Oily Skin Care

Keep in mind that no one has just one kind of skin or a complexion that falls into Proctor and Gamble’s neat little categories-dry, normal, and oily.

“Normal” skin has dry and oily patches. Different places on your body have different needs; and, although one kind of skin probably predominates on your face, different parts of those beautiful features require different kinds of care.

If, however, “oily skin” has become a euphemism for “acne prone,” you can take some quick, effective, and inexpensive corrective action, keeping blemishes and break-outs to a minimum while you make your face look fresh, radiant, and wonderful just as the commercials promise.

Even occasionally oily skin requires some special care, because acne-causing bacteria will thrive on dirt that collects in oil-clogged pores. If you live in the city, all kinds of nasty airborne stuff has laid siege to your complexion. More than a thousand contaminants, pollutants, toxic wastes, and pathogens attack your vulnerable spots every time you venture outside. And the air in your office is not all that healthy either. If you are experiencing sudden surges in your estrogen levels because you have just started birth control pills, are pregnant, or have begun peri-menopause, your risk of oily skin contributing to acne increases dramatically.

Bottom line: No matter where you live, what your hormones do, or what else your planner says to do, you must develop a daily beauty routine with all-natural products. To keep your face magazine-cover beautiful, keep it clean and protected. A few hints…

Three-step cleansing and moisturizing

Although it may feel like flagrant self-indulgence, you will invest far less time, energy, and vanity in protecting your skin than you might in clearing-up blemishes.You will recover the time spent on cleansing when you devote less time to covering-up your flaws with make-up.

Set-aside time in the morning and last thing before bedtime, religiously following a three-step cleansing procedure—all natural, of course.

First, wash your face using pure soap enriched with essential botanicals. Choose a soap with lavender, chamomile, and some citrus, because they deliver the three things your skin needs most. Lavender ranks el numero uno supremo among Nature’s cleansers; it even takes it name from the Latin word for cleaning. Think of lavender as a little gang of scrubbing machines wiping-out even a suggestion of dirt on your face. Chamomile complements lavender, soothing your skin after aggressive cleaning. Chamomile also fights acne, because it ranks number one among Nature’s anti-inflammatories. Acne looks so hideous because P. acnes, the bacteria that cause acne, inflame sensitive skin, making it appear red and raw. Chamomile takes care of that.Finally, citrus delivers all the anti-oxidants and most of the vitamins your healthy skin requires.

Second, use a good toner immediately after cleansing, so that your pores gently will close and stay clean.Most toners contain some alcohol, which may sting just a little bit but will help to disinfect your skin and clear-up the last of any left-over oil.

Third, moisturize! Although it seems insane to moisturize skin you already complain has too much oil, good all-natural moisturizers nourish your skin, promote skin’s production of natural collagen, and add even more anti-oxidants to protect your skin against damage. The best moisturizers use either avocado oil or coconut oil as their bases, and they add Tea Tree extract, rosemary, aloe vera, and a woodsy or fruity botanical-the woodsy-fruity stuff is mostly for fragrance.

Deep-cleanse once each week

You can do this by multi-tasking. While you watch Saturday morning cartoons, deep-cleanse your face using a premium cleanser that contains Dead Sea salts.Several different manufacturers make spectacular Dead Sea cleansers for use with a loofah or for application as a mask. Use as directed and watch your skin emerge genuinely “radiant.” The Dead Sea salt contains minerals and underwater botanicals your oily skin desperately craves.Your family and friends need not see the work, but they will rave about the great results.

Ditch dangerous products. Choose make-up wisely.

Many of your favorite inexpensive lotions use petroleum derivatives and wax to smooth and seal your skin. Even if they use the word “herbal” in the brand name, the essential botanicals almost always come at the end of the ingredients lists and usually measure less than 1% of the formulae they supposedly enrich. You absolutely deserve more and better; and you will discover, although you inevitably pay more for the pure stuff, you break-even in the end, because you use less. A little of the good stuff goes a long way.

Price does not always determine the quality of your make-up. Consider one perfectly outrageous example: Chanel sells an “airbrush” make-up so full of toxic chemicals it will work as primer on your Plymouth, and the friends of Coco have the unmitigated temerity to charge nearly $90 for 1.8 oz. Love Chanel sunglasses with all your heart, and adore the fragrances, but feel very afraid of the cosmetics.

The popular “minerals” make-ups have all the right stuff and nothing nasty. Two of the premium minerals brands advertise that they promote good skin care over glamour, and they have extensive clinical test data to prove that their products care for and nourish skin. In some cases, “premium” and “pure” are the same thing.