Certain skincare tips, like drinking plenty of water, are now common knowledge. But, every once in a while you come across a true treasure. The kind of rare tip you haven’t heard before but wish someone told you years ago. They usually come up when you least expect it, but we decided to go looking for them. We asked our Facebook fans and Twitter followers to share the best, rarely-heard-before skincare tips and they answered with some treasures. Take a look:
-
Liz says DON’T drink with a straw. When you tighten your lips to suck from a straw, you’re using the same muscles it takes to smoke a cigarette. And, we all know what smokers’ lips, and the wrinkles around them, look like.
-
Victoria recommends you DO use a hands-free headset for your cell phone. Think about it. If your cell phone is ridden with makeup and oils after a long call, guess what transferred to your face? Bacteria, acne’s faithful ally.
-
Dawn advises you DO apply more sunscreen to the left side of your face and upper body. Not because she has something against your right side, but because she realizes we spend a good chunk of time in our cars. And where does the sun hit us when we’re behind the wheel? You guessed it, our left sides.
-
Teresa suggests you DO cut your TE Pads in half. The faithful ZO Skin Health customer does this to make them last longer and thus gets more bang for her buck. You know what they say, “Where there’s a will, there’s a way.” Kudos to Teresa for coming up with this one.
-
Xavier thinks women who DON’T own a magnifying mirror are doing their skin and themselves a favor. Looking at our pores that close-up can cause unnecessary obsession and, in many cases, lead to picking, prodding and popping. Put the magnifying mirror away. Your skin, and sanity, will thank you.
I have been on the Obagi System for many years. For the first 18 weeks I used Blender with the Retin A cream. Then I just used Retin A cream alone every other night. I also use the cleanser and toner and Clear and Exfoderm. One of my friends said the Retin A cream does not work without the Blender. Is this true? Should I still use Blender even though I’m only on maintenance? Also should I start the process all over again every once in a while to shock my skin for another 18 weeks. I think I’ve been on maintenance for four years.
Hi, Pam:
I disagree with your friend; Retin A cream does work without Blender; it just works better with Blender.
Here are a few recommendations for your regimen.
Dr. Obagi generally recommends that for maintenance, reduce Clear and Retin A/Blender to 3x/week.
On alternate days and nights use other products that will benefit your skin–his favorite is ZO’s Daily Power
Defense (use it in the morning–it’s a great anti-oxidant) and use ZO’s Radical Night Repair Plus in the evenings that you are not using the Retin A/Blender.
As for the shock treatment–yes, he does recommend reverting to the original Nu-Derm regimen once or twice a year for a week. You don’t need to do it for 18 weeks–just one week should suffice. That’s all that he does–and he’s the consummate skin perfectionist!
Let us know how you’re doing!