Acne

I know it’s repetitive and I know cleansing your skin twice a day can be a bore, but it really is the most important part of your skincare routine. You can spend as much money as you want on fancy creams and serums, but if you don’t get the cleansing bit right…you’re wasting your money people. It’s quite simple really; unless you get rid of the daily (and nightly) build up of dead skin cells, your other products are basically just going to sit on the skin doing not a lot. Let me talk you through the steps of the perfect cleansing routine to get rid of the day and prep your skin for the products that come next.

Side note: You should always opt for a double cleanse at night. The first cleanse will rid you of the make up, leaving the second cleanse to do its job of cleansing your skin.

Step 1. Massage your cleanser of choice into dry skin. (If your cleanser of choice is soap and water though…just no.) It’s so tempting to use our cleansers in the shower after we’ve wet our face and body, but trust me on this one. The water in our showers is too hot for the delicate skin on our face.

Step 2. The massage side of this is really important. Make small circular movements, starting at your chin and working up to the cheeks to the eye area. Then shift along your jaw-line towards your ears to the cheeks and cheekbones. Then the same on your forehead. Make sure when you reach the eye area to sweep your fingers more gently in a circular but outwards motion. You can continue this for as long as you have time for. The longer you massage for, the happier your skin will be.

Step 3. Once you’ve finished your massage take a hot, wet flannel (or muslin cloth). Firstly press onto your face to remove the first part of your cleanser. Rinse the cloth under hot water, then you can be a bit more forceful as you swipe away more of the cleanser. Repeat until you feel you have wiped away all your remaining cleanser.

Step 4. Rinse the cloth again and wrap part of it around your index finger. Rub this in areas where makeup and dry/dead skin cells tend to build up (i.e. the crease around the nose, the sides of your face, under the chin.

Step 5. Repeat steps 1-4 as your ‘second cleanse’

Step 6. As a final step, rinse your flannel in cool water and press it over your entire face. This will help calm and relax the skin before you carry on your routine.

This routine will have your cleanser working harder than ever before to ensure that your skin is beautifully clean. Our top cleansers of choice are listed here: https://www.thesalonlook.com/skin-care/cleansers.html

xoxo

The effects of menopause can affect each woman differently, but one thing is for sure; it’s a period of change that is a challenging and difficult process. This is especially true as menopause not only affects the internal body, but it causes changes in your skin too. This can be a side effect to the menopause that many women do not expect, so I thought it might be helpful for me to use this blog to guide you through the most common issues affecting menopausal skin

Let’s start with the most basic question; what does menopause have to do with your skin? One word people. Hormones. Yep, those dreaded hormonal changes that you thought were behind you are having a bit of a revival. The hormonal changes that occur during and after menopause tend to change the way your skin behaves in new and different ways. For those of you who like to know the technical stuff, the decline of B-Estradiol is the main culprit in the accelerated ageing of skin. It results in lowered oestrogen and progesterone production, which inevitably leads to changes in the skin.

So what changes can you expect to see and how should you combat them?

1. Oilier Skin

During menopause, as your levels of oestrogen decrease, testosterone is no longer masked in the body. Testosterone can then stimulate your sebaceous glands to secrete thicker sebum, giving the appearance of oily skin and possibly mild adult acne (take a look at my dedicated Adult Acne Blog). To treat this issue, the best thing you can do is apply a mask to the skin 2-3 times per week to help control the secretion of sebum from the skin. I recommend Thalgo Absolute Purifying Mask 40ml. Apply to the face for 10 minutes then rinse. You can also apply this one exclusively to the T-Zone.

2. Facial Hair

As another nasty side effect of the unmasking of testosterone some women may develop facial hair, particularly in the chin area. Don’t worry ladies; I’m only talking a few tiny hairs, not a full on beard. No need to borrow his beard trimmer. Waxing or threading the area is best to help rid yourself of these nuisances. Step away from the razor though if you ever considered it, this will just make the hairs thicker, darker and grow back more frequently. Top tip: try Thalgo Anti Regrowth Solution for Sensitive Areas. This helps to slow down hair regrowth after hair removal services.

3. Elastosis

During menopause, lowered estrogen levels result in less production and repair of collagen in the dermis of the skin, which means that we lose our skin’s resiliency. Lower collagen levels are also the cause of skin ageing and those pesky fine lines and wrinkles. To help combat this Thalgo Silicium Concentrate is an intensely re-sculpting serum that fights the appearance of visible wrinkles and skin slackening. It should be used three times per year as a one-month course.

I won’t mention the hot flashes. But please don’t worry; the occurrence and intensity of the side effects vary from woman to woman. For most, these side effects stop within a year.

One thing is certain though; your skin is at a critical stage when going through the menopause with a number of key changes. It’s important to revise your home care routine to help support your skin.

If you have any questions or specific concerns, leave a comment and I’ll be in touch.

xoxo

Out of all the skin issues that I talk about on this blog, one of the most requested and asked about has got to be acne and breakouts. Whether you’re a persistent sufferer of adult acne or just suffer from hormonal breakouts, you’ll know that acne still comes with a lot of myths and old wives tales about how best to manage it and banish those spots for good.  They say ‘knowledge is power’, so I thought it was high time that we all know what we’re dealing with. After all, you can’t treat a spot if you don’t know what kind of spot it is. So here’s my breakdown of breakouts.

Type 1: Whiteheads 

These tend to be the easiest type of spot to deal with.  These usually magically appear overnight in all their fully formed glory - and have a very noticeable 'white head'. If you’ve recently changed your nightly moisturiser to a richer formula and suddenly find yourself with the dreaded whitehead, it’s probably a bit too rich for you. These can also be the result of excess sweat or a bit too much greasy food.

What to do about it: Start by feeling around the spot, whiteheads don’t tend to be sore. If it's not sore, and you can see a large amount of sebum (the white stuff), cleanse your face as normal. It’s best to use a flannel with your cleanser on these occasions, as sometimes the flannel will take care of it for you. If not, finish your cleanse and hold a warm flannel over the spot for a minute. Now take clean hands, split two bits of tissue, wrap them around your forefingers and gently squeeze in from the outside. It should come away easily. If it does, make sure the area is clean, tone, moisturise and go live your life. If it doesn't come away, it's not ready and could be our next culprit.

Type 2: Pimple

A pimple is one of those spots that sits on the fence. It’s still deciding what it wants to do. They are small, red and have no head.

My advice; leave it the hell alone.  You just need to carry on with your usual routine. Cleanse, tone, moisturise (yes, moisturise. Drying out a spot is not a thing people), conceal and be on your way. 99% of the time it will go away on its own. If not and you’re a little unlucky, it will turn into number 3 on our list.

Type 3: Large pimple (aka pustule) 

I like to call this one ‘the hulk’. It’s angry and wants you to know it. They are sore, red, inflamed and infuriatingly nearly always without a head. So what does that mean? It doesn't want you to pick. DO NOT PICK. I REPEAT DO NOT PICK. For those of you, like me, who suffer from acne or acne rosacea, this is your common nemesis.

My advice to you; keep it clean, keep it moisturised, keep an eye on it. Trust me, it will go away, but unfortunately it wants to do it in its own sweet time.

Sometimes you can see a teeny tiny whitehead forming on the top. Cleansing will remove what your skin wants you to remove. If your skin doesn’t offer that sebum to you, it’s time to back off.  All you'll end up with is a bleeding, angry spot that is ten times the size it was as when you started. That’s when acne scarring happens, so as tempting as it may be, be cruel to be kind and leave it alone.

Type 4: Blackhead

Believe it or not, these are not typically spots. First let me expel a few little myth for you; blackheads do not mean you are dirty or unclean and they are not caused by germs (same goes for all spots FYI). Blackheads are the result of your DNA, sorry.

The best thing you can do for blackheads is to cleanse your skin morning and night, using the right products (have a look at my acne blog for more details on this and go for an acne targeted facial to get them removed gently and professionally.

Top tip; blackhead removal is called ‘extractions’ in beauty lingo…make sure you ask about this specifically when you book.

Hopefully, armed with that snippet of beauty knowledge you can start treating your skin and spots with the respect they deserve. Remember the answer to your spot issue is not always to ‘pop’ it. In fact, that’s rarely the answer, trust me.