Now that my skin has calmed down, is “normal” (not oily or dry) and is relatively clear, and a bit sensitive to all harsh or irritating chemicals, I am loathe to do anything to it that will destroy its balance.
For once in my life, my skin is CLEAR!
To keep my skin clear, I do the following:
- nothing too fatty, oily, deep fried or buttery — makes me break out like mad*
- no processed or fast foods — my skin is allergic to SOMETHING in them & I break out*
- avoid putting on too much junk on my face (serums, eye creams, wrinkle whatevers.. I avoid all of it)
- exfoliate my skin regularly to get rid of dead skin cells
*I’ve always believed that nothing you ate made a difference to your skin or your body, but that is a BIG FAT LIE (for me anyway).
I believed for years that oils and junk food do nothing for ruining your skin, and only if you touched your face with grease, you could get pimples.
LIES!
BF has a theory on this — he says that if I eat too much butter or oil, my body may not be able to process it as efficiently, and it shoves all the extra oil, butter and fat up to your skin in the form of huge pimples.
He says my skin is trying to expel all the excess oil up through my face (as my skin is a huge organ as well) in reaction to everything clogging up my internal organs.
Some people have no problem chugging down grease in the form of potato chips followed with a huge greasy hamburger with mayonnaise, but my body in particular cannot handle so much fat/oil at once.
I also cannot eat processed or fast foods because something in the preservatives, or the mix of ingredients in there makes my skin react violently.
A good example of this is if you look at poorer countries that don’t have the luxury of fast or processed foods. Their skin is generally super clear, smooth and as beautiful as it can be.
Even the teenagers there don’t get breakouts like we think we’re supposed to as our hormones change!
Exfoliation has two types: Deep and Surface
(Yes, this is everything I’ve learned from Pure and Simple so far.)
Deep exfoliation is when you get down to the deeper layers of your skin.
You want to make sure the pores stay unclogged and clear. If you have dead skin cells lying around, it could build up, trap dirt and oil and cause a bump to appear.
It’s kind of like getting to the source or the root of the pimple to keep the pipes clean and stop the problem before it starts.
It is usually achieved with an acid of some sort, like the Lactic Acid I recently purchased for $50:
Pricey, but worth it as far as I can see. It’s really keeping my skin clear in stopping the major breakouts before they happen.
Surface exfoliation, is just to get rid of the dead skin cells lying on top.
I used baking soda in the past (bad idea!!!), I tried scrubs with shells in them, or little jojoba beads.. and nothing seemed to really work to my satisfaction without hurting, and making me feel awfully guilty for sending yet ANOTHER beauty product down the sewage pipes and causing environmental problems.
Enter the Sephora Cleansing Pad for $7, picked up with a bunch of enablers who started asking for a review before they bought it 😛
It feels soft and delightfully smooshy, and I was kind of afraid it wouldn’t do anything to my skin.
See, when things are too soft, it means it doesn’t really have the power to scrub anything, so I’d just be wasting $7 on some perverse-looking item that won’t do anything.
Side note: Arianne from Glitter Geek thought the bristles felt like a kitten’s fur coat.
So being the guinea pig of the group I bought it and brought it home to give it a try.
I squeezed on a TINY amount of cleanser on it and started scrubbing at my face.
For the record it feels NOTHING like a kitten 😛
The bristles are surprisingly strong on your face, but there was no pain involved like there was in the past with surface exfoliants containing walnut shells and other painful crystals.
You put your two fingers around that kind of dirty looking knob at the back to use it. The cleanser on the pad foams up nicely and goes a long way.
I wouldn’t say it will turn your skin into anything as soft or smooth as a baby’s belly the way a harsher exfoliant or scrub would.
It felt like it was getting rid of the dead skin cells that are easy to remove but not forcing my skin to give up a layer of healthy cells.
VERDICT: I liked it, but it won’t give you an ultra smooth face
Overall I liked it, but if you’re the type that needs to feel super soft skin afterwards (too harsh for my face), then keep buying your current exfoliant.
For me, it seems to work so far and traveling with it will be a lot easier than packing another tube of something.
That said, I like it because:
- it feels like a kitten
- it travels well
- doesn’t take up liquid/gel space
- it’s a gentle surface exfoliant
- it was only $7 not $17
- it isn’t another product to spend money on
- … or tax the environment with
- I can use my own cleanser with it
The only con?
- it may be too gentle for some skin types
Just a girl trying to find a balance between being a Shopaholic and a Saver.
I cleared $60,000 in 18 months earning $65,000 gross/year.
Now I am self-employed, and you can read more about 
The Loreal 360 clean face washes come with a scrubber that looks exactly like that! The 360 clean washes are very gentle and inexpensive too, like $6.99 for the bottle, including the same scrubber sephora sells!
I suggest everyone buy that instead!
As one of the above mentioned enablers, I thank you for doing such as awesome review! 🙂
I will need to ask you more about the lactic acid. I find that my pores are more clogged after using the physical sunscreen.
The lactic acid is amazing. I use it once a week and I felt my skin PEEL OFF
my chin yesterday
Me: What the heck.. is.. I’m like a SNAKE!
I was really hoping you were going to say it removed all your blackheads and left your skin feeling amazing… I do love kittens though.
Hmm interesting scrubber — I’ll have to keep an eye out for it or something similar.
I’ve been reading about how what you eat affects your skin. I like this theory from “The Acne Prescription,” I think it makes the most sense. It’s not that the oil in the food is literally coming out through your skin, it’s that these foods promote inflammation. Foods high in omega 3 and antioxidants do the opposite and help calm inflammation, like pomegranates, blueberries, flaxseed and salmon.The book urges readers trying to reduce a break out to cut out all bread, sugar, and greasy food. You can reduce a breakout without doing this, but it will help you do it so much faster.
I’ve been using a 100% natural hippy-dippy routine that’s working great for me! I’ll have to write about it later. Basically natural Castile soap (Dr. Bronner’s), tea tree oil toner (home made, just diluted pure tea tree oil), and coconut oil to moisturize. (The Argan oil you use does absorb better, less oily residue leftover.)
I am down for all this, except I tried coconut oil on my face but it felt
too heavy.
I am sticking to my natural argan oil, lactic acid and white tea fluid gel
cleanser. My skin seems to love it best.
Oh, and avoiding junk.
My friend has a soy sensitivity and it causes her to break out like mad. Soy is in almost everything, particularly processed foods so that may be your culprit. Since you’re going so healthy and not eating as much processed food, that may explain why your skin is clearing up.
Also, I’m test-driving the Clarisonic right now and so far it’s good! I’ll let you know how it works out, it does the deep down and surface cleaning that you’re looking for!
If eating fatty foods gives you pimples, it may be your liver. To much fatty foods overworks your liver, and since your liver is a major organ in regards to cleaning toxins from your body, it may be that.
For me I use products with Sacylic Acid to keep my skin clear. I usally use the ST Ives Apricot Scrub for Blackheads (its 2% sacylic acid), the acid helps to exfoiliote the skin. I also use a Microderm abrasion, it keeps my pores open and keeps any pimples that may pop up from getting inflamed or become the type that get under the skin and go red. I’ve used Witch Hazel, it’s ok. But i dont use it regularly but for the breakouts that may occur my go to prpduct is Aveeno toner, it’s awesome for shrinking and dryong those sucker up!
Oh and for a cheap and easy way to exfoliate your skin, as per a Mary Kay rep., is the facecloth. A really good cleanser and a facecloth can really clean your skin in a soft and gentle way.
BTW if you find fatty greasy foods are too much for your sytem, try taking Milt Thistle, its an herbal supplement thats realy good for the liver. I think in France it can be prescibed by doctors for people who have liver issues.
It totally IS a myth that anything you eat will affect your skin. I SWEAR! Pimples come from bacteria that lives deep in your pores. It’s almost like having a virus, where there’s sometimes little you can do about it. Unless you’re literally slathering lard on your face and not watching it off (which will clog your pores and trap bacteria in, not give you pimples in and of itself). Promise! It definitely could be something about YOU specifically, but it’s unlikely. More than likely your skin has changed, and maybe around the same time your diet has changed, so you’re linking the two together. I started getting acne badly at about 19, and I tried EVERYTHING to get rid of it, and I just couldn’t. After years of treatments, it finally started to clear up when I was around 22 or 23. My diet didn’t really change, just the way my skin worked.
One thing that does sometimes help clear up acne is sunlight. Ever notice how you get less pimples in the summer when you’ve got a bit of a tan, and you’ve been exposed to fresh air. That one might explain your poorer countries note: they probably spend more time outdoors than we do! 🙂
YAY! You finally reviewed it. I think I might pick this up. I don’t like a very harsh scrub either, but I like fun gizmos that I can use on my face. 🙂
I’m currently reading “No More Dirty Looks,” which just talked about how some foods cause inflammation (in the form of wrinkles or acne on your skin). So yes, that’s probably what’s happening with your skin whenever you eat the bad stuff. By the way, I highly recommend the book. It makes me want to throw out all the crap in my bathroom.
I was thinking the same thing!
Your bf is totally right about your body being unable to process and eliminate efficiently. 😉 keeper ya got there!
As for the lactic acid peel (or other peels), have you browsed the Makeup Artists’ Choice website? They have all sorts of industrial strength acid peels for really great prices and instructions to boot.
I haven’t gone to MAC’s website, but I bought lactic acid from Pure and
Simple and instead of using it once every other day like they told me, I’m
using it once a week, even though my skin can handle daily applications.