Club X Acne

As I am trying to write about “how to exfoliate your Skin”, I stumble upon this video that explain it rather well for every different type of exfoliate.

Bear in mind though that chemical peeling is to be handled only by the “experts” Generally, any chemical peeling for commercial used has a pH of 3.5. Beauty Salon is allow to handle up to pH2.5. Anything lower then that is handled only by dermatologist.

By far chemical peeling is one of the most effective exfoliate. It is able to remove acne scars, pigmentation, fine lines and boosts the production of collagen. There is also many different type of chemical peels. Lactic acid for dehydrated skin, glycolic for anti-aging, salicylic for oily skin and enzymatic for sensitive skin and many more. Sometimes they are combined to give better results.

How To Exfoliate Your Face

The last step of daily skin care is to moisturized. So. do oily and acne skin need moisturizer ?

Moisturizer is to prevent lose of moisture and to replenish lost moisture to the skin. Oily skin need moisturizer as oily acne skin tend to be dehydrated. Your skin’s oil is not the same as the hydration level of the skin. Can you water your plants with oil ? So, you can’t expect your skin oil to ‘moisturize’ the skin.  Since the skin tend to loose moisture through eveporation, hydration is needed to keep the skin moist.       

For oily skin, be sure to choose a moisturizer that’s oil-free and non-comedogenic. A moisturizer for oily acne skin should also contain anti bacteria property to protect oily skin against any micro - organism. Gel or lotion are better choice them creams. Cream usually add too much of a good thing to oily skin and weigh it down. What you need is hydration not lubricant.  

Hydrated skin will feel much better. Skin that is oily but feels ‘dry’ is tight and uncomfortable. Dried out oily skin can become irritated and blotchy. Being irritated, tendency to scratch it or soothe the skin with your hand is inevitable which in turn make skin more prone to beakout into more acne. So, having well hydrated skin actually help to keep acne at bay.
 

As individuals are experiencing ever increasing demands on their time, many have opted out of using a toner in their daily skin care regime and only use cleansing and moisturising as the key steps to keeping their skin looking healthy, vibrant and young.

You can even find products in the market that says 2-in-one cleanser and toner!!!! Lets take a look at the function of toner and see if toner is necessary part of a skin care regiment.

While cleanser cleanses the skin thoroughly, it leaves behind residue that needs to be taken off with toner. The water we use to cleanse the face contains chlorine, florides and minerals that makes the water “hard”, while cleaning the face, the pH of the skin is being altered and the acid mantle of the skin destroyed.

The acid mantle, which forms the natural protection produce by the skin with the combination of sweat and oil, will take anything from 20 to 30 minutes to produce.

While cleansers soften the skin and cleanses the pore, it causes the pores to “open”. The job of the toner is to balance back the pH of the skin, clean away the last trace of cleanser and to “close” the pores.( tones the skin, so the pores appears smaller) . In addition, good quality toners are anti-septic and provides moisture and nutrients to the skin, preparing the skin for better absorption of the moisturizer.

So, even if you can wait 30 mins after cleansing to put your makeup on every morning, the residue of the cleanser, the chlorine and minerals in the water and the benefit of having a more supple and more refine skin in years to come will be reasons enough not to skip using toner  as part of your skin care regiment.

Looking at the differed function of the cleanser and the toner, can we used a cleanser which is to ‘open’ and cleanse the pores help to tone the skin at the same time ? I think you can be a better judge for yourself.

The next question is, how do you use a cleanser ? Do you pat or do you swipe? Personally, I think swipe is a more effective way as we are removing the last Trace of cleanser and traces of makeup the cleanser misses. However, if you are having inflamed acne skin, patting maybe better so as not to irritate the skin further.

Another use of toner is a “cheat” cleansing in-between. Sometimes during mid-day or after some activity, when your skin needs a pick-me -up, just swipe toner over the face. It is not recommended to cleanse your face more then twice a day unless absolutely necessary.

I don’t waste my stuff. After toning, I’ll always use the left over toner on my arms. You will  notice a significant improvement in skin texture after adoptiong this habit for a short period of time.

One of the question raised during the Acne workshop how to choose a cleanser for oily acne skin and proper cleansing.

The best cleanser for oily acne skin now is foamy gel cleanser that contains a good quality tea tree oil with salicylic acid.

Tea tree oil ( Melaleuca alternifolia ) is active against all 3 varieties of infectious organism: Bacteria, fungi and Viruses.

When compare to standard antibiotic and antiseptics, bacteria find it extremely difficult to develop resistance to it. In contrast to iodine and hydrogen peroxide, tea tree oil does not harm human tissue. It kills germs upon application and prevents their growth for several days.

Applied to acne skin, it sanitize the area, reduces swelling and is antiseptic. Its penetrating action soothes the acne and kills bacteria on contact making it the ideal essential oil for acne prone skin.

Salicylic acid is a beta hydroxy acid with many positive effect on acne prone skin. It is extracted from the white willow tree bark which is the same active ingredient in aspirin.

In cosmetics it is used for its antiseptic properties as well as a preservative and is a great help for cleaning and clearing the pores. Salicylic acid is an effective exfoliate but has good anti-inflammatory and anti-irritant properties. It improves skin thickness and helps promotes collagen production. Due to its anti-microbial properties, it also help treats acne.

The combination of tree tree oil and salicylic acid for treating acne is till date the best bet to keep acne at bay.

To cleanse the face with foamy gel cleanser, first cleanse your hand with a anti bacteria hand-wash. if you use your facial cleanser before using a hand-wash, you’ll be using an expensive hand-wash and killing the bacteria on your hand first making it less effective when cleansing your face.

Wet your face, than foam up the cleanser between your palm first before cleansing your face, the foam helps to suffocate the bacteria and germs on the skin surface. Never never never rub your face too hard, gently wash face with circular movement. Let the active ingredient in the cleanser do the job. Splash off with cool water 25 - 30 times (do not use warm or hot water). This step should only take one minute all in all.

This is the answer to Siang Yong’s question.

Whenever you don’t have enough sleep, do some of this signs starts to show up in your body….. bad breath, breakouts, skin looks dull, hair dull and oily, digestions affected, difficulty in concentration etc.

Why do you think the body reacts that way?? It is because your energy is channeled into coping with more important task like the basic functions of extra energy needed to keep u awake and helping you to face the day. Depleted of the energy due to deprived sleep, there isn’t enough to maintain your skin, your system become sluggish and you know what…. skin will be the first place to show signs of lack of sleep.

1. The skin handles a quarter of your total body’s waste by ways of sweat, helping the liver, kidney and intestine to excrete waste product and excess salt from the body.

2. It also prevents excessive loss of water from the body and protect us from the sun’s UV rays.

3. The skin regulates our body temperature. Considerable heat is lost through the skin. Even under extreme conditions of high temperature and exercise, our skin tends to make body temperature normal. The production  of sweat in the skin cools us down when exposed to too much heat, this is necessary to maintain a core temperature for homeostasis.

4. It acts as a mechanical barrier to infections.  It ultimately prevents microorganisms and other substances from entering the body.

5. Skin synthesizes the use of Vitamin D in the presence of sunlight and ultra violet radiation needed for the absorption of calcium and phosphate.

6. Skin provides the sense of touch or sensation we need to know more about our outside environment through recognizing heat, cold, pain and other sensations.  Nerve endings of the skin provide the body with a great deal of information about the outside environment.

Handling so many vital function of the body, shouldn’t you take better care of the skin by giving it ample rest then to over stress it with lack of sleep?

If your lack of sleep is only occasionally, it will not take its toll on the skin. However if it is a daily affair, I strongly suggest you start cultivating a good sleep pattern. No 2 person is alike when it comes to how much sleep a person need. The general rule is 7-8 hrs of sleep.

Some people go to the extend of sleeping on weekends to compensate for the lack of sleep  on the week days… bad news, no amount of compensation can recover lost time and the damage done. In-fact, if you sleep longer than say 12 hours, do you find yourself waking up just as tired? Huh…… while you are sleeping, your breathing is much shallower, less oxygen is taken into your body,therefore, longer sleep depletes your body of oxygen.

I hope that the information is enough for you to understand the skin better and not to take it for granted. Make a change, have enough sleep. It is not just the skin that is affected, our body is a whole system connected in every way, if one part is out of balance it affect the whole being…..mind, body and spirit.