🐌 Fantastic Skincare: Vanities Are The New Shelf Porn

[botemp]

Thread 1 Thread 2 Thread 3 Thread 4 Thread 5 Thread 6 Thread 7 Thread 8 Thread 9 Thread 10
Thread 11 Thread 12 Thread 13 Thread 14 Thread 15 Thread 16 Thread 17 Thread 18 Thread 19 Thread 20

For those who are taking a peek and wondering what this all about, we mostly discuss a bit of advanced skincare here with a perspective of seeking out the right ingredients (rather than the latest new shiny product and all its empty promises) for our particular skin needs. Distinguishing the acid toners from the actives whilst avoiding the truly unimpressive and harmful ingredients with a hope to achieve a bit of anti-ageing, alleviate irritation and sensitivities with some idle chat in between. Newcomers are always welcome but please note the following:

Questions and asking for help on this thread is encouraged, however, we can’t give you a specific routine to follow and hope it works out for the best. There are no overnight miracles in skincare whether it be in the form of products or techniques. It’s about perseverance, understanding your skin, assessing its needs and responding to that in a diligent manner.

These threads were created to help those who want to learn for themselves. We’re a group of interested and invested skincare nuts happy to offer tea and sympathy and dole out advice. Everyone’s journey with skincare is different, what is universal and binds us is that through actually learning about the different active ingredients it helps us get to know our skin and help us adapt as it will change many times throughout our lives - with seasons, hormonal changes, ageing, genetics etc. It's in everyone's best interests to get to know their skin and to keep reviewing those changes with the confidence that comes from the gathered knowledge here. We really encourage you to spend the time reading through previous threads and linked info sheets that the many contributors have taken the trouble to share.

By no means are we experts, we're only a bunch of amateurs that can only respond by suggesting what we would do in your place, for any severe conditions please seek out professional help.

Ahem, and finally a little note on spending. I'm well aware these threads cause many to reach for their wallets and spend with wild abandon. There can sometimes be a bit of a frenzy surrounding the excitement around a newly discovered product or on the back of great improvements when someone reports back. This is all great, it doesn't however, mean everything that's a sudden miracle for one will be it for you. Usually, it's a light bulb moment for connecting the right skincare ingredient with an individual experiencing a specific problem. Take your time to mull over decisions and question whether it's right for you too. Skincare is highly individual, it's a slow game that should cost mostly in patience, input, education, and perseverance. Please don't make it cost you financially needlessly.

I am very slowly working on consolidating the gathered information from previous threads into easier to read formats but it’s slow going. I would suggest reading thread 1 and at the very least the following info sheets (provided they apply to you):

Where to Start

Basics of an Actives Routine

Skin Types vs. Skin Conditions Info Sheet

Anti-Ageing Info sheet

Adult Acne Info Sheet

Understanding Which Sunscreen(s) to Buy

Do I Really Need to Wear Sunscreen Every Single Day of the Year?

A Damaged Skin Barrier - Now What?

So You Want To Buy A Retinoid - A Guide

MAY 2020: We're in lockdown and it's doing weird things to our faces

I don't remember seeing such a question but they have been very responsive via email.

@salliesallow I filled it in a couple of days ago. They ask if you are using prescription skincare. If you say yes the next part says you'll need to stop using it and you have to tick a box. The questionaire didn't ask for dosage or frequency of use though.

@AnneShirleysNewDress. I seem to vaguely remember a question asking if I was using prescription skincare but it didn’t say I had to stop taking it.

Then I think I put that I was using a retinoid. Then I got a follow up question the next day in an email which asked which prescription I was on.

Thanks all that definitely wasn’t on the second questionnaire they sent as I was looking for it, I may have checked ‘No’ if it was on the original questionnaire as I’ve been using retirides which isn’t/wasn’t prescribed for me but I really can’t remember

But my Skin+me prescriber is going to contact me directly to get the info now so hopefully problem solved - and lesson learnt to pay more attention to questionnaires

So, despite my protestations, have ordered Skin + Me and they have prescribed: Tret - .006%, Azelaic Acid 4%, Niacinamide 4%.

Am fairly happy with this, although am going on holiday last week of July - to Scotland, so not exactly The Med, but despite lots of high factor SPF, hat etc, will be difficult to avoid the sun altogether.

Slightly random - but what do people do about protecting children in sun? I normally get rash shirts for all of them and like to cover them all up, complete with embarrassing hats. What do others do?

I wouldn't be too worried with 0.006% in Scotland it'll probably rain anyway

Children, it really depends where they are on the Fitzpatrick scale, I'm a type 3/4 (more of a 4) so despite being quite fair I've only burned a handful of times in my entire life (lived in the Caribbean for a few years) and it was always involving water (either out on a boat or swimming) and extremely long periods of exposure. I'm fully expecting it to catch up with me later in life as my mother wasn't all that SPF obsessed (she never burned).

In general though SPF 30 (mineral if you don't want to research which chemical filters are and aren't recommended for children, or just get one of the paediatric marketed ones, different to 'for children' ones). Rash vests, hats all very sensible so long as you have model children who don't protest. If they're like Queen who burned so quickly in such a short amount of time (I'm guessing you're a type 1?) recently then go full overbearing SPF 50 and top up more often than every two hours as children get their hands everywhere so it doesn't stay put as well (especially mineral based SPFs) and wrap them up in cotton wool, and scowl at the sun. For beach holidays, if you can get one to which sand doesn't stick (there's some term for it, I think) that's helpful. If you're topping up like mad, especially a water resistant one, get a cleansing oil (for the body) to get it off, Eucerin, Avene, Bioderma all do good ones, the Eucerin often gets recommended for atopic children.

Strike a balance though, there's no point in going overkill on a few sunny days but not doing it day to day. In general, when the UV index is red (I think that's over 6 or 7) as it has been for several days now then you just smear them in to your heart's content even if the weather doesn't suggest super hot sunny weather. In general, rule of thumb with children is from spring into autumn and it might just be easier if it's just a daily thing.

Well my Skin+Me £3.50 left my Monzo account first thing today but I've had an no email to say what/when it's on its way.

Well I've also jumped on the Skin+Me bandwagon (baaaaa!), as I wanted to remain on a lower dose of tret over the summer and Dermatica had sent me the 0.05.

Like others here, Skin+Me have sent a couple of follow up emails and have said they're going to start me on 0.015 tret + Niacinamide and Azelaic, asking if I was OK with stepping down from what I'm using now. I'm impressed tbh!....

Oh yes and the hairdresser's booked for my birthday in a couple of weeks time - can't wait! I've been doing my own roots for the last few months but am looking very bushy! Speaking of which, I'm also booked for brows and Botox that week... I've not been able to get an appointment with my waxing lady so will have to give myself another somewhat botched Brazilian in the meantime

Ts I didn’t think Botox was on the allowed list yet, and just hairdressers that were opening not salons for other treatments. Happy to be wrong though as really want my droopy mouth fillers doing

I’m out of the Questionnaire of Doom and in direct contact with my prescriber at Skin+me, now waiting for a (hopefully) revised prescription for next month.

I'm surprised your filler is already requiring a top up, Sallie. How long ago did you have it done?

All salons opened up together here with the hairdressers. But they all have different cut off points strangely enough. So the waxing place will do anything from the neck down but not your face but there's plenty of others that will do face treatments, facials, brows, lashes, etc. It's a bit confusing tbh and I've still yet to go to anyone. I did do my own lash lift and tint and to my surprise it actually turned out better than when professionally done.

Botemps - Your post made me laugh - the image of the kids scowling at the sun. We were in Greece seems like a million years ago for 2 weeks and when we got back no one believed that we were in the Med as me and the kids came back just as white as when we left.

I took this as a personal achievement. .

Sallie I've got no idea whether it's on "the list" but they were booking in clients from the 8th July weeks ago! Ditto the brow lady - she works from home and has started up again from the 6th with proviso that we both wear masks etc.

My friend's hairdresser/beautician has a home salon and has been working all the way through

Also seems illogical that pubs are allowed to reopen but not gyms - although the logic displayed throughout the last few months seems somewhat skewed to say the least!!

@botemp can I ask what you reckon to this serum? Vitamin C. I got a sample of it and it's the most beautiful texture but is it worth getting...?

https://beautyandseoul.co.uk/products/purito-pure-vitamin-c-serum

And yes I'm a type 1 - red hair, porcelain skin. I freckle and very very occasionally go from blue to slightly less blue. But I can burn in my 15 min break stood outside at work

Can you copy the INCI to here for me? For whatever reason the menu thingy won't drop down even when I try it as a desktop site. And it's warm and I can't be arsed to go into the warmer room with a computer

I can!

Sodium Hyaluronate liquid (84%), Ascorbic Acid(5%), 1,2-Hexanediol, Niacinamide, Arginine, Human Oligopeptide-1, Hydrolyzed Collagen, Nelumbium Speciosum Flower Extact, Magnolia Liliflora Bud Extact, Lilium Tigrinum Extract, Paeonia Albiflora Root Extract, Tuber Magnatum Extract, Pyrus Malus (Apple) Fruit Extract, Red Ginseng Extract, Sodium Polyacrylate, Adenosine, Disodium EDTA

WRT gyms not opening, there's been a lot of arguing about that here too but apparently all the sweating and the schwitzing around means if someone has it, it spreads really quickly and the social distance amount isn't sufficient to safeguard it but there's been some arguing back and forth. Especially by those with very sophisticated air filtering systems. But outdoors have been fine and a lot of gyms have just moved into their parking lot where they can. I am very though that the 2 metre distance has been axed in the UK. Glad we still have it. I probably a enjoy treating everyone like a pariah too much

Ok, 5%, that's a tough one as the research shows anything between 10-20 is the working range. I mean, mostly, it looks like a nice hydrating serum, but not sure if it's worth getting with the faff of keeping it in the fridge and a Vitamin C percentage that probably isn't effective and no proven antioxidants alongside it to stabilise and amplify its effect. Do they not just make this without the AA?

obama I have no children but am around type 2 skin, my friends love to laugh that I live in Africa yet my idea of a tan is paler than theirs caught in UK spring.
I see alot of expat kids here in rash vests at pools and remember wearing one as a child on holidays to France. Definitely a good option when water is around as it's so easy to burn, other than that friends with kids here generally smother them in SPF each morning as a habit and top up through out the day depending on if they're outdoors. It's a good idea to get the kids in the habit of having it put regardless of the weather in the summer even as an adult I find I burn alot more when out of the habit because it's so tempting to think theirs no need when its cooler/cloudy

@botemp ahhh. Yeah I was after it for the vitamin C more than anything. It's like water and not gritty or slippery at all

Have you tried the Timeless as that is exactly the ideal texture you're describing.

That was next on my list
I did also get a sample of the purito comfy water SPF which is really lovely (and I am wearing it today)

Well, I just got a text from brow lady cancelling after all - she's most annoyed at the inconsistencies!

WRT vitamin C, I've just got the Revolution 12.5% as I'm not really loving the Timeless - it feels really harsh and stingy for me. I don't know why - my skin's not looking so good since I introduced vitamin C, a bit too red - it was lovely while just using tret and PHA.

www.revolutionbeauty.com/uk/en/skin/serums-and-oils/revolution-skincare-12.5pct-vitamin-c-serum

Feels lovely but might not be that effective/low enough pH?

The Timeless is definitely active and noticeably so. I do wish they had a lower percentage available as well. Skinceuticals do a 10% version of theirs. Anything over 10% is good though, I don't know what the other ingredients are as the link doesn't work for me (probably down to regional settings), but the percentage should be effective enough with the revolution one.

Bo Ingredients as follows:
Aqua (Water, Eau), Propylene Glycol, Ascorbic Acid, Glycerin, Vitis Vinifera (Grape) Seed Oil, Dimethicone, Xanthan Gum, Polyacrylamide, C13-14 Isoparaffin, Sodium Benzoate, Potassium Sorbate, Laureth-7, Citrus Aurantium Dulcis (Orange) Peel Oil, Limonene, Sodium Hydroxide, Citral, Linalool. CI 77891 (Titanium Dioxide).

I know the citrus might be a bit irritating? But the rest of it is quite moisturising...