Lifestyle Choices

Dry skin

If you have naturally dry skin then the more soap and water you use the drier it will become. You may find that the milder soaps produced as ‘baby soaps‘ leave your skin feeling more comfortable because these products contain added amounts of grease which is left behind on the skin. Superfatted soaps are also designed with this effect in mind. It may be more sensible just to use less soap or use it less frequently than to search for particular products for dry skin. You should always use a moisturising cream immediately after washing so that additional drying does not take place. You could even use the moisturiser as a cleanser and this will clean the skin and leave it looking smooth and feeling soft. All these preparations hydrate the outer layer of skin and prevent further water loss by covering it with a thin layer of grease. (more…)

You can wash your face with soap and water as often as you can wash your face with soap and water. That may sound silly but what it means is that if you wash often with no ill effect, then clearly no damage is being done. People with greasy skin often have pallid, rather coarse, thickened complexions and suffer from blackheads, whiteheads and spots. They need to wash regularly to keep pace with the production of oil and it really doesn’t matter what they use as long as the shiny surface is removed. They cannot change the underlying grease production rate unless they take tablets which will grossly interfere with the hormonal control of their body. It is no use using products that claim “deep down cleansing” or which “unblock clogged pores:’. These phrases are meaningless and no amount of soap has any effect on the blocked grease gland which is the forerunner of an acne pimple. Neither is it any use using ‘medicated’ soaps because a flourishing bacterial population on the surface of the skin is quite normal and is only temporarily reduced by washing. (more…)