Treat your skin even when you are busy!

It's hard to take time to cleanse your skin after a hard day's work or (especially this time of year) when it's all about family and entertaining! But going to bed with makeup on over time will stretch your pores and cause blackheads. This is where most people confuse themselves with having large pores. Do not worry though; a facial can do wonders. Ever wonder what aestheticians are looking for when the bright light appears just after a soothing face and foot massage? Our magnifying lamp shows us everything we need to extract or treat your skin..  Blackheads, milia, pustuals, cysts, acne, hyper pigmentation, dry skin, oily, skin, combination skin, dehydrated skin, wrinkles, premature aging -- these are some of the conditions I look for in just a few short 15 minutes. From here is where I start to give advice on products that will improve your condition and if your skin is perfect, well then it's my job to keep it that way.

Here are some ways you can prevent blackheads and dull dry skin right from your home! -

Ever think to yourself, "my skin is dry on the surface but I'm oily underneath?" People with oily skin think they don't need moisturizer. This is completly false. If you try to dry out oily skin to get rid of the oil then you trick the sebaceous glands into thinking they need to produce more oil. One of the worst ways to treat oily skin is to use dove soap. Dermatologists have recommended dove soap to treat acne in patients for decades. This is the worst thing ever for acne. It can take 6 months to a year for your aesthetician to balance out your skin, but it can be done. The skin needs three basic steps in your daily routine to keep it balanced and happy:

• Cleanse your skin with a pH balanced cleanser at least twice a day, one of which could be plain water in the morning if you washed it with a cleanser the night before. Cleansing too often could dry the skin out as well. A 4.5 pH balanced cleanser is the best; anything 7 and over is too alcaline and will dry your skin out.

• Exfoliate your skin to remove dead skin cells that are rough and raised. They naturally will fall off in a 28 day cycle but exfoliating with product creates a smooth texture. Your makeup will look better and the skin will shine through instead of a scaly look. This could be a scrub or a liquid treatment you can purchase from your aesthetician. My three favorites are by Cosmedix: Refine 4%, Define 2% and Pure Enzymes which is a fruit enzyme and is great for exfoliating the very surface of the skin. The Refine and Define are more advanced. They restore life to environmentally damaged skin to reduce signs of premature aging and improve the texture and tone. The main reason I love these two is they help to produce collagen. At age 22 we start losing 1% of collagen a year. You can tell this by the presence of loose, sagging skin. These products help to tighen and restore the fibers that loosen over time as we age.

• Lastly, moisturize your skin with lipids that hydrate your skin so that it can repair itself. Moisturizers are great to prevent oily skin as it keeps the skin balanced with oil and water. This step is a must before makeup. Without moisturizing your makeup will not look as smooth and glowing. The shine in the moisturizer mixed with your own oil plus the makeup equals a flawless complexion! 

Toast to a little tip on how you can give your skin a little attention! It is our largest organ, people see it first, and it regulates our heating and cooling! Lets put our best face forward!

Amber