Had my first " your skin looks amazing" comment-- THANK YOU Caroline Hirons!

[bigbuttons]

A colleague said this at work today, I was so chuffed.
I'm 47 and was looking not so good. This last month I have invested in serums, acids and what not have gone back to Caroline Hirons properly this time. I have been religiously cleaning and tending to my face AM and PM. I use a 30% glycol peel every couple of weeks and use tretinoin every 3 days.
I must say even I have noticed a difference, it has knocked years off me.
All blemishes gone, skin is ultra smooth, wrinkles reduced.
There is hope for us more (ahem) mature ladies!

TRexingInAsda I am worried for your face. Please stop. goes for a lie down

Kundry thank you for the advice I'll get those Clearasil pads today as have seen Caroline say they are a cheap alternative. Will also stop with the foam cleanser.

Caroline I'm sure I speak on behalf of everyone here, please keep reading and provide us with your great advice for as long as you can! Thank you for confirming not to use baby lotion, will bin that and get a proper face cleansing lotion.

Baby lotion has mineral oil in it. Nasty.

Rocksie is right! Stay forever!

I'm going to ask for a recommendation for a facial wash for dd, if I may. As I've said upthread thanks to the CH blog and also threads on here, I got her Effaclar Duo for her forehead/T zone spots. She is only 11 but very "fine" blemish prone skin already. Obviously I don't want to overload her face at this age, but what should I get her to wash her face with?

I was hovering between the Effaclar wash, or this Cetaphil you all keep going on about!

Any ideas?

I think CH fainted. It's probably the thought of Trexing hibiscrubbing then using rubbing alcohol on her poor lovely face

Glad we staged an intervention!

dranksangriainthepark if she's 11 Effaclar is too harsh. I'd be more inclined to use something like La Roche Posay Physiological Cleansing Gel - the most important thing is to make sure she moisturises afterwards - otherwise she'll dry out and it will get worse.x

Thanks so much Caroline. I don't have cash but I do have Boots points. Any Una Brennan in particular? (Sorry if that's a stupid question) And I'm guessing a night cream as the day creams all have SPF that I can see.

yes, they're utter bastards BTW. Best not to get me started! huge thanks.

Oh thank you Caroline.

But is she Ok with the Effaclar duo? It's working wonders.

Thanks XiCi for the melasma suggestion... I'll give lrp dark spot corrector a whirl... Already use the sunscreen (spf50 not tinted). I've since had a search on
Caroline's blog and this vitamin a, laser and spf are what she suggests. Anyway, I'd LOVE to wear less heavy cover-up so will give the lrp dark spot corrector a try before trying laser/vit a. (Should have tackled this a couple of months ago but the third baby was only born in December.)

Poor Caroline! Hope you are not sorry you popped in!

Have to say I almost fainted at the rubbing alcohol!

oh I've got terrible melasma too - started when I was pregnant with my last baby (she's 3 now). I wore fator 50 in the sun last week and it still got worse.

I would love to know what I can use to fade it, it's so depressing.

I have used some 1.0 retinol this week (my skin is obvs v insensitive and it didn't even tingle) and also have some alpha liquid gold stuff. And lots of the other things that are recommended by CH (love the Emma Hardie face/flannel thingie). But just need to get rid of these bloody brown blotches which are really really hideous

Does anyone know if using acids/retinoids to tackle uneven pigmentation/melasma will make future pigmentation problems worse since they make your skin more sensitive to UV light? I know you're supposed to wear high SPF every day but unless you're able to reapply factor 50 every 2 hours you're never 100% safe?

Ok after following this thread, I've gone and kitted myself out!
Even after one session my skin feels totally different.
My skin has always been oily, but now I'm at a certain age it is beginning to sag too.
I now have:
No7 hot cloth cleanser
No7 micodermabrasion (to use twice weekly)
Clearasil ultra rapid action pads
Aldi Lacura H2O intensive serum (already have this and quite like it)
Boots botanicals organic hydrating eye cream.
No7 Beautiful skin tinted BB cream

For night moisturizer I already have L'Oreal revitalize laser renew. It's a bit heavy so I may change it.

Whole lot was about £35 not counting what I have already. Will be interesting to see the results...

My question too Mrs Desperado! I think best to hold off on that sort of thing until October.... Shame as I'm desperate to be rid of my brown patches...

Marking place

Sorry for scaring everyone. No idea how I could get it so wrong - over-enthusiasm for results, I suppose! I promise to look after my face (gently) from now on! x

I've been loving this thread as I'm a skin dunce! Can anyone advise me on what to buy as my skin has every problem in the world it feels like! I'm 38-had cystic acne for last two years which cleared with antibiotics which I've been taking for over a year. If I stop the acne returns in days. I don't want to take pills for ever but don't know what to do!
I'm cleaning up my diet (sugary) but also have a patch of red dry skin below my eye which flakes (gross) as well as occasional psoriasis (not usually on face thank god.
I wash my face with soap and water and use moisturiser. My skin looks dull and I also do loads of exercise which makes me sweat!
I also have two sun spots by my eye which came after 2nd baby and never left!!
Heavy moisturisers seem to make me get spotty :(
I have the most contrary skin in the world.
I'm anxious about products that might make my skin worse.
Help me Caroline??!!! Please

Merrykat - not sure of the best way to treat acne but Caroline has some 'cheat sheets' on her website and I'm sure it's mentioned there. I'd say definitely stop with the soap and water though!! It'll be stripping your skin of its natural oils so that it goes into overdrive producing more oil, making it dry and flakey and prone to acne at the same time... Try a really gentle liquid cream cleanser like cetaphil and take it off with a warm flannel - instead of soap and water.

Thanks shirking. I shall have a look. Hear good things about cetaphil.

It's annoying isn't it shirking? I feel like my face only has to glimpse the sun for a second before the melanin starts overreacting. Too much sunbathing in my teenage years probably

Extremely Mrs Desperado! I didn't even sunbathe loads and have Fitzpatrick skin type I/II so the melasma seems particularly unfair.... First started when I took a high oestrogen contraceptive and had 3 microdermabrasion sessions prior to getting married. And then got worse with each pregnancy. (Not the last one actually - Spf 50 every couple of hours and hat at all times...) But it hasn't got any better despite trying 'cosmelan' peels twice and bleaching creams (dermatologist prescribed). Gah.

Sorry - I have two usernames! I'm shirkingworking as well...

I was a bit confused then!
Mine started when I was taking the contraceptive pill too. I was also taking antibiotics for acne at the same time and if I remember correctly a side-effect was sun sensitivity. I stopped both of those 7 or 8 years ago and my skin has never gone back to 'normal'.
Did the microdermabrasion/peels work (albeit temporarily)? It's not something I've tried (too scared!).
Gah indeed!

Not sure if this has already been mentioned but M+S have 20% off beauty today. Some of the products recommended in previous posts are stocked on their website. I have ordered Ren Clarimatte toner, hot cloth cleanser, Omega 3 serum oil and an AHA resurfacing lotion.

Sorry for the confusion!! No - the microdermabrasion was just to make my skin look more 'glowy' before my wedding which was a big mistake in retrospect. Very little pigmentation before hand... (9 years ago now). The peels were about 18 months ago. They seemed to help a bit temporarily but I think it may have been because I looked quite flushed for a while!! Anyway, i wouldn't recommend them. Think I'll try laser in the autumn if I can afford it. Or possibly dermaroller/dermastamp.