Beauty And The Blog

Archive for the ‘Skin Care and Anti-Aging Information’ Category

Anti-aging skin care for the neck. Yes, your neck. And your decolletage (that area between your collar bones and the top of your breasts). Ever think about it? Or do you just zoom in with that magnifying mirror on every little line on your face? By the way, both my dermatologist and I recommend that you lose that magnifying mirror. I used to stare into one myself. So every single imperfection became larger than life. No one, I repeat, no one, sees what you see when using a 4x or 5x magnifying mirror. So stop torturing yourself. If you must use one for the application of eye makeup, OK. But stick to the eye makeup and move on.

Back to the neck. Yes it ages just like your face does. As we age we lose the nice layer of subcutaneous fat (baby fat, so it’s sometimes called). Our faces and neck are the one area we don’t really want to lose fat, now is it? Because the fat in that area is what can keep your skin looking plump and youthful. Sadly, without it the skin sags. Around the eyes, cheeks and the neck.

So have you been ignoring your neck and decolletage when performing your morning and evening anti-aging regimen? Yes, you have? Time to start paying attention to that area. Read the rest of this entry »

Poikiloderma of Civatte (the Civatte refers to just below the epidermis/skin). I mentioned this skin condition in “Anti-Aging, Skin Care and IPL Treatment: Part I”.

Sounds scary, huh? It’s not. It’s a pigmentation issue caused by over exposure to the sun without sunscreen as a child. So all you moms out there, protect your little ones. Now that we have so many great sun protection products available, use them! Some researchers believe it is also hereditary as it seems to show up repeatedly in families.

Poikiloderma of Civatte can take years to show up on the surface of the skin. It is mostly middle aged women (me), and sometimes men, that get this. It does sometimes show up in much younger individuals. It is predominately a female issue for some odd reason that no one has yet figured out. Hormonal perhaps?

So anyway, Poikiloderma of Civatte is a brownish or reddish discoloration that appears on the neck, upper chest and sometimes the cheeks. The more you expose the area unprotected to the sun, the more prominent it becomes. In some cases it can be itchy and/or scaly. Mine was fairly minor and only on the neck. It did not itch or appear scaly.

Can I tell you how much I did not like having this discoloration on my neck? I did not have as much discoloration as pictured above, but still it bothered me. I had been told at one time that my only option to remove it would be a laser treatment. Long downtime with the blistering and peeling. And costly. Read the rest of this entry »

IPL. Know what that is? Intense Pulsed Light. It’s a computer controlled instrument that emits high intensity pulses of light that penetrate the skin. This is also known as IPL Photorejuvenation. This is something only a medical professional can administer.

Know what it does? A number of very cool things actually. IPL is capable of eliminating or reducing fine wrinkles, redness (rosacea, flushing), freckles, age spots, some types of minor sun damage, various types of visible or broken blood vessels and capillaries, and hyper and hypo pigmentation (dark or light patches on the surface of the skin). It can smooth your skin and improve the texture. It can also treat certain undesirable conditions of the skin, such as Poikiloderma Civatte (I know, what the heck is that?! That’s coming in Part II).

There are different types of IPL that address different issues. Some types can remove a tattoo, some can remove unwanted hair. And another that addresses the signs of aging such as those mentioned above. Lots of great things can be accomplished using IPL. But we are talking anti-aging and skin care here.  And undesirable skin issues. Read the rest of this entry »

Squalane and Squalene in skin care. Same thing? Or not? Yes and No.

Both are a natural component of human sebum. Sebum is the natural oil found in your own skin. Both are also found in rice bran, wheat germ, olive oil and yuck, shark liver (what do you want to put on your skin, hmm?).

Squalene is often derived from sharks for cosmetic use. Particularly in Japanese products.  Squalane is derived from squalene. Both do exactly the same thing on and in your skin. So other than the fact that you may not want to use oil derived from a shark, why choose squalane derived from plant sources?

Still reading? Guess you do want to know.

Squalene is highly unstable as a cosmetic ingredient. No matter what it is derived from. Shark, rice bran, olive oil, etc. This is because it is a double bond molecule.  Meaning a very short shelf life and quick to oxidize or spoil. Squalane is not a double bond molecule, so it is much more stable as a cosmetic ingredient. Squalane has a shelf life of over 2 years and does not oxidize quickly with exposure to air. That’s all I’m saying on that. It’s boring and I am not going there. I want to talk skin care.

So, squalane is a derivative of squalene. Squalane has all the great qualities of squalene. And when derived from olive oil is environment and animal friendly. I absolutely prefer to put something on my face that is plant derived rather than animal. How about you?

Since plant derived squalane is so similar to the natural squalane in our own sebum, our bodies ‘identify’ it as being ‘our own’ . Our naturally occurring moisture. Squalane is also responsible for the synthesis of cholesterol, steroids and vitamin D. And since it is a derivative it is more saturated with the good stuff we want, leaving behind components that we don’t need.

Did you know that squalane as a natural oil lipid composes up to 15% of skin fats in the teenage years? Once we enter our 20′s it begins to decline. This can mean pre-mature aging in your 30′s and 40′s. Read the rest of this entry »

Do you “go tanning”? You know, go to a tanning salon and lay in one of those beds or stand in the booth? Come on, you know who you are. You still think that a tan is a sign of good health; perhaps you even think it makes you look younger. That is what I hear people that use the awful things say.

Maybe you only use a tanning bed when you are preparing to take a vacation in a tropical location where you will have increased sun exposure. More than you are getting now if it is winter and you are in a cold climate. You think building up a ‘base tan’ will protect you from that first day sunburn? Really think so? Let’s get real. Read the rest of this entry »