If you had known..what product would you have used earlier?
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Tue Mar 01, 2005 7:23 pm

hi - my name is cait and i am new to this board. i have been reading it for a couple months and it seems that everyone has so much knowledge on what the best products are. i love this board, however i have spent way too much money lately due to this damn board! anyway.. i have a question for everyone:

knowing what you know now about your favorite products, which product(s) do you wish you had starting using when you were younger so that you could have had the perfect skin care regimen earlier?

i am 20 so i don't need to use any of the "get rid of wrinkles now" products, but i would love advice on what to use now to start early and ward off the effects of aging. i currently use drug store stuff like oil of olay because i am a cheap college student. however, i am starting to experiment with silkia camellia oil and other things because i have read a lot of great opinions recently. thanks a lot everyone!

free skin care · Tue Mar 01, 2005 7:46 pm

Welcome Cait - what a great question!! The first product that comes to mind for me is sunblock ( I'm from the potato-skinned, baby-oil barbie generation Sad

). If I knew then what I now now - I would have been using sunblock - not suntan oil! That would have made all the difference -- if I had been using a good sunblock I probably wouldn't be(at 40) as completely immersed as I am in corrective treatment......(oh well, shoulda, coulda, woulda.... Sad

)
Pudoodles

Tue Mar 01, 2005 8:01 pm

oh yes..sunblock is my friend. i'm a natural red head. not bright red..more like redish brown..but i have the sensitive, semi freckly, burns quite easy skin so i've always been a fan of sunblock. although last year i moved to los angeles for college and i've never felt so self consious about my pale skin! i started going to a tanning bed every other day for about 2 months and got my skin to a normal persons color (nothing you would call tan but i didnt feel as self consious). i always put a lot of lotion on right after that so it wouldnt dry out, and i never peeled at all last year..but i suppose i'm still doing damage. i can get away with being pale during the winter months because everyone else is..but during the summer i just want to feel okay in shorts! do you think a month (every other day) at a tanning salon will do a lot of damage? or is it more like 5 months outside in the sun with baby oil that will really do damage? i know i'm more prone to skin cancer..but cmon..los angeles..theres not another city in this country where people make such a deal about tan skin! thanks a lot for your reply..so what do you think, am i okay with a month at the salon or should i just give it up?

free skin care · Tue Mar 01, 2005 8:49 pm

HI cait,
I'm new here as well (actually I found this board a few months ago but recently started posting). Like you, I've spent a good bit of money due to recommendations from this board. Do I regret it? Absolutely not! Almost all of them have worked well for me. Dr. Hauschka is my newest venture (as well as a few others Smile

) but I'm waiting to give it a full review. Very Happy

Just learning of the benefits of Vit C alone are worth what I've spent. But, it has truly lived up to it's promise. At 35 years old, I saw an immediate improvement (all those years of sun bathing) just from the Vit C serum alone. Although it's not popular here, the Olay Regenerist serum, as well as the perfecting cream, are wonderful products to try as an intermediate start to other products. In all honesty, I've also tried their other lines and they were horrible for me. I have normal skin (with an oily T-zone) and the C serum has almost normalized that.

I am also using the epidermx as an exfoliant several times a week, but I can't speak for it's microdermabrasion properties as I haven't used it much for that. As an exfoliant, it's great. Leaves the skin very soft, and smooth.

I'm sure there will be much more reponses from your post, but hopefully I helped.

Stephanie

free skin care · Tue Mar 01, 2005 9:08 pm

cait2k3 wrote:

oh yes..sunblock is my friend. i'm a natural red head. not bright red..more like redish brown..but i have the sensitive, semi freckly, burns quite easy skin so i've always been a fan of sunblock. although last year i moved to los angeles for college and i've never felt so self consious about my pale skin! i started going to a tanning bed every other day for about 2 months and got my skin to a normal persons color (nothing you would call tan but i didnt feel as self consious). i always put a lot of lotion on right after that so it wouldnt dry out, and i never peeled at all last year..but i suppose i'm still doing damage. i can get away with being pale during the winter months because everyone else is..but during the summer i just want to feel okay in shorts! do you think a month (every other day) at a tanning salon will do a lot of damage? or is it more like 5 months outside in the sun with baby oil that will really do damage? i know i'm more prone to skin cancer..but cmon..los angeles..theres not another city in this country where people make such a deal about tan skin! thanks a lot for your reply..so what do you think, am i okay with a month at the salon or should i just give it up?

Your response reminded me of another "if I knew then what I know now" kind of moment...I wish that when I was in college, I loved my looks as much as I do now! I was *so* concerned with having a tan in high school and college (I wanted to be Heather Locklear Sad

) - Needless to say, it never happened - I am of Irish background - naturally dark hair (that I tried to bleach for years) with blue eyes and milk bottle skin!! I encourage you to ditch the suntan studio and just be a glorious, unique, kinda freckly redhead!! Never mind the L.A.look....three cheers for the Cait look, rather the "Cait in LA look!"

Pudoodles

free skin care · Tue Mar 01, 2005 9:55 pm

I would have used more sunblock and a sunless tanner instead.

Oh and an eye cream!!!

free skin care · Tue Mar 01, 2005 10:59 pm

SUNBLOCK SUNBLOCK SUNBLOCK

free skin care · Tue Mar 01, 2005 11:37 pm

If I had known I definitely would've started moisturizing at 18-20.

free skin care · Wed Mar 02, 2005 3:55 am

Guess I was 'lucky' cos I'm a pasty pale redhead I've always had it drummed into me to use sunscreen and my mum got me moisturising at about 12 (I used to pinch her Oil of Olay!!!)my mum and gran were both very hot on skincare so I guess I 'caught' the habit off them!! But I wish I'd known about Vit C earlier!!!

free skin care · Wed Mar 02, 2005 6:53 am

Vit C and as soon as one of those nasty little lines appeared relaxaline. I also would have used more sunscreen, stayed out of the sun. Sunglasses to stop me squinting and I would have never started smoking. Rolling Eyes

free skin care · Wed Mar 02, 2005 7:28 am

Oh man, definitely would take back all the sun bathing I did!!!! EVERY waking moment in the sun, slathering on the "oh so useless" yummy smelling suntan oil. Sunblock for sure is a coulda-shoulda for me.

The brown patches on my cheek are a constant reminder of me and my girfriends being hung over from the night before and just slapping our chairs on an available swatch of sand and just baking/sleeping from the hours of 10-2!!! Then thinking we looked so great b/c we were bronzed goddesses, going out again, and having a few that night. Sigh.

Now at 40, I'm thankful that Vitamin C has helped me, and thankful that I am diligent about the sun now.

Maria Laughing

free skin care · Wed Mar 02, 2005 12:33 pm

Skinbiology's copper peptides & my new favorite..Coenzyme A Skin Matrix Spray. I like these 2 because they really work and I feel they actually "do" something rather than mask problems. Smile

But like almost everyone else here, I stress sunscreen too. A good one and remember to reapply often.

Wed Mar 02, 2005 1:43 pm

sorry to sound ignorant, but besides sunscreen you guys keep preaching vitamin c. do you take it in pill form? if so, how much? i drink orange juice sometimes but i don't think that is what you mean! and what are the benefits/effects from vitamin c? thanks!

free skin care · Wed Mar 02, 2005 5:29 pm

Sunscreen !!
My mom always forced me to use sunscreen since i was 13, but of course when she forced me to do something then i don't want to do it.

But now after i realize what's sunscreen for, i can't live without it!! hahaha

Oh ! also an eye cream for dark circle, if i'd known before.. i probably wont have panda eyes right now... Sad

free skin care · Wed Mar 02, 2005 7:53 pm

Ummmmm

For sure I would have used SPF everyday since my teen years.

A good eye cream

JURLIQUE HERBAL RECOVERY GEL

I would have drank lots more water and taken Esstenial Fatty Acids everyday as well.

free skin care · Wed Mar 02, 2005 8:39 pm

Sunscreen, sunscreen, sunscreen! and vit C serum.

Liz

Thu Mar 03, 2005 5:56 am

I'm with Liz - sunblock and vit C for me please! I think I started pretty early anyway but I used to go to the beach and fry myself when I was in my teens Confused

free skin care · Thu Mar 03, 2005 6:18 am

Quote:

sorry to sound ignorant, but besides sunscreen you guys keep preaching vitamin c. do you take it in pill form? if so, how much? i drink orange juice sometimes but i don't think that is what you mean! and what are the benefits/effects from vitamin c? thanks!

I think most of us are talking about topical Vitamin C, usually in serum form - it's one of my desert island products. (See EDS shopping for the whys and hows - Cellex-C, Skinceuticals and Vivier are just a few of the brands you can get_ Very Happy

free skin care · Thu Mar 03, 2005 7:51 am

Cait2K3 wrote:

although last year i moved to los angeles for college and i've never felt so self consious about my pale skin!

Oh, honey -- I can totally relate!! I grew up in L.A. back in the 70s. I'm a fair-skinned redhead, too. Whenever we'd go to the beach, I felt like I stuck out like a sore-thumb, surrounded by all the beautiful blond beach bunnies and surfer dudes! Back then, using sunscreen was a fairly new concept, and most of the ones available were those zinc-oxide products that left you with a thick white coat of gunk -- definitely not attractive. My only alternative was to basically cover myself from head to foot (i.e.: loose white gauzy caftan thing) if I wanted to enjoy the sun. The experience of being a "freak" among beautiful people scarred me so much that to this day I don't enjoy going to the beach or spending time at the lake (although my extreme hatred of *sand* might also have something to do with it!!). My only consolation back then was to hug to myself the knowledge that at least *I* wouldn't look like a dried up piece of leather or alligator-skinned shoes when I hit 30!! My own mother is a prime example of this. She's got a medium olive complexion, dark hair and dark blue eyes (I was adopted at birth, in case you're wondering how a pasty redhead popped up in the family!!) and when we were in L.A., she used to broil herself in the sun (she'd lay out in our front patio wearing a G-string and pasties -- no wonder our house was the mailman's fave stop on his route!!). Her tan would get so dark that one time when we went to San Diego on vacation, after a daytrip to Tiajuana to do some shopping, she was detained by Mexican police for six hours when we tried to go back to the U.S. because they thought she was an illegal alien that we were trying to smuggle across the border!!! Anyway, these days her skin looks hideous: all dry and lizardy-looking, with nasty agespots all over her body. Have you ever seen a piece of dried beef jerky? That's how her skin looks today. It's for this reason that I now REJOICE over my fair skin that's afraid of sunlight!! I have to agree with Pudoodles: pale is beautiful! Reveal in it and your unique beauty. California blondes are a dime-a-dozen, but fair-skinned redheads are priceless.

Having said that, I know that the pressure to look "healthy" -- especially in SoCal -- is immense, but please, PLEASE, P-L-E-A-S-E stay away from the tanning bed. No matter how careful you are (or how few times you visit), you are still causing irrepairable harm to your skin. I can't stress this enough. I'm sure you've heard this before, but if you're admament about being "a normal person's color," then self-tanning is the way to go. Yeah, I know they're a pain in the *ss to apply and maintain, but a good alternative is to try to so-called "Mystic Tan," available at most tanning salons across the country.

The Mystic Tan is a self-tanning process whereby you get naked (or where a bikini, if you want tan lines) in a private room and step into a booth where a machine automatically sprays a fine mist of self tanner all over your body (it dries almost instantly). One application gives you a slight color, a healthy "glow" if you will. The tan is buildable (i.e.: if you want to get darker, you go for another 'spray'). Most of the salons that provide this service offer deals like "10 visits for $70USD" or something like that. And in order to maintain your glow, you only need to go back every 7-10 days for a 'touchup,' although the darker your Mystic Tan is, the more often you'll have to go back for another spray to maintain it.

If that's too much trouble, or you're on a budget (you mentioned your a college student so I'm guessing you're trying to pinch the pennies), another option would be to use a self-tanning product called TanTowel (especially the "Deeper/Darker" version), because they're practically fool-proof. It's a little paper cloth saturated with self-tanning product and you just swipe it all over your body (or whereever you specifically want color). The color you get from it is really subtle, which is ideal as you said you just wanted "a normal person's coloring," so you'd only need to apply 1-2 per week to maintain your healthy glow. It's virtually impossible to screw it up (i.e.: no zebra streaks, you want turn orange, etc.) and there's no need to exfoliate before applying it (the cloth itself sloughes off dead skin as you're applying it!) or moisturize afterwards (their self-tan formula actually contains good things to hydrate and moisturize your skin!). You can buy one or two TanTowels at places like Sephora or Ulta for about $1 each, just to try it out and see if it works for you. If you like it, then the best thing to do is purchase a multi-pak of TanTowels online because you can get 25 towelettes for something like $19.95.

Another alternative, if you don't want to use any kind of self-tanner is to take a shimmer lotion (i.e.: Jergen's Soft Shimmer Skin Radiance lotion) and mix it with a bit of liquid or powder bronzer (Dr. Hauschka makes a concentrated liquid bronzer, just a couple drops is needed) and apply it all over. This will give you a hint of "natural" color and the shimmer lotion adds a gorgeous, healthy sheen to your skin which helps hide the minor little imperfections that are so glaringly obvious on pale-skinned princesses like us!

I hope some of this info is helpful to you in making you "blend in" more easily with all the tanned and gorgeous co-eds around you!! Something else to keep in mind is that most guys are secretly turned on by fair-skinned women! Very Happy

They love to see the contrast between their darker complexions and your milky white skin laying next to them in bed..... Wink

Gosh, this has turned into a frightfully long post, and I haven't even answered your real question yet!! Three products that I wish I had discovered long ago: 1) Decleor's Aromessence Ylang Ylang Oil, 2) Decleor's Hyda-matte Regulating Fluid -- both of which have turned my hideously oily face into something resembling normalcy -- and 3) Dermalogica's Daily Microfoliant, for revealing fresh, beautiful skin each day. I can't live without any of these now! Oh, and Wella's Color Charm Gel Hair Dye (available at Sallys Beauty), which allows me to custom mix my own shades of hair color with which to camoflauge my ever-increasing number of grey hairs (which first began plaguing me at the tender age of 16!!). Wait, I forgot! There's one more: mineral makeup (I started out with Bare Escentuals but have since graduated to Jane Iredale's pressed powder foundation). I can't believe the difference this makes in my look and I will never again slather my face with those disgustingly nasty 'traditional' liquid foundations...of course, since I really started paying attention and taking good care of my skin (only since joining EDS back in Sept) and began using the aforementioned Decleor and Dermalogica products, my skin is so healthy and beautiful that I almost don't need to wear makeup these days (in fact, some days I'm actually too lazy to "put my face on," and people actually compliment me on how good my skin is!!!!).

All right, I promise this is the end of my epic post! Hope someone finds my rambling to be of help... Confused

Carrie

free skin care · Thu Mar 03, 2005 10:32 am

cait2k3 wrote:

oh yes..sunblock is my friend. i'm a natural red head. not bright red..more like redish brown..but i have the sensitive, semi freckly, burns quite easy skin so i've always been a fan of sunblock. although last year i moved to los angeles for college and i've never felt so self consious about my pale skin! i started going to a tanning bed every other day for about 2 months and got my skin to a normal persons color (nothing you would call tan but i didnt feel as self consious). i always put a lot of lotion on right after that so it wouldnt dry out, and i never peeled at all last year..but i suppose i'm still doing damage. i can get away with being pale during the winter months because everyone else is..but during the summer i just want to feel okay in shorts! do you think a month (every other day) at a tanning salon will do a lot of damage? or is it more like 5 months outside in the sun with baby oil that will really do damage? i know i'm more prone to skin cancer..but cmon..los angeles..theres not another city in this country where people make such a deal about tan skin! thanks a lot for your reply..so what do you think, am i okay with a month at the salon or should i just give it up?

I'm surprised you aren;t burning in tanning beds going every other day:/. I went through a small phase around age 15 where i went to the tanning booth to try to ive myself more color. they recommended 4 minutes (and i wanted my moneys worth)..so i went about 6 minutes. Did not feel so good afterwards:/ My sister isn't as fair as I am, and she went about every other day in the tanning booth. She mas melanoma (is that correct?) now, which are random brown spots. I personally think pale skin is beautiful, and you'll appreciate keeping yourself protected in the long run. Maybe try some fake tan? Just stay away from orangy kinds if you're like me:/

free skin care · Thu Mar 03, 2005 11:07 am

katee wrote:

SUNBLOCK SUNBLOCK SUNBLOCK

I agree, if I would of used sunblock instead of frying my skin like bacon, I wouldn't have to be spending all this money on corrective products Rolling Eyes

. I'm really amazed that I don't have some sort of funky skin cancer Shock

.

free skin care · Fri Mar 04, 2005 4:47 am

DEFINITELY EPIDERMX

Wed Mar 09, 2005 2:13 pm

thank you guys for all your wise words [sorry i've been missing in action for about a week - cramming for finals]! is it me, or does it seem like there is quite a few red heads at this message board? seems like the proportion here is definetly higher than the proportion of red heads in the US [was it 3% i heard? we are all rare miracles!]

so anyway.. i'm not going to the tanning salon anymore! you scared me! it is rather expensive too. i wonder if i could sell my half full bottles of tanning salon gel on ebay? that stuff is really expensive. to the person who was surprised that i didn't get burned in a tanning bed.. i believe i got burned once or twice.. but i started very slowly and worked my way up a minute or two every week as to not burn. it was the first time my pasty skin was ever able to get a tan, so you can see why i am/was a fan of the tanning beds.

i went to sephora to try to find the tantowel carekate recommended. i have tried MANY MANY self tanning lotions and usually ended up embarassing myself. [8th grade when i lived in florida: cait goes to school, friends give her a bad look and say "you didn't try the self tanner again, did you?!"]. i was the queen of orangy/streaky selftanness so you can see why i'm a little worried about trying yet another self tanner. sephora didn't have it, but ill find one on ebay for sure. as for mystic tan, i've done that too! its very expensive and inconvenient [hate the smell]..AND after a couple days, if i itched my arm or leg, the stuff would come off in my nails. mystic tan scratches off! nasty! but..i will give the tantowel a try because carekate made it sound foolproof.

thank you everyone for all your thoughtful insight..i promise i wont go to a tanning bed or fry myself in the sun anymore [actually, i rarely ever laid in the sun because i get bored WAY really quick].

one message-board question..how do you make a reply to someones post that shows the person's post in your reply? was that a tongue twister?

free skin care · Wed Mar 09, 2005 3:35 pm

Sunscreen and a hat for my entire life. Vitamin C years and years ago. Retin-A earlier in my 30's...

free skin care · Wed Mar 09, 2005 3:43 pm

cait2k3 wrote:

thank you guys for all your wise words [sorry i've been missing in action for about a week - cramming for finals]! is it me, or does it seem like there is quite a few red heads at this message board? seems like the proportion here is definetly higher than the proportion of red heads in the US [was it 3% i heard? we are all rare miracles!]

so anyway.. i'm not going to the tanning salon anymore! you scared me! it is rather expensive too. i wonder if i could sell my half full bottles of tanning salon gel on ebay? that stuff is really expensive. to the person who was surprised that i didn't get burned in a tanning bed.. i believe i got burned once or twice.. but i started very slowly and worked my way up a minute or two every week as to not burn. it was the first time my pasty skin was ever able to get a tan, so you can see why i am/was a fan of the tanning beds.

i went to sephora to try to find the tantowel carekate recommended. i have tried MANY MANY self tanning lotions and usually ended up embarassing myself. [8th grade when i lived in florida: cait goes to school, friends give her a bad look and say "you didn't try the self tanner again, did you?!"]. i was the queen of orangy/streaky selftanness so you can see why i'm a little worried about trying yet another self tanner. sephora didn't have it, but ill find one on ebay for sure. as for mystic tan, i've done that too! its very expensive and inconvenient [hate the smell]..AND after a couple days, if i itched my arm or leg, the stuff would come off in my nails. mystic tan scratches off! nasty! but..i will give the tantowel a try because carekate made it sound foolproof.

thank you everyone for all your thoughtful insight..i promise i wont go to a tanning bed or fry myself in the sun anymore [actually, i rarely ever laid in the sun because i get bored WAY really quick].

one message-board question..how do you make a reply to someones post that shows the person's post in your reply? was that a tongue twister?

Do you mean like this Question

If so just click the quote on top of the post you want. If not, sorry I am confused

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