suncream, zits and wrinkles: rolling skincare thread?

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?

i always wear sunscreen too, but i think sun damage just happens
it's the worst along my cheeks, the left one in partic and i'm convinced it's from driving

there's only one solution to this problem
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8155/7557153020_400124067f_m.jpg

There are other types of peels one can try for skin-lightening, like Melanage.

xp lolololololol

just curious, has anyone ever tried apple cider vinegar as a face item?

In my office, we instruct people to apply white vinegar compresses after laser procedures.

i've used it diluted as a toner but the smell kinda annoyed me. i don't think i used it long enough or consistently enough to notice any results.

Update on coconut oil experiment to combat Extreme Dryness in an Extremely Dry, Extremely HOTTT Climate:

OK so I think the coconut oil does a pretty good job. However, I need to find something else because I am having a big problem getting myself to rub warm oil on my body when it is in the upper 90s! We are trying to hold off until July to Activate Air Conditioning Solution, because it is crazy expensive. So the oil is always warm, and I am always hot hot hot. And I just can't bring myself to oil up in these conditions.

So what I'm thinking is that I need a good, not-too-expensive, fragrance-free moisturizer that I can keep IN THE FRIDGE next to my aloe vera gel; that way I will look forward to smoothing cool moisture balm onto my overheated, parched body. I am thinking Eucerin or maybe Amlactin (does this have fragrance?) are candidates. Other ideas?

what if you kept the coconut oil in the fridge? i mean, you'd have to apply it solid but it would more gently acclimatize to yr body and maybe less uncomfortable than warming it up? idk. that might be annoying though

honestly I love how coconut oil feels but I can't stand smelling like a mounds bar

xp re: cider toner: Yup! I have been using it as a diluted toner for... sheesh a year or so now? The smell is a thing, for sure, but I don't mind it. As far as efficacy, I would put it on par with witch hazel, which is what I have used since college, but it's cheap as hell. So, overall a success.

Make sure you dilute it with distilled or filtered/boiled water, though.

xp re: coconut oil: stick it in the fridge stick it in the fridge stick it in the fridge stick it in the fridge

http://www.jannuslive.com/wp-content/uploads/g-love.jpg

"Sorry, sometimes I just say that."

ah lak cowd bevrajes

Well fridge is gonna be a problem because my bottle of coconut oil has a squeeze top, which is fine for liquid, but not gonna happen for solidified stuff!

I think I am also becoming averse to the smell because it smells like tanning oil, which makes me feel HOT HOT HOT again (and not in the good way).

After buying a suit I talked to the nice lady t the Clinique counter and tried some eye cream w/ optical diffuser stuff in it and some "transparent powder" which was nice. Might buy some powder sometime.

Couldn't find Merz Apothecary! Where'd it go?? I was tired and I went home instead of asking anybody. But did they get rid of it?

I go to the one on Lincoln, not sure where u were?

Quincers, I wish I had some desert skin care tips for yas, but I have just resigned myself to a life of having "bad skin" (NB I am just fine with my skin), and I am kind of convinced everything is snake oil? I mean, whatever I pick up, no matter how much or how little $, seems to be in the "it'll do" category. All I can say is if you are thinking Eucerin for lotion, don't get the VERY DRY SKIN variety because I accidentally bought it recently, and it is the greasiest ointment in history. It never absorbs.

quincie i used a shea butter moisturizer from alaffia (the "everyday shea") when i lived in az. it has a high water content so not too greasy & should stay a liquid in the fridge. they sold it at sprouts if you're near one of those.

I go to the one on Lincoln, not sure where u were?

There is/was one in Macy's/Marshall Fields.

(Sorry for the boring local stuff, non-Chicagoans.)

They moved to the Palmer House years ago.

I hear you on the "it'll do" thing, Abbs. I'm not caring so much about the aesthetics of my dry skin, but it is itchy and uncomfortable! Discreet, I will try to find that shea butter stuff. Tomorrow I am going over to the Pacific coast for a SURFING LESSON and a town over there has a natural foods store, so maybe I can score there.

i switched up my eyecream yesterday. had been using a Boots eyecream, but it wasn't really helping the crepiness, as in crepe not creep lol....especially when I wore foundation it was just like, papier mache around there. so I tried the Neutrogena Healthy Eyes stuff and even overnight it's a big difference. definitely firms and tightens everything. i was a bit nervous bcz I haven't used anything with retinol-A in it before, was worried I might have some redness or a reaction but so far so good! yay.

I spent years obsessively taking care of my face with cleansers and whatnot but almost completely ignoring my eyes. so dumb.

One of the best tips someone ever gave me was to start using eye cream as early as possible so I've been using it religiously since I was 18 and I think that's probably the only reason why i don't really have any undereye wrinkles or crows feet yet even though I'm 35.

I've never used an eye cream, kind of don't believe they do anything? And I don't have any wrinkles or crows feet either but I have oilier skin to start with.

my mum has really saggy eyelids, like deflated balloon saggy, and I think I have that gene too

I think that helps, yeah. Oilier skin ages better. I have really dry skin so I've always been pretty careful about moisturizing.

Jesse, Id say go to Sephora and tell a sales rep what you are looking for and what you need it for. They will narrow it down to a few choices then give you a little pot of each to take home and try. This method has saved my $$$ many times.

Veg, my budding crepeiness scares me 1000x more than wrinkles.

Woooo! Oily skin, all breakouts, no crepe!

All the breakouts. All of them.

I did a great job sunblocking myself at the Mermaid Parade... except I forgot that my regrowing hair, while thicker and longer than it was a month ago, is still the least I've had since i was a toddler, so I wore a VISOR instead of A HAT.

So now my scalp is pink, and blistering somewhat. Not agonizing, but enough to be annoying. How the hell do I treat it? Rub aloe vera onto it before bed, what it does to the hair be damned?

Yep! Put the aloe in the fridge for a few hours for extra soothing.

^^^second this. It rinses out of hair no probs. If you can take an NSAID, that helps with sunburn pain.

Yo also wear a hat next time, you don't want melanoma, do you?

I mean maybe it was so much fun you want to do it again, but I'm sensing that is unlikely to be true.

My skin was pretty oily in high school but breakouts were rare. I had this weird skincare routine where I would exfoliate like crazy, rinse, then fill the basin with boiling hot water over which I would hold my face, head cloaked in a towel to avoid the heat escaping, until I couldn't stand it anymore. This was immediately followed by filling the basin with cold water and two trays of ice cubes into which I would dunk my face until I couldn't stand it anymore. Worked pretty well on my high school skin iirc.

In the 11th grade all the girls in our class were forced to take a mandatory in-school deportment class run by a visiting teacher. This would be my third deportment class as my mother had sent me to private deportment/modeling classes the previous two summers.

One sunny day the deportment teacher made us, one by one, stand next a picture window so she could assess our skin type. After this exercise was completed the teacher informed the class that everyone had dry skin with the exception of me who had oily skin. This statement led to many a derisive snicker from my classmates. To them oily equaled greasy which equaled disgusting. When the snickering died down, the teacher somewhat redeemed herself in my eyes by informing the dry skins that I would most likely have beautiful skin for decades while their dry skin would most likely start forming wrinkles at some point in their twenties.

Fast forward twenty years. My class is having its twentieth high school reunion. I did not attend. I did however see a grip of photos covering the event on Facebook the following day. I was overjoyed to see our deportment teacher's prediction had been awesomely on point.

The worst thing about scalp sunburn is when it inevitably starts peeling and you have to fight the urge to tell strangers on the train, "It's just sunburn! Not a horrible skin condition! SUNBURN!!!!"

refrigerated aloe thirded. Sorry bout yr scalp Morbz :(

Sunny that is a crazy tale! I am an oily, and don't have much going on wrinkle-wise (yet), but I don't know if this is due to oilyness or the fact that I've used Retin-A forever as an anti-acne med.

I woulda worn a hat! But I'm used to having thick messy hair, not a crewcut.

In 1997 I went to the Tibetan Freedom concert at Downing stadium on Randall's Island. If any of you NYC peeps have ever been to Downing you'll know that it is made entirely of white concrete which causes such a glare that it is difficult see 10 ft ahead. I stood sat, walked and danced in that stadium in June. The sun bright in the sky, until well after sunset. I don't think the temperature itself was very high. I felt almost like getting sunburned skiing or on the water because the rays bounce back at you.

Anyway, the next morning I noticed my scalp was peeling. Not in little flakes but in pieces so large I had to comb my hair and slide the skin out. This went on for days. a few months later I saw this angry looking red bump thing on my scalp. It was hard and sore. From this point on I panicked, always waiting for a brain tumor to get me. 15 years later, I still have this thing attached to me . Finally, circa 2009, I asked my PCP to look at it. I cant remember what he called it but he assured me it was nothing and that if I made another appointment, he could take it off my head in about 5 minutes. I didn't make an appointment. I didn't want that part of my hair (about an inch back from my hairline and about an inch from the middle of my head) cut and/or shaved. I also had/have an unreasonable fear, borne completely of my imagination, that if we were to slice it open, all the bad diseases that were trapped inside (also unreasonable and imagined) would get out and really start attacking me.

So. Yeah. Wear a cap/hat.

PS: I was going to take a photo of the bump and post it but I's rather not be responsible for exposing the cultured ladies of ILS to an image better suited to ILTMI

*cries*

RIP Downing Stadium. (It was demolished in 2002.) The NY Centaurs used to play there, and the stadium lights were taken from Ebbets Field.

Jesse, Id say go to Sephora and tell a sales rep what you are looking for and what you need it for. They will narrow it down to a few choices then give you a little pot of each to take home and try. This method has saved my $$$ many times.

I didn't know they'd give you samples! That's great. Thanks, SS.

I went to Ulta the other day and they showed me a bunch of moisturizers, creams, etc. There are SO MANY brands. Ugh. And like Crabbbits said, I always suspect its all snake oil. Anyway, samples will be very helpful.

omg carl snapchatted a little video of you trying out concealer or something and i made a little squeaking noise when I realized who it was on the screen!