Please read this

This blog contains NO medical recommendations.

When you have a medical condition you need professional medical assistance.

This blog presents practical suggestions and common sense recommendations for natural skin care. You will also find reports of interesting developments in the field.

This blog’s for you!

“People with oily skin have fewer wrinkles”

One of the primary skin care myths insists: “It’s obvious – oily skin doesn’t wrinkle as easily as dry skin.”

You remember the old saying: “They say” is the biggest lie in the English language…. It works here.

There is one thing an oily skin does well — it holds in more of the body’s own moisture which helps your face look smoother.

Unfortunately, oily skin tends to be “tough” — meaning the cells are not flexible enough to do their work properly. Cells, as you know, are responsible for pushing out all sorts of “junk” from inside you.

When the surface cells are too hard, they can’t carry out the required movements. The waste material just sits there, clogging the opening. This situation is exactly what bacteria thrive on. From there it’s a short hop to irritation and a rapid progression to inflammation.

Well, what about those wrinkles?

Here’s a typical scenario: The oily skin you had in your teens evened out as you got older. Then, after you passed the age of 30, the oiliness returned and before long you noticed wrinkles. That wasn’t pleasant and neither was the discovery that those wrinkles kept getting deeper and more noticeable.

I haven’t been able to find out the reason for the return of oiliness. I have learned that the wrinkle problem is made worse by the added weight of the debris picked up by the extra oil.

What happens is that excess dead cells on the skin surface tend to settle into those wrinkle areas, adding more weight and making the problem worse.

Throw out that myth. Oily skin often makes the problem of wrinkles worse.

Allergy or sensitivity?

What’s the difference between an allergy and a sensitivity?

A sensitivity can range from a vague but persistent itch to an irritation. From a pink patch to a red rash. Annoying, possibly painful, but not life-threatening.

Allergies are medical situations, they are dangerous and need the immediate attention of medical professionals. Go directly to your nearest Urgent Care Clinic if you can’t get to your doctor.

An allergic reaction occurs very soon after exposure to the trigger substance, often within hours.

When the body is hypersensitive to a substance, the immune system responds in an exaggerated manner — sneezing, itching, swelling, possibly even shock. These are evidence of a full-blown allergic reaction. When that happens, off you go — straight to your doctor.

When you suspect you might be sensitive to something in a cream or lotion, immediately stop using it. The same product may be your best friend’s very favorite item but reactions are an individual matter.

And don’t assume that the product is at fault. It simply is not the right cream or lotion for you. Find a comparable product, one without the ingredients that make you itch and burn.

When you fear the possibility of an allergic reaction, but aren’t sure, test it carefully. First take a toothpick and use it to put a speck of the product on the inside of your elbow. Leave it overnight – or at least long enough to see what happens.

The next step is to use a little more of the product and wait again. If everything seems fine, rub some of it into the skin. Up to now you have simply set it on the surface.

Still no adverse results? Try a little on your face. And so on.

The secret here is to go slow… Learn to know your body’s own responses to possible allergies and potential sensitivities.

Cocoa butter for stretch marks?

Before you spend time trying to track down a source for cocoa butter because everybody says it’s the best way to get rid of stretch marks — consider this:

There was a study which followed 174 women in their first pregnancies. The results were published by a team of obstetricians and dermatologists. It was what is called a “double-blind” study where neither the participants nor the researchers know which women were given the cocoa butter lotion and which used something else (a placebo).

After many months, the researchers could find no difference in the development of the severity of the marks on abdomen, breasts, thighs. In effect, that means that cocoa butter is no more effective than any other cream or lotion.

On the other hand, researchers in another study (done back in 2002) of l00 pregnant women found that those who used creams containing alpha tocopherol, a form of vitamin E, actually developed fewer striae (the medical term for stretch marks) than those using the placebo.

Worth a try? Vitamin E is a natural substance and certainly safer than other advertised remedies which include surgery and radio frequency treatments. There is a significant difference in cost and little evidence of lasting improvement from the expensive alternatives.

No harm in putting cocoa butter on your stretch marks if you enjoy using it. A little extra attention never hurts.

Hello, Sweet Face!

A sweet face, yes, but not in the usual meaning of the term. We’re going to re-visit the subject of all that sweet stuff you consume and how it affects your complexion.

“I don’t need to worry about that because the only sugar I use is what I put in my coffee.”

OK. So you don’t put sugar in anything except your coffee… Have you even noticed how much sugar is being put into your food by somebody else? How much of what you eat comes pre-sweetened?

Here’s a research project for you: How many products can you find in your kitchen pantry that do not contain “high fructose corn syrup “? Nobody sprinkles it on a salad, or dumps it on the cereal — but it’s there. In fact, it’s everywhere.

By now, several generations of Americans have been weaned on sugar — quite literally — because you’ll find one or more types of sugar in every popular brand of baby formula. We grow up craving that sweetness and the food manufacturers are happy to oblige.

But why does that matter to your face?

Briefly — sugar has an acid reaction in your body; the excess acid must be removed before the build up causes problems. Bacteria thrive in an acid environment and as they proliferate they cause inflammation. And soon, what do you see on your sweet face? Pimples. Rashes. Ugly bumps…

What does “clean skin” mean?

Suppose I asked you if your skin was clean? You’d probably be insulted. What an idea! Don’t you spend at least twenty minutes a day applying expensive cleansers and toners?

Cleansing is a great way to start your day. How you do that cleansing is what’s really important. We’ve all been indoctrinated with the cleansing – toning – moisturizing routine.

Did anyone point out that this takes care of only the surface?

The surface is certainly important. That’s what we see when we look at your face, isn’t it? The surface is made up of dead cells.

“What! But I use this SuperNourishing Cream. The label says it will feed the cells to keep them soft and healthy. So what do you mean — dead?”

When you look in your mirror, what you see is an outer layer of dead cells. They are being pushed out by the continually-developing, growing cells behind them. While they sit on the surface, they form a layer of protection between your delicate internal mechanisms and whatever your environment is throwing at you.

In fact, there are several layers of cells below the surface, invisible to you, that form your living skin — and that’s where the action is.

Does this idea still bother you? Here’s an easy way to look at it. When you rub up against a rough surface, you feel it, certainly. Now, suppose you fell against that rough surface and scraped off a piece skin. Ow-wuch! This hurts out of all proportion to the size of the injury.

Why does it hurt so much? Because most of the pain comes from the fact that living cells have been left unprotected, exposed to air, heat, cold, touch. When too much of the protective skin layer is removed or damaged, the entire body suffers.

Now you understand that there are two separate types of skin cells. How can you care for both at once?

Your SuperNourishing Cream should be fine for keeping your facial skin soft, just like the label says. It works even better when the excess dead cells lying on top of the outer surface are removed regularly.

Now… how do you keep the living skin cells healthy? An interesting question.

The living skin cells are where you can’t get at them without stripping off the protective layer by either chemical or mechanical means. This approach defies the laws of nature – as well as being extremely painful!

A structure of healthy living cells must be built naturally, from inside. Healthy skin requires care both external and internal. Clean skin is more than surface deep.

How do you protect your complexion in winter?

Protecting your complexion – particularly important in winter because you face is exposed to the weather. Most of your skin surface is well covered by the clothing you wear to keep yourself warm, but exposed skin needs sun and wind protection.

Even in winter, the fuss goes on about whose sunscreen is better than whose… How many SPFs you need, and so on. Just because Sunscreen A is better than Sunscreen B is no guarantee that either is truly effective.

Fact is — sunscreen doesn’t quite cut it — winter or summer.

Better than nothing, but not quite good enough.

Picture in your mind a window screen. Great at keeping out bugs while still letting in light, pollen, and dust.

Now imagine a window shutter, a physical shield, closed tightly against whatever the elements are throwing at you. See the difference?

That’s what you need in harsh weather conditions — a shield, a physical barrier against the damaging rays of reflected winter sun and the drying effects of icy winds.

For your face, that means titanium dioxide and/or zinc oxide (You know that thick white stuff athletes put on? Same stuff — only what athletes use is far less refined than what you will use.)

Look for those ingredients in a light cream with just a hint of pigment in it — not enough to show up as color on your face. Pigment is a very effective shield for your skin. The rays that don’t bounce off immediately are absorbed by the pigment before they can harm skin cells.

There you have the recipe to protect your complexion against those dangerous, alphabetized UV rays and everything else that hits your face — in any season.

Go, enjoy your time outdoors this winter!