Got the following message from a friend on fb:
hello Ms. Kate! Congrats on all your great news approaching: baby, business, seems like life is falling together well :) I had a question for the resident beauty product girl ;) perhaps you can make me a recommendation? haha i hope its not irritating that i ask you!! :)
Adult onset skin issues: blackheads and the every now and then red spot….any suggestions on products to diminish these? the daily cleaners leave my skin so horridly dry (i use the purity cleanser)…so do you know of good spot treatments? facial masks? once a week treatments? also, ingrown hairs…i get them something awful from tweezing on my face…i heard witch hazel helps to prevent the chronic issues..have you heard this or experienced anything?
by the way, mederma for scars worked but it takes FOREVER for old scars. once i get medical insurance making a dermatology apt might just need to have lazer treatment…
I actually LOVE that I am now product girl and can offer my insights and do something useful with all the product knowledge I have! Here is my response:
Hi! No it doesn’t bother me at all, and thank you for all the congrats – and congrats to you as well! So proud of you!
I have been blessed with awesome skin for most of my life. That said, pregnancy has be wreaking HAVOC on my face and I have been having terrible breakouts. My recommendations are:
Burt’s Bees Blemish Stick: Best herbal blemish remedy on the market. You can apply it a couple times a day with no ill effects.
Neutrogena On-the-Spot Acne Treatment: For more serious issues, it’s a benzoyl peroxide medication and works great.
Queen Helene Mint Julep Masque: I recommend it on my blog (http://lipglosslife.com/2012/04/01/spa-out-your-bathroom/) and I stand by it. It’s cheap, it’s proven, and it does the job – totally dries out problem zones and cleans the heck out of your skin.
Ingrown hairs: I blessedly don’t get these anywhere but my bikini line, but there, I get them BAD. I have been using witch hazel since I got pregnant but honestly it hasn’t helped much. Before that I used PFB Vanish and Whish Flawless, both of which my esthetician recommended, and both of which worked awesome. Before that I used Nufree Finipil, which works best of all, but can be hard to get ahold of.
My scars fade really fast and pretty much disappear… you almost can’t even see the one from my operation last year (again, just really lucky, I guess), but I did use Vitamin E Cream on it daily for weeks after it had healed, which may have helped.
One last note: Cleansers that dry your skin too much can actually cause more problems than they solve. I am definitely not a cream cleanser proponent – I hate having my face feel oily after washing – but if your skin feels really tight you might want to consider switching cleansers or using cold water to wash your face (if you’re not already). When your skin gets too dried out it actually goes into oil production overdrive (or so I have heard) to try to protect itself. I currently use Caudalie’s Foaming Cleanser (their whole line, actually) and absolutely swear by it.
OH one other thing, but you’re not going to like it. The best exfoliator I have found anywhere is Kate Somerville’s ExfoliKate but it is super expensive. If you want I could put some in a little tester size and send it to you so you could see if it’s worth it to you, or you might be able to get a sample at Sephora. I use it every other day and it is awesome.
Okay, whew! Hope that’s not too much info! I might post this as a blog, with your questions (anonymously) first, if that doesn’t bother you?
Kate
There you have it! Not only did she agree to let me post her questions here, she has also graciously offered to try out my recommendations and get back to me with thoughts, so we can get a second opinion on some of these products. Hope this helps someone!
