SkinCare

The Really Good Goody Bag Had Dermalogica In It

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The joy of swag bags. Do you know that particular thrill?

You go to promotional event and you walk away with a goody bag full of products to try. Sometimes the swag is less than sweet: there is still in the deep recesses of my larder a box of blueberry pancake mix that I received in a swag bag at the opening of a chain of supermarkets. But sometimes it gives me a chance to try products I wouldn’t normally buy.

Dermalogica swag Like the Dermalogica “Brighten Up” set that Planet Beauty Calabasas gave me when they had their ChromeGirl preview. The little box contained three Dermalogica items: the Special Cleansing Gel, the Daily Microfoliant®, and the Total Eye Care with SPF 15 and promised this:

“Give dull, lackluster skin a revitalizing boost! All skin conditions will benefit from this regimen, designed to reveal fresher, brighter skin and revive the delicate eye area.”

How could my dull, lackluster winter skin not benefit from that?

The Special Cleansing Gel was a treat to use. The clear gel, which contains balm mint, lavender and quillaja saponaria, foams up nicely when mixed with water and smells good. It leant itself to the massage thing facialists tell you is one of the secrets to good skin.

While my face was still damp, I sprinkled some of the Daily Microfoliant® in my palm and worked the rice-based powder formula into a creamy paste. Following the instructions, I applied it  to my face with circular motions. I’ve used scrubs that felt like I was using sandpaper on my skin; this one didn’t, it was that gentle.

Then I rinsed, rinsed, rinsed. After I dried my face, I did that peering thing in the mirror we women do: my skin felt clean, but not at all dry. In other words, the cleanser and microfoliant had not sucked every last drop of moisture from my skin, which has been my experience with other exfoliating products.

I used the Total Eye Care in the morning, because I wanted to take advantage of the SPF15.  It goes on smoothly and is flesh-colored which I supposed is why they say it covers dark circles.

I thought Dermalogica was a line I had never tried until I opened my bathroom cabinet and saw that the moisturizing mist that I’ve used for two years–and loved in the dry heat of California summers–is Dermalogica’s Antioxidant HydraMist. I remember buying it at Ulta a couple of years ago when my face felt like it was corrugated paper from the dryness of the Sacramento summer. It’s part of Dermalogica’s Age Smart system.

So thank you, Planet Beauty, for introducing me to Dermalogica. The purpose of a swag bag has been fulfilled, and I’ll definitely be back for more.

 

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Mirror, Mirror: The common product in skin care that causes uncommon problems

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by Brenda Clevenger of Midlife Mona Lisa

 

Snow White didn’t wear Revlon, Maybelline, Lancome, or L’Oreal. She was a purist who made her own preservative-free cosmetics. Still, the Queen poisoned Snow White with lipstick with ten times the lead in it, even though Snow White tried to avoid such tragedies by reading labels and ingredients.

Not me. I used to use any makeup from Avon to Sephora; shampoos from Aveda to Suave; and lotions from Aveeno to Pacifica Coconut Crushed Pearl body butter, which put me in the hospital this February.

I was getting ready for a date to a partner yoga class that I had been looking forward to. Wanting to look extra nice, I decided to put some luminescent body butter on my neck and throat. I had only used this product in small quantities once in the past, placing just a dab on my cheekbones as a highlighter.

Within five minutes of applying the lotion on my neck, I couldn’t breathe and could barely see because of the swelling. With no time to spare, I had to drive myself to the nearest emergency room and based on the picture, I don’t know how I saw to get there.

Upon staggering in, I had only 2% lung capacity, a swollen face, throat, eyes, lids, rock bottom blood pressure and bright red skin–all the signs of a life threatening allergic reaction.

One month later, I had a similar allergic reaction to another lotion. Then I put two and two together and determined I’m deathly allergic to a toxic preservative that was in both the Pacific lotion and Sacred Earth massage cream. This preservative, Phenoxyethanol, is cheap and used widely in skincare and personal hygiene products, although it has been banned in Europe and in children’s products.

My makeup wakeup call has led me to not buying anything, or believing any product’s “all natural” marketing, until I know everything that’s in it and checking out the toxic risks. I find the following help me in doing that:

Today I buy most of my products through distributors or at Whole Foods or Green Acres because most are free of sulfates, fragrance, parabens, preservatives, and phthlates.

With four attacks under my belt this year alone, I understand the ongoing risks of products polluted with toxins that accumulate in our systems through the years. It is that which has pushed me from being mildly allergic into an epi-pen-carrying person with anaphylaxis.

It’s great look fantastic, but not at the expense of our health. If you notice your skin itching after you shower or put on freshly laundered clothing, check the labels on your soaps. Chances are they contain some chemicals that are irritating your skin. And the good news is you can actually save money by omitting many expensive brands and going organic or using carrier (Jojoba) and essential oils to moisturize your skin and face instead of $30 to $100 jars of cream sold by the cosmetic giants.

 

 

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You Asked: about a Skin Care Regimen

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in SkinCare,You Asked

Sue from Illinois wrote

“I am always trying new skincare products. I am never sure if they are really working well on my skin or not. I am turning 60 next month and would like to do all that I can to keep my skin looking good. Can anyone share a regimen that has worked well for them? 

Well, Sue, I too am an inveterate tryer of skin care products.  Promise me smoother skin, fewer wrinkles, a creamy complexion or a taut jawline and I’ll try any regimen–at least for a little while.  High or low, specialty or drug store–it doesn’t matter. I’ve done the weird patting application of that megabucks cream derived from algae and I’ve daubed on the multiple products of the exclusive Janet Sartin. I’ve tried some of the most storied skin care preps on the market and some of the cheapest. I consider myself an expert, and therefore what I’m about to say should have the weight of a skin care oracle:

The skin care regimen that is best is….

the one that works best for you.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know.  Cheap shot or advice or whatever.  But really, think about it: the skin on our faces is unique to each of us and is further uniquely impacted by the specific ecosystem in which we live.  The water I use to wash my face isn’t the same water you use.  When I lay me down to sleep at night, the pillow I bury my face in is worlds away from yours.  The sun and air, flora and fauna, the everything that my skin lives in is totally different from yours.  Add all that up together, and you can see why there isn’t one skin care regimen that works for everyone.

Here are three that I know about myself and from our Advisory Committee:

Erno Lazlo is the long-time favorite of Laurie. The Lazlo Ritual (yes, that’s what they call it) includes several products tailored to your “skin personality” that cleanse, exfoliate and stimulate circulation thus ensuring the “famous ‘Laszlo Glow’.” Not the least of this Ritual is the Lazlo 30 Splashes.  Behold:

Wendy, on the other hand, swears by Obagi, the creation of Beverly Hills Dr. Obagi. It has a number of product lines, aimed at a variety of skin situations and conditions. Wendy, who is 50+, uses the Nu-Derm System, which is “an anti-aging therapy that penetrates below the skin’s surface to transform skin cell functions at the cellular level and correct the damage within.”  Used regularly, my friend Wendy (who is not the Wendy in the video that follows) finds that the Obagi regimen helps with age spots, fine lines, rough skin, redness and hyperpigmentation.

I’ve used Obagi and I too can attest to it worth.  However, I always return to the regimen of Dr Patricia Wexler, a Manhattan physician who is an acknowledged expert in dermatology.  There are four parts to her regimen–cleanse, exfoliate, restore and moisturize–with the product lines aimed at different skin types.  I used the Normal/Combination line, which conveniently comes packaged in the Anti-Aging Essential Starter Kit and includes the Universal Cleanser, the MMPi20 Skin Regenerating Serum, Skin Brightening Moisurizer SPF30, Intensive Night Reversal & Repair Cream and Intensive 3-in-1 Eye Cream.

Why do I always return to Dr. Wexler’s products? Because of the way they make my skin look and feel.  There is a quality to the texture of my skin, a plumpness or fullness even, that I don’t get with any other skin care regimen.   If you asked Laurie or Wendy, they’d say the same thing: the regimen they use creates the best possible complexion they can have.

All of which is to say, there isn’t really any better test for whether or not a skin care product is working than your eyes and  the way your skin feels.  So, Sue, try away as much as you like; just pay attention to what you’re seeing in the mirror.  As with most things related to our physical selves, we have the wherewithal to be our own experts.

What skin care regimen do you use? Got any advice for us about it?

 

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Skin Care: An Update

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….or actually, a revision of parts of my post from last week.  Specifically, these parts:

I now have three different preparations which I apply religiously after I dry off: ((malin+goetz) Vitamin b6 body moisturizer, c.Booth Egyptian Argan Oil Body Butter, and Rite-Aid’s Renewal Dry-Touch Body Oil) . Do they help? Well, at the least they make me feel as if I’m taking some action. Does my skin look better? Than what? I suspect it looks better than someone who doesn’t slather themselves daily, but do my arms look as they did before they fell to the forces of intrinsic and extrinsic aging? Probably not.

The c.Booth Body Butter and Rite-Aid’s Renewal Dry-Touch Body Oil I have been using for three or four months now, so the verdict on them stands.  But the (Malin+Goetz) vitamin b6 body moisturizer–that was a brand-new to me product when I wrote the post.  Now, after just a week of using it, I must amend my verdict: I absolutely do notice a difference.  It’s not that my arms have returned to their former juicy smoothness.  What has disappeared, though, is a scaliness that, while not grotesque, is certainly not particularly appealing.  Perhaps scaliness might be the wrong word to use here; let’s say a unattractive dryness.

(Malin+Goetz) Apothecary and Lab is a New York-based business with the philosophy that “Less is more.”  Their natural-based formulas are aimed at resolving specific skincare problems by creating a perfect pH balance for women and men, head to toe.  Recently they opened a small shop on Larchmont in LA, and that’s where I found them.

The 7.5 oz tube of the vitamin b5 body moisturizer I bought gives a short treatise on its content, which, because I am an inveterate label reader, I am quoting here:

“Our oil-free, residue-free body moisturizer scientifically synthesizes natural vitamin B5 and soothing Bergamot extract with absorbent fatty acids and fatty alcohols.  Effectively hydrates and balances all skin types, unlike traditionally greasy, pore-clogging oils.  A nourishing treatment to reduce epidermal irritation.  Natural fragrance and color.”

Indeed.  And that natural fragrance–citrusy.  That’s the Bergamot, maybe?

I paid $38 for the tube, which is not cheap, but about average for boutique brands.  It’s quite concentrated and a little seems to go a long way.  In the end, though, the b5 body moisturizer does the job, which  the drugstore brands certainly do not.    If you’re not in NY or LA, (Malin+Goetz) has a thriving mail order business.  Check out their website for product details and an index of stores throughout North America that carry them.

What products do you use for body moisturizing?  Tell us what and why in the comments, please.

 

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MidLife Skin Care: Dealing with Age Spots and Collagen Loss

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Can we talk?  About skin?  I mean, really talk about skin?  Specifically–the skin on my arms.  When did the skin on my arms become such a spotty, wrinkly, chicken-foot scaley mess?

And why?  Did I not spend the past decades from age 18 to today slathering myself head to toe with body lotions? Did my skin not realize there was a purpose to my pampering it?  That I expected it to return the favor by not shriveling up on me at quite such an early age?  Ha!

http://fromyourdoctor.com

I think what’s happened is my melanocytes have gone crazy and my dermis has disintegrated.

Actually, what’s happened is the collagen in my skin has disappeared.  One source I read says we lose about 1% of our skin collagen every year starting at age twenty.  That’s called intrinsic aging, according to Suzan Obagi, assistant professor in dermatology at the University of Pittsburgh and director of the Cosmetic Surgery and Skin Health Center, who explains that when “collagen (which provides skin firmness), elastin (which supplies skin elasticity and rebound) and glycosaminoglycans or GAGs (which keep the skin hydrated)” start diminishing it leads to thinner, more fragile skin.  Then there’s extrinsic aging which results from environmental damage, and which accounts for the age spots, the freckles, the lesions, and the skin cancers!

Thank you so very much.

I now have three different preparations which I apply religiously after I dry off:  (Malin+Goetz Vitamin b6 body moisturizer, c.Booth Egyptian Argan Oil Body Butter, and Rite-Aid’s Renewal Dry-Touch Body Oil) .  Do they help?  Well, at the least they make me feel as if I’m taking some action.  Does my skin look better?  Than what?  I suspect it looks better than someone who doesn’t slather themselves daily, but do my arms look as they did before they fell to the forces of intrinsic and extrinsic aging?  Probably not.

Which leaves me with these thoughts:  what’s the problem with wrinkly, crepe-y arms?  Why when I lift my arm and see the skin shimmy down do I so quickly put my arm down?  It’s me and it’s my arm and don’t I have to own the dismay with which I view it? Yes, but I don’t think the dismay has as much to do with the idea that anything other than young, firm skin is ugly as it does with mortality.   I’m not pining for my formerly taut skin and I don’t reject my aging body.  I think I’m just shocked that it’s actually happened to me.

My generation thought we’d be young forever.  Really.  And now that we’re finding out the truth–well, that takes some getting used to. Seeing my skin look exactly like my mother’s did when she was no longer young brings me face to face with the fact that just as she died, so one day will I.  Not only will I not be young forever, I won’t live forever.  Wow.  Far out…..

 

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MidLife Skincare

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Photo credit: ca.shine.yahoo.com

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