Acne Magazine : Skin Care, Tips, Treatment Reviews

When it comes to your skin, there is really no product that is a one size fits all, especially when acne is involved. Since there are so many variations and levels of severity for the skin condition, the products that treat it must be adjusted accordingly.

Even good acne products with great reputations may not work for everyone who uses them. That’s because everyone’s skin comes with a slightly different profile. Some people have sensitive and easily reddened and irritated skin, for which only the most gentle acne cleansers will work.

Some people have thicker, more resilient skin that can stand up to heavier products that really go deep into the pores.  When you have thicker skin, not only does your skin tend to show the signs of aging later in life, thanks to extra resiliences against wear and tear like wrinkles and fine lines, but you also have the luxury of using some harsher exfoliants and deeper penetrating acid peels – things like that.

But when you have “thinner” skin, you have to really be careful not to buy products, no matter how good they are for other types of skin, that will irritate the delicate nature of your skin.

I make it a policy now to not buy any acne or skin care products with certain chemicals. My biggest one is SLS (sodium lauryl sulfate) and parabens. Both are bad in different ways.  SLS is a harsh surfactant detergent that lathers up really well – but with that lather comes dryness and a deep disturbance of the skin’ delicate acid mantle, which protects it from enironmental damage.

Parabens are a chemical preservative that is used to extend the shelf life of skin care products to ridiculous proportions.  They have been implicated in hormonal imbalance, and are therefore one of the ingredients to avoid in your acne skin care products. 

All products, even when applied topically, eventually enter the blood stream where they can interfere with your body’s natural processes, the efficiency and helath of your organs, and they can even cause cancer in certain cases. 

It is important to eliminate as many of these harmful chemicals as you can, not only in your acne skin care products, but also in any product you happen to apply to your body, which is your TEMPLE.

Here are some other ingredients to avoid :

DMDM hydantoin

Phthalates

Heavy scents, or any artificial scent at all

Artificial colors

Mineral oil and petrochemicals

Blackheads are a problem for adolescents and teens. They are a black dot on your face or skin They are dirt, oil and dead skin that clogs the pores in your skin. Once you get them they are not easy to remove. Washing even with an abrasive cleanser may not help you with the problem. A blackhead remover tool often is the best way to get rid of the problem. There are different kinds on the market to choose from.

One of the most well known kinds is the loop blackhead extractor. It has two small looped ends that are used on your pimples. They are often used on whiteheads too. You roll the looped end over the surface with consistent pressure. It is important for you to steam your face before using the tool.

This softens the clog in the pores making them easier to remove. Some of the best blackhead removers are made from stainless steel. After using this tool you should wash with hot soap and water. Rinse it in alcohol to kill any bacteria on it. The looped remover is one of the best blackhead remover tools to use.

There are remover products that are creams that you put on your face. Often the cream is applied to the face until it dries. After the cream dries wash your face with warm soap and water and dry. Some of the creams are expensive.

There are also pore strips like Biore and some of the other knockoffs of yesteryear that you apply to your nose or face. This strip loosens the skin and clogs formed in the pores by basically pulling it out via brute force.   While interesting, these can sometimes leave a mark and not heal right because of how they are often yanked out so forcefully.

Most blackhead extractors push or pop the blemishes, so it is wise to make sure you use the gentles pressure possible to avoid scarring. Another type of tool is the spoon extractor used for small sized blemishes. It has several holes at the end to be used only for very small blemishes. These tools are a safe way to remove black head pimples that are not serious.

When choosing the right tools to remove zits pick the best blackhead remover for you and make sure it is safe to use. Some extractors are not safe if you do not know how to use them correctly. So practice safety when using these tools – and keep them disinfected so you don’ t do more harm than good by depositing more bacteria into the pore.

My husband and I traveled last weekend, and one of the things I forgot to pack was my morning cleanser. Silly, I know, that I use a specific type of cleanser at night (usually more of a deep cleaner, not a light one like I use for morning), and in the morning, but this is how my skin behaves best.

I prefer a more gentle, moisturizing one in the morning because the heavy lifting was already done at night, taking off all my makeup and making sure my skin was a smooth, clean palette for the morning time.

So, we went to Target to pick up a few things, and I saw a Burt’s Bees product that I figured I would try for our morning facial cleanser. It was called Orange Essence, and it did say that it contained orange oil and olive oil, but I didn’t figure on it being overly greasy because I figured it would still have to “cleanse” the skin too, and excess oil in cleansers make it hard to the skin to actually be cleansed.

Well, boy was I wrong. This cleanser, while it is probably good for very mature skin, should probably not be used on those of us who still produce quite a bit of oil (sebum) naturally.  Not only did this cleanser not feel like it was cleansing my skin, but it actually felt so thick and oily that I thought it might be clogging my pores, and may aggravate my skin into a breakout.

It was the consistency of an oil-based ointment, and it did not feel like it was cleaning the surface of my skin at all. Instead, it felt like it was just sitting on the surface. Even after I rinsed my face several times, I could still feel a layer of greasy film on my skin. The scent of the product was amazing – smelled just like oranges, so I had high hopes that some of those orange enzymes would do a good cleansing job.

It did not lather at all. I know that not everything has to lather to cleanse your skin, but there was absolutely zero cleansing action. It was like rubbing a salve on my face. It felt more like a very intensive moisturizer that was meant for mature skin than it did a gentle cleanser. While I love a lot of Burt’s Bees product, this Orange Essence cleanser was not great at all.

As you probably well know if you’ve been reading my blog for any amount of time, or even at first glance, I’m a big proponent of treating acne naturally, without chemicals and without drugs.  I love natural skin care products, because they don’t over dry or irritate my skin, and I know I’m putting something on my skin that I wouldn’t mind if it soaked into my blood stream – which by the way, all skin care products do, especially the ones you use on a daily basis.

Chemical preservatives, dyes and surfactants that are added to many of the drugstore brand products all will eventually end up in your blood stream in one way or another, and while I do occasionally use products that contain these types of ingredients out of necessity and out of experimentation to share with my readers, they certainly are not my preference.

Which brings me to the Aveda line of products. Aveda is still mostly known for their naturally-derived hair care line with the heavily woodsy and floral scents, which most of it’s fans adore (including me).  Aveda slowly branched out into numerous other personal care items that follow the same principles as their hair care line, which is naturally, plant derived extracts and essential oils to make you look better and nourish the hair and skin.

Their Outer Peace acne skin care line consists of five products.  They have a foam cleanser, acne relief pads, which help to exfoliate the skin, Acne Spot Relief, which is a spot treatment cream for blemishes, acne relief lotion, which sounds like it’s used allover the face, and a cooling mask, which sounds like it’s just an intermittent acne deep treatment mask.

I have not tried any of these products yet, but do plan to try them some time. I thought if any of our readers has tried them yet they can share their experiences.  Aveda products aren’t cheap, but if they work, then you know how much clear skin can be worth – priceless!  I only wish they had a supplement in their regimen as well.

The other day, I was doing a workout show on Fit TV, and during the commercial breaks, I noticed that Burts Bees has quite a long commercial (not quite an infomercial, but an ad the company spent some bucks on for sure) for a new teen line directed at acne treatments and soothing acne prone skin with the big tagline that it won’t dry it out or irritate it. I was intrigued of course, because I love any acne treatment product that is natural, without all those harsh, drying chemicals that are in so many of the drugstore acne brands that we see on the shelves.

I must say, the commercial is quite good. It shows several young, pretty girls who are bathed in a very natural, ethereal light (no doubt to make their smooth, acne free skin look even better), who are praising the wonders of the Burts Bees acne product line.  You can’t take your eyes off the sunny commercial, it’s actually really beautiful!

Preservatives like parabens, surfactants like sodium laurel sulfate, and harsh chemicals that irritate skin further are more suited for laundry detergent, not our delicate faces, whose skin is thinner and thinner as we age. Not to mention, all the pollutants and environmental ravages our facial skin undergoes every day because it is uncovered and exposed to the elements. We don’t need to add any more to that heavy load of burden. So it’s nice to a see a mainstream company come out with a natural, gentle line of acne treatment products.

The Burt’s Bees products I saw in the advertisement were a gentle cleansing liquid, a clarifying toner, a spot treatment cream, a refining facial scrub and a daily moisturizer. The only one thing I was a little disappointed in was that it looks like they might use benzoyl peroxide instead of my personal favorite, salicylic acid, as the main acne fighting ingredient, but that may not matter if  all the other ingredients make it work well.

Burt’s Bees has been a long time contender in the natural skin care market. They started off with their lip balms being popular, and have since launched a whole line of skin care, with everything from rosacea skin care products to anti aging and wrinkle skin care, to lipsticks and now acne products as well. I’ve tried many of their products, and some I’ve liked while others have left something to be desired.

So I’m anxious to try some of the products from their natural acne skin care product line. I’ll be sure to report back to you, my faithful readers, once I buy some of them and try them out for a good week. I’m about due for a new cleanser soon….

So, it’s been about two months now that I’ve had my pricey Clarisonic facial cleanser tool. For a refresher, the Clarisonic is a device that is made by the same folks who make those Sonicare toothbrushes, which I have to admit I’m dying of curiosity to try and see if it works better than your run of the mill manual toothbrush. It uses “supersonic” cleansing action, where the bristles rotate so quickly that they literally help get down deeper into the pores, and get your skin cleaner.

I got it because I wanted to start really getting my face clean and smooth every night since I do wear moisturizer, foundation and an additional SPF face perfector tinted product as well. I just felt like I wasn’t getting my skin totally clean at night I guess, and I thought that this Clarisonic tool may help with that. Plus, I thought it would be nice to treat myself to a relaxing, massaging, deep humming and soothing type of cleanse every night.

So I bought it. I like that way it made my skin feel right away, but I couldn’t really gauge whether it was making my skin look better or not until I went a week without using it when I forgot to pack it when I went on vacation for a week to the Carolinas.

I did miss it, but I really wanted to see if my skin looked any different. It seems that this thing does help to keep away those little irritation bumps that tend to pop up on my chin. Perhaps those were there because I wasn’t getting my face 100% clean every night and leaving debris in my pores, or maybe there is another reason. Whatever the reason, I did notice my skin looked slightly better when I started using the Clarisonic again.

It looks a bit clearer, and smoother and more evenly toned, so I think this thing does make a difference. I don’t however think this is a necessity, I think you can probably get good results using a cheaper method of deep cleaning, but I think this may last a long time, so in the end, it will probably end up only costing me pennies a day to use.

I have reported to you my one-time experience with Retin-A, when I was only about 14 years old and struggling with pretty serious acne on my face. I had it the worst on my chin, which would erupt in painful, under the skin, explosive zits several times a week. It seems my hormones were totally out of control, and it seemed that nothing would work to clear my skin up consistently.

One of the products I was given to try which did not work for me was Retin-A. Let me explain though, as I’ve done more research recently and I have decided that Retin-A is really a good thing, I just think that my dermatologist at the time first of all gave me way too high a dosage of it, and they also prescribed it to me in a harsh gel form instead of as a cream, which I think may have helped me with the dryness that it caused.

Retin-A is used not only for acne and acne scarring today, but it is also used as an anti aging product. The reason is that it is a retinoid, which speeds the turnover of your topical skin cells, thereby helping to prevent acne from forming because it helps keep the pores clear, and also helping to shed the older skin layers to reveal fresh new ones, and help prevent and minimize the appearance of lines and wrinkles (it’s anti aging purpose, which is it still very popularly prescribed for).

When I was using this product, I not only was using this, which is a drying product if not used properly, but I was also using several very harsh, very drying products on my skin, thinking these were going to help my acne clear up. So I would use a harsh cleaner, and I would keep it lathered on my face way too long, then I would use an astringent, then I would apply the Retin-A.

All this while, I didn’t even think to use a moisturizer! In my youth, I was definitely ignorant of how to care for my skin, so the Retin-A just magnified the dryness and I ended up with flaking, dried, scabbed over skin that looked just awful and was very painful. Knowing what I know now, I think Retin-A is actually an excellent product when used correctly. I’ve read too many people that have had great experiences with it minimizing the pores and helping to keep acne at bay. I’m going to shortly add Retin-A overview page that gives you more information about this product!

I recently purchased Clean & Clear (by Johnson and Johnson, I haven’t tried one of their Clean & Clear products in ages, so I figured why not), Advantage 3-in-1 Foaming Acne Wash to try out. As you probably know if you read this blog frequently, I purchase quite a few different acne face washes every time I run out, simply so I can try them out and report them back to you.

What I saw on the front packaging for this product sold me instantly. It has my favorite over the counter acne wash additive, salicylic acid, so I was sold when I saw that. I love that salicylic acid not only helps to clear away debris to keep your face clear, but it also has an anti drying effect because it helps to slough away dead skin cells that make the skin appear dull and dry.

Ok, ok, I have to admit, I also love to buy new products! I love the new smells, the new feel of a slippery wash for the first time, the way that a new product makes my face feel, whether it’s positive or negative, and the packaging.

I’m a sucker for scents though, as you may already know, and I hate anything that is strongly chemically perfumed. Natural scents are good, I think that strong scents that indicate a lot of chemicals are not good, as they make me think they added quite a few chemical cocktails to get them to smell that way. That’s just me though. And I notice that the older I get, the more sensitive my sniffer gets to any offensive or too-strong odors, so I’m also gettin’ old!

I bring this up because the first thing that hit me, quite literally, about this Clean & Clear face wash was the smell. It was very heavily perfumed with a somewhat flowery smell. That I did not like right away, however, please keep reading because I have more to say. I liked the way my face felt after using this face wash. It did not feel too dry or tight, and yet it felt totally cleansed. It really washed away my makeup, including my mascara and eyeliner well too.

You have to use a little more of this product than some other face washes to get it to suds up enough to cleanse, but I’m ok with that since that actually indicates it doesn’t have too many irritating surfactants like sodium laurel sulfate in it. Of course, it still contains them because it’s not an all natural facial cleanser (which is my preferred status quo), but it’s nice to know it doesn’t have so much that it’s going to instantly strip your skin of all oil and protection and moisture in a matter of seconds.

This product only cost me about five bucks at Target. A great deal, especially since it’s in a fairly generous 8 oz. bottle, so it should last a few weeks since I only use it once a day. By the way, that’s my routine, I usually use one product in the morning and one at night, usually a gentler product in the morning since I’ve already cleansed the previous day’s dirt, grime and makeup the previous night with a more serious cleanser.

I was at the Aveda salon where I always go to get my hair cut and highlighted today when I overheard the chatterbox customer behind me talking about how much she loved Aveda skin care products, and she was specifically talking about a product that Aveda makes for acne prone skin.

The Aveda acne product line is called Outer Peace, which is aptly named since acne is a combination of inner and outer stress on the skin, and requires hormonal balance to be clear again, which is part of what is achieved by taking internal medications or supplements like ZenMed’s to help balance the hormones, but also requires using natural, gentle products on the outside as well so as not to aggravate the skin and cause further flareups and redness.

The Outer Peace line has a few products that I’ve read about for acne, most of which have been reviewed favorably, but in my opinion are fairly pricey for the amount of product you get. Aveda hair care products are somewhat pricey, but they last forever, whereas a face wash or cream acne treatment isnt’ going to last you as long. You may need to have a bit more of a disposable income to enjoy the full line of products unfortunately, but sometimes paying extra is more than worth it for clear, calm skin.

If you’ve had any experience with this Aveda line of acne skin care products, please comment here and we’d love to hear your stories. I’d also love to try it for myself, which I probably will as I’m a huge fan of their other products.

I reviewed the Body Shop Tea Tree Oil toner about a week ago, when I had first started using it. I had used it about four times when I reviewed it and wanted to follow up, because I’ve been using it about every other night and I do really like it. You have to be careful with using this every day, in my opinion, if you have any tendencies toward dry skin. I have very oily skin, but I do tend to get dried out by some products that mop up oil, and this is one of them. I still feel it’s a great toner – one of the better ones I’ve ever used, and reasonably priced.

I think you would be best served by using the Body Shop tea tree oil toner every other day, or at least just once a day, especially if you have combination skin. Those with extremely oily, problem skin may be able to get away with twice a day, but I think once a day or once every other day totally suffices if you’re looking to help keep surface debris off your skin that causes acne lesions, and are also looking for a great product to help seal up your pores and also to act as an antibacterial and antiseptic.

Bacteria does also contribute to acne, so tea tree oil based products are a great way to go to get the antibacterial aspect of acne fighting under your belt. This oil is known to have great astringent and antiseptic qualities, and is used for an array of purposes, even in addition to acne fighting, it was just found to help those suffering with acne a few years ago and hence became a popular base for acne products.

I really love the earthy smell of it too, and it’s in a really pretty bottle. I know those things don’t really matter, but it makes these products more pleasant to have around, look at, and smell!