Acne Magazine : Skin Care, Tips, Treatment Reviews

I was introduced to the fairly new line of blackhead reducing cleansers and creams (and other products) by Neutrogena, a relatively good OTC skin care product for those with sensitive skin.  The product I chose to use to try to eliminate my blackheads, which for me, tend to group all around my nose and on my nose, was the Blackhead Eliminating Warming Cleanser. 

The product says that it “penetrates to eliminate most blackheads and helps prevent new ones”, and “gently warms to soften skin and clear clogged pores”.  When it says it gently warms, I think what I was thinking is that would help the penetration factor so the salicylic acid, one of the active ingredients in this blackhead line, can more easily get to the root of the blackhead, which is just basically dirt and grime trapped in an opened pore, and flush it out.

The cleanser is kind of neat feeling, because it has a slightly gritty texture, and you do feel a slight warming when you begin to rub it in (this is just a fairly old technology that uses a chemical which is activated when touched and rubbed, but it is very brief, and unfortunately I’m not really sure it makes the product work better, it’s really more of a novelty for me). 

Your skin feels ultra clean and tight when you’re done, which is the reason I ONLY use it on my problem area (around my nose), because this type of cleanser could be too drying and harsh on the rest of my face, where I really do not have a problem with blackheads. 

The directions with the Neutrogena Blackhead Eliminating Warming Cleanser is to use the product twice a day, massaging gently and using warm water.  The active ingredient is a 2% solution of salicylic acid, one of my favorite acne fighters that is relatively cheap and easy to come by (I like this much better than benzoyl peroxide personally – it’s much more conducive to softer, brighter skin). 

The product says that it penetrates deeply to eliminate “most” blackheads and also to help prevent new ones from forming.  I did notice that my blackheads actually seem to be lighter in color if that makes any sense, but the pores are unfortunately still open, so it is not smoothing those over. 

I have been using it for about one week, only on my trouble spot. I will keep you posted as to the effects of long term use of this blackhead eliminating product, as it will be lasting me a long, long time since I’m only using it on and around my nose!

A friend of mine has had terminally dry skin ever since she can remember.  She is actually now 37 years old, and says that she only actually washes her face with a soap like cleanser if her face is extremely grimy, but otherwise, even in the shower, avoids the water so that her face does not even get wet and therefore dries out more. 

I just thought it was funny, because here’s me, in my teen years, faithfully scrubbing my skin every night, not knowing that I was probably doing more damage than good to my acne prone skin, and never, ever missing a night or morning of my cleansing ritual, which at that time involved horribly drying products such as See Breeze astringent, clearasil pads, and other soaps like Basis which were actually too drying and irritating, especially when combined with one another. 

And then you have people who are the polar opposites, who actually probably would have traded an occasional blemish for oiler, more moisture-sealed skin (which let’s face it, us acne prone people do tend to have).  One of the favorites of both acne prone skin and dry skin throughout the years, and I believe a product which is still recommended by many dermatologists, is Cetaphil, which is a very gentle cleanser that you can actualy just swipe across your face with a cloth, and then gently wipe it off. 

Your makeup would remove fairly easily as well, but I could never get the use of this product, since for me, it seemed to leave my skin with a lot of grime and dirt embedded in it.  But supposedly it would not dry the skin out like regular cleansers would.   

 

The Zenmed Dermacleanse herbal capsules that I told you about still seem to be doing the trick for clearing my acne blemishes after a stressful period.  I still have some things going on with overdrying that I need to remedy also, since I tried to use an acne mask by Murad overnight and that was a dumb mistake – now I have a flaky patch of skin on my chin that will not go away. 

Other than that though, even though I’ve been admittedly eating a lot of chocolate, sugar and caffeine due to the holidays, the dermacleanse stuff is working pretty well.  My skin has not shown any new blemishes since about two weeks into treatment with the product, and I’m still enjoying clearer skin, so I now know that my first experience with this product was not a fluke. 

If your skin is suffering due to the stress and bad eating habits of the holidays, I’d recommend maybe you give the zenmed system a try, it’s not a bad price when you consider it offers a few months of treatment, and many times does not require follow up treatment except for the possibility of needing to go back on it periodically to again regain that internal balance that is so important to acne clearing.

We all know that stress can really wreak havoc on our skin, especially if we are already prone to acne breakouts.  Stress can run especially high around this time of year, the Christmas holiday for a lot of people because money might be tight, the pressure to shop and eat bad foods is high, there’s a lot of traveling going on, and many times people are not getting along with their families, or there may be some kind of family conflict as we all hear so often ’round this special time of year. 

So, what can you do to de-stress yourself so your skin doesn’t look as if you are wearing your emotions on your sleaves, so to speak?  Well, one technique that I really love is to perform light yoga practice nightly.  There are some great DVD’s that concentrate mostly on yoga moves and deep breathing techniques that can really help us to naturally regulate our breath, which helps oxygenate the blood, which in turn takes stress away.

Another technique for stress reduction practiced by many is meditation, takeing the time out for yourself to be alone with your thoughts and your own breath can do wonders to relax the nervous system, and also the face’s tendency to break out!

Tai chi is a slow form of yoga or dance, however you want to look at it, and has produced some excellent relaxationg in stressed out people.  Also, just deep breathing itself can do wonders for your thoughts and your nervous system since 99% of being stressed out is being short of breath and feeling “panicked” all the time. 

This lack of oxygen in the blood just creates a massive flow of panic signals ot the brain and perpetuates the stress.  Breathing is key to calming the nervous system, and can also be key in keeping breakouts and other skin stressors at bay.

We have talked a little about another form of acne that is not as common as the all too familiar acne vulgaris, and that is the combination of acne and rosacea, another inflammatory skin disorder which causes overall redness and sometimes a bumpy texture to the skin as well. 

It’s called acne rosacea, and it is actually a little trickier to treat than just plain and simple acne or plain and simple rosacea, since these two are distinct in their treatments.  And therein is actually where the problem lies with treating acne rosacea. 

Since the treatment of acne can involve some ingredients that can be irritating externally to skin that has rosacea, sometimes one with both acne and rosacea must cautiously seek out specific skin care products for acne rosacea, so that they do not venture into territory that may be damaging or inflaming to their rosacea when they treat their acne, and vice versa, so they do not encourage acne when treating their rosacea. 

The treatment of acne rosacea should involve products that are very, very gentle, and preferably as natural as possible so the amount of possible chemical irritants is at a minumum, since chemicals such as benzoyl peroxide and other drying agents that are commonly used in the treatment of acne can actually make rosacea worse. 

There are also certain supplements that may be used to calm acne rosacea which can really calm the facial skin down.  For a list of products that offer supplements for rosacea and acne as well as gentle external treatments see Acne Rosacea Skin Care.

I’m glad to tell you, as a self tanning fanatic who also happens to have had a lifetime on and off struggle with acne, I’ve found another face friendly and acne friendly self tanner that both delivers natural, beautiful looking results, and also happens to not make your face erupt into small bumps, or God forbid, one of those awfule under-the-skin lesions.

It’s a little higher on the price scale, but it’s very high quality, and contains high quality ingredients that are conducive to healthy facial skin and clear pores.   It’s called Xen-Tan, and it’s about $22 for a bottle of the facial self tanner, which is small, but if it is only used on the face, it lasts you quite a while honestly.  If you use it on the face and neck, you may notice it will go quicker though, of course.

What I like about it is that it actually goes on as a dark self tan at first, which of course washes off in its intensity once you wash your face after 3-6 hours of having it on, but it gives you a really lovely instant self tan, with olive undertones, which is unusual for a self tanner. 

Usually you get golden undertones with all of them, which doesnt’ always necessarily flatter every skin type of skin tone (as well as the hair color, if your hair is dark, you’ll really love this – it’ll make you look “exotic”).  Anyways, very cool product – do a google search, you’ll see it.  Or I think they also sell it at high end department stores like Blommingdales and Nordstrom.   

Remember how I shared with you that I was beginning a round of Dermacleanse herbal acne pills?  Yep, I was breaking out due to high levels of stress coming from a couple directions in my personal and work life, so I decided I really needed a good “internal skin cleansing”, and had tried the Zenmed Dermacleanse pills and products a couple years back with excellent results, so I figured I’d give my skin a refresher course in how it should be behaving. 

I bought two months worth of the Dermacleanse system, and for the first week or so I did notice it was either staying the same or maybe even a tad worse, but knew this was normal. 

Now, after about two weeks, my skin is really clearing up nicely.  This is a definite improvement over the adjustment period I had to wait through with my last round of Dermacleanse, which ended up being about 3 weeks. 

I’m really glad I stuck it out that first time though, because it ended up clearing my skin up like it had never looked before.  Here’s an odd thing, and who knows, maybe I’m just imagining it, but I noticed today I forgot to take my Dermacleanse pills this morning, as I usually do with  breakfast. 

Well, I was at my ATM machine at about 2:00 in the afternoon, when I caught a glimpse of my face.  It looked red, irritated almost.  I also felt like my face was “hot”, like it was just burning up. 

Sure enough, I remembered I forgot to take my Zenmed Dermacleanse pills, and after I took them, my skin returned to it’s “calm” state.  It’s crazy, but I really think this stuff works as an internal skin cleansing and calming tonic….

I got this question about the herbal acne remedy Acnezine :

Question : hi, is acnezine a good & safe acne pill to take, does it really work? does it clear blackheads & pimples without side effects, does it make you break out if i use it? is there a lot of testimonials of the product, is it better than actimine/ is actimine safe too. is acnezine the best , do you recommend it, thanks. xxxxxxx.

Answer :