suncream, zits and wrinkles: rolling skincare thread?

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.

My skin has been softer, smoother, and much clearer since I started washing it twice a day with salicylic acid and using benzoyl peroxide. I think the salicylic acid is the miracle worker in the equation.

I will give blotting papers a try, but I've always suspected them of being a big scam.

Dr. Feelgood looks interesting, thanks.

Sorry for the blotting paper skepticism. I will give them a fair shot.

i mean it can't be a scam -- you are literally blotting oil from your face
i'm not saying it does anything miraculous but it removes oil/sweat/dirt, leaving the face feeling like it's cleaner, if only slightly

blotting papers! so key

i am a recent convert thanks to the testifying of ms carl

Jesse, I know you like cheap workarounds so you might enjoy this: toilet seat covers work as blotting papers. The next time you're in a fancy public bathroom, grab a couple for later.

Dr. Feelgood gets mixed reviews, but I love it and I think it would be good for a dude who wants a little something but wants to keep it natural.

Jesse, I know you like cheap workarounds so you might enjoy this: toilet seat covers work as blotting papers. The next time you're in a fancy public bathroom, grab a couple for later.

Have you done this? Wouldn't it have backspray from flushing? I'm definitely going to keep my eyes open for an unopened pack of them, but I feel too squeamish about exposed ones!

So what about cosmetics counters? Clinique? Sephora? Ulta? I'm curious to talk to the magicians who work there.

they're mostly just 20 somethings who are not magicians
i usually go to the oldest woman with the best skin and then see if she is a straight talker, if one of those doesn't exist, i avoid talking to anyone

most important to find a straight talker

We have toilet seat covers mounted high on the walls of the stalls in my work bathroom so yeah, I use them all the time. From what I can hear, other people use them a lot for their intended purpose (I don't - our work bathrooms are clean as hell. Cleaner than my bathroom at home) so I think there's enough turnaround that I'm not worried about backspray. Plus, you know, there's that study showing that there is basically backspray on everything in the entire bathroom including your towel and your toothbrush so now I wash my face in toilet water.

What does one look for in an eye cream? I want something to remove bagginess and darkness (which are actually likely just how my face is?)

Eye creams are another thing I've always suspected might actually be a scam.

PS - I've been reading the thread and I'm trying not to duplicate topics, but I'm not asking necessarily for specific product recs so much as asking "what should eye cream do?"

Xp I was thinking of going to a male...which would mean he prob wouldn't be a "straight" anything ifuknowhatimean lolololfart

Xp lolololfart

(I'm very happy to report that iPhone autocorrect knows ifuknowhatimean and lolololfart)

I used to use those brown unbleached recycled-content napkins for blotting, they were pretty absorbent. Years ago I found cheap blotting papers at the Chinese import stuff store and was thrilled until I figured out they were making me break out, but they had some kind of powder on them, which, who knows what was in it.

Go to Sephora and ask for blotting papers and ignore anything else they tell you, just ask them to pull out samples from each. There's some kind that are powder-blue colored and sort of plasticky sheet more than paper, I went through a few packs of those one summer.

Also Je55e you may consider the Merz apothecary for men's skin needs -- the people there are v helpful and usually offer the best product at the price you're comfortable with. I also don't feel that they're overly solicitous. I get my blotting papers there, along with a host of other personal care product type things.

Plus they have a wide array of licorice candies there.

I'll go despite the licorice.

Hey, will you get me some licorice when you go? xo

I am having horrible hormonal spotting show up on my face. Like, I wear spf 55 every day but I still have brown blotches around my cheeks/eyes. Melasma. Anyone used anything to get rid of this shit besides laser resurfacing?

There are glycolic acid peels, but they didn't do much ime. I had to just accept that this is aging since I don't have $$$ to see derm for purely cosmetic reasons.

Sorry for the bummer response. I'm sure there are things one can do but I'm not convinced any of them work. Maybe there's something I'm unaware of?

I have a melasma patch, I don't think there's much you can do about it except cover it up (I use boi-i-i-ng but it kind of melts off during the day)

I did mention it to my doctor and she said she might test my thyroid levels (I think??) and to watch out for changes because they could be something worse than regular melasma. But afaict it hasn't changed. I don't even remember when i first noticed it tbh

I have a tiny one that looks like a big freckle and I thought it was sun damage but then I realized that I never go in the sun without like SPF 50 and am basically a vampire so maybe that's what I have too?