Is a chemical skin peel right for me? or you?

chemical skin peelSince I started this blog, people have been asking me questions about keeping skin young, and one of the most popular questions is about the chemical skin peel.

Chemical skin peels are not new, in fact they’ve been available for a few years. There are different types of peel and it can be confusing to sort them all out. But as far as I’m concerned, the most important thing is that if you’re going to have a chemical skin peel, you need a professional to do it. Don’t try any of these do-it-yourself-at-home products. Why not?

First, because very often they don’t have enough of the active ingredient in them to do what you expect a chemical skin peel to do. That’s true of many drugstore cosmetics and skin care creams, and it’s true of chemical skin peels too. So you might think you are saving money, but if it doesn’t work you may think peels in general don’t work and give up, whereas having a proper skin peel treatment in a spa could well work for you.

The other reason not to do chemical skin peels at home is that you can damage your skin. Skin is a delicate organ, after all, and it doesn’t like rough treatment — especially for those of us who are over fifty. We need to treat it carefully, and that means putting it in the hands of professionals for complex treatments like chemical skin peels.

I had a glycolic skin peel a few months ago, and I must say I did see a difference in how my skin looked and felt. But the spa professional who did the treatment did tell me I would need to do it again in a couple of months, and I think it’s time. Chemical skin peels are not permanent solutions, but a series of them can be a definite bonus to your skin care system.

The best way to start might be to ask an esthetician about the various types of chemical skin peel to help you decide which is best for you. If you learn anything you think would be valuable to other readers, please do leave a comment.

I Want to Get Rid of These Skin Tags!

What are skin tags? They’re ugly, that’s what! They are little pieces of skin that somehow get folded over, sometimes hanging on by a kind of “neck” and they end up looking kind of like warts but not exactly the same.

I started getting skin tags after I turned 50, and I have them on my neck, under my breasts, and even around my hairline on my face. I first thought the facial ones were crumbs on my face, but when the didn’t brush off I looked more closely and realized what they were — skin tags! Ugh!

I asked my doctor what to do about them, and do you know what he said? Oh I wouldn’t bother, they’re not a problem, just ugly. Well yeah, that’s why I want rid of them.

Anyway, I don’t want to have them surgically removed, but I do want rid of them. Someone recently told me there’s a home remedy for skin tags, so I’m going to give it a try. Here’s the link in case you’d like to try it too.

It’s supposed to work quickly, so I’ll try it for a week and then let you know whether removing skin tags is as easy as they say. Wish me luck because finding out how to remove skin tags has become an obsession with me!

Age Spot Looks Much the Same

Well it’s a week since I started the castor oil treatment for my age spot. I think it’s only fair to report to you that it looks exactly the same so far. Now of course, natural remedies do tend to take longer to work than pharmaceuticals or cosmeceuticals, so I must be patient.

If you want to try this, be warned that castor oil can be messy stuff, so apply it sparingly. If that makes it take longer to work, so be it — as long as it works eventually that’s fine with me. I think any natural treatment for age spots is worth waiting for, don’t you?

I’ll keep you posted.

Younger Looking Hands Are Just a Few Steps Away

When we are working so hard to keep the skin on our faces looking younger, we sometimes forget about our hands. They can give away age if not given the same care.
I had a conversation the other day with an esthetician about younger looking skin, particularly younger looking hands. Here’s what she told me.
1. First, moisturize your hands continually throughout the day, including the cuticles and nails. Since we wash our hands so often, they need more moisturizing than our faces.
2. When driving, the backs of your hands are often exposed to a lot of sun, so it’s a good idea to use a good sunblock on the backs. I would never have thought of this, but it makes perfect sense, doesn’t it?
3. Finally, although she said she had little faith in drugstore skincare products for the face, there is no need to buy expensive specialty products for your hands. Buy hand creams easily found in drugstores, but look for those that contain glycerin or retinol. Glycerin is apparently very kind to aging hands.
I plan to tap into this woman’s expertise more, and I’ll pass along her tips in the blog. So come back often so you won’t miss them.

I’m Going to Get Rid of this Age Spot

I really want to get rid of this age spot, and also to know how to get rid of any other age spots that turn up — as I’m sure they will!

Before I investigate creams to get rid of age spots, I’m going to try some home remedies that are supposed to work. A couple of friends have recommended these, and I also came on some of them in my research. I know natural remedies usually take longer to work than cosmeceuticals, so I’m willing to be patient.

age spot on neck
Here's the spot on my neck as it looks today

Here are the home remedies for age spots that I’ve found:

Buttermilk. This is a very old skin care method, and today we understand how it works. It’s the lactic acid and other ingredients in the milk that make it a great beauty aid. Apparently you just dab it on the age spot several times a day.

Chick peas mixed with water. Huh? Apparently you mash them with a little water and spread it on the age spots and wait till it dries. I think the most practical way of doing this is at bedtime — bit messy on the pillow maybe though.

Lemon juice — the old standby for everything it seems. Dab on the spots twice daily, and the acid in the juice is supposed to fade the age spots. The problem with this one is it takes several months, and I don’t know if I want to wait that long.

Aloe gel. I have found that the gel from the leaves of an actual aloe plant is effective for burns and other things, but I haven’t had much success with the bottled stuff. I have a plant so it would be easy to try this, but it’s another one that takes several months, so probably not my first choice.

Castor oil. Never heard of this one before, but apparently if you dab castor oil on the spots morning and night and rub well into the skin the age spots should be gone within a month. This sounds promising.

The white stuff inside dandelion stems. Just break the stem and rub the stuff on the age spot several times a day. I guess this is the same idea as the aloe gel.

I found some more, but they either had ingredients that might be harder to find, or the “recipe” seemed like a lot of work. I know myself well enough to know I wouldn’t persist with something that was too much trouble, even though I do want to get rid of the age spot.

I’ve decided to try the castor oil, first because I have some on hand and second because it’s supposed to work in a month. I’ll keep you posted on the results, if any.

I Have an Age Spot on My Neck!

Age spots! Yikes! Interesting how you look in the mirror one morning and there’s yet another change in your skin to remind you of your age! To be honest, this one is not new because I’ve had it for a couple of months, but I just didn’t know what it was until yesterday. I was so concerned about wrinkles and dull skin that I never even thought about age spots — until I realized I had one.

OK, now I’m on yet another quest: finding an age spots treatment. I think there are some natural treatments to get rid of age spots, which I’ll check out first. But I’m sure there are probably creams for removing age spots too, and since these often work faster I’ll be looking into those too. I’ll let you know what I find out, what I try and what works — if anything!

Reducing Dark Circles Under Eyes

Although dark circles under the eyes are not a huge problem for me, there are days when I do have them. I also have a couple of friends who complain about dark circles and eye puffiness a lot, so I decided to see what I could find out about the problem.

My research first told me that there can be different causes for dark circles under the eyes, which makes sense. It can be hereditary, so if your mother had the dark circles, you’re more likely to have them too. As we get older, the skin under our eyes gets thinner, which can also make it look darker in comparison to the rest of the face. Apparently too much salt can also contribute and — no surprise here — smoking adds to the problem.

Anyway, I was interested in taking away the dark circles, so I’ve been looking into some remedies and testing them out with some friends. Here’s what we found.

A couple of “no cost” remedies are cold used teabags (black tea, not herbal) and cucumber slices. You simply lie back and place them on your closed eyelids and relax for at least fifteen minute — more is better. Now I don’t know why these work, because in fact you are not even placing them on the dark circles but on your eyelids. But for whatever reason, we found they did help. It’s not a permanent solution, but if your problem (like mine) is only occasional you might try this before you spend money on creams or potions.

The antioxidants in grape seed extract and pycnogenol can help to strengthen blood vessels, which can also reduce dark circles under the eyes. You can find supplements, but these substances are also found naturally in cranberries, blueberries, bilberries, black and green tea, black currants, onions, some legumes, and parsley. One word of caution, especially if you go the supplement route: if you are on any kind of blood thinning drugs or remedies, check with your doctor before you try these substances as you don’t want to reduce the effectiveness of your medication.

There was a lot of excitement for a while about the ability of the hemorrhoid treatment Preparation H to reduce undereye puffiness. However, if you live in the U.S. this will no longer work (if it ever did), because the ingredient that was supposed to help is no longer included. Anyway, call me fussy but I don’t fancy using hemorrhoid cream on my face!

Finally, one friend who has particularly noticeable dark circles and puffiness under her eyes is trying out a new regime to beat the problem. She is quite interested in the early results, but I’ll let her try it for a couple of weeks longer before I decide what I think. Stay tuned for an update!

Anti-aging products have come a long way baby!

I just had this frustrating conversation with an “elderly” friend. OK, she’s only a few years older than me, but she seems much older because she’s stuck in a time warp about 20 years ago!

The argument was about anti-aging products. She said that once you had wrinkles, nothing could reverse them in any way, because there is no way to restore collagen after it has broken down with age. Now I remember that this used to be the case back in the eighties when I first started looking for ways to keep my skin looking young. However, the emerging and growing science of cosmeceuticals has changed all that.

After all, medical science has made all kinds of things possible now to cure illnesses that were death sentences twenty years ago, so why wouldn’t the same be said for the science that deals with beauty and skin care? Especially when you think about the gazillions of dollars made by the cosmetic and skin care industries!

So don’t listen to old fogies that tell you your skin can’t be improved at your age. And don’t use their skin as a measure of what can be done, because they’ve obviously done nothing to help themselves!

There are lots of great anti-aging creams and other products on the market. My purpose with this blog is to help you find the best anti-aging products, to improve your skin both from the outside and the inside. A few of my friends are also helping me test and report on products, so we’ll help you find the ones that suit you best. Stay tuned!

How to Get Rid of Wrinkles — the biggest challenge of all

Wrinkles, that’s the main problem isn’t it? All those other problems with aging skin must be dealt with too, but aren’t we all most concerned about wrinkles? Wrinkles around the eyes, wrinkles around the mouth, “laugh lines” (right, who’s laughing?), crow’s feet, deep lines from nose to mouth. Those are the big challenges of keeping skin looking good after 50.

It seems that many of the miracle anti-aging creams and other products say they can “minimize the look of fine lines”. Well that’s just dandy, but we’re way beyond that! At least in my own case, those fine lines have deepened into major crevasses that present a challenge to modern cosmeceuticals. But I don’t despair, and I have had some success in getting rid of wrinkles with certain products. One of the things I want to do with this blog is to talk about the remedies I and some of my friends have tried, and the results we achieved (or didn’t achieve!) I’ve recently started using a product that comes with exciting promises, so after I’ve given it a fair trial I’ll let you know what I think of it. Stay tuned!

Has anyone tried “Frownies”? I just read about them the other day and am intrigued. If I can find them locally I’ll get some this week and give them a shot, but if you have tried them I’d love to have your comments.

Anti-aging Skin Care: 5 Lifestyle Tips

Anti-aging skin care becomes more urgent after the age of fifty, as we can easily see the aging process in our skin. It’s certainly worth looking into the products that are coming out of ongoing research into anti-aging generally, but with or without external treatments there are 5 simple steps we can take as part of our lifestyle to look younger:

1. Pay attention to diet and what you put into your body, as it will definitely show in your skin. We’ve all  heard about the importance of lots of fruits, vegetables and grains, but knowing is not enough—we have to take action. There is different advice out there about just how much fruit, veggies and grains we should consume and I’m not here to declare exact measures. However, if you are not regularly including them in your daily food intake, start now. It’s never too late. If you already do, consider having more. When you are relaxing at night, perhaps reading or watching television, change your snack from chips and other fast foods to healthy fruit. Biting into a crunchy apple is satisfying as well as filling; divide a luscious orange into sections and savour them one by one. I love cereal, and I have it as my late night snack—satisfying, delicious and good for me.

2. As well as food, add vitamins A and E to your routine, both in the food itself and as supplements. Why? These vitamins make your skin look more radiant because they promote new cell growth in the skin. Green and yellow vegetables are good food sources of needed vitamins, but they are probably not enough by themselves. Make sure your multi-vitamin includes A and E, or take them in special supplements by themselves.

3. Follow your own anti-aging skin care routine. Aging skin is quite different from the skin we had even a decade ago, and it may need different treatment. Look for specialized anti aging skin care products, and pay particular attention to why they are good for your skin. (I’ll be passing along the results of my own research and trials of anti aging products as this blog grows.) You want to choose products that provide intensive nourishment to reduce the dryness that comes with age. Wash your face with mild cleansers and when you exfoliate be sure to use gentle products. Retinoids and anti-oxidants are often present in anti-aging creams, as they help regenerate the cells in the skin.

Moisturizing becomes even more important as our skin ages, so use a good quality, rich moisturizer morning and night as part of your routine. Creams that contain retinol and alpha hydroxyl acids are particularly useful.

4. And yes, do protect your skin against the effects of the sun. These effects include not only serious conditions like skin cancer, but also all the signs of aging skin such as wrinkles, age spots, sagging skin and discoloration. These unwelcome results come from the ultraviolet radiation of the sun, so be sure to use quality sunscreen products. That doesn’t just mean buy them—use them every time you go outside!

5. Drink lots of water. Whether you choose bottled water or just plain tap water (if the water in your area is good quality), get lots of it. Why? Because as we get older, the fat layer in our skin starts to shrink, resulting in dryness and those dreaded wrinkles. Replenish the moisture levels from the inside by drinking lots of water. Try adding a glass just before meals (which can have the added benefit of reducing your appetite), and instead of one cup of coffee every day. Instead of a glass of wine, try a glass of sparkling mineral water with ice and a slice of lemon—delicious, and good for you!