Breakouts, dermatologists, picking—this client has it all in her questions!

I am 27 years old and have fair to medium skin tone. I have combination skin; oily in the t-zone with frequent breakouts on the chin, around my nose, and between the cheek and mouth area, especially around my cycle or when I’m under stress. I have mild breakouts, but they never seem to cease.

I have tried numerous products along with making visits to dermatologists and even switching to a birth control pill that claims to help with acne breakouts. I am guilty of picking at those annoying little bumps and using alcohol. I have also used topical products such as benzoyl peroxide and products that contain salicylic acid.

My skin seems to have become less oily this year, but it still keeps breaking out! Since reading your book I have stopped wearing foundation, except to cover blemishes. I have stopped going to the tanning salon, started to drink lots more water, have been trying to limit the amount of sugar I consume in my diet, and have become better regimented about cleaning my face twice a day.
 

In addition, I am concerned about all of the various products and medications that I have used, and cost is important to me at this time. I would like to continue to make skin care a top priority.

I am including this email because I want to break it down and see if I can clear up some important points as well as give you some solutions to your problem skin.

I am 27 years old and have fair to medium skin tone. I have combination skin; oily in the t-zone with frequent breakouts on the chin, around my nose, and between the cheek and mouth area, especially around my cycle or when I’m under stress. This is a pretty standard description that I hear. She has light to medium skin color, normal to oily skin, with occasional breakouts during or around her period and usually under stress as well.

I have mild breakouts, but they never seem to cease. That the breakouts are never-ceasing says to me that there is something she is doing (ingesting or using) that is continually feeding the breakouts, as mild as they might be.

I have tried numerous products along with making visits to dermatologists and even switching to a birth control pill that claims to help with acne breakouts. Ortho Tri-Cyclen® is the birth control pill that is advertised to help with acne. For some women this pill (or any birth control pill) may help with breakouts, and for others it can cause problem skin.

I am guilty of picking at those annoying little bumps and using alcohol. I have also used topical products such as benzoyl peroxide and products that contain salicylic acid. Picking, especially if done incorrectly, is not a good thing. Alcohol will not help the problem in the long run—or really even in the short term. Benzoyl peroxide and salicylic acid aren’t the best things to use on blemishes and can be too harsh—depending on what kind of products they are in.

My skin seems to have become less oily this year, but it still keeps breaking out! Since reading your book I have stopped wearing foundation, except to cover blemishes. I have stopped going to the tanning salon, started to drink lots more water, have been trying to limit the amount of sugar I consume in my diet, and have become better regimented about cleaning my face twice a day. It sounds like she didn’t have a very good or consistent routine, both in her skin care program and also in her diet and lifestyle habits. She made a few common mistakes. She used “acne control” products that are so prevalent out in the marketplace, along with not drinking very much water, eating a lot of sugary foods, and not being consistent with washing her face on a daily basis.

In a word: NO!

And then there was the tanning salon. If you listen to the owners or people who work at these establishments, you will think this form of UV exposure is the safest thing in the world. Because of her acceptance of the safety of tanning beds, I am going to question what else she may be doing that is contributing to her skin problems that she also may think is OK. All in all, if she just does the “right” things and cuts out all the other stuff she has been doing, my guess is her skin will reflect this better care, which up until now it had not been receiving.

In addition, I am concerned about all of the various products and medications that I have used and cost is important to me at this time. I would like to continue to make skin care a top priority. I agree on all counts. There are so many products to choose from out on the market, along with prescriptions available from doctors. I encourage you to become a responsible consumer; know what you are taking and its effects on your skin and body.

If you find products that work for you, money may become secondary. If you can stick with something that makes a difference, you will save money by not needing to experiment anymore. I think making skin care a top priority is a great choice. It sounds like change from the past is what she needs in order to have clearer skin in the future.

For more information, see:

• Help for Breakouts
• “I don’t eat much sugar”—really?
• Tanning Beds—Just Don’t!

Yonka Products for Teen Skin

I wanted to post some information to help you put together a skin care program using Yonka products if you are (or have) a teenager with or without problem skin.

Click on any product name to be taken to its corresponding article on this blog.

Also, in general, I don’t have a teen use eye cream. Other than hormones surging, a teenager’s skin is functioning perfectly and they do not need to use eye cream. Usually I will start recommending products for the eye area sometime in a person’s 20s.  

You first need to determine the amount of oil your skin produces to truly understand which products to use. Please read:

• Determining Skin Type

I am a teenager with no-problem skin:

• Gel Nettoyant or Lait Nettoyant
• Lotion PNG
• Creme 93
• Creme 15 or Phyto 52
• Gommage Yonka (formerly Gommage 305)
• Masque 103

I am a teenager with problem skin and breakout

• Gel Nettoyant or Lait Nettoyant
• Lotion PNG
• Creme 93 or Creme PG
• Creme 15 or Phyto 52
• Gommage Yonka (formerly Gommage 305)
• Masque 103

In many cases with teens (and adults, too), if there is a lot of breakout, I will first have them go through a whole tube of Creme 15—using morning and night—then assess their skin again. If breakout is still going strong, I will keep them on Creme 15 am/pm going forward.
 

I am a teenager with blackheads, no breakout

• Gel Nettoyant or Lait Nettoyant
• Lotion PNG
• Creme 93 or Creme PG
• Creme 15 or Phyto 52
• Gommage Yonka (formerly Gommage 305)
• Masque 103

 

I am a teenager with oily skin

• Gel Nettoyant or Lait Nettoyant
• Lotion PNG
• Creme PG
• Creme 15
• Gommage Yonka (formerly Gommage 305)
• Masque 103

 

I am a teenager with acne

• Gel Nettoyant or Lait Nettoyant
• Lotion PNG
• Creme 15 (am)
• Creme 15 or Phyto 52 (pm)
  
• Gommage Yonka (formerly Gommage 305)
• Masque 103

If you have problem skin or acne, please read articles under those categories to get the needed help with these skin issues:

• Acne: all links so far
• Breakout: all links so far
• Teenage Skin: all links so far

Oil-Absorbing Sheets: Are they good for my skin?

Clean & Clear Sheets: Instant Oil-Absorbing Sheets by Johnson & Johnson are not the only “sheets” on the market; they are probably the most popular and easy to find.

True to the advertising, these absorbing sheets will indeed temporarily remove excess oil from your skin. What I found when I used them (as an experiment) is they also create a feeling of dryness—obviously due to the removal of the natural oils in your skin.

If you have excessively oily skin, it would be most helpful to figure out why you are so oily in the first place. This information is not the quick fix of these oil-absorbing sheets, but it can give you long-term relief from oiliness. However, these sheets will immediately take away the shine you may experience.

I would say it is OK to use them on a temporary basis, but don’t get addicted to them. My skin, after using them every day for just one week, went through a dry, flaky period until I stopped using them. I don’t have severely oily skin; I do have normal skin with some excess oil in my nose area.

As with any new product you are using, monitor your skin. If you are beginning to see changes for the worse, stop using the new product and opt for something more beneficial. Sometimes products like these oil-absorbing sheets are convenient and seem like a good thing, but in the end, your skin will tell you if you can use them long-term or not.

For more information, see:

• Oily Skin explained
• Questions about pH and pH papers
• MYTH: Oily skin wrinkles less

Testimonials: all links so far

Testimonials

• Carolyn Ash Skin Care Salon Testimonials

• Testimonials for Timeless Skin (my 1st book) 

• Timeless Skin—book review

• Your skin care book inspired me to get into the business!

Timeless Skin—book review

The following is from readerviews.com. I attempted several times to get permission to use it here.

Timeless Skin: Healthy Skin for a Lifetime
 by Carolyn Ash


Reviewed by Kim Peterson 
for Reader Views (May 2006)



For those wanting to know how to take care of their skin—young or old—Timeless Skin offers a good how-to covering the basics and beyond. Easy to read and easy to understand, Ash explains the “what and how” of the three essential steps: cleansing, toning and moisturizing. Then she covers some important extras such as exfoliation to remove dead skin cells and deep cleaning the pores. All these steps can be done at home.



A most appealing aspect of her book is the information provided on professional facials. She explains the importance of the deep cleaning, exfoliation, hydration and relaxation available through professional facials. She details how often to use the services and lists important questions to ask when determining where to go. Ash also includes the different types of machines and why some are helpful and some actually aren’t. Her section on what to expect alleviates any trepidation first-time clients might experience.



As a Mary Kay independent beauty consultant, I have received a lot of training about skin. I found that I knew a lot of what Ash shared in her book. Of most interest, and new to me, was the information about essential oils and natural and herbal remedies beneficial to our skin. I plan to try some of her suggestions.
 

Ash devotes a portion of her book to skin types. Her assessment of damaged, sensitive and mature skin will assist people who are unsure whether they have these problems and what to do about them.


I appreciate her mandate to never use soap on your face. I like her straightforward discussion of the sun’s impact. And, I respect her no-nonsense assessment of the current trends and fads in skin care.
 


This keeper has earned a place on my bookshelf—but I won’t leave it there. Any time I raise a question or experience a memory slip I plan to consult Ash’s book to continue maintaining my skin’s health for years to come.

I also recommend this book for younger readers just becoming familiar with the long-term needs of their skin. Perhaps, they can avoid some of the mistakes and skin damage we “sun worshipers” caused ourselves during the sixties, seventies and eighties.
 


For more information, see:

• Testimonials for Timeless Skin—my first book
• Your skin care book inspired me to get into the business!
• A bad book review & product recommendations: My thoughts