It's all about the lips!

Sorry to keep anyone waiting! Here’s my awaited lip treatment section. You are going to roll your eyes when you see how easy it is. Background: My sister was on Accutane a year ago. The long and the short of it is that Accutane really dries out one’s skin; my sister was living on lip balm. No exaggeration, she had to apply it between 20 and 30 times a day – her colleagues started to question an ‘addiction’. To prevent her lips from chapping and to allow them to absorb balm better, she started the first step of the routine. After she and I had a chat, we developed all three. Even her doctor complimented her on how healthy her lips looked. I started doing the treatment myself and continue to do it twice a day, every day. Below is everything I use:

Yup! That’s it (minus the cup)!

Step 1: After you brush your teeth, wash off your toothbrush. If you have a batter operated toothbrush (like I do), do not turn it back on. Just gently circulate the bristles around your lips. Make sure the brush is wet and go just beyond the lip line; your lips, neck, and hands are the first to show age and the most difficult to hide. I do a couple of rounds. This does two things: not only does it exfoliate, but it stimulates blood flow. You’ll notice that your lips are just a little puffy for a minute or two. When done, just flush your lips with water to remove the excess skin.

Step 2: Using your ring finger, dab (DAB) eye cream on your lips. Get in the corners and go just beyond your lip line. You want to dab it in because, like your eyes, your lips are actually quite delicate and filled with lines. You want to get the cream all the way in there. You don’t have to dab until it’s completely absorbed. While you wait for it to absorb, you may as well apply eye cream to your eyes at the same time. I have a different eye cream for my eyes and lips; you don’t need the most expensive for your lips because you can apply balms and such. I use Neutrogena Ageless Essentials Continuous Hydration Eye Cream. We decided to use eye cream because it’s meant to be used on the most delicate skin and is meant to be absorbed quickly and completely. Body lotion is just too thick (but can be used in an absolute pinch).

Step 3: After the eye cream has completely been absorbed, I then dab some of my all time favorite salve, Smith’s Rosebud Salve. I’ve been using this stuff since my early teens, it’s fantastic! Keep this tin at home at home; do not carry this stuff with you during the summer. Much like leaving lip sticks in the car or tossing one in the dryer, it will melt. I have one I carry with me; I melted one tin and transferred it to a glass container with a screw top. Never carry it in your pocket! It will melt there too. Anyway, this stuff is awesome and one tin lasts a long time. Your lips will be glossy for about 5 to 10 minutes, then the oil absorbs and you get a pretty semi-gloss finish afterwards. At night I apply this to the rim outside my lips for moisture.

You don’t need expensive $30 exfoliating lip sticks, just a toothbrush, eye cream (which you should already have), and some salve. The eye cream and salve together coast less than those exfoliating sticks, work better, and last longer.

If you want an example of the aging lips thing, just watch Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle. I remember seeing it in the movies and everyone going on and on about how great Demi Moore looks. Go to the showdown scene on the top of the observatory (before she shoots the Angels). They do a close up where she says ‘Why be an Angel, when I can be a god?’ They really should’t have done such a close up shot; it’s more obvious on the big screen, but you can see the cracks around her mouth where her lip color has started to bleed. That’s one thing that can’t be lifted or stretched, so take care of your lips! I always keep a stick of either Burt’s Bees original lip balm (the peppermint oil makes your lips feel cool) or Soft Lips in Peppermint nearby.

Oh, and try not to bite your lips.

Skincare routines

I see on a lot of blogs people asking how long it takes before one sees results in their new skincare routine. I suppose it'd different for most people. I am a quadruple threat: very pale, very sensitive, very oily, and prone to acne. Especially if you are prone to acne, the results really take longer. I tend to break out twice a month (at the beginning and end of my Luteal phase). I usually hold off on giving my thumbs up for a beauty product until I've been using it for a month. It could just be that I started to use it during the time where my skin naturally starts to clear up, but then I continue to break out.

Unlike your hair, your skin does not like to continuously change a routine. As anyone who has ever tried Proactive or Accutane; I've never met a person who's tried these things who experienced an immediate improvement. Usually it's quite the opposite, it gets much worse for a few weeks before improvement starts.

My best advice is to be patient. When you try new products, pay attention to how they affect your skin. I'll discuss my current routine and how I figured out what order they should be applied. It's very much a trial and error thing. However, if it burns, stop using it. That's one of the reactions that you shouldn't be patient about. I learned that mistake trying Muriad. Ow.

I won't lie, either. I'm totally jealous of all of you who have 'normal' skin.

The embarassment of Ezcema, the pain of Psoriasis

I was washing my hair last night and thought over the fact that I had not posted this yet. I have patches of Psoriasis at the base of my scalp and some Eczema on my hands. Several years ago, I was talking to a coworker about something completely different and she noticed that I was repeatedly scratching my palm. Being a mother, she didn't ask to see my hands, she just grabbed them.

'Girl, that's Eczema. You need to get that treated.'

Eczema was something I had heard of, but didn't really understand. I went to the doctor's office two days later and was diagnosed. I told her something my coworker suggested to me and the doctor concurred. I went home, did the treatment, and haven't had a problem since.

What did both my coworker and the doctor suggest? Wash with tar coal shampoo. If this doesn't sound familiar, Neutrogena makes one called T-Gel. Here's a list of just how many different types there are: http://www.drugs.com/cons/t-gel-topical.html. I seriously believe you can find it anywhere, which is even better!

It's great because there are many generic forms so it's fairly inexpensive and it really works! I use it 2 to 3 times a week and I haven't had a problem with E or P in about three years. I also have a fragrance allergy and I really rather detest overly flowery smelling products. T-Gel is sort of medicinal, but very clean smelling. Of course, it also has the added benefit of preventing dandruff and contributes to a healthy scalp. A healthy scalp is always a good thing.

Here's to not itching! Yay!