winter

The 5 Skin Care Products You Should Stop Using

The world of cosmetics is full of choices, and it can be hard to choose the products that are best suited for your skin. However, there are a few products I would outright ban if I had the chance because they are wildly popular, but often responsible for skin issues I see in clients. I’ll admit— I’ve been guilty of using every single one of these products at some point in my life, too! Almost everyone is using at least one of them, so take a look and see what skin sins you may not even know you’re committing!

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1. Apricot Scrub

I’ll admit— I used this exfoliating scrub every day for years.  It’s like a drug, right?  I used to think apricot scrub was the only thing keeping my skin from the brink of real disaster, but it turns out it was a major reason I had problems at all.

Why?  Well, if you are using this product daily you’re probably also having issues with blackheads, redness, flakiness, combination skin, or large pores.  See, it’s ok to exfoliate your face 1-2 times a week with light pressure, but you want to make sure the little particles that are doing the scrubbing won’t damage your skin.  If you look at the crushed shells and seeds in your apricot scrub under a microscope, they will look like little shards of glass and pebbles, and guess what? They tear up your skin just like little shards of glass and pebbles would. Even with light pressure, these particles leave tiny rips and tears in the skin and break down your skin’s natural barriers and defenses to environmental damage, which leads to rapid aging and unwanted redness. In addition, it over-strips your skin of the natural oils it needs.  This leads to oil over-production that can cause combination skin issues, blackheads, and larger pores.

Ideally, your exfoliating scrub contains something called jojoba beads/seeds, instead. Jojoba beads/seeds are made by mother nature and are rounded, smooth spheres that will remove dull, dead surface skin cells but won’t tear or rip at your skin in the process.

However, still don’t want to throw your apricot scrub out?  No problem! It makes an excellent foot scrub!  Just don’t put it anywhere above your shoulders.

What to use instead: I like Murad’s AHA/BHA Exfoliating Cleanser* and Aveda’s Tourmaline Charged Exfoliating Cleanser. However, what you’re really looking for is an ingredients list that includes jojoba beads or seeds, so use any scrub you love that contains them

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2. Cetaphil Cleanser

This product isn’t actually bad, but using the wrong cleanser for your skin is. There are far more people using this cleanser than their skin types call for. It’s a clear gel cleanser, which means it’s fairly high in surfactant. If you skin feels tight or squeaky clean after using this product, it’s just not right for you.  Try switching to a light cream cleanser.

What to use instead:  Click here for a guide to choosing the right cleanser for you.

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3. Chapstick

From time to time, especially long cold winters like this one, our lips dry out and could use a little help.  Unfortunately, many lip balms contain ingredients like camphor, phenol and menthol that can actually dry the lips out further and discourage your lips’ natural ability to rehydrate and lubricate themselves.  This can lead to your lips being “addicted” to lip balm, because you need more and more of it to keep feeling normal! Quite the marketing racket, eh? Chapstick, arguably the most popular brand of lip balm, is notorious for this.

What to use instead: Aquaphor, Vaseline (petroleum jelly), and even coconut oil are great ways to give your lips temporary help and relief without the addictive side effects. Have a really bad case of chapped lips?  You can also buy Bag Balm at local drug stores.  Yes, I know it’s udder cream for cows, but it’s udderly fantastic and can provide relief for even the worst case of chapped lips. There’s probably no butter product on the market, unless I’ve made a miscowculation.  Ok, I don’t want to get cheesy and milk this pun pasture tolerance levels. 😀

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4. Nose Strips

This was another skin-sin that was hard for me to give up.  It’s just SO satisfying to pull the strip off and see all the stuff that comes out of your pores!  However, repeated use of nose strips tends to create more blackheads than you would have had in the first place.  The strips don’t just remove blackheads, but they also remove a thin layer of skin and tiny hairs, which leaves you with open pores that are perfect for bacteria to settle into.  Natural oils get stripped away, as well, which leads to extra oil production that further clogs the open pores. This combination of oil and bacteria usually leads to even more blackheads.

What to use instead:  If blackheads are your concern, pick up a hydrating toner instead.  The water it adds to your skin will help cut down oil production, and therefore your blackheads.

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5. Extraction tools

Extraction tools are verboten for all the same reasons as nose strips, with the added bonus that if they’re misused (and if you haven’t been trained to use them, you’re probably misusing them), they have the ability to break, bruise, and to cause bleeding in the skin.  These tools are designed to be used by a professional on a client. Even as a trained esthetician, I cannot properly use the tool on myself; the physics just don’t work.  So stop using them!

What to use instead:  Your esthetician.  Schedule a facial, and they will properly extract for you!  If you really want you, you can always ask to see what comes out of your skin!

As always, please send any questions or suggestions for future posts to megjacobsblog@gmail.com

Check us out on Facebook: www.facebook.com/megjacobsbeauty

See you next Sunday!

*Disclosure— My spa carries the Murad product line.  However, I am not directly compensated by any manufacturer, including Murad, for recommending their products on my blog.

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The Not So Dirty Truth Behind Blackheads

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The Not So Dirty Truth Behind Blackheads

Blackheads…by far and away the number one complaint I see in my guests.  Everyone has tried anything promising the elimination of blackheads, from nose strips to sandpaper (I’m not joking), but there they are, your constant companion, staring back at you from the tip of your nose.  So why do you have them, and why won’t they go away?  Why aren’t the products you’re using working? Here are 10 truths about your blackheads to help you find your way to clearer pores.

1. Blackheads are not dirt.  This is a very common misconception, and the first step to understanding the problem. Blackheads are actually pores clogged with the excess oil from sebaceous glands. Sebaceous glands are located in hair follicles and release sebum, which consists mostly of fat, keratin, and cellular material.  Your body produces sebum to lubricate the hair and skin, and when it produces too much, this sebum accumulates in your pores.

2. Blackheads are named after worms. The technical term for a blackhead is an “open comedone,” which is the plural form of “comedo,” a latin word formerly given to worms that devour the body, but has since been co-opted by the medical field to describe bodily secretions that resemble the worms.  Neat, right?  Here’s the fun thing– a whitehead is called a “closed comedone,” because the pore is closed off from air, but the stuff inside blackheads and whiteheads are the same material.

3.  So why are blackheads black?  Well, remember, blackheads are open comedones, which means the tips of them are exposed to air.  Oxidation causes the ends of blackheads to become black.  This is why a blackhead appears black, but when you pop them, the inside part is white.

4. Blackheads are not a result of poor hygiene.  Since blackheads are not dirt, the problem isn’t that you’re not washing your face enough. In fact, cleansing the skin too often or with a cleanser with too much surfactant for you, can lead to more clogged pores because it can overstrip the skin of oil.  This causes your body to go into oil production overdrive.

5. You cannot scrub blackheads away. Many people think they can scrub the blackheads away, but since it’s not surface dirt, you can’t scrub it away. So why is it that your skin looks and feels so fresh and clean when you scrub?  Well, when you scrub, you’re scrubbing off the oxidized tip of a blackhead, which removes the visible dark portion and uppermost layer of skin.  However, the pore remains clogged and will darken again.  What’s more, over-scrubbing can actually lead to more blackheads and clogged pores because it stimulates oil production to replace the oil you strip away.

6. It’s probably not an oil problem. Yes, the pore is clogged with oil, but the important question is why the oil is there.  Dehydration is by far the most common cause than innate oil overproduction.  When the skin gets dehydrated, it makes extra oil to make up for the lack of water, and that extra oil leads to blackheads, particularly in the nose.  As I said above, excess cleansing and scrubbing, and using too harsh a cleanser, can also lead to a lack of oil in your skin and stimulate oil production.

7. Nose strips are not your friends.  Yes I know it’s satisfying to pull that sucker off and see the gunk you just eliminated from your nose, but if you look again you’ll also notice along with the oil plugs you also pulled out all the fine hairs.  Each of those hairs left behind an open pore, which can now get filled up with oil.  Usually, use of these products end up leaving the user with more blackheads over time.

8. Back away from the magnification mirror and don’t use extraction tools. These tools are designed to be used by someone who has been trained in their use. No one but your doctor or esthetician needs to see your pores magnified by 1000x.  It just leads you to think your blackheads are 1000 times worse than they are and then you’ll just freak out and want to extract them yourself. However, using an extraction tool on yourself often leads to bleeding, bruising, and broken capillaries because you probably don’t know how to use the tool without applying excess, damaging pressure.

9. Do use a hydrating toner, not an astringent. No matter what your skin type is, it can use more water.  Stripping the skin of its natural moisture and hydration can lead to extra oil production and more blackheads, but adding water can help diminish oil production and lead to fewer blackheads.

10. Do schedule a facial.  A professionally trained esthetician is your best resource to remove blackheads without damaging your skin or making your problems worse.  They have been trained to get those wriggly little comedones out of your skin safely.  However, if you absolutely, positively, 100% MUST remove the blackheads on your own, here is my suggestion: 1. Wash your face with your normal cleanser and make sure your hands are clean; 2.  Wrap your index fingers with some sort of soft, clean paper or cotton product (toilet paper a cotton 4”x4” pad work best); 3. Place your fingers wide around the affected pore and squeeze gently together, in an upwards motion; 4. If it doesn’t come out easily, rotate your fingers around the pore and repeat step 3 from a different angle; 5. Once the blackhead is extracted, wipe the pore down with your toner; 6. Enjoy your date, because if you’re not going on a date that night then you have no excuse not to wait to have the blackhead extracted by a professional!

Blackheads are a normal part of life.  No one will remain blackhead free forever, regardless of what you do.  But, you can manage them.  The best way to keep blackheads at bay between facials is to make sure your skin is as hydrated as possible– don’t over-wash or over-scrub, avoid drying products such as astringents, drink plenty of water, and try to keep your stress levels as managed as possible!

And don’t pour Tussin on it. 😀

Winter Weather Warning!

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I was going to write about blackheads this week, but it’s cold.  REALLY cold. Polar vortex cold.  The University of Minnesota is closing its doors due to extreme cold for goodness sakes. Minne-frickin-sota says it’s too cold! So, since your blackheads are probably shriveling up and hibernating, I’ll post that article next week.

However, the cold temperatures bring about a host of other skin issues (other than hypothermia, if you suspect hypothermia stop reading blogs and get to a hospital!), primarily wind and an extreme lack of humidity. Dryness, redness, irritation and cracked lips are the top complaints that occur in these conditions.

By the way…just because you’re in California and enjoying the perpetual 75-degree year-long weather doesn’t mean you can skip this article.  Much of California has an arid climate and is currently experiencing a drought, so you could probably benefit from reading about how to protect your skin in extremely low humidity.  Stop being smug.  So….minus the scarves and wind burn, this advice still applies to you.  Also, I wouldn’t mind visiting if anyone has an extra bedroom…

So, how is a girl (or guy!) to protect themselves from the wind and low humidity?  Here are a few things you can adjust in your daily skin care to help you weather the extreme weather (see what I did there?):

1. Skip your cleanser in the morning.  All you’ve done is sleep, and you should have washed your face last night before bed.  Feel free to just splash your skin with moderately warm water and continue your morning routine without the cleanser.  Your normal cleanser could overdry your skin in these polar vortex conditions.

2. Avoid hot water.  I know…it’s freezing, you really want that scalding hot shower, but it’s going to deplete your skin of the hydration it desperately needs.  I’m not saying prepare for the Polar Bear Plunge, just keep it moderately warm.  Your skin shouldn’t be red from the heat after you get out of the shower.

3. Use your Hydrating Toner liberally. Normally, I recommend that people use it every morning and night, but since it’s basically drinking water for your facial skin, use it whenever you want throughout the day, even on top of makeup (if it’s a spray bottle). Just spritz, blot, and keep on going with your day!  Your skin will benefit from the hydration.

4.Use SPF moisturizer.  Some of the worst sunburns I see are from skiing trips.  The snow reflects the sun, and it’s like taking a day-long swim in the ocean with no sunscreen. You should be using moisturizer with SPF 15-30 every day, no excuses.  I don’t care if it’s negative 40, blizzarding, and you live in a cave.  Unless that cave is lined with lead, apply your SPF.

5. Get a thicker moisturizer. If you have a night cream, use it in the daytime and apply the SPF daytime moisturizer on top. If you already use fairly heavy creams morning and night, it’s ok to mix in a dab of Vaseline to your regular moisturizer to increase the protection against the elements.

6. Protect your lips.  I’ll be honest.  I hate ChapstickÒ. Sorry. Ok, sorry I’m not sorry.  I personally use Aquaphor from EucerinÒ, because it protects lips without the nasty side-effect of your lips becoming dependent on the product and stopping their own natural lubrication.

7. Drink water.  Drink as much as you possibly can, then drink more.  If you live at a higher altitude, this is even more important because humidity decreases at altitude.  Your body needs it, so give your body what it needs.

8. Stop being so smug, California.  It’s not good for your skin.  🙂

Now that you are properly protected from the cold weather, using hydrating toners, SPF moisturizers, and drinking more water, go out and enjoy the winter wonderland while it lasts!  Just think—in a few short months you’ll be complaining how you’re melting under the hot summer sun!