Friday 24 February 2012

Guest Post: Give your skin a break

I'm pleased to be able to let a really lovely lady take over today, with such an excellent choice of topic too. Nic of Strawberry Blonde Beauty Blog has been inspiring my beauty purchases for a long time now (we go back beyond the blogging days). Nic is more than just a great beauty blogger, she's an all round good egg and has held my hands through some difficult parenting moments, for which I am extremely grateful. Anyway, without further ado, I will leave you in Nic's very capable hands.

----------------------------

Thank you Jane for inviting me to guest blog… I am honoured!

Sometimes I lie in bed at night mentally listing the number of skincare and beauty products I use daily… a number which, unsurprisingly, has increased since I started beauty blogging.

I’m passionate about skincare and have used it religiously since my late teens. I care about what I put on my skin, research it thoroughly, and spend as much as I can afford on what I believe are the best products for me. I’m fickle too… I get bored easily and even if something is working for me, I always want to try the latest wonder product I’ve heard about. At times I’ve used poor quality products (for financial reasons) and while I know quality doesn’t always equate with cost, my skin has suffered as a result – and improved when I returned to ‘the good stuff’!

What has never occurred to me until recently, is that maybe all this goodness I’m applying to my face twice daily isn’t always so good for me. Maybe my skin feels overworked, or perhaps there really can be too much of a good thing? Hormone fluctuations can occur throughout key stages of our lives, like puberty, pregnancy and menopause, but factors such as contraception, diet and stress can play a big part too and it’s definitely true that our skin reflects what’s going on inside.


Products1


Several months ago I tweeted about a skin flare up and Pai Skincare responded. I’d previously had no contact with Pai, though I was familiar with the brand through reading reviews by some of my favourite bloggers.

Sarah Brown, founder and owner of Pai asked me about the exact condition of my skin and requested a list of every product I used at the time. She then researched potential allergens or irritants within the product ingredients and came back to me with some advice.

The main thing she thought I ought to do was give my skin a complete break from complicated skincare. When the owner of a highly respected skincare brand suggests this, you sit up and listen! I was both surprised and humbled by Sarah’s advice and would like to personally thank her for the time she took to advise someone who at that point, had never even tried her products. (I since have and love them, though Pai held off sending them until my skin was back to normal!)
This was Sarah’s advice, which she agreed to let me share in this post…

sarah_brown_lgy
Even the most robust of skin can develop sensitivities to ingredients that it may have previously been tolerant to. These sensitivities can be caused by hormone fluctuations, stress, illness, tiredness or overuse of particularly harsh or active cosmetics.



In all cases I'd recommend first giving your skin a rest.



While all beauty lovers want to sample a wide variety of skincare classics & new innovations, chopping and changing products regularly can leave skin very confused and out of balance.



As it responds to the varying oil levels in each, your skin adjusts its own oil production to reach an equilibrium. If this happens too often, your skin simply can't keep up, and can breakout, dry-out or develop a red reaction.



Allow your skin to rediscover its natural balance, and protect this with gentle products.



Increasing your intake of Essential Fatty Acids (Omega 3,6&9) can also help calm and condition your skin from the inside out, as they are powerful anti-inflammatories. Oily fish, seeds and nuts are great dietary sources, or you can opt for 1-2 tsps of organic Hemp or Flaxseed oil a day.

Sarah Brown, Pai Skincare

With the EFA (omega oils), try and buy out of a fridge in your health food store and store it the same way at home. If they're on a shelf in a shop it's not a good sign and are best avoided. These oils are very prone to degradation and you want to take them in their most 'active' fresh form.

Obviously I had to keep cleansing and moisturising my skin at the time, so I used the most simple products I had, which at that time were Purity organic cleanser and moisturiser. Next time I’ll use a gentle natural oil, such as Jojoba; Pai products or Neal’s Yard Calendula Cleanser. 

I also minimised the amount of makeup I wore at the time, so that my skin could breathe. Products such as Liz Earle Sheer Skin Tint or Estee Lauder’s new BB cream are perfect for this, along with a slick of mascara and gloss. My skin definitely benefited from this whole process. The sore spots and under-skin bumps cleared up and my face returned to normal.

While I still test new skincare products for my blog, I’m now much more careful about how I introduce them, adding one new product to my regime at a time, so that if I have a negative reaction, it’s easier to figure out what’s caused it. And in between switching to a new range, I’ll stick to basic, gentle products for a week or two, to avoid throwing my skin out of balance.

Have you given your skin a break recently or is it something you’d consider?

I hope this has been helpful… thank you for reading – and thanks again to Jane for letting me post on one of my favourite beauty blogs!
Nic x

20 comments:

  1. I do think that when it comes to skincare, less is more indeed, and I try to stick with a few staples, mostly at night (in the AM I don't moisturize because it makes me oily, so it's basically eye cream and foundation on bare skin). I don't do many fancy masks or use scrubs often, and I have found that using pure oils to cleanse works better for me than sophisticated products.
    So I definitely agree! and I'll give Pai a look!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It sounds like you have a great approach MoB. I confess to fretting when you said you don't use moisturiser as it often stimulates more oil production, but I know you're the best judge of your skin. I wonder if you one of Pai's toners would work well for you? I know a few people have found them excellent for balancing the skin.

      Delete
  2. It's a great post actually. I suffer quite badly at times from "beauty editors skin" as I'm told it's called. Chopping and changing all the time, using too much product, testing out samples and so on. So I've pared everything right back and totally cut out silicones, using only a few products and my new beloved clarisonic, purging stage aside, my skin has never looked or felt better!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's interesting that it's considered a common phenomenon for beauty editors. Swapping and changing and multiple actives are really hard work for the skin. Even I mess up sometimes but in practice I know that it has to be one new product added at a time. It does mean that reviewing is a slow process!

      Delete
  3. Ohhh I'm so proud to see my post on your blog! Thank you for the lovely things you said about me! :D

    Nic xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's ME who owes you a big thanks Nic. This is a brilliant post and you've actually picked a subject that I'm quite passionate about! I'm fairly strict about skincare, especially when it comes to reviewing it. I rarely add more than one new thing into my regime at once as I'm wary of overdoing it. It's easy for me to forget that not everyone realises how important this is and which is why a post like this is so valuable. Thank you for letting me share it xx

      Delete
  4. Great post Nic! My skin has been behaving badly recently and maybe it's time to take some of your advice and stop overloading it with products xo

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm really glad you found it useful F&F. The first thing I do when my skin is freaking out is go back to basics. I hope you have success :)

      Delete
  5. Hi...this is the first time I write here but I find that article very, very interesting!!!
    In my case I've got a sensitive-combination skin so that's mean that I've to be really carefull of what I put on my skin 'cause some products can over dry some areas and others can put so much oily and develop spots and pimples...so twice a year I do a break and just clean my skin and put some Aloe Vera for two weeks or a month if I can... that helps a lot to rebalance my skin...and my pocket!!!! ;)
    Hope it helps you!!!!


    PS: sorry if I make some English mistakes...I'm Spanish and I'm not used to speak in English very often :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Anonymous. No need to apologise at all, I know how hard it is to write in another language and so I am extremely grateful that you took the time to comment. Your English is very good! Giving your skin chance to re-balance is important. It's great to hear about your method too.

      Delete
  6. What a great post! I gave my skin once a rest, and it was terrible, had plenty of breakouts. I'm using a lot of product, but they're completely natural or organic, and since I use these kinda products, my skin doesn't break out anymore because of a bad reaction on a chemical. I've never used pai, but I'd love to. I'm first finishing the products I have, and will then at some point try it. Makeup is always very simple with me. A tinted moisturizer with SPF on top of a normal moisturizer with SPF, and then mascara, eye liner, and sometimes some blush, and a tinter lipbalm or lipstain such as Tarte. The sun shines all year round here, I need a lot of SPF.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi G. I'm glad you enjoyed Nic's post. It sounds like you have a really good skincare and makeup regime which is sympathetic to your skin. Pai is a really nice line, if you like natural/organic products I think you would like it.

      Delete
  7. Thank you that was really interesting. I don't wear any make up when I'm off work or not going anywhere and I tend to use products for a good while before switching. I am a huge Liz Earle fan, in December my skin was terrible, I had huge red itchy patches and I usually get dry skin in Winter but it wasn't even that cold and it was the worst it's ever been. Using LE cleared it up within a week! Cream from the doctor didn't work as well as LE. Using the cleanser, moisturiser and skin tint means my skin is clear everyday rather than the unpredictable results (one day skin was fine the next dry again) I had before LE. Spots and blackheads arent so much of a problem anymore as well because I think my skin is now balanced? :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi EJ! Yes, it sounds like your skin is perfectly balanced. It's often hard to hydrate skin without overloading it. Although I'm not an LE fan, it sounds like it's working really well for you. Thank you for sharing x

      Delete
    2. no probs, I do go on though lol no one will listen for long enough, they're just not as obsessed ;) but spoke too soon :( I've got patches again, not as bad but not good. Trying to think what I'm doing differently, think it may be a bit of stress boooo

      Delete
  8. Great post Nic, i try to give my skin a rest from all products about once or twice a week and i just do an OCM in the evening instead.
    I agreed it's beneficial to not overload the skin, but rather support it's own natural function.

    ReplyDelete
  9. P.S. I am a little obsessed about trying Emma Hardie's Moringa Balm! I'm going to trawl through your blog to find a review now! :-)

    ReplyDelete
  10. What a great post Nic, very accurate I think. I have had a few months with dreadful (for me) skin, and I chopped and changed various things to try and improve it. A couple of weeks ago I sat down and thought through all the products/steps I was using, and what I was trying to achieve with them. Now I really feel that I have a sensible and logical plan, and my skin has improved dramatically since I have done this. For reference, the key change that I have made is identifying that my skin is/was dehydrated as opposed to dry. I was using a dry/sensitive moisturiser, but its richness was overloading my skin. Now I have switched to a serum and light but hydrating moisturiser, which are being absorbed much more effectively. My skin looks much better and my spots have cleared. Also I am religious with my hot cloth cleansing and a gentle toner, whereas previously I had been known to skip occasionally (ahem). I am definitely going to be trying some Pai products at some point, as I am all about natural!

    ReplyDelete
  11. This is a great post. Really good sound advice that I agree with, it is all to easy to get caught up with product overload.
    I think Pai is one, if not the, best skincare range I have tried for reactive skin x

    ReplyDelete
  12. Great post Nic and love ModestyBrown :) I try and give my skin a rest every Sunday, to be honest I stay in most Sundays and have no need for make-up so just don't bother. I also find than my skin reacts really quickly to dehydration, as long as I'm well watered my skin tends to be happy. It's so true that the best way to treat your skin is from the inside and not from a shed load of products. x

    ReplyDelete

I love receiving comments and read each and every one. I always do my best to reply too. If you have a question and need a quick response, please feel free to email me.

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails