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I've read so many things... our skin does what it needs to do. Yeah OK. If you strip the oils from your skin, it will over-compensate and produce more oil. Yup, sure. Skin naturally will lose elasticity etc. Yes, for certain. Time marches across our faces. Miracle creams abound. All criticize the others for not really working. New ones come out every 2 seconds. (That might be a slight exaggeration. We women all know only mascaras actually come out every 2 seconds. Moisturizers might be every 5 seonds, really.) New, improved, better, this works that doesn't, new technology, new ingredients, better, stronger, gentler, SPACE AGE! I finally stopped to think: almost every other product is full of lies and false promises. Why should I believe the anti-wrinkle people above everyone else I have put to the side?
Hmm. Good question. I have openly embraced my grey hair. In fact, it's not turning white fast enough for me. I've never worn a ton of make-up so I'm OK with keeping to a minimum. So why the continued obsession with moisturizers? Why the worry that if I skip it, I'll burst out into severe wrinkles immediately? I use a very natural soap that doesn't strip the skin of its oils TOO badly... still feels a little dry right after the shower, but all in all, I've discovered that if I skip the stuff, I'm actually still OK - the same - all fine - by the end of the day. I feel no different. It's only been a short time now, and I'm not yet convinced I'm in the clear, but all in all I... cautiously... think I might be just fine. I have not exploded into crow's feet. I don't notice any difference at all. But really, should I care? I'm all for looking as good as I can. For sure, I am blessed with my naturally oily Italian skin that keeps some aging at bay... but really, have I held on to this last social hang-up for no good reason? Do I really care how wrinkled I get? Do I care who knows my age or guesses it or even cares?
I'm trying to get in better shape, I'm eating better, I'm exercising more... I do want to look good. I have sun damage/age spots that I know betray me, and I would like to fade them. They do bug me. I try fade creams. They seem to work. I try to not obsess too much. It is what it is, ya know? I know there are natural products out there, I saw most of them as I wandered through the Natural Products Expo. But I was still left to wondering, do I really NEED this? Might my skin be fine on its own? Unfortunately, only time will tell, and by then it will be too late. But I really am tempted to just STOP. Yeah, again, sure, I may be lucky with my skin type that still grants me zits at an age I thought I would be long past them, but, I really think I can plain old stop. Or cut back, at least. Because, yes, those wonderful all-natural (all EXPENSIVE) products out there may be the tits (and I'm thinking some of my etsy friends out there do have GREAT natural products and not crazy-pricey! You know who you are!! Pipe up in the comment section!), they still lots of them come in plastic containers that I prefer to not have to use in the first place. I want to simplify. I want to STOP.
Can I? Should I? Would you, could you? Meanwhile, I have a lot of soul-searching to do to figure out why I could continue to fall for this one last great lie...
I've got super dry skin, and can't go without some kind of moisturizer, but I use a good alternative that is cheap and eatable. Oil! Olive oil, coconut oil, etc. Just add a bit to a nice bath, or rub it on with a moist wash cloth. I had eczema, and thought I would have to put on medicated lotion forever, but now I only need to do the oil treatment once a week, and my skin is great!
ReplyDeleteThat's a really good thing to read! I'll have to look into that, thanks!
ReplyDeleteI'm excited that you have started this experiment. I just did it, myself, last year - and it sounds like we have similar skin types. I'm oily and pimple-prone even as I'm entering my mid-30's. What the heck?! LOL.
ReplyDeleteAnyway...the thing is, I'm all about letting the body do what it wants and that it'll be better on its own. Hence why I try not to shampoo more than every two days - and I'd go longer if my hair wasn't so oily. Though I think it would be LESS oily if I could just get it into the habit of not being washed a lot. Oh, the cycle...
As for my skin, I've found that it has some weird problems. It is super dry as well as being oily. After about a month of no moisturizer, the dryness was becoming torturous, so I have gone back to using moisturizers. I use my own products, of course, which are all balms and oils - but I'm about to experiment with a water-based moisturizer because I still feel like I need to experiment more.
One of my greatest regrets is the hell I put my skin through for twenty years - I really believe that I messed it up so badly that it would take a good year to rebalance it. That's actually how long it took my hair to rebalance when I gave up shampoo, and my skin is much worse - all those chemicals I used on it like benzoyl peroxide, Retin-A....ugh! What was I thinking?!
Keep us posted on your experiment. I'd be really interested to see if someone was able to get that balance in their skin without moisturizer!
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ReplyDeleteA Green Spell, how do you keep your skin pimple-free without benzoyl peroxide? I tried two years of natural/organic/chemical free care, and my face was always spotted with *ahem* blemishes. Benzoyl peroxide is the only thing I've found that seems to get my skin under moderate control. I'm in my mid-twenties and have tried everything -- make-up free, chemical free with a gentle cleanser, dairy-free diet, meat-free diet, drinking only water and sugar-free tea (I still do this one, because tea is wonderful), change my pillow cases every other day, etc... but alas, my supplication to the pimple gods goes unanswered.
ReplyDeleteBenzoyl peroxide is the only thing that has been successful for me. I'd love to know your secret; I want to give up BP, but my vanity keeps me from going back to being pimply again.
I second the oil recommendation. Many of them come in glass rather than plastic containers, and just about all of them at least come in bigger containers for less waste. My acne prone skin seems to do a lot better with jojoba oil than it did with years of anti-acne medications, and I've heard good things about coconut, olive, almond, and avocado oil for dryer skin. The olive would be really easy -- just use the stuff you cook with and rub a few drops in while your face is still damp from washing. Keep us updated on how it goes!
ReplyDeleteI was going to suggest coconut oil or olive oil as well. I don't use them myself. I don't use any moisturizer at all. I've never felt the need to. But I have heard good things about coconut and olive oil. Where I live, we can get olive oil in bulk in our own container. And coconut oil comes in glass jars.
ReplyDeleteBut the gray hair thing? That is my hang up. I try to go for long periods of time without coloring it, and looking in the mirror makes me feel old and tired. I don't look like I feel. I finally break down and have it colored a couple of times a year. It's totally toxic and comes in plastic bottles.
I'm going to try henna. I just Googled to see if it would cover gray. Opinions are mixed. But what have I got to lose? I can buy it in bulk.
@Katrina: Sorry for the super late response. I often forget to subscribe to comments or come back and check!
ReplyDeleteI wish I had some definite solution for you, but everyone is so different. I have acne-prone skin, too, but after three or so years of leaving it alone, it has settled down a bit. I still get breakouts along my jawline twice a month, which is really frustrating, but oh well. I treat pimples with rhassoul clay - it helps diminish pimples within 2-3 days.
Like you, I tried just about EVERYTHING to clear my skin up. Dietary solutions, medications, supplements, and more. In the end, I think it was mostly a mental thing – I stopped EXPECTING to get pimples, and after a while (and after my skin adjusted to self-management), I experienced a remarkable turnaround. My breakouts were not so bad or so frequent anymore. Can you tell I’m a BIG believer in the mind-body connection?
Drop me a line over at Facebook (Five Seed) or Twitter (@5seed) if you want to chat about it more.
I realize I'm late to this party, but after years of trouble skin, I finally came upon the solution. No soap... OK, I use a little bit on the obvious smelly spots, but other than that, none at all. I'm nearly 3 years sans shampoo and my hair has never looked better. But the real change is in my skin. I seriously thought I'd end up in zit city without soap on my face, but it's turned out to be just the opposite.
ReplyDeleteI recently adopted a new cat who may or may not have a terrible disease (time will tell). So at the moment I have to keep her quaranteened and wash my hands after I handle her so I don't risk infecting my other cats, which means that they're getting soaped about a dozen times per day. HOLY MOLY! If I ever needed more evidence that soap dries out your skin... hopefully this situation will resolve itself soon!
I use jojoba oil for shaving which keeps my legs nice and soft, and on the rare occasion when my face or hands get dry (well - not so rare for the hands these days, I fear) I use a little jojoba there too. The only other moisturizer I ever use is a spray called NaPCA which is totally amazing stuff. It's a chemical naturally found in human skin and it actually pulls water out of the air and attracts it to your skin. Totally non-greasy and amazing.
What the others said about oil! I have a small container of plain old grapeseed oil (olive is too heavy for me; almond or grapeseed does better) with a little tea tree and lavender oil in it.
ReplyDeleteOut of the shower, I damp-dry off, squeeze a little oil on my hands, run them over my legs, my hands, my elbows, and last my face--that way it doesn't get too oily, just a teeny tiny bit.
I swear--some of the little wrinkles around my eyes have gotten smaller in the year or so since I've started doing this...it's the easiest, cheapest, quickest beauty secret I've ever found.
--Jenn
I'M BACK!!! Sorry... a had a small alteration to my body that has kept me down! More on that in another post.
ReplyDeleteUPDATE: Brought a small container of olive oil into the shower, and after I wash with some Dr Bronner's soap, I simply smooth a tiny bit of oil around my eyes and mouth, then blend all around. (I'm Italian so I opted for the olive oil out of symmetry!!! LOL) The heat of the remainder of the shower eases it into my skin... no breakouts from it... too early to tell how my wrinkles will do with it.
Beth: Hope you have success with Henna. My hair can't get white fast enough for me, and yet sometimes I am even tempted to do a little henna.