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On skin/lip care
DirtyDirtyVagrant
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I guess we can do lips first. I use this lip balm and my lips are still all peely and kinda gross.
Also, I have to reapply it all the time, or else my lips will start peeling like an onion. Is my lip balm crappy, or am I doing it wrong? Should I be exfoliating my lips, as I've seen suggested in my reading? That seems a little...fufu, but I guess it's worth investigating.
I'm also looking for a crash course in skin care. I'm transgender, and all this new information on skin is...overwhelming. It's been suggested to me that I start taking care of it now (before I actually start to transition), so I'd better learn all I can.
Thank you guys for your help.
Also, I have to reapply it all the time, or else my lips will start peeling like an onion. Is my lip balm crappy, or am I doing it wrong? Should I be exfoliating my lips, as I've seen suggested in my reading? That seems a little...fufu, but I guess it's worth investigating.
I'm also looking for a crash course in skin care. I'm transgender, and all this new information on skin is...overwhelming. It's been suggested to me that I start taking care of it now (before I actually start to transition), so I'd better learn all I can.
Thank you guys for your help.
DirtyDirtyVagrant on
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Also, a good way to exfoliate your lips is to use your tooth brush with just water and scrub them to remove some of the skin that's chapped. Use a soft tooth brush (but the one you use right now should work) and that should help a bit with getting to the smooth lips.
Everyone's skin responds differently to different things. Unless/until you get all of your facial hair lasered/waxed you want to make sure you follow a good shave routine. The folks over at BadgerAndBlade.com are freaking amazing. You want a sharp blade (most of the Internet is a fan of the old style safety razor), a good prep routine, and some slick as hell lube for your face. I use an oil and a cream, some people use soaps with lanolin or shea, etc. There are SO many options out there its insane.
Do you know what kind of skin you have? Oily? Dry? Combination? Is it clear? Do you break out? Do you get lots of blackheads?
Consider going into a Sephora type place and talking to the people there.
The best product I've found when my lips get dry is either plain blistex or chapstick, or preferably (though it can be difficult to find without going to a standalone drug store, for some reason) the Vaseline lip therapy stuff, which is basically just petrolatum jelly.
Most important times to put it on are after eating and before going to sleep.
As for face stuff, I'm a big fan of Lush but they can be prohibitively expensive. Thankfully I get almost the same wondrous results from either the Alba line, Beauty Without Cruelty line, and basic Cetaphil. Biggest advice I can give you is 1) wear sunblock every day, no exceptions and 2) watch out for sodium lauryl sulfate as it plays hell with my skin (it's a surfactant found in LOTS of cleansers & shampoos)
Water and sleep are important to skin care in general. Exfoliation is also important- it pulls of dead skin, unclogs the pores, gets your circulation going which will keep the skin looking healthy and bright. In terms of the types of products to use, it depends on what you want or what your skin needs.
What are your main problems? What are you looking to use? What sort of products do you like?
My general reccomendations are to avoid anything with plastics, harsh alcohols, or petroleum bases. There are better alternatives and things like petroleums don't even do anything for your skin. They're cheap fillers that make you feel like you're moisturizing but they tend to block the good ingredients from getting in the skin.
I work for Lush so I know a lot about their products if you're interested- otherwise I tend to give my reccomendations based on ingredients. But first it's important to know how your skin feels/behaves to you, what you want from it, and what you currently do.
I have super oily skin, so take this with a grain of salt
Every morning and night I wash my face with a cleaning cloth (I'm a big fan of the garnier wipes, they smell great!). Somebody in the threads once said that its silly to wash your face in the morning, but I feel like its oily and needs to be cleaned!
In the shower I wash my body with Johnson's body wash and I target my face and back with neutrogena pink grapefruit scrub (again, smells amazing) because thats where I'm prone to getting acne.
Make sure you find a good lotion too, my mom's a dermatologist so I'm used to using cetaphil the most and I think its great. Also, if your face is sensitive or oily, you might might to get a different lotion specifically for the face.
My boyfriend sometimes takes fish oil to help his skin as well, but that might be too extreme for you.
I would also recommend making an appointment with a good dermatologist for a checkup and to ask about good skincare. One thing I'm SURE they'll tell you is to protect your skin from sun damage! Always, always, always wear sunscreen when going out in the sun since it can really damage your skin later down the road and age you. If you want to be tan, a tanning lotion is the best route since it does zero damage to your skin
ditto this! I have very sensitive lips (I am allergic to chapstick and burt's bees...it's fun!) so I stick to carmex and c.g. bigelow from bath and body works, but it can also be expensive. what makes the most difference for me is drinking a LOT of water and putting on carmex before I go to sleep so I don't wake up with chapped lips. and I second everyone saying wear sunblock every day - lots of moisturizers have spf 15 or higher, and don't forget to slather some on your neck as well.
Radroadkill, I have no idea what I like to use..,but some of that looks really interesting. The shower jellies especially. I've never seen anything like that before. Fun!
Anyway, what I'm basically taking away from this is
Drink lots of water
Look into fish oil and maybe even Vitamin E, but then again maybe not so much
Exfoliate my lips with my toothbrush, which seems straightforward
Use a moisturizer with SPF 15+
Get a nice, gentle cleanser with no harsh surfactants - Those wipes look good
So I have some follow up question(s) Can I use the same moisturizer on my body and my face? Or are they separate? What is a toner and when/how should I use it? Someone mentioned safety razors? Do you mean like old school single blade razors? (I'm springing for electrolysis as soon as possible, so this is less of an issue)
Also, as you can see from my sig, I need to lose a truckload of weight so something to help with loose skin or stretch marks might be nice. I don't know how much of an issue either will be, but it can't help to be prepared, right?
Thanks, everyone!
Your cleanser is going to be your first basic step in terms of getting all the grime and bits off/out of the skin. Depending on your skin this can be one with a daily exfoliant if it's gentle enough, or you can toss another product in to do a few times a week.
A toner is like a follow up; a good cleanser will get all the crap out of your skin but any effective cleanser will take out some of the good oils and moisture as well. It happens. A toner starts to rehydrate and one with quality ingredients will being to remineralize and add a bit of a booster effect to your facial regime. They will also extend the life of your moisturizer since your skin will be a bit hydrated already.
You don't generally want to use the same product for body and face moisturzing. The skin on your face will general have different needs than your body in terms of oil control and protection; it's more delicate skin as well. Most body lotions will either door poorly on the face or they will just not really do anything good- maybe nothing bad, but they won't do you many favors either.
I tend to let my toner air dry a bit and add the moisturizer while it's still a bit damp- I end up using my moisturizer more slowly this way.
The reason I hate using harsh alcohol based products on my skin is because they dry you out- these are products that are getting into your pores and will be sitting on your face. Some people think they're great for helping with oil problems but they can actually be pretty harsh or over dry your skin. If your skin feels like it's getting too dry it can start over producing oil because it's overcompensating... This is the problem I was having back when I was oily. When I switched to something more gentle it balanced itself out.
Also, the only other thing I really throw into my skin care regime is a face mask. Face masks are a 1-3 times a week deal and you want to look for quality ingredients in these as well. They're like a supplement for your face: you can switch your mask up to meet your needs and boost your regime's effectiveness. Sunburnt? New mask. Winter? New mask. Feeling oily? New mask. If the masks you end up using as super expensive I suppose you wouldn't switch that much but I use Lush's masks which have enough for three weeks so it's easy to pick one that'll compliment what my skin needs. Your mask could also be your exfoliator in the regime.
So basically: wash, tone, moisturizer. If you're doing a mask that day it's: wash, mask, toner, moisturizer. Those are really only the basics you need.
My general rules for ingredients:
Avoid: alcohols, harsh surfactants, petroleums, mineral oil
Look for: clays, lavender oil, seaweed, cocoa butter, olive oil, jojoba oil, natural exfoliators (salt, ground beans, sugars, rice); also things like rose, citrus, and even honey are great for the skin depending on your needs. A lot of the oils I mentioned are also pretty close to the oils your skin makes so they're easily absorbed.
Also, for stretch marks: pure cocoa butter and is amazing. So is neroli oil- it's from bitter orange flowers and really helps to hide skin marks with consistent use. There's a solid moisturizing bar from Lush called Therapy that's cocoa and shea butter with neroli and lavender- amazing for a body lotion, all natural, lasts forever, and will reduce those marks over time. I highly recommend it.
You can also try flax seed oil as an alternative to fish oil if you don't like the idea of fish oil.
My mom often reminds me that there's no one solution for bad skin, each person is different so see if you can get samples of different products and see what works best for you
roadkill's advice is solid though! nothing like working for a beauty company to put you on top XD
It worked wonders for me. Seriously, wonders. I should go back to that again since my nerves have been working and i've been chewing on my lips again.
There is a Lush store downtown here in Auckland, but I've been afraid to go in, knowing that with my new obsession with facial cleaning things I'd spend too much money.
However, I have been looking at The Body Shop and they're Tea Tree line, and wondering just how much I want to spend.
I currently have a neutrogena oil-free acne wash, a Manuka honey exfoliating wash (with apricot kernels), and a mud mask from the thermal mud on the west coast of the island down here. I use the mask once a week, the exfolitating wash about three times a week and the acne wash daily. and then I follow it up with a neutrogena facial moisturizer with spf 30.
also, i have the burt's bees blemish stick which is like a ton of oils and things that help reduce blemishes, and the scars. been working like a charm.
lip gloss I have some carmex, Bigelow's, and EOS. I put the carmex on before going to bed, and the EOS goes on during the day.
Oh, and water water water.
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Is there anything I can do pre-emptively without resorting to pharmaceutical? Does simple Sorbelene (Vit E cream) help?
that was me! yay, glad it worked for you!
OP, re: face masks - agree with radroadkill that these are nice supplement to skin care. I am also a huge fan of lush's fresh face masks and their mask of magnaminty, but if access to a lush/price point is an issue, queen helene mint julep face masque is also a favorite of mine and may be easier to find.
toner tabs? one use?
how do the shampoo bars work?
ohman i want to just giggle like a girl and run downtown to the store. but i'm on limited budget....
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And if there is a store nearby and it seems intimidating and pricey, but interesting, having a jumping off point is nice. And you can ALWAYS go in and ask for samples or demonstrations. We're actually pretty friendly and it's a nice way to find products that work for you without having to buy everything up front. And most of the things last a while.
A quarter pound of my Angels on Bareskin is about 2-3 months of facial cleanser for me. A huge toner bottle is about 6-7 months and same for the moisturizers so they do tend to last a while.