Club X Acne

I hope you are  not bore down with all the techniciality of skincare I’ve posted for the pass 2 week or so. Even with so much information, I can assure you that it really just takes about 3 minutes twice a day to keep your skin clean and less prone to acne breakout. All you need to include is a weekly routine of exfoliating and mask.

For acne troubled skin a regular visit to your beauty therapist will optimized the result. For servere cases, I believe in working hand in hand with a dermotologist or skin doctor to hasten the healing process.

If your skin is breaking out and you seek the service of a beauty therapist, you may be required to a weekly visit for the first 3-5 treatments. This is to help you clear out whatever is already on the skin and to control new ones from emerging. The acne accumulated through months or even years could not be cleared in a mere hour in the salon.

After the initial treatment, acne skin benifits from a 3 weekly once cycle for maintainace for the following reasons;

1. Acne skin built up dead skin cells faster than other skin type.

2. A 3 week cycle allows the therapist to care for your face, especially if you are female, to attend to your face at different stage of your menstral cycle.

3.Just before menstration a calming treatment to prevent more outbreak during this period.

4.After menstration a clearing treatment is appropriate as the skin is less reactive during this period.

5.Repairs and rebuilding are done in the middle of the menstral cycle. This is the time when the skin absorb neutrient well.

6. This when done with proper advice on diet and daily routine skincare  will definately help improve your skin.

A good therapist should have a proper analysis of your skin and a clear plan of action tailored for you. Although it is possible after initial analysis to minister a acne treatment, it usually takes me about 3 treatment for me to fully understand the individual skin condition and the reaction of product on the skin. This help in deciding on the best treatment avialable to deliver the best result.

 No 2 person’s need is alike and therefore having a different therapist to attend to you everytime you visit the salon and have a cookie cutter treatment recommanded to you is not worth the risk or money.

After revisiting what I’ve written on proper cleansing, I realized that I’ve missed out on proper makeup removing and some important points on cleansing.

Firstly, after you have washed  your hand before foaming up the cleanser on your palm, spread it evenly on the face. With the pad of your fingers use circular upward movements to cleanse your face. Like I say let the cleanser do its job, not with your muscle.

Cleansing is best done in the shower as the moisture and the warm of the atmosphere help to dilate the pores for better cleansing.

When splashing the cleanser off, make sure you give attention to the hair line and the ears. Many times, blackheads and pimples are formed near the hair line because we are not careful in removing the cleansers properly.

When  shampooing your hair, make sure that you tilt your head backwards and rinse it off without having the shampoo flowing onto your face. Shampoo are mean to stripe off oil and dirt that is accumulated throughout the day. I’m sure we will not want all those bacteria and dirt that the shampoo carries with it to run down our face.

When choosing a cleanser, try to look for the pH of the cleanser that is at most 5.5 or lower. Since our skin is slightly acidic, anything that is higher then pH 5.5 runs the risk of destroying our face of its NMF. (natural moisturizing factor)

If you do wear makeup, make sure you choose a good eye makeup remover and a makeup remover.  Foaming cleansers alone will not be able to thoroughly remove the oil, wax, pigments and powder that are present in makeup. Start removing make up with a dry skin, wetting the skin before removing the stale make up will reduce the effectiveness of the makeup removers.

 Eye make up remover are more gentle and kind for the eye area, especially with water proof mascara and eye-shadows. When removing eye make up. Saturate a cotton pad for each eye, do not try to ‘rub’ the make up off, instead, just hold the cotton pad firmly but gently on the eye for around 30 seconds, then gently sweep downwards to remove all trace of eye makeup. I use eye makeup remover to remove my lipstick as well. Do this first before proceeding to remove make up on the face.

If you wear a full makeup. ( foundation, cover marks, face powder, eye shadows, mascara, cheek and lip colour and all the works.) First remove the eye and lip colour, then with finger pad  dissolve the makeup with the makeup remover, tissue off before splashing it off with water. Even though most make up remover now can be remove with just water, using tissue to wipe off the makeup before doing so makes the skin much cleaner. The proof is in the toner. When cleansing is not properly down, it will show when you sweep the toner across the face. The cotton pad saturated with toner will remove the last trace of makeup. If the first step is not done properly, see how much more you will need to remove when you tone your face, yaks.

Scalp acne can be quite common for individuals with oily acne skin. However other skin types are not spared of this agony either. Basically scalp acne is pustules that are form in the hair follicles that gets infected in no time and can become major problem in a very short spent of time. How do we best handle scalp acne?

You can treat scalp acne with the same acne products that you use for your face, however, many acne products that contain benzyol peroxide will bleach the hair and sometimes retard the growth of hair on which you apply on. Most acne products can be very drying for the scalp too. For that reason apply acne creams only on the acne spot with a cotton bud.

Before any treatment can be effective, hygiene and cleanliness is very important to lessen  recurring scalp acne. Choose a mild frequent wash shampoo and shampoo daily. If hair condition is needed, make sure that it is only applied to the hair end, avoid getting hair conditioners on the hair root or messaging it into the scalp. Apply acne treatment cream only after scalp is thoroughly cleansed.

For severe cases of scalp acne, do consult your family doctor. Various medications prescribe to help scalp acne conditions are oral antibiotics, mild topical steroids and topical antibiotics.

Medicated mask are most commonly used for oily acne skin. They comes in forms of clay mask, gel mask, cream mask, peel - off mask, individually wrapped paper mask, individual crystal gel mask, powdered mask with activator lotion and many more. With so many choices, how should one with acne skin problem choose one that is right for their skin?

For oily and acne skin that is very sensitive due to either inflammation or thinning of the skin, paper or gel mask will be a better alternative then clay mask or peel off mask. Treat your skin as sensitive skin. Many products that deals with acne problem unfortunately will usually make the skin rather dehydrated and sensitive. A mask is a good way to re-balance the skin.

Clay mask , peel - off mask and powder mask with activator is best for oily skin with black heads and white heads. Some of the peel - off mask in the market can actually get rid of blackheads as you peel it off. Be careful not to used this kind too often as it will loosen your muscle tone and make your skin rather sensitive. I’ve seen some individuals who is so obsessed with using this kind of stripping mask so often that they no only end up with sensitive skin, but with the constant damage of the skin, causes pigmentation, thus, developing a new set of skin problem???

What is the proper way of using mask? Generally most mask is advice to be put on after cleansing and exfoliating. Many ask if one should tone the face first before masking or to tone after masking? For oily acne skin, my advice would be after. Reason, most acne skin mask is deep cleansing, it is mean to clean out the pores and to calm the skin. Most toner or astringent is to temporally ‘close’ the pores, so, logically it should be used after masking.

Most manufacturer of mask will advice to have the mask on for 20 minutes to 30 minutes with a rear few that is design for overnight use. It is good that you rest while the mask is on, resting help in better absorption of the active ingredients. Therefore, never put on the mask and start doing housework or go back to your computer. Remember, you can’t expect to get the best result when your body is multi-tasking. So how long can you leave the mask on the face, what happen if you fell asleep with the mask on?

Understand that when the mask is on the face, it forms a barrier from the outside environment. This will prevent any invasion of bacteria or even the exchange of gases. This helps the skin to ‘preserve’ time and for better absorption. Now, if the mask is left too long on the skin, it will actually suffocate the skin. This is why, the maximum time you can leave a mask on the face should not exceed an hour. So, if you are that tired and need to rest with a mask on, adjust your alarm clock.

Dark circles, eye bags and wrinkles are most commonly caused by lack of sleep in addition to ageing, hereditary, fatigue, allergies, sun exposure and stress can darken the pigments around the eye area. Many studies have shown that smoking and drinking too much alcohol, coffee, soda and other highly- caffeinated beverages will also worsen dark circles on the eye area.

In addition to the above mentioned, while treating  acne problems, the product used may have cause the facial skin to be dehydrated. Therefore choosing a correct eye product is important to prevent dryness and pre-mature aging.

Eye care products are the most popular cosmetic used to reduce dark eye-circles. They provide moisturizing nutrients to the delicate skin around the eyes. Because this skin is so thin, it absorbs eye care products rapidly, usually, stimulating blood circulation underneath the skin surface.

However, some creams may be too rich for oily acne skin causing milia seeds will form under the eye. When searching for eye care product, oily and acne skin benefits from really light lotion base or gel base product. Eye care that is rich in active ingredients and not in oil to help fight against dark eye circles, eye bags and wrinkles. That’s why you need to do a little bit of research before investing in a good and effective eye product for your needs.

Not forgetting that lifestyle and diet plays an important role when it comes to maintaining the eye and your body, so I urge you to carefully examine what changes  you can make to help your body heal itself with proper diet and lifestyle.

Some of the workshop attendees ask if cucumber and tea-bags really help to relieve puffiness of the eye.  Sure, if you don’t mind the mess. Two used teabags, especially green tea, kept in the fridge, will help to sooth tired puffy and “fiery” eyes (too much Computer). Fresh cucumber grated to obtain the juice, soaked two cotton pads in the juice and place on the eye is a great relive too. Cutting 2 slice of cucumber placed on the eye like what you see on shows don’t work.

Grated potato put on top of 2 facial cotton pads and leave on the eye while you mask your face is a good way to relieve dark circle as the potassium in the potato will help to lighten the skin and calm the eye.

While I believe that natural remedy has its effectiveness in skincare,  fruits or vegetables that is not freshly cut should not be use on the skin, only really fresh fruits and vegetables are recommended on your skin, as bacteria multiply  in a very short time and will thus do more harm then good for your skin.