Cystic acne is the worst type to treat, and perhaps the most devastating psychologically. I had a few bouts with cystic acne when younger, and I remember the helpless feeling I had when I had boils popping up that would take weeks to go away. And my family wasn’t in a financial position to have me get some fancy shot to make them go down quicker, so I had to find other ways to either mask it or just deal with it on an emotional level.

It’s hard when you’re already uncertain about who you are and what your convictions are as a teen and you throw acne in the mix. Particularly because you feel others judge you by the way you look (perhaps even more as a teen or yound adult than when you grow more secure as an adult). 

Not to say that adult acne can’t be devastating as well. Adults have their own unique set of emotions that they go through when they are still dealing with what is commonly viewed as a “young persons problem”. 

Those with mild acne problems sometimes have a hard time understanding the psychological impact that acne can have on a person’s self esteem, whether they suffer from mild, moderate, or severe acne (there are several different types of acne cysts).  Although more severe acne is definitely the most devastating of all of them.

A teenage boy with acne on his chin might be afraid to ask a pretty girl to the high school prom because he is afraid she will judge him, not knowing that the same girl is worried about finding a date herself because she is self-conscious about her own acne.

While we often focus on the effects of how girls feel when their appearance is affected , teen boys also have their own unique worries about dealing with acne. At a period of time in life when hormones are raging and guys are girl crazy and vice versa, it can be frustrating to feel that you are “ugly” to the opposite of sex.  High schoolers can be cruel, and a few harsh insults related to acne can crush a fragile teenager’s self-esteem.

Next, we are going to talk more about how acne affects adults in similar and different ways from how it affects teens.

Have you ever heard of isopropyl myristate? If you haven’t heard of it commit it to memory now. This is a harsh chemical used in make up of many kinds and is another ingredient bad for acne. Several chemicals related to this one include myristyl myristate, isopropyl palmitate, putty stearate, and octyl palmitate.

You want to avoid these in your acne cleansers and other topical products you use on your face to help beautify your skin. This is why I recommend natural acne cleansers. Chemicals like this can actually make blackheads worse and can really make your skin redder and more irritated, which is what you want to reverse when you have acne prone skin.

These are pore clogging and penetrating chemicals that can really aggravate acne. They are used to help the make up apply more smoothly. Very thoughtful of them to want our acne to be covered up nice and smooth!

Mineral oil is another ingredient you want to be careful with. Whether it’s an ingredient in your make up or you’re using it by itself it can be pore clogging as well. Mineral oil is tricky due to the fact it makes your skin feel smooth thus you believe your skin is hydrated.

In fact, mineral oil actually forms a layer over your skin trapping moisture in and works well for some people, those who aren’t prone to acne. People who are prone to acne though may find it aggravates it as it does not let any air get to your skin to dry out the acne.  You want anti inflammatory products for your skin, not products that cause back up and inflammation in the pores.

So if you are prone to acne, mineral oil by itself and as an ingredient is something you want to stay away from. Remember just because it smooth does not necessarily mean it’s hydrating.

These are some of the most common ingredients bad for acne that are found in cosmetics and skin care products. There are many more ingredients out there that are actually pore clogging and may aggravate your acne but these are your top ones.

Remember, stop looking for certain phrases as mentioned above and pay attention to the products you by and what their ingredients are instead. You may find certain ingredients work better for you than others. I then suggest making a list of the bad ingredients and adding to it as you discover more that may be specific to you.

You can take this list any time you go shopping or plan on picking up any skin care products. By avoiding these ingredients you should see a clearer smoother complexion!

Gravity: An Unavoidable Cause of Wrinkles on Your Face
There is never a moment in your life when gravity is not trying to push your skin down. It’s simply the law of physics, and you won’t be able to avoid it unless you’re living in an anti-gravity chamber! During your youth, your skin is incredibly firm with a strong layer of collagen, and it supports itself against the downward pull of gravity. However, as collagen breaks down and weakens with age, the skin can no longer support itself against a lifetime of pressure from gravity. As the skin loosens and the impact of gravity pushes it downward, wrinkles form due to the “sagging” skin. Fortunately, there are many anti wrinkle creams and products that can improve the production of collagen in your skin on a daily basis to keep it firmer and wrinkle-free.

Repetitive Facial Movements: An Unavoidable Cause of Wrinkles on Your Face
Nobody, no matter how stress-free they may be, maintains an entirely smooth face all day long. During our youth, strong elastin fibers in the skin pull the skin back to a smooth state after frowning, laughing, smiling, squinting, blinking or laughing. However, as we grow older, elastin becomes weakened and the creases on our face caused by everyday facial movements can become permanent lines and wrinkles. While a healthy anti aging diet and regularly using sun protection can help increase elastin strength over time, once you begin to develop the common signs that elastin is weakening (crow’s feet, laugh lines and forehead wrinkles), you’ll want to look for an anti aging product that increases skin’s firmness and fullness through hydration to decrease the appearance of lines and wrinkles due to repetitive facial movements.

Menopause: An Unavoidable Cause of Wrinkles for Women
For women, the years leading up to and immediately following menopause also mean the unavoidable onset of Hormonal Aging. Hormonal Aging manifests primarily as a significant reduction in the amount of collagen produced by the body. Because the face is an area with an exceptionally high number of collagen receptors, the lines and wrinkles that form as a result of Hormonal Aging can be sudden and significant. An ideal anti aging skin care solution for the overall loosening of the skin due to Hormonal Aging is Murad Resurgence®. Murad Resurgence skin care products were created by Dr. Murad specifically to utilize The Science of Cellular Water™ to combat the impact of Hormonal Aging. While menopause will certainly result in a change of skin structure that leads to the appearance of wrinkles, the right skin care regimen can restore firm, youthful skin.

It’s important to try to prevent the signs of aging on your skin with a proper diet, sun protection, skin care products and lifestyle choices. However, when the unpreventable wrinkles caused by time and the environment do begin to appear, an effective skin care regimen can help smooth the effects of time.

It’s that day again. Some people complain that it’s just a Hallmark holiday, but I actually don’t mind this one.  The one I do think is pointless is Sweetest Day. That one comes and goes and my husband don’t even realize it because we pretty much completely ignore it. What with birthdays and the other holidays, who has time to keep up with it all and comemorate each holiday as it should be?

Not me!  So, I wanted to thank you all, and tell you that you are all MY Valentines. I appreciate each and every one of you and I hope you’ll continue to share your stories, comments and readership with me in the ensuing years in this great year 2012. 

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!!

Skin Care Resolution for Acne-Prone Skin
If your skin type is oily or acne-prone and you use acne treatment products, your skin care resolution is simple: Don’t “pick” or “pop” your existing blemishes! It’s a common habit of many acne sufferers, but the damage you can do to your skin from squeezing, picking or popping blemishes is far worse than the blemish itself. In addition to potentially irritating the skin around the inflamed acne breakout which can create more breakouts, you can cause long-lasting post-acne marks and acne scars. No matter how tempting it is to pick, pop or squeeze, you ultimately risk having to find an acne scar treatment to undo the damage you’ve done to your skin.

Skin Care Resolution for Aging Skin
If your skin requires an anti wrinkle treatment to combat the signs of aging in the form of fine lines and wrinkles, your skin care resolution is to “eat” your water as described in Dr. Murad’s best-selling book, The Water Secret. The more effectively your skin is hydrated, the firmer and fuller it will be. Due to its cellular makeup, the water in fruits and vegetables is absorbed by your system in such a way that it more effectively increases skin firmness while keeping you hydrated even longer than drinking a glass of water. Increase your hydration this year, but more importantly, increase it by learning to “eat” as well as drink your water.

Skin Care Resolution for All Skin Types
If you have more normal or combination skin, your skin care resolution is to increase your use of antioxidants, both internally and through skin care products. Eat a diet rich in fruits and dark green vegetables. Incorporate green tea into your daily beverage choices. Take a skin care vitamin supplement that enhances the number of antioxidants in your system. Then, explore skin care products such as the Murad Vitalic® or Murad Environmental Shield® lines, which are infused with topical antioxidants to improve your skin’s health, clarity and texture.

New Year—new you—new skin care resolutions to keep you looking beautiful and revealing healthy skin all year and beyond.

There are a lot of ingredients in makeup that we should avoid. You may be used to looking for terms such as “oil free” and “hypoallergenic” in your make up products but I’m here to tell you the key is in the ingredients.  You may also be interested in our post on the teen whose acne makeup application video went viral quickly as well.

There are several ingredients bad for acne and we are going to examine some of the ones found most commonly in cosmetics. When buying make up or cosmetics of any kind stop looking for key phrases and start examining the ingredients. This is the only way to ensure you’re not buying products that have ingredients bad for acne.

One of the top ingredients bad for acne are some types of lanolins. Lanolin is simply oil from sheep’s wool and in it’s natural form is alright to use. You will find lanolin in many cosmetics but what you want to avoid are the lanolins that aren’t pure.

If the ingredients read etoxylated lanolin or acetylated lanolin you want to avoid it. These can clog your pores and aggravate acne because they are so sticky and thick in consistency, not allowing the skin to breathe, and ultimately causing potential problems with plugged pores.

Synthetic lanolins can be even more pore clogging as well. So essentially if you see these types of lanolins listed as some of the main ingredients in the cosmetics avoid it!

You may be surprised to learn that red dyes have actually been shown to aggravate acne. That of course is going to include most of your blushes and rouges. You should try to avoid red dyes if you can and instead look for the ingredient carmine. This is can give your blush or rouge the red or pink color you desire without aggravating your acne.

More to come on bad ingredients for acne prone skin and what you should avoid like the plague when it comes to your makeup collection – and skin care collection for acne products like acne skin cleansers, lotions, moisturizers, foundations and more.

Fight Wrinkles from the Inside Out
Healthy, younger-looking skin doesn’t just come from the outside. It starts on the inside with a healthy anti aging diet that’s rich in antioxidants and foods that help you “eat” your water. The presence of free radicals (oxygen molecules with only one electron) in your system contributes dramatically to the breakdown of collagen that leads to wrinkles. Antioxidants combat free radicals to help repair and prevent skin damage. While drinking your water is important, you also want your diet to maximize the hydration of your skin for maximum firmness. The best anti aging treatment is to eat fruits and vegetables. Not only are they full of antioxidants, but the molecular structure of water in fruits and vegetables is absorbed into your body in a way that keeps your skin hydrated and firmer for longer periods of time. You can learn more about “eating” your water in Dr. Murad’s best-selling book, The Water Secret.

Eye Wrinkles Require Different Products from Face Wrinkles
Most likely, the first place you’ll start seeing wrinkles on your face is around your eyes in the form of both under-eye wrinkles and crow’s feet. The skin around the eyes doesn’t produce its own moisture like the rest of the face, so wrinkles tend to appear sooner and more dramatically in this area. However, because the skin around your eyes is more sensitive than the rest of your face, you want to treat it with a specific anti wrinkle eye cream rather than your usual face cream. An anti wrinkle treatment that is too strong for the eye area can be irritating and uncomfortable.

Don’t Stress!
Not only does stress age your skin in the long term, but it can result in the deepening of lines on your forehead and around your eyes in the short term. As elastin weakens with age, the skin’s ability to snap back into place from a stressed-out frown decreases, and frown lines can become permanent wrinkles. The less you stress, the more you contribute to maintaining a smooth face.

Of course, using great anti aging and anti wrinkle skin care products to improve firmness and repair collagen can help as well! However, keep in mind that wrinkle-free skin is about more than just choosing great anti wrinkle products. It’s also about the lifestyle and health choices you make every day.

Vitamin C is bought the most in order to assist in the prevention of skin damage caused by overexposure to the sun. This is especially true in the summer season as people tend to be outside in the sun more often than any other time of the year.

Vitamin C can build a barrier between the sun’s dangerous rays and the skin which other wise could lead to skin cancer when taken orally, but it is also a fabulous skin healer when used topically.  Skin cancer does not discriminate against any age group.  Therefore, people are finding that there are other methods in order to improve skin health vitamins that are also on the market.

Along with the super antioxidant skin vitamin C being used to protect the skin from being damaged there is vitamin A that can be taken to repair the skin’s tissue. Though vitamin C helps to prevent skin damage if there is any type of damage that was done by the sun having vitamin A in your system will increase the amount of time your body will take to rejuvenate the skin cells.

It is important to remember that even though there are vitamins on the market to improve skin health each person should still take precautions to not over expose their skin to the sun. Most people do try to protect their skin year-round from the sun’s rays. However, since it is not always possible to avoid the sun completely there are vitamins that also assist in improving skin health.

There is vitamin B that is a great resource not only for the rejuvenation of skin, but it also improves hair and nails. Vitamin B is additionally known to help the body relieve stress, which affects the growth of everything in the body.

One of the best vitamins taken that people who have been over exposed to the sun and as a result have blemishes is vitamin D. This vitamin is helpful in maintaining clear the skin and making it appear brighter.  It is primarily made by the body by getting sun exposure, so it is wise to at least get some sun or supplement with this vitamin every day, without over exposing yourself of course, using natural sunscreen where possible instead of the chemical loaded stuff.

Focus on Antioxidant-Rich Foods
Whether your skin care regimen includes anti aging and anti wrinkle treatments or acne treatment products to get clear skin, antioxidants can help you get healthier skin that has a youthful glow for many years to come. In the summer, a diet rich in fresh fruits and salads will supply plenty of antioxidants. However, the typical winter diet is more meat- and carbohydrate-centered. Supplement your meals with dark green vegetables or rich fruit garnishes to get your daily dose of antioxidants. Though most vegetables lose some degree of nutrients in the cooking process, they are still healthier than no vegetables at all! A healthy intake of antioxidants is the most important part of maintaining a healthy skin diet throughout the winter. You may also want to consider supplementing your diet with a healthy skin vitamin supplement or topical antioxidants in an infusing home facial or face mask.

Maintain a Workout Routine
Many of us allow our workout and fitness routines to slip during the busy winter months (when it’s also harder to exercise outdoors). However, maintaining a healthy workout routine will help encourage your body to crave the types of nutritious, healthy foods that are so good for your skin (and your body). Even if you don’t work out with the same intensity and dedication in the winter that you do in the summer, remaining active will help you maintain your healthy skin diet. You’ll also have less work to do in the spring to get into “bikini shape.”

Add a Touch of Lemon to Your Water
Hopefully, you’re maintaining your healthy skin habit of drinking and “eating” an ample amount of water each day to keep your skin hydrated. By adding a touch of lemon, lime or orange to your water bottle or glass during the day, you’ll take in extra Vitamin C, which is essential to healthy skin during the winter. Even if you’re taking a Vitamin C supplement, the nutrients from fresh fruits and juices are absorbed into your system more intensely and thoroughly. While you’re drinking your water throughout the day, why not add some Vitamin C and some flavor with a dash of citrus fruit?

A healthy skin diet is a great way to ensure winter doesn’t take its toll on your skin. The extra benefit is you’ll also feel better and be healthier overall!

Herbs for clear skin include turmeric which is really good for getting rid of the bacteria that makes blemishes form in the first place. It provides your skin with an antiseptic and antibiotic as well. It helps to eliminate redness, soreness, and pimples.

Another herbal remedy that you can try for clear skin is red clover. It helps to reform hormonal imbalances in the body that may be causing your breakouts in the first place. It also helps to promote a much healthier looking complexion so that a person can feel a lot better about their face and skin.

Sarsaparilla is yet another herb that promotes clear skin. This is not only good for acne, but a variety of different skin conditions. It can be purchased in both topical and oral solutions, which ever you prefer. This is a product that is also known for getting your liver clean and clearing up skin issues.

When it comes to finding herbs, you just need to make sure that do enough of your own research to see which one you may want to try. Most of these herbs work at different levels and some take more time than others to actually start producing any results. Your body is going to have to get used to them. You can also try burdock, because this special herb works in getting your blood purified, and creates a way to detoxify the body. One of the results that you will achieve from this herb is the prevention that skin blemishes would form.

You may also want to consider trying tea tree. This is mostly used in the oil format, so you will have to apply it to your skin and blemishes as directed on the bottle. This is a very powerful astrignent for those who are suffering from major skin issues or acne problems.

Tea tree oil has healing/antiseptic purposes to help keep any bacteria at its lowest and this is one of my favorite ingredients in natural acne skin cleansers and soaps. These herbs can be found at various health and vitamin stores if you are interested in trying them out.