I am back!

Hi Everyone! Thanks for still following my blog even though I have disappered for such a long time! I owe an explanation as to why I was absent for such a long time. I was busy with many projects, mostly volunteer work, family and business issues.

The main thing that kept me busy was a local breast cancer fundraising project which literally took over my life. In the end it was very successful and worth the terrible stress and all the work. I also got involved into other charity projects.

At the fundraising event. I am on the right.
Check out my hair :-) This is a new look for me.
I pulled it all up into a tight classical knot
Sorry, this is the best pic I have.
In addition, I was working intensely on setting up and editing local women’s association’s website, blog and other internet accounts. It is an amazing feeling to do volunteer work - I feel it is fulfilling and very rewarding even though no money is involved. It's been a very busy, often hectic time... I discovered how hard it is to balance motherhood with social life, business and volunteer work. I have to say I did not find a way to juggle all of these responsibilities and commitments without a huge toll on my health. This is another reason I was absent for such along time.

I am still involved into volunteer work but I am ready to return to blogging. However from now on you may notice that the style of my blogposts will change and I will expand the “repertoire”. I will still post about beauty, skin care and I will review products but maybe not in such scrupulous detail as before. I would also like to talk about beauty from another point of view – I have been thinking a lot lately about beauty as a concept in the society, all the various contradictions and issues associated with it.

Beauty Talk: Skin Care By Age: 20s - Laying The Foundation

Just as everything in our life skin care should be age appropriate. Skin needs differ at various stages of our life. In your twenties it is mostly about prevention measures and controlling breakouts, in your 30s it is often about sensitivity, in forties, you deal with lines, sun spots, skin dullness and in 50s you face loss of firmness. I have researched skin care and skin issues by age before but decided to revisit this subject to remind myself some things I should be doing now and what I should look out for in the future.

Let’s start with the 20s. Here is when you can lay a great foundation for your skin’s beauty and health. You don’t have to do much nor invest a lot into skin care. Just follow a regular skin care routine correct for your skin type, i.e. cleanse and moisturize daily, exfoliate as often as advisable for your skin type. Don’t forget to protect your skin from the destroying UV rays. You will be so glad when you are in your late 40s and you don’t have any sun spots unlike your sun damage oblivious friends of the same age.
Here are a couple more tips:
• Get into good beauty habits from early on

Wear sunscreen protecting your skin from UVA and UVB
• Though temptation is great, do not use solariums : nice sun tan for a month comes alongside prematurely aged (i.e wrinkled) skin.
• Do not sleep in your makeup no matter how wild and late the night is.
• Drink plenty of water, keep to a healthy diet, and please, exercise – staying fit has done so much good for my skin!
• Do not overuse or abuse skin care products, use products appropriate for your age – you don’t want to start intensive anti-aging treatments now – what will you do when you are in your 50s?
• When fighting acne, do not be too aggressive on your skin. Too much cleansing and peelings will only aggravate the problem
• And one last thing: Trust me, you look GREAT! (even with a couple pimples!) Enjoy your young firm skin and fresh bright complexion!

To be continued...

The Blonde is Back

Big news! My natural-looking-highlighted-hair days are over… I went blonde again! Just couldn’t stand looking at myself in the mirror any more… One day I just felt bursting with deisre to have lighter… brighter… blonder hair… So what do I do? I just call up local (quite prestigious and expensive) salon and make an appointment to dye my hair. Why didn’t I go to my usual hairdresser? The answer is because I was wondering “what’s out there” and if “I am missing out on something” … So I come to that well-known salon and say that I want to go a couple shades lighter, I don’t need to have it extremely white but PLEASE, no yellow or orangey color. No, of course not! In an hour I am staring at my yellowish head of hair. So I say: “It’s yellow and I specifically asked you to please do something so that it’s not yellow” (Well, I say it more diplomatically of course.) 30 minutes later I am staring at my bluish hair… (Damn!) It will come out in 2 washes I am told, and after paying (I had to pay for that!!) off I go hoping the blue color is not too obvious.

In a couple weeks the orangey hair is back and I am dialing my hairdresser to get an appointment. I lie to her saying that I decided to go blonde but could not reach her… sigh… Have you ever lied to your hairdresser? Not so easy if you have her mobile and her home numbers…

Even though I am stuck now dying my roots, dealing with the orangey pigment and my husband’s constant inquiries as to why I go to hairdresser’s every couple weeks, I still don’t regret becoming blonde again. Good to be back! Blonde rules! *wink*

Beauty Talk: How to Get Cute Flat Tummy After Pregnancy

In this post I am continuing to discuss skin care and beauty during and after pregnancy. I have already blogged about my experience with stretch marks and stretch mark creams. Now I want to share my thoughts about one thing that, in my opinion, played a huge role in my postpartum recovery. This important thing is a postpartum girdle! Postpartum girdles are a bit of a controversial topic as there is no direct scientific evidence that it benefits skin and muscle recovery. Most women don’t even think about using a postpartum girdle after they deliver and most of them don’t unless their OBGYN advises. In my case it was my husband who brought it to my attention. In fact, he did a small research online and found out how beneficial postpartum girdles are for abdominal recovery. The beneficial effect of postpartum girdle may be similar to that of a compression bandage or garment which helps to reduce post surgical swelling (edema) and this helps the body to heal faster. A postpartum girdle may also help to bring together stretched abdominal muscles. I got my girdle among other presents under a Christmas tree. It worked great for me. I started wearing my girdle the next day after the delivery. In fact, my OB/GYN put it on me the first time. I would make sure it was as tight as it was when my OB/GYN put it on and I wore it day and night. In a couple of days I could already see the effect – my skin looked tighter and my tummy flatter. I started wearing my pre-pregnancy clothes in 3-4 week after delivery. I wore the postpartum girdle for about a month.


I have to say that I did do some other things that could have helped the recovery. For example I started light exercise routine in about 10 days after delivery, I breastfed and had a very healthy diet because my boy was colicky all the time. I also used moisturizer regularly. However I still believe that my successful recovery was mainly due to the postpartum girdle. In fact we were so impressed with the results that we decided to create a website about postpartum girdles to share our knowledge here at Belly Bands website.

Beauty Talk: Cellulite Treatments (Continued)

Celulite Treatments continued... see previous post here

Exercise: Any form of exercise makes skin tighter, firmer and cellulite less apparent.

*Water (Aqua) Aerobics does not only make you fit but also seems to firm up your skin and provide a toned lifting effect. This effect could be due to the water massaging your skin during exercise. Tried myself!

*Pilates, in particular, prevents fluid build up, creates longer leaner muscles.

*Hypoxi Training
This is something like a combination of an exercise bike and a vacuum machine As you pedal, machine around your hips and thigh area sucks and releases air increasing both blood supply and circulation. As a result it claims to help to breakdown fatty deposits in the problem areas, tone up skin and make cellulite less noticeable. Curious? Take a look at Hypoxi traning site for more info

Camouflage: Use a self-tanner for a bronzed look. Cellulite is less noticeable on darker skin.

In-Office Treatments:
Fillers- injecting hyaluronic acid based Restylane into cellulite affected areas helps to plump up skin and make it look smoother The effect can last up to 6 months.

Lasers: Nowadays a number of special laser treatments are available to treat cellulite. They help to melt fat and to stimulate collagen which results in reduced volume and tightened skin.

Beauty Talk: Cellulite Treatments

Before reading this post you may want to read about cellulite and its causes in my previous post. So now let's bring out the weapon! What Cellulite Treatments are out there to help us?

The bad news is that some dermatologists say that there is no treatment for cellulite. Ok... ok! You cannot treat it completely but you can at least improve condition and the overall look of your skin. Let’s see how we can get those thighs smooth!

Topical Treatments:

* Retinol: retinol containing creams stimulate collagen and strengthens skin so that cellulite is much less apparent.

* Caffeine: helps to temporarily smooth skin by reducing water retention. Cellulite patches with caffeine are great! Tried myself and can recommend. I liked Nivea's Good-Bye Cellulite Patches. The effect on my lower stomach was as if I lost some weight overnight.

* Heat and Hydration: Take a hot bath with hydrating oils: heat increases blood flow and hydration plumps up skin so it looks smoother.

* Exfoliation: Exfoliation not only gets rid of dry skin and stimulates circulation, it also improves penetration of topical anti-cellulite treatments.

Deep Massage: Massage stimulates blood flow to the skin surface and lymph circulation, this again improves the overall condition of your skin, helps it to detoxify and makes it healthier and smoother. The same effect can be achieved with Endermology – a machine that rolls and sucks skin.

To be continued...

Beauty Talk: Cellulite - Identifying the Enemy!

The first days of spring are here and though it’s still quite long before we bare it all on the beach, it is time to take action to make sure that what we bare is smooth and toned. So I thought it would be good to take a closer look at the cellulite issue. Are you familiar with the orange peel syndrome or as it’s also called cottage cheese skin? For several years I thought I had cellulite but I was one of the many women who see problem where there is none. But this year I do have a slight problem! After giving birth my body changed and now I can definitely see some dimples on my thighs. Time to take measures.

Identifying the Enemy: what is cellulite?

It is a cosmetic condition where the skin becomes dimpled due to the fat forming and “bulging” near the skin surface. Cellulite rarely occurs in males, mostly we, women, are blessed with this condition. In fact it is very common and as many as 90% of women develop cellulite after their puberty!


Focus On The Problem: Cellulite Causes

Causes of cellulite are not completely clear. It definitely has something to do with hormones, genes and metabolism. Estrogen seems to be the “culprit” initiating and aggravating cellulite.

Here comes sort of good news: diet doesn’t seem to have any influence on developing cellulite. Anybody can have this problem: thin, medium and heavy gals, all can get cottage cheese skin. Such factors as lymphatic and circulatory insufficiency, distribution of fat and some other factors out of our controll, such as race for example, are linked to development of cellulite.

Coming soon: Pull Out The Weapon: Cellulite Treatments!

Beauty Talk: Flipside of Retinoids

Image: www.marieclaire.com
After the post I made on Retinoids’ use in skin treatments some time ago I came across an article in Marie Claire Magazine covering pros and cons of this well-known anti-aging treatment. I had to make a follow up post and talk about the flipside to Retinoids.

According to some skin experts, Retinoids can actually be damaging to the skin. First of all Retinoids can cause inflammation which in the long run can result in more damage as compared to the beneficial effect on wrinkles. As we all well know, inflammation actually accelerates aging.

Retinoids are also believed to thin the skin and make it “lose it’s cushion”.

Finally, overuse or misuse of retinoids can lead to chronic skin irritation, dryness and other problems, leaving your skin in a worse state than before the treatment.

However, the experts quoted in this article didn’t give clear explanations supporting their anti-retinoids statements. For example, I am not sure why using retinoids leads to skin “losing its cushion”. So, in the end, we all should just keep in mind that though there is a negative opinion about retinoids, the jury is still out on this popular anti-aging treatment till we get more information.

Beauty Talk: What You Can Do For Your Skin in Autumn

With October upon us sunny days are becoming a thing of the past and colder gloomier weeks are waiting ahead. But don’t be sad. No more sun means good for your skin! And autumn is a good time to pay some special attention to it. First of all your skin needs some help to recover from the sunny summer months. Not only did it get a dose of aging UV rays, hot sunny weather may also have caused some dehydration, broken capillaries, loss of firmness… these are actually all symptoms of sun-damage. What can you do to help your skin out?
1.Exfoliate.
Do it at home with a special kit available from many brands (for example, Lancome), or use professional help. Many cosmetologists recommend to wait until October to take a series of professional peeling procedures. In October the sun becomes mild enough not to cause any damage to the freshly revealed skin layer.

2.Intensify your moisturizing efforts!
During the hot, sunny summer months your skin looses a lot of moisture. Dehydration is one of the reasons why it looks so dull and you can see new lines.
3.Add an intensive product into your skin care routine
Cosmetologists recommend, starting from your late 20s-early 30s, to include into your daily routine an intensive skin treatment once or twice a year for 1-3 months. The length and intervals between the treatments depend on your age and skin condition.
4. Give your skin an At-Home Intensive Beauty Treatment
Do a series of mini at-home facials.2-3 times a week apply a mask: once or twice choose a moisturizing mask, once – an antioxidant, anti-aging or energizing one. Here is a quick tip: Before applying a mask cleanse your face or use an exfoliator to prepare your skin for the treatment. To increase the potency of the mask you can treat your face to a steam bath. Put some hot water in a bowl, cleanse your face and sit over the bowl. Cover yourself with a towel to keep the steam in. You can also add a green tea bag into the water for additional antioxidant effect or a chamomile tea bag for soothing effect. A steam bath will open up the pores and help to cleanse them of the accumulated sebum and dirt. It will also moisturize, soften the skin and stimulate blood circulation (that is why if you are prone to broken vessels in the face you should skip this step). After the steam bath follow all the other steps of the facial: exfoliate and apply a mask.

Beauty Talk: Stretch Marks - Personal Experience

As you may know from my previous posts, I have recently become a mom. Having just gone through 9 months of pregnancy I have very close and personal thoughts about stretch marks.

Let me start by saying that starting off pregnancy at the weight of 48 kg, I was sure, I was in for a belly full of stretch marks. I was terrified at the thought of getting those terrible scar-like stretch marks and sagging skin after delivery. So I decided to do my best to prevent and treat them. After some research I decided to choose Clarins Stretch Mark Control as my preventative product.

Either I was lucky or Stretch Mark Control does work! I am happy to announce that I have no stretch marks!


So let me tell you what exactly I did.

I applied Stretch Mark Control starting from the 2nd -3rd month. I started with once a day application. At the 4th month I applied it 2 times a day plus another (less expensive) product once a day. One tube of Clarins lasted me only 1.5 months and I was using it mostly on my tummy. So get ready to shed some money on stretch marks prevention.

I also made sure to do my exercises till the last days of prego. Remember, exercising is very important for skin’s elasticity. I was wearing supporting girdle all the time starting around month 4. This helped to avoid additional stress on the skin. And of course I did my best to eat healthy so that not to gain too much weight. No, it was not a perfect diet and yes, I did enjoy sweets and other fattening stuff… But I did my best to pace myself. Despite this I did gain 15kg instead of recommended 12 kg.

In one of my next posts I will review in more detail Clarins Stretch Mark Control.

Beauty Talk: What Can Botox Do For You

Since Botox first hit the stage in 1989, it has gone through numerous reinventions. Started as an ophthalmologic treatment it was discovered to be effective against facial wrinkles and in 2002 was welcomed by FDA to the US market. Since then it has become US most popular cosmetic treatment. And it's wildly popular not only in the US but around the world. Botox applications grow with each and every year and currently there are more than 90 uses for this drug only 5 of which are approved in the USA and 16 in other countries. So here are some examples of what Botox treatment can do for you nowadays.

Get wider eye
By injecting a minuscule amount of Botox in the center of the lower lash line docs can create effect of a widening of the eye and give it a more almond shape.

Create a nicer nose
To lift up a tip of the nose without a plastic surgery, doctors inject Botox into the bottom of the septum. If you already have and upturned nose and want it to slope downward it is possible to achieve by injecting Botox into the nostrils. The difference measures in raising or lowering the nose tip by 3 millimiters.

Better (not Wider) smile
Botox makes it possible to fix the horse-teeth smile- the type of smile when your upper lip pulls up too high. A total of 5 strategically calculated injections around the upper lip will solve the problem. This procedure requires lots of experience. Inject in the wrong place and you will get flat lip or asymmetrical mouth.

Treat acne and smooth out skin
Botox can be used to reduce acne by shrinking pores. It is injected superficially without affecting the muscle to paralyze the oil-producing sebaceous glands. Treatment can provide up to 50-75% reduction in pore size.

Give you perky breasts
Botox can give you results comparable to surgical quality in lifting up your bust. To achieve the result, the drug is injected below the sternum to underneath of each breast. However, be warned, results are extremely unpredictable. Some procedures show none at all.

Delete cleavage crinkle
To treat the deep V on the chest caused by the weight of the breasts and sun damage, doctors use a combination of laser and botox treatment. This is a complicated procedure, so stick to an experts with breast experience.

Alleviate migraine headaches
Injecting Botox into the back or sides of the head, forehead or brow area proved effective to relieve migranes.

Plump Up Lips
A pouty lip can me achieved with just one injection of botox under the bottom lip.

Wipe away sadness
You know how with age corners of the mouth tend to turn down. Botox can help with that. Injected into the corners of the mouth it help to slightly turn them up.

This is not the end of the list. Other effects achievable with Botox include relaxing bands in neck, treating muscle spasms and eye twitching, smoothing dimpled chin etc. Just remember, if you decide to use Botox for any of the reasons mentioned above, make sure to find an experienced certified specialist!

Beauty Talk: What Retinoids Can Do For Your Skin

Retinoids, a form of Vitamin A, are used in more and more skin care products to address various skin issues. How do they work? Retinoids interact with retinoic acid receptors in skin cells. This way they can affect such processes as cell growth and turnover, synthesis of proteins including collagen and elastin etc.

So what can retinoid do for your skin?

Eliminate wrinkles:
Up till now retionoids are admittedly the only topical treatment that shows dramatic improvements in treating wrinkles. But retionoids work miracles on not very deep lines. To erase or minimize deeper wrinkles you will need some help from fillers.

Even out skin texture:
With years skin thickens and develops rough dead areas. Retinol can help you to smooth out your stratum corneum – skin’s outer layer.

Treat dark circles:
Retionoids stimulate collagen production and help to thicken skin over blood vessels. This way they can minimize appearance of dark circles.

Diminish dullness:
With age skin cells turnover slows down resulting in loss of healthy skin color and glow. Speed it up with retinol treatment and get your glow back!

Fight Blackheads and Whiteheads:
By helping to remove dead skin cells retinols will help to clear up your complexion.

Minimize pores:
Retinoids can help to reduce oil and clean out pores.

Don't forget that retinoids increase sun sensitivity and can have some side-effects such as redness, dryness, itching, and burning.

Beauty Talk: Stretch Marks - Treatment

If you already have stretch marks, the good news is they are treatable. The bad news is they do not disappear completely.

Stretch marks need to be treated while they are still fresh and red in color. This means taking measures during first few weeks or months of their occurance. If stretch marks are not fresh, already turned white or silver, and if they went very deep into dermis, no treatment will remove them completely. However, you can still minimize their unsighty appearance and at least fade them.

To treat stretchmarks at home, use topical products containing ingredients that stimulate collagen production and thicken skin. Several ingredients to look for include retinoids (should not be used by pregnant women!), Vitamin C and glycolic acids.

A couple examples of the products that can help against existing stretch marks include
ProCyte Striae Stretch Mark Crème
Stri-Vectin Intensive Concentrate for Existing Stretch Marks
Triderma MD’s Scar Reliever
Lierac Gamme Phytolastil Anti-Stretch Mark Solution
RoC Retinol Anti-Stretch Mark Serum.

Professional treatments availbale at the doctor office are lasers like the Pulse Dye and Nd. They can thicken the skin and take away redness. But get ready, it will hurt your wallet. The cost can range from $250 to 500 per treatment. Note, the use of a pulsed dye laser was shown to increase pigmentation in darker skinned individuals with repeated treatments. CO2 resurfacing lasers are also used to treat old stretch marks and can blend them in. The price tag is higher and is $900-3’000 per treatment.
Another treatment reducing visibility of stretch marks to consider is Dermabrasion. This treatment will be most effective if the scar is raised above the skin’s surface.

You did everything possible but the stretch marks are still visible? Camouflage them! Best way to make stretch marks a secret is a self-tanner. There is also special makeup developed to cover tattoos and port-wine stains. Check out Smart Cover Makeup Line, Tattoo Camo, Joe Blasco's Tattoo Covers etc.

Beauty Talk: Stretch marks

Stretch mark is kind of a scar. It is formed through tearing of the dermis. Most of us have some kind of stretch marks, either from spurts of growth in puberty, gaining and losing weight, or pregnancy.

How do they happen? Experts say that stretch marks are actually caused not only by physical stretching of the skin but also by hormonal changes in the body. Stretch marks happen as deep as the dermis, the middle layer of the skin. They are caused by glucocorticoid hormones that disrupt normal way of forming of collagen and elastin resulting in less flexible skin and subsequently in dermal and epidermal tearing


Where do they happen?
Common places for stretch marks to occur include:
abdomen
breasts
upper arms
underarms
thighs
hips
buttocks.

Is it possible to prevent stretch marks? There is no enough scientific evidence in support of the fact that creams and lotions help to prevent streetch marks. However there are reassuring results in some studies that show that during pregnancy, for example, fewer streetch marks occur if you use a treatment versus no treatment at all.

To prevent stretchmakrs apply specially developed products that mosturize skin, make it more elastic and contain such ingredients for example as cocoa butter and Vitamin E. Some examples of such products include:
Carol’s Daughter Sexy Belly
Burt’s Bees Mama Bee Belly Butter
Clarins Stretch Mark Control
Revitol Stretch Mark Cream
Decleor Perfect Sculpt Stretch Mark Restructuring Gel-Cream
RoC Maternity Anti-Stretch Mark Oil
Vichy Complete Action Anti-Stretch Mark Cream

Already have stretch marks and want to know how you can treat them? Read about various treatments available in my next post. In my future posts I will aslo share my personal experience with stretch marks during pregnancy.

Beauty Talk: Exfoliation - Part IV- How often should we exfoliate?

In our search for beauty we often forget that skin is a very complicated live organ and is not there to just please the eye. You may think exfoliation is beneficial for your skin and there can’t be too much of a good thing! But be careful: over-exfoliation and aggressive peeling, a strong recent trend among women, can lead to several very negative side-effects. Let’s remember that epidermis – the outer layer of skin - serves to protect the underlying layers and human organism on the whole from microbes and bacteria. It also helps to maintain balanced hydration and function of the skin as an organ. By aggressive exfoliation you can damage epidermis and make your skin vulnerable to invaders. This in its turn can trigger “inflammatory response” in the skin. Damaged epidermis will also cause increased transdermal water loss and result in dehydrated dry skin. In addition, your skin may respond to intensive exfoliation as to an injury and start producing more oil which will result in acne.

That’s why use this beauty treatment wisely. Follow experts’ recommendations to exfoliate 1-3 times a week depending on your skin type. Up to 3 times for oily and normal skin types and definitely, no more than one time for dry and sensitive skin.

Related Posts:
Beauty Talk: Exfoliation - Part II - Mechanical Exfoliation
Beauty Talk: Exfoliation - Part I - Skin Exfoliation
Beauty Review: YSL Exfoliating Lip Balm
Beauty Review: Sisley Buff and Wash Gel
Beauty Review: Caress Evenly Gorgeous

Beauty Talk: Educate Your Kids About Sun Damage

Previously I posted about sun damage and increased chance of cancer if you start abusing sun and solariums early on. I have to say I am so happy my family did not have enough money to go on vacations when I was little. Thanks God! I had only one chance to turn my fair skin into the color of dark chocolate. I shudder when I look at the photos – my smile has never been so shiny white!
You are responsible for your kids - don’t let them get sun damage.
1. Start with protecting their skin early on. Babies have very sensitive tender skin that is so susceptible to UVA and UVB rays. Protect your precious baby by applying specially formulated sunscreens. To make sure your baby doesn’t have irritation go with a physical sunscreen not chemical.
2. Keep up regular sun protection and your kid will develop a habit of it that may save his or her life.
3. When you think your kid is old enough to understand, explain to your kid about the danger of UVA and UVB rays and about cancer.
4. If you have a teenager who doesn’t want to listen to your concerns some of the things you may do is
- take him/her to a dermatologist for skin examination and request the expert to show photos of sun damaged skin vs healthy skin and to explain about UVA/UVB danger. Or you can find such photos on the internet yourself.
- explain about premature aging and show photos of aged skin with sun spots and deep lines. Who wants to look so mottled and wrinkled?!
A couple efforts to develop healthy sun-protection habits in your children will ensure they have healthy skin and will preserve its youth long into adulthood.

Beauty Talk: Exfoliation - Part III - Chemical Exfoliation

This a continuation of our discussion about ways to exfoliate. In this post I’ll look at the chemical type of exfoliation.

Unlike mechanical one, it does not involve physical impact. Chemical exfoliation removes dead cells by dissolving or loosening up the glue-like substance that holds dead skin cells together.

Chemical exfoliants include various acids such as alpha hydroxy acids (AHAs) or beta hydroxy acids (BHAs) and enzymes.

Examples of AHA are lactic acid, malic acid, glycolic acid and tartaric acid. BHA example is salicylic acid. The difference between AHA and BHA is based on their lipid (oil) solubility. Alpha hydroxy acids are water soluble only, while beta hydroxy acid is lipid (oil) soluble.

Enzymes are known as molecules that can speed up chemical reactions. When you apply enzyme on your skin, it comes into chemical reaction with keratin protein in dead skin cells breaking it up and loosening the cells. Example of exfoliating enzyme is proteolytic enzyme like subtilisin and papain.

Which exfoliant to choose?
Overall, chemical exfoliation is recommended for those suffering from acne. Most beneficial in this case will be BHA as due to its oil solubility it is able to penetrate deep into the pore and exfoliate the dead skin cells inside of it. Due to this beta hydroxy acid is good for oily skin with blackheads and whiteheads.

If you have thickened, sun-damaged skin and no problem with breakouts, go with Enzymes or Alpha hydroxy acids. Natural fruit enzymes like papain may be a good choice if you are looking for a milder exfoliant.

Examples of chemical exfoliating products for face include:
Vitamin C Re-Texturising Peel by The Body Shop
Papaya and Pineapple Peeling Kit by Alpha-H
Glycolactic Skin Renewal Peel Mask by Ren
Micro Mini Peel System by Ole Henriksen

Can't choose? Go for a mix of chemical and mechanical exfoliating ingredients like in Intense Smooth Out Micro-Peel by Carita. It contains grains as well as exfoliating enzymes.

Related Posts:
Beauty Talk: Exfoliation - Part II - Mechanical Exfoliation
Beauty Talk: Exfoliation - Part I - Skin Exfoliation
Beauty Review: YSL Exfoliating Lip Balm
Beauty Review: Sisley Buff and Wash Gel
Beauty Review: Caress Evenly Gorgeous

Beauty Talk: Exfoliation Part II - Mechanical Exfoliation

During mechanical exfoliation dead cells are removed through mechanical or physical friction. One can say that they are “scraped off” the skin’s surface. Products for mechanical exfoliation can contain paraffin, wax, irregularly shaped granules or round beads/poly spheres. Mechanical exfoliants also include exfoliation sheet, sponges, brushes, washcloths etc.

Clarisonic is one of the examples of a mechanical exfoliation
Which one to choose?
If your skin is not prone to break outs, you are free to choose any way of mechanical exfoliation your heart desires. Just keep your skin type in mind:
* Stick to a milder wax exfoliant if your skin is dry.
* Go with a product with granules if you have oily/mixed skin.

If your skin is sensitive, prone to break outs, easily inflamed, stay away from irregular granules such as apricot kernel and almond shells. They may create micro cuts on your skin and cause irritation, break outs or spread bacteria from existing zits to new locations on your face. You will be better off using a chemical exfoliant, a mild mechanical product with round shaped beads or micro-exfoliation cloths.

The above mentioned also concerns exfoliation of body skin. However on your feet you can use specially designed more abrasive products and tools such as pumice, or crushed volcanic rock.

Examples of Mechanical Exfoliating Products:
Almost every skin care brand has a mechanical face exfoliator in their range. Here are just a couple examples:

My favorites are Estee Lauder So Polished (contains artificial exfoliating particles - miscro spheres) and Buff and Wash Gel by Sisley (one of my most favorite products, contains natural exfoliating particles).

Beauty Talk: Skin Exfoliation - Part I

Dull, tired looking skin? With the help of exfoliation you can make it smooth and radiant again!

Why do you need to exfoliate?
Skin exfoliation is a naturally occurring process. However, often your skin does need help with it.
Over the course of life cycle skin cells move from dermis to the epidermis. When they reach the top they die. But these dead cells don’t miraculously disappear, they often accumulate and cause skin’s surface to appear rough and dull. That’s why regular exfoliation is one of the effective ways for maintaining radiant healthy skin.

Exfoliation is removal of dead cells from the skin’s surface. Not only exfoliation immediately provides you with polished glowing skin, it also stimulates turnover of skin cells, unclogs pores and promotes better skin care products penetration.

There are 2 major exfoliation techniques and exfoliation products:
1.Mechanical
2.Chemical

Which one to choose?
Your choice will depend on several criteria but mainly on your skin type, skin condition and the aim of exfoliation treatment. If you have sensitive skin type or acne, don’t use mechanical exfoliation. It can be stressful on the skin and some mechanical scrubs can even create micro cuts which will exacerbate your condition. Have oily thick skin not prone to break outs? Trying to fight acne? Need to improve sun damaged skin? In my next posts I will look closer at mechanical and chemical exfoliation to help you choose which is best for you.

Related Posts
Beauty Talk: Exfoliation - Part II - Mechanical Exfoliation
Beauty Review: YSL Exfoliating Lip Balm
Beauty Review: Sisley Buff and Wash Gel
Beauty Review: Caress Evenly Gorgeous

Beauty Talk: Summer Skin Care Tips for Skin of Color

In the past I was asked several times for recommendations on skin care and makeup for brown skin. Unfortunately I don't have the knowledge needed to advise on this particular issue. But experts at Rx For Brown Skin , a brand of skin care specially developed for darker skins, do and they kindly agreed to make a guest post to share their knowledge with readers of Skin Care and Beauty Blog. If you have particular skin concerns you are welcome to ask questions in the comments to this post or send them to my email (beautyhealthinfo at yahoo.com) and I will forward them for you. And now enjoy these useful tips from Anne Thomas, CMO, Rx For Brown Skin.

Photo by Its Jo Jo at flickr.com
Skin of color is quite different from white skin in many respects. The most notable differences include more melanin, or brown skin pigment, resulting in a warmer skin shade. Brown Skin women also tend to have fewer visible signs of aging, such as deep wrinkles, fine lines and sun-spots. However, a disadvantage to having more melanin is that it makes brown skin more “reactive.” That means almost any stimulus – a rash, a scratch, pimple, or inflammation – may trigger the production of excess melanin, resulting in hyper-pigmentation, dark marks or patches on the skin. That’s why handling brown skin gently, wearing sunscreen and preventing pigmentation problems are keys to brown skin care.
Listed below are a handful of skin-care tips to keep your brown skin healthy and beautiful this summer:

Photo by Rx For Brown Skin
Treat- Acne often flares when the seasons changes. It is important to realize that acne is not caused by dirt or dirty skin but rather bacteria, oil, plugged pores and elevated hormone levels each contributes to acne. Rubbing and scrubbing your skin will actually worsen your acne. Instead, simply washing acne prone skin very gently twice a day will improve the acne by 20 to 30 percent. For an example of a gentle cleanser, take a look at Rx For Brown Skin Bright and Healthy Ultra-Gentle Cleanser . This product was specially developed to mildly cleanse, hydrate and protect brown skin.

Photo by Its Jo Jo at flickr.com
Prevent- With the active lives women lead we should all be taking a supplement however, woman of color needs to pay particular attention to certain deficiencies. A, B, C or D. Which vitamins are many women of color deficient in? Scientific studies have demonstrated that many African American, Latina and some Asian women are deficient in Vitamin D. This vitamin is produced by your skin in conjunction with sunlight but the increased melanin pigment in skin of color hampers its production. A vitamin supplement with calcium and vitamin D will ensure bone health and boost your immune system.

Photo by Rx For Brown Skin
Protect- Sunscreen is a summer time must have for brown skin. You may not have realized it but skin of color often sunburns, it can develop deadly skin cancer and dark marks and discolorations will worsen all because of exposure to the sun’s rays. An ounce of prevention (using sunscreen daily) is worth a pound of cure. Choose wide spectrum sunscreen, that will protect you from both ultraviolet UVA and UVB rays, like Protect and Defend Moisturizing Sunscreen SPF 15
Ask us any question you have related to brown skin-care and we will answer them in our next Guest post on the blog :-)

- Anne Thomas, CMO, Rx For Brown Skin