Basic Skin Care 101 - All Cleansers are not the same!

...and so, over the years I've learned a thing or two about skin care.  Some good, some bad but all educational enough to be able to share with others.

There are three basic "musts" in skin care as well as some rules that should NOT ever, ever  be broken!  Cleansing, moisturizing and wearing sunscreen to protect your skin from the sun's damaging rays.  Everything else we do is an added bonus. Let's start with a clean face.

Facial cleansers come in several different forms.

Creams, Lotions, Washes

OR

Oils or oil based

OR

Bars of Soap

They also come in every conceivable price imaginable and in an effort to feel feminine or pretty, we indulge ourselves from time to time in very expensive cleansers.  A cleanser should leave your skin soft and supple - not tight.  (Remember the Dove soap?) It should remove impurities, grime (yes, ladies, we get dirt on our faces too!) and sweat.  If your daily makeup routine does not consist of much, you can get away with washing your face with a soap that does not dry your skin.  

As for the make up wearers - beware!  We have a lot more to remove and rule #1 in skin care: NEVER, EVER GO TO BED WITH YOUR MAKEUP ON!!!  I don't care how tired you are, how late it is or how drunk you are at 4 in the morning!  More on that, later on!

So back to cleansers and the wide array available today.  The main function of a cleanser is to CLEAN your skin and pores.  Not all cleansers are created equal and our skin changes from year to year.  As we get older, the cleansers used in your 20's no longer do the job.  Makeup and dirt creep into your lines and wrinkles and rather than play a tug of war on your skin, the best approach is to change your cleanser.  Also, skin becomes drier with age.  

I used soap to clean my face in my 20's and 30's.  Soap no longer removes my makeup as well as it did and my skin doesn't like soap any more.  My skin becomes very tight after using soap, even the ever loving Dove soap.  

My suggestion is to experiment.  Sephora and major department stores will gladly give out samples that you can try at home until you find that one cleanser that does the job without drying out your skin.    

My favorite eye makeup remover is Bioderma Sensibio H2O.  It is soft and does the job beautifully, removing even the toughest waterproof mascara. I strongly recommend it. Easy removal without tugging and pulling.  I've never found anything that comes close to the way this product removes eye makeup.

Price does not mean a cleanser is better or worse.  It is simply a matter of what gets the job done on your skin type whether oily, dry or combination.    

I also remove my makeup and then cleanse my skin.  I find that the two step process works better for me.  I use my Clarisonic every night and even after removing my makeup thoroughly, it will find more residue and makeup left behind.  

The important thing is to make sure all the makeup along with the dirt that accumulates during the day is removed every single night and that whatever method you use, leaves your skin soft and subtle to the touch - not dry.  

Skin regenerates itself while we sleep.  Makeup and dirt will prevent the skin from going through its regeneration process.  Cleansed skin will remain more youthful and soft.  Find the right cleanser and your skin will thank you for it!

You've Come a Long Way, Baby - Third and final installment of my saga!

Due to personal circumstances, I put college on hold for a while and went to work right out of high school.  Suddenly, I was took subway and worked in an office in the Garment Center in Manhattan's Midtown.

Skin care, make up and glamour had to become a priority in my life.  So armed with $100, I set out on an adventure that followed me through my 20's, 30's, 40's, 50's and...dare I say it...very early 60's. There is a saying that we cannot prevent the inevitable but we can certainly prolong the inevitable.  How do we do it?  How do we fight Mother Nature, Gravity and the Environment?  We didn't know about free radicals back then.

Genetics plays a big part and if you look around at your family, you can pretty much guess how well you will age.  Most of my life, I had oily skin, the kind that was impossible to control.  Over time, I was grateful for the oil in my skin because as we grow older, skin becomes drier.

I met a woman at one of the big skin care and makeup lines at Macy's who explained the importance of clean skin.  I shivered as I remembered my experience with Noxzema.  In the same way that an artist prepares his canvas with gesso and other ingredients to get the perfect surface on which to paint a masterpiece; we, too, must prepare the canvas or skin so that makeup looks flawless and complimentary to our natural beauty as we age.

Several years later, I visited Saks Fifth Avenue and was drawn to a skin care counter where beautiful women dressed in red and promoted products from France with plant extracts as their primary ingredient.  The scent of these products alone produced a feeling of beauty and wellness.  That day I graduated to a slightly higher end skin care line than the one I was using and over the years continue to use as part of my skin care regiment.  Clinique and Clarins products have remained constant staples in my life through ups and downs.

I now can spend more money on my skin care and mix and match many products that give me the anti-aging results that must be religiously, meticulously and continuously if we are going to "prolong" this process called aging.  I will share with your the results of my "experiments" with you over time.

I urge all young women to start their skin care early; it pays off in the end.  But...stay away from that Noxzema around the eyes!

You've Come a Long Way, Baby - Part Two

...and if I thought my Noxzema experience was the end of my skin care routine, it wasn't.  Around the age of 15, tiny bumps began to emerge all over my face.  "Teenage Acne" caused by hormones called androgens and increased during puberty.  Of course, hormones were wreaking havoc in my young life in more ways than one.

Dermatologists existed back then but most of my friends used over the counter medications and washes.  My mother marched down to the local pharmacy (no Walgreen's, Rite Aid or CVS in the neighborhood) to talk to the pharmacist who was the equivalent of today's primary care physician, Web MD or Google.  We left the drug store with several remedies.

A soap for cleansing the skin to use twice a day.

I loved the ad as it was a sign of the times and gave me "new hope" for the acne and condition that made my face look like a deep fryer.  You could see me coming a mile away from the shine. 

After washing my face, I would apply a lotion (a primitive version of today's toners) that burned like hell and was really an astringent.  If it was supposed to correct the ph of my skin, it was killing it.  

Clearasil also made a balm that was applied on certain "tough" pimples.  Between Clearasil, a concoction my mother applied to my ugliest pimples made out of toothpaste and apple cider vinegar (don't ask - more burn - no pain, no gain, right?) and a prayer, I hoped to wake up with porcelain skin with the touch of a baby's bottom...fat chance.  Sometimes my mother suggested I use Witch Hazel in place of the other astringent from time to time. 

This meticulous skin care routine came with a specific impossible direction: do not pick or squeeze your blemishes or it would cause scarring.  This was probably the most important part of my skin care routine but at  the age of 15, you just HAD to squeeze that pimple to get the gunk out before your friends saw it.  Indeed, it was important. I know many who squeezed a bit too hard and left a scar.

For the next three years, I religiously took care of my skin in this fashion with great discipline - no moisturizer, alcohol based toners to "disinfect" and an occasional salve on a stubborn pimple.