suncream, zits and wrinkles: rolling skincare thread?

Trader Joe's has super cheap coconut oil (I'm a huge fan of it as a moisturizer).

hmm I just bought some coconut oil to cook with, maybe I'll nick some and try it

somewhere on ilx there is a discussion of keratosis pelaris, from which I first heard the coconut oil thing. I was a total skeptic, but tried it on dude's arms, and arms got better! Hardly a randomized controlled trial, but for two bucks it is certainly worth a shot. At worst, you'll have bumpy arms in otherwise silky smooth skin!

and I will smell like the ladies tanning beside our local pool in 1985

The one from TJ's smells like macaroons

I have two deluxe samples of the new Corrective Lift line from Chanel.... ARGH I AM IN LOVE WITH IT, AND IT'S SOOOOOO EXPENSIVE.

keratosis pelaris: vaseline and saran wrap.

well today is my first day of smelling like a giant coconut macaroon
so far, so good
do y'all put this stuff on your face or just bod?

I put it on my face at night. It's too greasy for daytime. I use it as cuticle oil, too, but don't use it on the rest of my bod because I think it would make things I touch/sit on oily and I know it would attract cat hair.

I've been meaning to try it as a hair treatment but haven't had a day where I felt like hanging out with a grocery bag on my head for a few hours.

I am covered in the stuff and I don't feel greasy or covered in animal hair. I was glossy for a few min in my robe this AM but it sunk in and now I just smell like a cookie.
Will consider it for hair! Never thought of that. Kinda scared to put it on my face though.

I read Lechera's comment before carl's and wondered why coconut oil would cause anyone to be covered in animal hair. Think I have it all straightened out now.

yeah I used it on my hands the other day was v impressed by how soft they felt

I got some lotion prescribed by my US dermatologist and it has cleared my skin up really well - no longer get spots around my chin. HOWEVER I asked my UK doctor for a prescription and she's never heard of it. How can I get hold of it? It's just a generic. I am not likely to live in the US again :(

What is it? Is there an active ingredient listed?

give me names from the lotion label and we will help you!

yeah way to be mysterious!! :P

It's nothing glamorous! :)
Sulfacetamide sodium topical suspension USP 10%

I wish I knew whether the bags under my eyes are puffiness that I could fix with more sleep/water/ridiculous creams, or just the inexorable downward progress of the fat that supports my eyes. No point in trying to do anything if it's the latter.

I think I have a sty. I have never had one before.

ljub, maybe try more sleep and water and see how that works. If you're sleep deprived you might find you don't care as much when you finally get enough rest.

True. I've found this really hard to tackle, and I seem to need a lot of sleep. I'll have another go when I get back to TO next week.

i changed up a bunch of stuff in my skincare routine in the last 3 weeks and my skin is looking/feeling better than it has in a looooooooooooooong time

- got this http://www.sephora.com/productimages/sku/s1233691-main-hero.jpg from sephora, in lieu of a clarisonic: it's super gentle and doesn't leave my face looking red like a washcloth does (5$!)
- stopped using st ives scrub on my face, switched to an olay exfoliator with synthetic spherical beads
- started slathering on coconut oil every night
- got a travel-size of philosophy's hope-in-a-jar
- started back on using diluted witch hazel as a toner
- got a big tub of calcium bentonite clay for mud masks

my face feels super soft and smooth, the dry patches have completely gone and the persistent blackhead clusters/damaged skin/big pores across my nose and at the corners of my mouth have definitely minimized in appearance. and my skin just looks more... glowy. i also got a eucerin moisturizer but that's for when the philosophy runs out.

i don't if it's all or one or some of these things that have made the difference (please, god, don't let it be the philosophy, that shit's expensive and don't really want to keep buying it), but i haven't been this happy with my skin in a few years.

my undereye area is still a wreck, but oh well

Oh that sounds sooooo nice to have a positive skin change! I'd like more info on this coconut oil thing--I have a bottle that is primarily used for S's keratosis peloris on his upper arms (it works a charm!), but I think I still harbor 1980s Seventeen Magazine phears of putting anything called "oil" on my breakout-prone face.

I have been pretty damn good about serious sunscreen usage while living in non-stop sunshine (we're near the Tropic of Cancer, for god's sake), but the sunspots are still blooming like flowers in May :(

Oh and I never thought I'd complain about dry dry dry skin (not so much my face, but the rest of me), but I am seriously a desert. But it is so damn hot, and I'm in and out of water so much, that it seems useless to try to moisturize. I need advice from Abbott for Arizona-style skin care!

yah i'm pretty stoked!

for a while i was using the coconut oil kind of off and on, so not really noticing anything, but was mostly using cerave PM. but i was getting these flaky patches around my mouth, my nose was kind of dry, and exfoliating/moisturizing wasn't really doing anything. the cerave pm is pretty thin so instead of going out and spending more $$$ i thought maybe committing to the coconut oil would be a good thing to try, since i have an enormous jar of it for cooking.

i think it absorbs really really well - although i do use a pretty generous amount anyway bc it's going on at night. i don't wake up with dry patches and maybe it's contributing to the general super softness/smoothness of my skin.

and no zits since my new regime! i got a little something on my chin the day after the mask, but i just spot-treated it and it came to nothing.

i think i want to investigate retin-A next, but i'm kind of ugh about dealing with the 3 months of breakouts that it initially causes. plus i don't want to bother with trying to see a derm to get a prescription.

i'm also REALLY liking coconut oil for my tattoo - it deepens and brightens the color, for longer, than regular body lotions do.

Coconut oil is amazing. Try it, quincie! I hear you about that Seventeen, no oil on the face indoctrination but we're kind of far from 17 now so we have different needs.

I'm not from AZ but I dry out like beef jerky every winter and some kind of heavy, serious body moisturizer is soooo necessary. Eucerin cream in a tub works if you want something pretty cheap. Use it every night and after every shower. Unless you shower at night, then obv just after the shower. It will help!

i use coconut oil as a moisturizer all over -- not just on face
sometimes it's a pain in the winter because it gets hard, and melts if it gets hot in the summer
but aside from adjusting the application, it's a quality skin moisturizer at a decent price with dignity.
approve!

Ok I'm gonna try head-to-toe coconut oil! I will smell like a macaroon!

Carl, does Eucerin cream have a perfumey scent? I don't mind petrochemical smell, but fakey fragrance loaded on top of that is nags.

No, it's very neutral. I just suggested it as a cheap, readily available, thick cream. I don't use it. I use coconut oil on my face and this stuff - http://www.amazon.com/Everyday-Coconut-Super-Hydrating-Lotion/dp/B007Y06VQG - on my body because it's paranoid hippie approved and smells sooooooo good (I love coconut scented body care products, can you tell?).

bonus: smell like a cookie!!

Cool, I'm going to go with coconut regimen and see how it goes. I was worried that I might not be able to find coconut oil easily in rural Mexico, but it is all over the place. Bonus: extreme summer heat means it is always liquified and ready to go!

I was using Cerave moisturizer lotion in the pump bottle; it's v light and I didn't mind it. But I recently switched over to their moisturizer that comes in the giant tub. Thick and you only need a fingerful for your whole face.
Omg. So much better!

Twice a day, and I am seeing a big change in my skin already. Noticeable only to me, but I think in a year or so I'll back to almost normal

I splurged on Bobbi Brown eye cream recently - http://www.sephora.com/hydrating-eye-cream-P270544 - and I LOVE IT. It's soooooo nice. It doesn't get weird under concealer and it feels good and it's very moisturizing.

I've also been working from home far more than I am working from the office, and so not wearing makeup very often and I think that's helping my skin some. Also when I'm not going to put on makeup, I really slap on the moisturizer*, so that's probably part of it, too.

*The Whole Foods house brand dupe of Cetaphil, which is paranoid hippie approved and actually cheaper - http://i47.tinypic.com/65y0pt.jpg, mixed with some jojoba oil because I am addicted to mixing lotion with oil.

Yup, confirmed that it's cheaper - WF stuff is $6 and Cetaphil ~ $10.

just1n3: private msg me your address.

Ok, sent! It took me 5 tries because I can never read those stupid capcha things.

Got it.

Also, send me your email address? I think hitting "reply" will just bounce it back to the ilx system?

just1n3 at ch@nce press dot com (but without the googleproofing)

is amlactin any good? i searched this thread but the only mention is tza about to buy it for her arms, and no reports back on it. it seems to be more of a body lotion than for face?

I use it. Makes you very soft.

i use it on my arms

Hi, sorry to barge in after never participating before, but I wondered if anybody could help a man out with a couple things. I would like to buy some Really Good Moisturizer, preferably with SPF, but the drug store selection overwhelms me, so I said screw it and grabbed something at Whole Foods. I have pretty oily skin and occasional acne on my forehead and cheeks (though I've been religiously using salicylic acid face wash and toner and benzoyl peroxide cream and things have improved).

I'm not necessarily asking for specific product recommendations (though if you have any recommendations, please share), but maybe advice about which counter to choose at Macy's, or whether to go to Sephora or something.

Also: Like I said, my skin gets oily, and a while back I discovered that if I slapped a little baby powder on after putting on moisturizer and/or benzoyl peroxide cream, it tamed the oil a lot, AND I didn't look like I was wearing powder.

My question is, should I just use face powder? I saw a lotion at the drug store that had rice flour in it, which was supposed to soak up oil. Is that true? For powder, would I just buy some at Walgreen's or, again, go to the Clinique or ???? counter at Macy's?

Experiment with washing your face less. For the next few months, just get it wet and then apply your moisturizer/sunscreen. I like Dr. Spiller's Vitamin A cream as a moisturizer. EltaMD also makes good facial moisturizers with SPF.

I usually only use benzoyl peroxide as a spot treatment.

Oh ho try this instead of powder: http://www.sephora.com/dr-feelgood-P1277

Also blotting papers.

I've been using the sunscreen horseshoe recommended forever ago - http://www.amazon.com/beauty/dp/B000Q8R7KW. I like it and it's not greasy. Also unless the weather is properly humid, I have to use some other lotion first bc I'm a dry old lady so maybe that will work for you.

Blotting papers! They really help.