, when most people start using the Clarisonic, they break out.  This is because their skin is too sensitive for the brush, or their skin is purging and all of the dirt and make-up being extracted is being removed via pimples.  Unfortunate procuess, but you have to stick to it.  They only time I would say to scrap a routine is if you have negative results for over a month.

6. Don't fall for the claims of some ignorant pinners on Pinterest who think it is okay to use tape as a blackhead remover... I don't think I need to elaborate on this one. Don't use tape to guide your winged eye-liner either. Never put tape on your skin.

7. 2 Quick Fixes - Ibuprofen and  Vitamin E. Take an anti-inflammatory if you have a large pimple to reduce swelling, or crush one and mix it with water to create a paste and apply it directly to the blemish.  Vitamin E will help with scaring and heal any pimples you may have picked at.  Crack open a Vitamin E gel "pod" and apply it directly to the scar.  You will be amazed at how fast this stuff works.

Bottom line: Don't stress (but really, stress can mess with your body chemistry and lead to break outs), having a blemish or two is not the end of the world.