Beauty

[tototwo]

I add exclamation points to what @Lipstickdiva said!!!    Drinking lots of water moistens our insides and our outsides.  Eat healthy foods.   If our whole bodies are healthy, it shows on our faces.

[sidsmom]

I triple agree with nutrition!

My skin is fairly good, DNA speaking (thanks, Mom),

but the luminosity is something I have control over.  

And changing my diet by eliminating ALL animal products

has given me a pretty glow.  The volume of greens increases

the blood flow which, in turn, causes everything to react positivily

in my body. 

“It’s the food”

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What I don’t understand is the need for sunscreen in e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g

when you’re not outside.  All those chemicals seeping into the skin

all day long with the moisturizer, creams, makeup...it’s not good.

I really do think all those chemicals mess with our endocrine system.

[Ciona]

Good post!  
Not long ago I took a long hard look at my lotions and potions and got rid of most of them. Now at night, I wash with Purity and just use retinol, vitamin C, and Argan oil. For daytime, I wash with Purity then only use Neutrogena Healthy Defense Daily Moisturizer with SPF 50. My makeup goes on so much smoother (and stays on longer) without piling on serum, then moisturizer, then primer.
Beauty companies take advantage of our fears of looking old, and the fact that we have no way of knowing what we would have looked like if we had not used their products. There's no rewind button so we can make a comparison.....

[Porcelain]

Different skin types and stages need different products. People with older dry skin have vastly different needs than people with younger oily skin. Customization is the future. So we will only be seeing more and more choices.

Even Clinique has customization now. They have those moisturizers where you

mix and match the base moisturizer with the pump. The custom pump contains specialized ingredients to target dark spots, or wrinkles, etc.

If you want to go back to basics, you can easily do that too. Just get some castile soap -- or whatever you want. As long as we don't get confused by the many options, I think these are great developments.

[Porcelain]

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@Ciona wrote:

Beauty companies take advantage of our fears of looking old, and the fact that we have no way of knowing what we would have looked like if we had not used their products. There's no rewind button so we can make a comparison.....

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@Ciona This is such a good point. We don't know if we would look better without the products. And we don't know if we would look worse. It's so hard to know what anything is actually doing to the skin.

And there is no reason to trust skincare companies at their word, since they have a vested interest in selling us products that make them a profit and cause them little trouble, not products that do anything long term.

And like you said, we can't even know what a moisturizer is accomplishing other than the immediate visual and textural effect after applying.

[beach-mom]

When I was in my 20's I went to a dermatologist for help with facial acne. He looked at me and said, "Where is your problem?" I told him my face. He laughed and said, "Stop wearing makeup," and walked out the door. His intern, a medical student, was a pretty girl whose face was riddled with acne. She didn't have any makeup on. She looked at me, gave me a half smile, and shrugged. I never went back to him.

I didn't see a dermatologist again until I was in my 40's. I had a sunburn on my face that wouldn't go away. She diagnosed rosacea. After treating it topically she gave me a low dose prescription, which I am taking now. She also believes in using very few products on my skin. She told me no Clarisonic! 

As a beauty junkie I WANTED to use all of the products, but I didn't. The only thing I used besides my cleansers was sunscreen - 365 days a year, inside or out. I never put moisutizer on my face at night. I've never used any retinols, serums,  or anything like that. 

A few years ago I started using argan oil (Josie's). I like the way my face feels, so I am going to try her recent TSV.

My mom had beautiful skin. The only thing she used to wash it was Olay - the original, which was not meant to be a cleanser! She had olive skin and never burned in the sun, so she never wore sunscreen. But she did enjoy her makeup, which is where DD and I get it from! 

[Luvitorleaveit1]

@this is my nic- wow that brought back memories about Clinique which I use to use faithfully back then and exactly those three products (cleanser, toner and yellow moisturizer).

I did fall for some of the other companies that introduced products that they claimed you had to have but now I keep it as simple as possible cleanser, eye cream, serum and moisturizer.  I like keeping more money in my pocket for other things besides cosmetics.

[SeaMaiden]

TOO MUCH!

[Shanus]

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@SilleeMee wrote:

I've never seen the FDA make a category just for 'medical grade'. Products are either otc or Rx and both are regulated with specific guidlines for each category. That is just another marketing ploy.

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@SilleeMee   Hi. I use the term medical grade to mean those products sold and/or developed by dermatologists. My SkinCeuticals was developed at Duke University and not available at Sephora, dept. stores. That’s not to say FDA approved or not, but for me, when asked, it separates those products from some produced by makeup companies. 

[SilleeMee]

@Shanus 

It's still an otc product and can be found in places other than Sephora. There are no credible institutions that certify 'medical grade'. There are no standard guidelines for establishing what is medical grade or not. That is a sales pitch.

Same goes for clinical strength and therapeutic quality. Those are also used as sales ploys.

The bottom line is to know what ingredients are in your products and know how they will affect your skin.