suncream, zits and wrinkles: rolling skincare thread?

Can anyone recommend a 50+ suncream that isn't completely gloopy and guaranteed to stain any clothes it comes into contact with?

Bullfrog makes a spray-on version, I haven't tried it (because Duane Reade stopped carrying Bullfrog and I couldn't find any this season), but it's probably not "gloopy". Dunno about the staining, but suggest putting sunblock on the parts that touch clothing BEFORE you put the clothes on, and let skin dry, and THEN get dressed.

Basically the same thing ladies are instructed to always do w/r/t lotion, make-up, perfume. All that stuff is bad for clothes.

That makes sense...I've never gone beyond basic Ambre Solaire products I pick up at Boots and was curious whether pricier creams might feel "nicer".

Oh. Then the answer is "yes."

the Neutrogena Ultra Sheer Dry Touch sunscreens are good and not oily and haven't harmed my clothes that i've noticed

Confession: I gave up on daily sunscreen. I'm in direct sunlight approx 10 minutes every day, if that. It just seemed pointless.

Went to a dermatologist (1st time ever) last week to have some scary bumps checked out (benign) - she advised it was better to wear clothing+hat than sunscreen, which is easier here than other places since it is generally not terribly hot.

Haha I've been in the sun almost daily for a week and purposefully got as much tan as possible (for me) in that time. Yay summer!!

I avoid the sun like a goth. I don't mind oblique sunlight, such as sitting in the shade, wearing sunglasses and looking out at sunlit things, but for the most part, direct sunlight makes me decidedly unhappy.

Well, I've been on a boat/at the beach. I only like to be in the sunlight in close proximity to water.

I got at least 5-10 second degree sunburns in one summer when I was 11 or 12, and I wonder when the skin cancer is going to show up.

ugh i remember getting sunburned so bad when i was kid that i had huge blisters on my face. i don't think sunscreen made an appearance in our house till i was 8 or so.

I had so many blisters on my face and had them so often that my mother thought I'd end up with scars.

in june 1997 i went to the first Tibetan freedom concert out on Randalls Island. Not being a native NYer I had no idea downing stadium was a sea on white concrete. My head got so burnt that day that i was peeling layers of skin off my head that i had to then drag through my hair. id end up with a piece of skin with a hundred tiny holes. So gross and painful. AND I developed a bright red dot about the size of a round pinhead an inch back from my hair line that i still have today. I could get it removed but they'd have to shave my head there and right behind the bangs is kind of a hard place to cover up.

oh i guess it was the second TFC. The first one was in SF the year before

I am getting a facial today. Hoping for some sort of skin-rejuvenation miracle. Will no doubt end up disappointed.

caught a glimpse of my face under flourescents the other night and it was really, really scary. i don't know what to do... peel? facial?

avoid fluorescents: seriously: forever: seriously
really i feel like it is just deceptive, like those insane close up mirrors you can get for practically microscopic pore evaluation; it makes you view yourself through a lens that doesn't really compare to how things 'look' in any other circumstances, like if you had a mirror that showed you what you looked like solarized or with inverted colours. or with lens flare (awesome). i stopped using one of the bathrooms at work recently because, on days when my skin is less than perfect, i leave feeling really freaked out about it & assuming it's in that kind of weird hyper-accentuated state of neon blotchiness elsewhere.

i know avoiding certain places isn't always possible but i do sorta mean it, at least that you should be gauging what you need on how you feel generally about your skin rather than because of one of those weird instances when you're caught off guard.

more and more, i am dissatisfied with my skin's appearance under incandescent and natural light, too u_u

ah okay. just feeling compelled to proselytise because there are days when i have some distance & realise how much strip lighting plays with my idea of my complexion. good luck w/whatever you go for!, i sorta think the sense of agency of feeling like you made your skin better is worth a lot so worth doing the right thing for.

oh yeah i mean flourescents are definitely the worst. but i'm feeling like the problem is now bigger than lighting.

think i might give this homemade oil cleanser a try. my skin is so blah and has been for a while. i did notice that since my dairy consumption has dropped about 90% in the past couple of years, i hardly ever get big zits - but my pores are still blocked, i still have clusters of minor blemishes and i get these dry patches on my cheeks.

i've also developed rosacea on my cheeks :/ if this is hereditary, then i def got it from my mum.

I know Jaq has some experience with oil cleansers, she'll probably weigh in soon. I believe they can actually be quite drying, paradoxically.

Went to the Badescu counter today and topped up my cleanser, plus a day moisturizer with 17SPF and a night cream with none. Feeling very posh right about now, tbh!

I was out of everything and had been using a liquid Dr Bronner's plus whatever nice triple-milled bar we had in the bathroom, and my skin has been kinda freaking out?? I think that's also partly from not changing my sheets for going on 2 weeks now; even though I shower at night, anything that touches my face & neck eventually causes problems.

Haha the counter lady said, "You have very fair skin, and I also see a lot of redness." Yeah, no shit, Sherlock. Welcome to my world.

bronner's baby is the only shit my skin can deal with. it is the light blue one. the others are way too drying for me. it has been my daily soap for ~5 years (also sls free-sls breaks me out a bunch).

I've been trying to wash my hair less, partly b/c I'm cheap, and the last shampoo/cond set someone gave me is Aveda but a little too drying. Haven't thrown it out b/c it's expensive shit and I just didn't want to buy new, but not washing my hair is TERRIBLE for my skin. More breakouts all around hairline and nape. Embarrassing, I am a 35-yo grown-ass woman, why do I have teenager skin??

Otoh someone said they thought I was 25 the other day, so my oiliness must be doing something right/protective.

sls free obviously mean sodium laurel sulfate free! GET LAUREL OUT OF MY SOAPS

this is lindsay btw, hi! come to kathleens bday with me tomorrow?

Esp given that I've been smoking for like 15 years and am not at all careful w my skin.

xp HEY THAT'S LAURYL TO YOU.

xp2: Maybe! Special Agent Cooper and I have a date to go to the Times Sq protest but maybe later!

GET LAUREL OUT OF MY SOAPS

otm

well. it's at franklin park. i think you live around there now?? misssss u

Missssss u tu!

I live within biking dist of there, if it ever stops raining! Plus <3 <3 Kathleen, obv.

aw can you tell kathleen i said happy birthday (if it is the kathleen i think it is!)?

hi trza! it is :) and i will (or hopefully WE will cmon laurel)!

hey laurel, maybe try dampening a cotton pad with witchhazel and wiping your hairline/nape every evening/morning? it'll pick all those oils.

i find it too drying to use all over my face, but i swipe my t-zone/hairline with some every other day

I know Jaq has some experience with oil cleansers, she'll probably weigh in soon. I believe they can actually be quite drying, paradoxically.

Thank god I can FINALLY answer to this! OCM has been great for me, but it is drying and slightly detergent. I think it's bullshit that extra virgin olive or any other oil will "nourish" your epidermis btw. Castor and jojoba oils were both way too heavy and sticky to do any good for me - you want an oil that is lighter weight than the natural oil your skin produces. The oil you apply will dissolve and carry away your skin's excess oil and the crud it harbors in the upper reaches of your pores. Without causing your oil-producing glands to go into overdrive. OCM is magnificent at clearing blackheads - not just the oil dissolving business but that it provides enough slip to keep your massaging fingers from doing a lot of damage AND provides enough resistance to work the crud loose.

What it can't help so much with - hormonal issues. Those things are going to happen. The best you can do is keep the redness and inflammation down. I used to use a vitamin K gel, which will cut redness over time. But once I started doing neem experiments, it is now my go-to. It's anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial, anti-viral, anti-fungal - super soothing for any itchiness too. For god's sake, don't use the neem oil though - stinks like you would not believe! Get neem leaf tincture or make your own oil or water or witch hazel based extract. You can buy ground up neem leaf in capsules at health food stores. Massage the tincture into areas of trouble - usually it's glycerin based so has a slightly sticky feel. It is very green in color and smell. Itchiness, redness, and inflammation are noticeably decreased in 10 minutes or so. The stuff has no known toxicity, but tastes TERRIBLE.

So what do you use instead of jojoba or castor, jaq?

I tried a home made face peel thing with gelatin and soy milk - idk, my pores still look dirty

I just use a lighter weight olive oil (not ev, some lesser and cheaper one). And an occasional diluted cider vinegar rinse, for when I want to feel especially salad-like :)

I started out using the modified olive oil from DHC, which is excellent btw, but then moved on to a home-brewed grocery store solution.

Sweet almond oil was okay to blend with the light olive oil, but I ran out of it. I think argan oil would also work really well, but it is $$$.

I put a little lavender oil in mine, since I do the OCM at night. I was worried about tightness from getting my face wet intrude morning shower and not moisturizing, but it's been fine. I do look quite tired though.

For me, the feeling of tightness always came from either stripping out all the oil with an alcohol toner, or using an alkaline pH cleanser and not re-acidifying. I only do OCM a few times a week and just rinse my face well 2x/day. I don't use any makeup though, so don't have to worry about taking that off my skin.

Normally I can't get my face wet unless I can moisturize right away - it gets tight and also flaky

Sweet almond oil was okay to blend with the light olive oil, but I ran out of it. I think argan oil would also work really well, but it is $$$.

would lick any of you guys' faces, you all sound delicious

I bought a La Mer product...ONCE and they gave me a teenytiny sample of La Mer creme and it has been the only reason I really wanted money ever since. The other product I bought was forgettable and a waste of heard earned cash.

I have an oily complexion but it can get really dry using stuff that is supposed to control oily skin. My skin gobbled up the La Mer and it was the first time I felt and saw a really positive reaction to a facial product. In one week my complexion was beautiful, lovely, dewey, just perfect and I felt I looked 10 years younger. Then I ran out and it was back to... meh.

La Mer is the one thing I would ever risk stealing. It is always behind glass. Then if I ran out, have to steal again or go try and sell myself. As pricey as it is though....that wouldn't work, teehee

I agree- DHC's modified olive oil is really, really good. I did see improvements with it. Though nothing magical.

*sigh* this OCM isn't working out: i still have dry patches (increased from before) and it's giving me red-rimmed eyes, which makes me look stoned and tired all day, and my face just feels kind of dirty.

It sounds like you are having an allergic reaction to the oil you're using, if your eyes are red.

Hey y'All here's something nuts: I noticed my skin has improved by 1000% and couldnt work out why until I realized I've been drinking a whole lot of milk lately. Go cows!