How To Wash Your Face Properly!

Guess you must think that I am a bit crazy in trying to teach you something so simple as to how to wash your face. I am very sane here and I just got to tell you that many people got it all wrong in the way they wash their skin. Hope you are not one of them.

Washing your face is the first step in the stages of applying a topical medication to your face. Therefore, it is better to get it right rather than wrong.

To begin with, there are endless types of soaps and cleansers in the market for you to choose. Some of these soaps come with Vitamin E, avocado, sandalwood, oatmeal, lemon, citrus, aloe vera, rose etc. For cleansers, some of them exfoliate while they clean and the medicated types normally contain salicylic acid or benzoyl peroxide in various concentrations.

Bet your parents often tell you that you have acne because your face is dirty and they always ask you to wash your face more often. Well, you can tell them that they have it wrong here as over washing one's face will only irritate his/her face and might your face become red and inflamed.
In fact, washing your face more than two times a day will have no favorable effect on your acne.

Moreover, excessing washing and cleansing with a multitude of commercially available cleansers and soaps will dry out your skin and that's what gives you skin irritation.

Therefore the tip I am going to share with you here is to wash your face with a mild soap twice a day. Yup, that's all you need to do on the part to get a "clean" face. Nothing fancy here and I would like to further recommend that you use ivory soap if you have oily skin. For the few acne sufferers who have dry skin, you can go for Dove soap.

And to the unfortunate group of people who have very sensitive skin and might be allergic to soaps, try Cetaphil or Aquanil cleanser.

Now, let move on to the method on using those soap of your choice. Using lukewarm water, wet the soap. Apply the soap to your skin with your fingertips or with a soft cloth and then rub it gently in circular motion.

You might think that using brushes or loofah sponges will make the washing process cleaner but these stuffs are definitely a no-no! These washing utensils are too harsh for your delicate acne prone skin.

After you are finished with the rubbing process, splash your face with lukewarm water to remove the soap application. Rinse your skin a few seconds only.

Finally use a cotton towel to pat dry your skin and again never rub on your skin!

Presto! The process is complete and shall I ask is this what you are currently doing in washing your face?

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Does Cosmetics Cause Acne?

Would you feel sceptical if I tell you that cosmetics does not cause acne ? In fact, cosmetics does not really cause acne cosmetica even though some of you might get some reactions that present themselves as inflammatory acne. The truth is this so called "inflammatory acne" is actually your skin reaction to the ingredients found in the cosmetics that makes your existing acne redder and more prominent.

So you can continue to use the cosmetics that you like without having any worry on them for worsening your acne condition. If you are still in doubt whether the current cosmetics that you are using are worsening your acne, stop using them for a couple of weeks and observe whether there is less acne lesions on your face.

Almost all cosmetic products that you find in the market nowadays will have the term noncomedogenic imprinted on its label. Noncomedogenic simply means that they are oil free or they won't clog your pores.

Put in another word, using noncomedogenic skin care products won't lead to any acne flare up on your face. So you can stop blaming those blackheads and whiteheads that pop up after using a new cosmetic. They are already there in your skin and in the process of rising to the top layer of your skin.

You can check whether your cosmetic contains lanolin, isopropyl myristate or D & C red dyes if you do get negative reaction on acne after using it. These three ingredients are believed by most dermatologists to cause acne.

Lanolin is actually oil originates from sheep skin while isopropyl myristate is an ingredient that makes the product go smoother on the skin. Other ingredient in the same classification as isopropyl myristate are isopropyl isostearate, butyl sterate and laureth 4. Surely you won't want to use D & C red dyes on your skin as it originates from coal tars.

Thick creams, blushers and make up foundation powders are the most acne causing class of cosmetic as the ingredients that are used in these cosmetic to replace oil is synthetic base and is more harmful than those excess sebum produced in our sebaceous glands.

Moisturizers can be another source of acne causing products as they do contain ingredients that make them slide on the skin smoothly and easily. You can see that the above moisturizers often contain searic acid, acetylated lanolin or cetyl alcohol.

Therefore, you should get those moisturizers that contain petrolatum or mineral oil in order to skip their acne causing effect on your face. I know the word oil here would terrify you but certain type of oil is good for our skin and have no provoking effect on our acne.

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Teenage Acne

Up to 90% of teenagers have to deal with acne as it is the most common skin problem that they face.

Acne on teenagers is often known as acne vulgaris. You might not like how the word vulgaris sounds but it simply means common in Latin. For most kids, their acne often begins from 10 to 13 years of age but girls have a tendency to develop acne earlier than boys. If you are a boy, let not rejoices as your acne might be more severe than those that are developed on a girl. Acne is also a signal that your body is going through puberty.

Before acne outgrow itself when one reaches 19 or 20 years old, don't think that you don't need to do anything and wait for it to go away. Even though it cannot be cured, it still have to be treated so that it won't leave permanent scar on one face or skin.

With the onset of more androgens hormones, teenager skin tends to be oilier and less sensitive. The good thing about having more sebum on your skin is your skin will be less irritated when treated with acne products as the extra layer of sebum that you have will protect your skin from irritation.

Having more sebum on your skin also means that your scar will heal more easier and completely after an acne onset. This good news makes your skin steers clear of permanent scars and dark spots that are left after acne lesions heal which are very common in those darker skin people.

For teenagers, the most common area that acne will develop is on the T-zone, that is the forehead, nose and chin (refer to figure- pink color). Teenager acne will be characterized by many blackheads (open comedones) , whiteheads (closed comedones) , inflamatory acne lesions such as papules, pustules, nodules or cysts and also macules (acne that have healed).

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Hormones Role In Acne

Do you know that without hormones, you wouldn't have acne? But then again without hormones, you won't be able to live as hormones control every function of our bodies, from regulating our metabolism to enable us to grow and produce off springs.

I bet you have heard of the hormone named androgens. Androgens is the hormones that give us a masculine feature. It is also the hormones that cause facial hair growth, increase of muscle mass and other sex characteristics in a male. By now, surely you would have the term testosterone. The androgen testosterone is the main male hormone. However, females also have androgens too, except that the quantity present in them are less than those in males and also these hormones are weaker.

The bad news about having androgens in your body is that these hormones can cause acne. Even though the primary female hormones, estrogen and progesterone, that control menstrual cycle, also have some effects on acne, their effects are far more weaker if compared to the androgens hormones.

All acne developments start with blocked sebum in our skin follicles. And the tendency of a follicle getting blocked is vastly increased if there is an increase in the production of sebum by the sebaceous glands in our skin. By now, you might be asking what androgens got to do with the sebum production. Well, androgens regulates the production of oil in the sebaceous glands.

Don't ever think that acne sufferers have more androgens compared with non acne sufferers. Actually it is their sensitiveness of their sebaceous glands to the hormones' message that leads to an excessive production of sebum on our skin.

As your face, chest, shoulders and back contain the highest amount of sebaceous glands, you will stand a very high chance of getting acne in these areas.

During your adolescence years, your androgens production will increase tremendously and make your sebaceous glands larger and producing more sebum. After the adolescence years are over, the amount of androgens will also decrease and with less androgens, you get less sebum and for most of us, acne will be a problem of the past in this period.

Of course, some of us, males and females inclusive, will continue to have acne well into our adulthood due to our bodies retain their androgens sensitivity. Yet, there are some of us who only get acne when we are adults.

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Benzoyl Peroxide Benefits On Acne

Glancing through your local drugstore, the term benzoyl peroxide will show up very often as the active ingredient on the label of the acne medications there.

By now, you must be wondering what makes benzoyl peroxide so widely used and whether it is really so effective in fighting acne.

Aside from being a very potent anti bacterial agent that kills P. acnes ( the bacteria that causes acne), benzoyl peroxide drying effect does a great deal on clearing your acne . It dries and peels the skin and also removes dead skin cells. By clearing the blocked follicles your skin, P. acnes bacteria won't have a chance to multiply and thus the further development of your acne is being stopped. That means comedones which are blackheads and whiteheads won't have a chance to develop on your skin.

Unlike antibiotic, prolonged usage of benzoyl peroxide for months, or even years, won't make your acne become resistant to it. Up to date, there is no known dangerous long term side effects and it is even safe to be used even if you are pregnant.

Bear in mind that benzoyl peroxide that comes in creams, lotions and pads are more effective than those in the form of soaps, scrubs and washes. You probably won't need those high concentration of benzoyl peroxide that is available as a prescription as it is wise to go for the lowest strength of benzoyl peroxide available. So far, Neutrogena-On-The-Spot contains 2.5% benzoyl peroxide which is the lowest concentration of benzoyl peroxide that one can get in the market.

It is a misconception that most acne sufferers have in thinking that a higher percentage of any active acne formula ingredient will treat their acne successfully and at the shortest time possible. In contrast, the higher concentration will only irritate your acne prone skin and cause excessive dryness to your skin. It is also due to this perception that makes acne sufferers can't find a suitable acne medication that works for their acne.

Start with using the lowest available concentration of benzoyl peroxide and use it sparingly. As your skin is the best feedback on the result of the application, observe and take note of its appearance. You will get more acne initially after you start to apply the medication as the medication is working to bring the existing acne from "underneath your skin" to the surface.

You can increase the application frequencies gradually if you don't developed extreme dryness on your skin.

Use to treat existing as well as preventing new acne from developing, benzoyl peroxide should be continued to be applied on your acne prone face and skin even if your acne has cleared to maintain an acne free skin.

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How To Treat Acne - The Unconventional Ways!

The bad news about acne is that we can't cure acne but that does not mean we cannot treat it. Before you resort to prescribed products or seek a consultation with a dermatologist, there are many topical treatment as well as unconventional products available to treat acne.

The problem lies in finding and identifying the suitable products that works on your acne. Don't be surprised and puzzled when you find out that the products that your friends use to treat their acne successfully do not work on your skin.

As each of us is different, the acne on our face and skin will react differently to the thousands of acne treatments available in the market. Some might also find successes in treating their acne with unconventional method such as using toothpaste, honey, lemon, rice powder or even turmeric!

Some of us claim that honey treats their acne successfully. Even though honey is known to possess antibacterial properties, the properties of the active ingredient in honey that kill the staphylococci bacteria, hydrogen peroxide, is easily destroyed by heat and light.

Go for Manuka honey if you like to use honey to treat your acne as manuka honey possesses additional anti bacterial properties beside hydrogen peroxide that is derived from the enyzme added by the bees. Be prepare to face the stickiness and messy condition that you will face when you apply honey on your acne. Manuka honey is very effective in fading those post acne red marks left by acne rather than clearing acne on our face and skin.

Why don't we recommend table honey for your acne? As table honey contains so much sugar, it will make the honey anti bacterial properties less effective.

Have you ever heard that some acne sufferers are finding some successes with toothpaste in their quest to treat acne? Toothpaste does indeed work in treating cysts and red blemishes as they dry up the acne pimples and then tighten the acne pores and its surrounding skin area to make them easier to come off. However, be careful when you pick on your acne after the toothpaste application as blood may be oozing if you do so.

You will get a slight burning and stinging sensation after applying toothpaste to your acne spots. Therefore, don't ever apply tooth paste to your open pimple wounds.

Even though we don't recommend using tooth paste to treat your acne, if you want an instant home remedy to reduce your pimple swelling, use tooth paste that comes with the white content. And don't ever leave it longer for more 15 minutes on your acne spots due to its strong drying effect. After removing the tooth paste from your face, apply C & C Oil Free Moisturizer to your skin.

Here is more information on toothpaste used in treating acne.

There is some truth to the statement "lemon juice clears my acne" as lemon juice contains citric acid which is a form of Alpha Hydroxy Acids (AHA) that is commonly use in many topical acne treatments. This ingredient will slouch off dead skin, promote skin elasticity and rejuvenate your skin by enabling new skin cell that grows to rise to the skin surface. You will feel that your skin is very fresh as it flushes your pores; clearing the sebum and dead skin in them.

In contrast to tooth paste, lemon juice will need about 3 to weeks to clear your acne. Applying a dab of lemon juice soaked with cotton pad to your acne pimples and leave overnight. Lemon juice also fades scar spots.

It is no wonder that some of us will turn to garlic to treat our acne. Garlic is a well known antiseptic, anti viral, anti fungal , anti bacteria as well as anti inflamatory product all roll into one.
Even though it is so potent, you must be prepared to wait for weeks for garlic to show its effectiveness on your acne. The way to apply garlic to your acne pimple (not face) is to apply the garlic juice from the crushed cloves. For lighter complexion acne sufferers, they might find garlic is too harsh on their skin that causes slight burn and stinging sensation while darker complexion individual should experience next to no of these effects.

Should you find the stinging and burning sensation is too extreme for your acne, wash the application off from your face in order to prevent redness and swelling. It might be that you are one of those who are allergic to the active allicin ingredient of the garlic.

All is not lost even though you belonged to this group of people or someone who does not want to go through all the hassle to prefer the garlic juice. You can use Garlic Oil 500mg 250 Softgels from Source Naturals. Apply the oil from the punctured garlic softgels to your pimples. These treated garlic does not contain allicin as allicin is a very unstable compound and further more allicin is not biologically active in the body. Actually it is not the allicin ingredient as claimed by many so called "professional" that clears your acne.

Not only could garlic be applied externally, they can also be taken internally. In the long term, garlic will not only treat your acne, but also boosts up your immune system. A weak immune system will cause us to catch cold easily and always falls sick and feeling tired.

For this, it might worth your time to take a look at Kyolic aged garlic extract. Kyolic aged garlic has been around for many years and it is known to be the best garlic product available in the world. you would be surprised to find out that Kyolic aged garlic goes through a 20-month cold aging process before it is sold. This lengthy process preserves most of the natural ingredients inside the garlic and remove the pungent smell and irritating allicin contents from the garlic.

Ever wonder why most Indians have smooth and flawless skin complexion? Do you know that they not only apply turmeric on their skin but also drink it with milk daily? Beside, they also often consume curry which is cooked with this curry spice in their daily meals.

The yellowish curry spice turmeric , also known as haldi, possesses anti inflamatory and anti oxidant properties that reduces pigmentation and also has an ever lasting effects on treatment on scars, acne and pimple marks. Turmeric also prevent the harmful UV ray of the sun on our skin.

So how do we prepare turmeric to be applied to our acne? First mix turmeric with cucumber or lemon juice. Then apply this mixture to the acne prone area and leave for 15 minutes. Then remove the turmeric on your skin by cleansing milk.

Instead of the above mixture, you can also mix turmeric with sandalwood and rose water.

You will be overjoyed after a few weeks of applying the mixture of turmeric and cucumber or lemon juice daily when you see your new radiant and stunning skin glows without any trace of acne lesion.

One note about turmeric that we would like to stress is turmeric can cause yellow stains to your clothes, tubs or basin if you accidentally spill it onto these parts. However, do not be alarmed as you can remove it by sprinkle some lemon juice on the affected area and let it dry in the sun. You will notice that the concerned area will turn to red before the stain finally disappears.

As with garlic, there is also a commercial available cream for turmeric in the form of Vicco Turmeric Skin cream. This cream will dry up your acne blemishes over night and fade away all those unsightly red marks in two weeks. It is more suitable for those who have oily skin due to its drying effect which may be too much for people with dry skin. But then again, most acne sufferers have oily skin.

The Chinese have been using rice powder for years to keep their face and skin blemish free. As rice has a very cooling effect on our skin, applying them on a regular basis to our face will sooth and prevent acne lesions from developing. Just mix a few pellets of rice powder with water and apply the solution to your face. After a minute or two when the mixture dries, you will notice patches of white powders on your face.

Finally, there's another unconventional method to treat one's acne. However, it can only be used by the softer gender. Females, whether they are teenagers or adult women, can use birth control pills to control their acne outbreaks. Not only it works, it does wonder on severe and stubborn case of acne.

To those guys with severe acne that are thinking of trying out the birth control method, please don't do it at any cost. It will cause havoc to your system as these pills are just not meant for the hormones in your body.

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Do Chocolate Or Greasy Foods Cause Acne?

We all like to eat chocolate and greasy foods, don't we? Bet your parents will say that these foods cause acne and advise you not to consume them. But do they really cause acne?

Luckily there is no scientific evidence that links acne and these foods up to today. But before you lay your hand on those yummy and delicious chocolate bars, consider this. If you note that every time after you consume those foods, you have an acne breakout, it is better to avoid them.

And to those of you who have practically no acne breakout after consuming these foods, moderation is still the best way to go in eating them. Anything that is consumed in abundance will be detrimental to your health in one way or another. The effect might not show up in your acne but definitely it will show up in your waistline.

Luckily the high amount of carbohydrates and fat in these greasy foods does not increase the production of sebum in the sebaceous glands in the skin and cause an acne breakout.

There are reports there dairy foods cause acne. Some people claimed that they have significant improvement in their acne after they eliminate or consumes limited amount of milk products in their diet. Studies indicated that girls have a more prominent effect of milk consumption on their acne compared to boys.

Why is there a linkage between milk or dairy consumption and acne? It might be due to the fact that the 75% to 90% of the milks and dairy products in the market are produced by cows, especially pregnant cows. The hormones in these milk and dairy products when consumed by us might cause some of us to experience an acne flare.

Therefore, should you decide to try a dairy free diet, do take a supplement of calcium and protein to keep you healthy. Surely you wouldn't want to risk contracting other diseases in your struggle to keep acne at bay.

Yet there are some people who find that lots of acne pop up on their face and skin after they consume seaweed and seafood. This is due to the reason that these seafood are rich in iodine. Iodine, if consumed in large quantity, does indeed cause acne.

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