Product Review: L’Occitane Ultra Rich Face Cream

Although it’s easy to hop into bed at night without giving a second thought to your skin care, paying attention to your nighttime skin care can be incredibly beneficial to your skin. Your body rejuvenates itself while you sleep, and your skin isn’t an exception. Lotions and creams that would be too heavy for daytime are perfect for nighttime when your skin has time to absorb and use the heavy ingredients.

A wonderful moisturizer for nighttime is L’Occitane Ultra Rich Face Cream. The thick cream packed with shea butter is ultra-hydrating. I started using this product when I suddenly discovered scaly, dry patches on the apples of my cheeks. I wasn’t sure what caused them, but I knew I wanted to get rid of them. I had been given a sample of this face cream, and decided there was no better time to try it than when I had scaly cheeks. I put it on immediately before going to bed, and the next morning my cheeks didn’t feel dry at all. The scaly, dry feeling hasn’t returned since.

The best part about this moisturizer is that it doesn’t feel as heavy as it is. Many nighttime moisturizers feel like you have just slathered a pound of Vaseline on your face. Ultra Rich Face Cream doesn’t have this effect at all. The lightweight moisturizer feels like it could also be used for daytime (although it doesn’t contain an SPF).

L’Occitane Ultra Rich Face Cream costs $36.00 for 1.7 oz and can be found at L’Occitane stores and select Sephora stores.

Ah, the Spa, Part III

As I mentioned yesterday, today I am going to be discussing IPL’s other use: hair removal. IPL has been praised for its fairly painless and effective permanent hair removal. Unlike the temporary solutions waxing and shaving provide, IPL can permanently remove unwanted hair.

It does so by sending light pulses targeted at the melanin in the hair shaft. The pulses then heat and destroy the hair follicle. Since the follicles are damaged or destroyed, they will not grow back hair. IPL can work on any area of the body including the back, arms, legs, bikini area, underarms, and more.

IPL hair removal is performed in a series of treatments because the hair has to be in its growing phase in order for the treatment to work. How many treatments you need is based on several factors. These same factors will also determine if you are a good candidate for IPL.

The best candidates for IPL are people with fair skin and dark hair. The light pulses used in the treatment are attracted to the melanin, or pigment, in the hair follicle. If you have fair skin and dark hair, the light pulses will be easily attracted to the pigment in the hair since your skin doesn’t contain as much pigment. Redheads with fair skin are also great candidates for hair removal. People with dark skin and dark hair are fairly good candidates for IPL because they still have a lot of melanin in their skin and hair. Poor candidates for IPL are people who have fair skin and fair hair. Since your hair doesn’t contain much pigment, the IPL cannot be attracted as easily to your hair.

I consulted my aesthetician about permanent hair removal on my legs, and she said not to even bother. I have fair skin and blonde hair. The IPL would never work, although here’s to hoping advancing technologies make it a possibility for me some day.

If you don’t fall into a category of prime candidate, that doesn’t mean you cannot get IPL done. It may just take more treatments. Some people can have immediate results, and others can have less noticeable but still good results. Even if IPL doesn’t completely get rid of your unwanted hair, it can definitely make it grow in lighter and finer.

The two questions that come to one’s mind when discussing a new treatment like this are usually: how much does it hurt, and how much does it cost. IPL can be painful. I have had the treatment performed, and even with numbing cream I felt awfully sensitive to the zap. My aesthetician has since discovered that icing down the area to be treated helps tremendously with the pain, so suggest that to whomever you choose to have do your treatment.

As with IPL facials, IPL hair removal can run you around $1000 for a series of treatments. If you are a religious waxer or shaver, you may be able to eventually offset your costs by not having to pay for waxing or shaving anymore. Or avoiding the hassle of shaving at home may be worth it for you too. No matter your reason, IPL can be a beneficial and rewarding experience for many.

Ah, the Spa, Part III

Intense Pulsed Light (IPL) is a new and exciting breakthrough in rejuvenating skin treatments. We have already discussed chemical peels, and IPL provides many of the same benefits without the painful and unsightly side effects.

We discussed that chemical peels can be used to reduce acne and remove scarring and age spots, in addition to improving the general appearance of skin. We also discussed how chemical peels can be painful and cause initial redness in the treated areas. IPL has the same benefits of chemical peels, but it is virtually painless and only brings a little pinkness to the cheeks shortly after an intense treatment.

IPL is FDA approved and effectively removes or reduces age spots, acne scarring, and other blemishes. It does so by treating the damaged top layer of skin and delivering thermal energy to the deeper tissue. The heat from the laser promotes the collagen beneath the skin’s surface, replacing the damaged skin and giving the skin an immediate plump glow.

IPL treatments are usually performed in series of 4 – 6, with 3 weeks in between each treatment. This allows the skin to gradually heal. IPL treatments take around twenty minutes. The can cost around $1000 for a set of treatments; the reason they are so expensive is because of the cost of laser equipment.

I have had IPL done to reduce my acne scarring, and I have been very happy with the results. The treatment is highly effective, and I have noticed a glow to my face, especially the first few days after receiving a treatment. If you are considering something to reduce blemishes, IPL is definitely your best option, albeit your most expensive.

Tune in tomorrow when we discuss IPL’s hair removal benefits. Please direct all questions or comments to explorefashion@gmail.com.

Product Review: Neosporin

On a beauty website, you may find it odd to have a product review on Neosporin. After all, it’s for cuts, right? Yes, Neosporin is excellent for cuts, but it can also an excellent and inexpensive heavy duty lip treatment.

I have mentioned many times before that I have problems with dry skin. In the winter, this includes incredibly dry lips that crack. I normally have to use an intensive moisturizer on my lips, but come winter and even my 100% pure shea butter doesn’t do its job. That’s when Neosporin comes in.

Applying it on my lips like I would any other lip moisturizer provides relief from the dry cracking feeling within days. I thought applying Neosporin to my lips would by greasy and thick, but it actually glides on easily and leaves a glossy sheen. For anyone who has seriously dry lips, I would recommend Neosporin over any expensive lip treatment. For a great price, it does a great job.

Ah, the Spa, Part II

One of the most common treatments you hear of people getting done at a medical spa or dermatologist’s office is Botox. Some swear by the wrinkle-reducing results, and others joke about how it freezes any facial expressions. Let’s break down how Botox works and if it can truly freeze your face.

Botox is short for botulinum toxin A. That’s right, botulinum like botulism and toxin. Botox is indeed related to botulism, a form of food poisoning. Botulism has many serious side effects, including paralysis. And that’s where Botox comes in. Botulinum toxin A (Botox) is one of seven toxins (A through G) in botulism. Although whole-body paralysis is clearly a serious and unwanted medical problem, paralyzing face muscles can stop wrinkles. Botox prevents the signals that would tell your face muscles to contract from doing their job, effectively eliminating wrinkles.

Botox can eliminate wrinkles around the eyes, forehead, between the eyebrows, and even the arch under your eyebrow. It is also used to prevent muscle spasms, treat migraine headaches, and eliminate excessive sweating.

Of course, Botox is not permanent. Most people need injections every three to eight months. Botox is a quick, outpatient procedure. Patients can even get Botox injections over their lunch breaks.

The ease and effectiveness of Botox has made it the most popular cosmetic surgery procedure in the U.S. But what about those rumors of not being able to move your face? Be sure to choose a good doctor to perform your Botox, and you will most likely not feel side effects. If you have a good doctor performing your Botox, you should not have any problem with your face “freezing,” although you may not have the exact same range of expression you had before Botox.

For youth seekers, Botox may be the least invasive and safest way to create younger looking skin. As with any procedure, be sure you find a good doctor to perform Botox. You don’t want to be wearing your poker face all the time.

Ah, the Spa, Part I

Make-up can do a lot for your appearance, but spa treatments can do even more. This series is going to discuss a lot of different aspects of the spa from facials to Botox. Although expensive and slightly frightening, some of these treatments can make a dramatic difference in your appearance. For those readers who may want to start the new year by getting rid of those acne scars leftover from her teen years of those varicose veins appearing in your middle-aged years, this next series is going to give you the lowdown all these new treatments.

We are going to begin by discussing chemical peels, a procedure I mentioned in last week’s post on acne. Chemical peels are used to help reduce acne, but there other reasons people choose them as well. Chemical peels can reduce fine lines and treat wrinkles, improve mild scarring, reduce dark patches like freckles and age spots, and improve the general appearance of skin.

Chemical peels can be performed as an outpatient procedure at a medical spa or a doctor’s office. They normally use four different chemicals: Alphahydroxy acids (AHAs), Betahdroxy acid (BHA), Trichloroacetic acid (TCA), and phenol. The formula may vary from doctor’s office to doctor’s office or patient to patient.

AHAs can control acne and improve skin texture. BHA is a bit stronger than AHA, but it focuses on the same problems. TCA can smooth some wrinkles, even out pigment, and remove some blemishes. Phenol, the harshest of the three chemicals, can remove more stubborn wrinkles and blemishes, and it is also used to remove pre-cancerous growths.

Chemical peels don’t take very long and can be very effective. Depending on why you are using a chemical peel, they will usually be applied as a gel on your face for five to ten minutes. And they hurt. Some of you may have higher pain tolerance than me, but I found chemical peels quite painful. In addition to the hot, stinging sensation, they can also itch.

Chemical peels are usually provided in a series of treatments to work on the problem you are attempting to fix. How long you go between treatments depends on the depth of your peel (an AHA peel being the least deep and a Phenol peel being the deepest). After the treatment, your skin will normally be red and blotchy and very sensitive to sunlight. Using sunscreen, while always important, is even more important while being treated with chemical peels. The blotchiness generally goes away in a few days.

Chemical peels can be very effective, but they are not necessarily for everyone. As I mentioned in my acne post, I had terrible side effects from chemical peels. Rather than making my skin better, the peels seemed to make my skin worse. Talk to a licensed dermatologist or aesthetician to determine if chemical peels are good for you.

Product Review: Boar Bristle Hairbrushes

I saw boar bristle hairbrushes raved about by celebrities in magazines long before I decided to buy myself one. The $100 cost of a hairbrush caused me to hesitate purchasing one, but when I received a gift card to Sephora for my birthday, I decided it was the perfect time to invest. The only regret I have is not buying one earlier.

I purchased a Frederic Fekkai hairbrush on the recommendation of the saleswoman, and looked forward to seeing if it really had all the benefits my magazines claimed it had.

It did.

The hairbrush instantly smoothed and shined my hair. I went from slightly greasy ponytail hair to supermodel hair (okay, it didn’t straighten the ponytail kinks) in a matter of strokes. I even found myself needing to wash my hair less often. Somehow, the brush redistributed the oils in my hair to look, well, not oily.

The only downside I have found to the brush is that, after having it now for about six months, it doesn’t seem to give me the same luster that it gave me when I first bought it. I still wouldn’t it trade it for a regular hairbrush, but I also don’t find it gives me quite the same dramatic change I got when I first started using it.

Overall, I don’t regret the $100 I dropped on the hairbrush. However, if you are on a tight budget, a good conditioner will do wonders too (and prevent split ends while at it).

Reader Question: Acne, Part II

Welcome to Day 2 of our study on acne. Loryn asked me how she could combat her acne. On Monday, we discovered some of the reasons people get acne, and today we are going to talk about how to fight it.

No matter what is causing your acne, you can often combat it with good skin care.
Good skin care is the first line of defense against acne. If you aren’t consistent about washing your face, your skin care can get awfully confused about how it is going to combat the daily battles it fights on our behalf. Be sure that you are diligent and regular with whatever routine you choose to have with your skin. Falling into bed one Friday night without paying attention to your skin isn’t going to bother it much, but regular inconsistency will.

But how do you find which products work best for you? If you have sensitive skin like me, you will want gentle products. Harsh astringents and face scrubs are just going to bother your skin. Stick with gentle formulas like Cetaphil. Oiler or less sensitive skin types will benefit from more aggressive formulas. Finding the best products is a matter of just trying products and figuring out which ones work for your skin. Products at the store specifically designed to combat acne are often going to be more aggressive formulas. Clinique offers product lines that provide a whole skin care package based on what type of skin you have. The Body Shop offers a lot of natural and reasonably priced products.

Their Vitamin E line is good for sensitive skin, and their Tea Tree Oil line is good for acne-prone skin. Other make-up counters or stores will help you choose products based on what you tell them. Visiting an aesthetician will also help you figure out what is causing your acne, and she can recommend and provide products you can’t find in the store. No matter what you choose to do, you want to get a good face wash and a good moisturizer. Many people don’t need anything more than that.

I mentioned earlier there were also supplements that can assist your acne. Here is a list compiled for me by my aesthetician:

-Zinc balanced with copper
-B complex, especially extra B5
-Saw Palmento
-Raspberry, Red Clover, and Licorice herbs
-Essential Fatty Acids (aka Omega 3 and Omega 6)

Do you have a beauty question you want answered? I would love to hear from you. Please include your first name and town along with your question. Please e-mail me at explorefashion@gmail.com. I would also love any feedback on the blog or ways to improve it.

I have to give a special thanks to my aesthetician and friend Erin at Colorado Women’s Care for her tireless work with my skin and her boundless information that helped me write this post.

Reader Question: Acne, Part I

Today, I am going to be answering another reader question. Loryn from Erie, Colorado has the same problem many of us seem to encounter, including me. Loryn is a mentor to high school students, and she feels she should be advising them on how to rid themselves of acne rather than having to battle it herself. I can relate. I made it through junior high and high school with hardly a zit, but now that I am an adult I find myself in a never-ending battle with the little pink demons. Loryn wants to know how to combat her acne, and I am sure many of us find ourselves in the same battle.

I want to share my personal unusual battle with acne as an example for the different reasons acne can occur. As I already mentioned, I went through my entire adolescence with very little acne. When I moved from a humid climate to an incredible dry climate a few years ago, my formerly tame skin began to break out constantly, and nothing I did seemed to help. It was so bad my boyfriend bought me Proactiv as a “gift.” Yet, no product on the market seemed to calm my aggravated skin. I attributed the acne to the drastic change in climate; the dry weather just wasn’t doing my skin any favors. Yet I couldn’t live my whole life with acne now that I had moved.

After a long, losing battle with my skin, I decided to visit an aesthetician, Erin, about the problem. Erin started with the most obvious treatment for my acne: chemical peels. These harsh (and painful) treatments are supposed to rid the face of the impurities that cause acne. They worked wonders for my slightly acne prone husband, but they just made my skin worse. I was embarrassed to be in public because my skin was so blotchy and red.

Erin realized chemical peels were only going to continue to make my skin worse, and she decided to give me the mildest facial she could, a soothing mask. She also put me on a regimen of mild, gentle Sanitas products. To my amazement, the acne began to disappear quickly. My old zits weren’t being replaced by new zits. My skin was just clearing up.

After my skin began to clear up, I ditched the heavy MAC Studio Tech foundation and powder I was using to attempt to hide those zits. More gentle make-up cleared my skin up even further.

Regular treatments with Erin several years later, mild products, and gentle make-up products keep my acne under control. I still get occasional zits (especially during the extremely dry winters), but the problem is mainly manageable.

Figuring out what is causing acne is the trickiest part of finding a skin care regime to combat it. Acne can be caused by a number of different things. Let’s go through them one by one. Loryn and others who want to figure out what is causing their acne may want to note which of these seem to fit into their lifestyle.

Stress – Stress can cause a number of health problems, and it can also contribute to acne. When you are stressed, your body just doesn’t behave how it’s supposed to behave, and the effects can show up on your skin as well.

Diet – Contrary to popular belief, chocolate does not cause acne (everyone can breathe a sigh of relief now), but excess dairy products can. Not everyone will be affected by dairy, but some people will notice a difference in their skin due to dairy. Conversely, there are some supplements that can help your skin. We’ll cover that later in this article.

Hormones – The reason acne starts occurring in teenagers is because their hormones kick in. It’s also the reason birth control pills can be prescribed to combat acne. Since hormones cause acne, different points in a woman’s menstrual cycle can cause breakouts.

Climate – Some people may be sensitive to dry climates, and other may react to humid climates, but skin can be sensitive to the climate around it. Note how dry your skin can get in the winter. If you have moved from one climate to another, your skin may be adjusting.

Travel – If you have a lifestyle that requires you to travel significantly, it can cause your skin to react negatively. Airplane air is awful for skin (note how many flight attendants seem to have drawn, tight skin), and constantly switching climates can take a toll on your skin.

Inappropriate Skin Care/ Products – If you want to truly combat acne, you must be diligent about your skin. Good skin care products (they don’t necessarily have to be expensive) and good skin care can help your face. Bad products can aggravate your skin no matter how hard you try. Too many products can do the same thing. Don’t use every product you find to combat acne; you will just confuse and frustrate your skin (and consequently yourself). Heavy make-up can also cause clogged pores and therefore acne.

Did you say yes to any of these? You may be closer to finding the problem causing your acne. Tomorrow we are going to cover some of the solutions to acne. There are lots of ways to combat it if your acne just isn’t going to go away on its own. Be sure to check back.

Do you have a beauty question you want answered? I would love to hear from you. Please include your first name and town along with your question. Please e-mail me at explorefashion@gmail.com. I would also love any feedback on the blog or ways to improve it.

Product Review: Biolage Conditioning Balm

I am forever in debt to a very good friend of mine for introducing this product to me. A good deep conditioner can be hard to find, and I had yet to find one that gave me results I really loved. I have fine hair, and conditioners tend to weight my hair down easily. Deep conditioners intensify the greasy-even-though-I-swear-I-just washed-my-hair look even further. So when my friend introduced me to Biolage Conditioning Balm, I was skeptical. If she wasn’t notoriously correct about her beauty tips, I wouldn’t have even tried it, but she is. And she was right again.
This thick conditioner hydrates and silkens like no conditioner I have tried. And it washes out weightlessly, completely avoiding my conditioner worries. Not many people have hair quite as fine as mine, and want a thick conditioner to contend with their thick hair. Biolage’s website recommends this product for people with coarse hair, and so I imagine the formula would have similar hydrating results to what I experience on my fine hair.
Biolage Conditioning Balm costs between $12.50 - $36.95, depending on what size you purchase. The thick formula doesn’t require a lot, and my $36.95 tub of conditioner lasts me close to a year (I use it as a deep conditioner 1-2 times a week.). I think your hair will thank you for it.

Shedding Off the Old

Happy New Year, readers! I hope you all brought in the new year in style. I am celebrating the New Year in Mexico, and in light of spending too many hours on the beach along with a bout of sickness before we left, I don’t feel I have sufficiently researched the topics we will be covering in our Ah, the Spa series, and I am going to postpone it until I have enough information to be able to fully inform you of the subjects.

Today we are going to be discussing the benefits of exfoliation and different ways to do it. We’ve all heard of it, but do we really know what we are doing and how to do it? Believe me; it’s not as complicated as you think.

Basically, exfoliation involves scrubbing off dead skin in order to bring a new layer of skin to the surface. The new layer of skin will often feel better, and it will glow like, well, new skin. Skin naturally strips itself, but exfoliation can help your body out and take off skin that just isn’t coming off quickly enough on its own. As you age, your body doesn’t exfoliate as quickly as it used to on its own, and exfoliating can help the body produce new skin cells as well as increase blood and lymph circulation. Exfoliation on your face can also prevent acne and blackheads that are caused by clogged pores.

You can buy a variety of exfoliants at the store, including sugar and salt scrubs. Salt scrubs are usually the harshest exfoliant you can find, and I wouldn’t recommend them for those of you who aren’t so adept with a razor. Salt scrubs can be very painful if you have even the tiniest cut on your body. Think of it as rubbing salt in a wound because essentially that’s what you are doing. For that reason alone, I avoid salt scrubs. Sugar scrubs are milder and more wound-friendly. I couldn’t list the many different names of and ingredients found in exfoliants. There are a wide range of them; the most important thing is just to know that they slough off your dead skin and bring out a new layer of skin. My favorite exfoliant is The Body Shop’s Cocoa Butter Body Scrub ($16). Besides smelling delicious, the formula is moisturizing and gentle on my sensitive skin. Yet it still contains enough oomph to exfoliate well.

The exfoliant you use on your face should not be the same exfoliant you use on your body. The skin on your face is much more sensitive than the skin on your body, and your body’s exfoliant could really tick your face off. Many companies offer gentle face scrubs that will exfoliate your face daily. You can also use these face scrubs as you would use your body scrubs.

Most experts recommend exfoliating between once and twice a week. Exfoliating any more than that could begin to irritate your skin. However, some people don’t find any negative side effects to exfoliating every day, and it isn’t going to hurt your skin.

If you are low maintenance or busy, exfoliating can seem like just another step to add to your routine. Here’s some comfort to you: Shaving and using a loofah are also considered exfoliation. Both the razor and the loofah get rid of the dead top layer of skin. So if you don’t feel like doing an extra exfoliation step each week, just rely on your trusty razor to get rid of that dead skin.