:Clear Skin Blog

Clear skin only gets harder to maintain when your immune system is in bad shape, as is often the case when you catch a cold or other illness. Your body uses up many resources trying to combat harmful bacteria and repair itself, and your skin can sometimes take a toll. Supplying yourself with plenty of the right vitamins and minerals can help overcoming these situations easier.

With clear skin or any other ailment, your first goal should always be prevention. A well-balanced daily multivitamin will usually help by providing all the essential vitamins and minerals that your diet may be lacking. However, vitamins alone will not always prevent you from catching a cold. A good supply of antioxidants usually helps, and in this case one of the best vitamins to take is vitamin A. Besides being a very strong antioxidant, vitamin A has antiviral properties that are helpful with combating a cold or flu. Taking an extra vitamin A supplement during the winter is a good idea, but do be careful with your dosage. Vitamin A can become toxic a high levels, so keep your intake to 1-2 extra supplements per day and reduce it if you notice any unwanted side effects. Vitamin A is also very good for your skin, assisting both in eliminating toxins and regulating your oil glands.

Vitamin C’s benefits for cold relief are well known, although sometimes exaggerated. While vitamin C may not necessarily prevent a cold, its use can noticeably speed recovery time from cold symptoms. In order to really see the benefits of supplementation, you will need to take at least 400 mg of vitamin C per day, and often more. Thankfully, since vitamin C is water-soluble, there are no dangerous side effects from high doses. Combined with vitamin B5, vitamin C has been shown to be especially helpful in boosting your immune system and speeding healing. For best results, you should start taking vitamin C at the first sign of any cold symptoms.

The mineral zinc has also been shown to aid in recovery from cold symptoms. The exact method by which zinc prevents the progression of cold symptoms is still unknown, but zinc has long been known as one of the most powerful antibacterial minerals, and research shows a direct correlation between supplementation with zinc lozenges and the length and frequency of colds.

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When the air gets cold and dry during the winter, may acne sufferers actually find it a bit easier to cope, as your pores naturally contract more in colder temperatures, which inhibits the formation and appearance of smaller acne blemishes. However, the cold winter air can also cause damage to your skin if you’re not careful.

Dry skin is a common problem during the winter months. Acne sufferers are sometimes especially susceptible due to their frequent use of cleansers and other topical treatments.

While excess skin oil may be the chief cause of acne, having some skin oil is actually a good thing. It provides a layer of protection from the elements, which can be especially harsh this time of year. The fact is, your skin is most vulnerable right after it has been stripped of its natural oil layer. This basically happens each time you wash your face with a cleanser.

To avoid skin damage, make sure not to venture out into the cold directly after washing your face, at least not without applying a moisturizer first. Hot water can make you even more vulnerable, as it naturally causes your pores to expand. Mixing hot water immediately with cold air is a bad combination for your skin.

If you wash your face too frequently, just stop. Overwashing doesn’t prevent acne, it promotes it. Constantly stripping away your oil layer irritates your skin and leaves you perpetually vulnerable, which is simply a foolish thing to do. You’re much better off using an internal treatment that regulates your oil metabolism to prevent excess oil without leaving your skin defenseless.

Lastly, drink more water. This may sound like a simple solution, but it can work wonders. If you skin is frequently dry and susceptible to rashes and peeling, or even if you just have problem areas of dry skin (such as the corners of the mouth), simply drinking more water can work wonders. The extra moisture in your cells is very helpful in enabling your skin to effectively handle cold and dry air conditions. Throw less water on your face, and drink more of it.

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Clear skin often comes with a price tag. The cost of acne treatments can vary from fairly affordable to downright expensive, and these expenses can easily go through the roof if you need to frequent a dermatologist and purchase prescription products. Even improving your diet can mean spending a few extra bucks at the grocery store. However, the real cost of clear skin treatments goes beyond simply the money spent on them. Consistently applying many of these products can mean lifestyle changes, and always costs you that one un-refundable value: time.

For some of you, the extra time it takes to apply a few creams and cleansers may seem minimal, but when you’re using these products 2-4 times per day, often requiring a trip to the bathroom every time, this can add up. Moreover, the fact is many people can become obsessive over such treatments, building up an overstuffed drawer full of (mostly unnecessary) skin care products, which can take over an hour each day to apply.

This is made worse by the fact that most companies like to sell their acne products as part of a “system”. Unfortunately, the “buy five products instead of one” approach virtually always has more to do with money than with results. Nearly all acne treatments rely on a small handful of active ingredients, and if you have one product that works, that’s all you need. In many cases, the multi-product approach can make treatments less effective, as the moisturizer that follows the benzoyl peroxide gel (for instance) often has a diluting effect on the drug. This is why with many systems such as Proactiv, a trip to popular acne message boards will show you that many people recommend only using a single step in the multi-step treatment.

Many of the new electronic acne clearing devices are equally guilty of ignoring the cost of time. Take portable acne laser treatments or heat-based devices such as Zeno. To be effective, many of these devices require you to apply them for 2-3 minutes per pimple, several times per day. You don’t need to be a mathematician to see how easily the time can add up if you’ve got a fair amount of pimples.

Compared to acne treatment “systems” and clear skin gadgets, spot treatments and internal treatments fare much better. Internal treatments that require you to mix a powder drink can still be inconvenient, but those that simply require you to take a few pills with a glass of water are probably the least time-consuming acne treatments around. Even if you are doing this several times per day (as vitamin B5 treatments require) the time it takes to basically drink a glass of water is still much less than what you would spend in front of the mirror with even most one-step topical treatments. Spot treatments are also fairly easy, as they typically use stronger concentrations of chemicals, requiring only a single application per day in most cases. Most people apply spot treatments before bed, and in this fashion they don’t provide much inconvenience.

So next time you’re in the market for an acne treatment, don’t forget to think about how much time consistently using a product may cost you. The fact is, many people also find it harder to stick with a treatment that is more time-demanding, so if you think that may be a problem for you, don’t waste money on a treatment system you’re unlikely to benefit from. It’s the ingredients, not the marketing language on the label, that makes the difference, and simple treatments that make clear use of a single proven active ingredient are usually best.

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Salicylic acid is one of the most potent and most commonly used chemicals found in over-the-counter acne treatments. Along with benzoyl peroxide, it’s found its way into almost every major topical acne regimen out there. However, salicylic acid is not always the most effective or safest chemical to apply to your skin.

Acne usually comes hand-in-hand with clogged pores. These clogged pores are not always the cause of acne, as acne pustules can certainly form without them (as cysts do), but they commonly contribute to it, especially in mild cases of acne. A common method of combating clogged pores is through the use of exfoliating chemicals such as salicylic acid.

We commonly think of acid as being a volatile chemical that burns through other materials. In the case of salicylic acid acne treatments, that’s in fact how it is basically used. Applied to your skin, salicylic acid helps burn away the top layer of dead cells, often taking the gunk that has become clogged in your pores with it.

If this sounds like a harsh treatment, that’s because it can be. Especially for those with sensitive skin, the use of salicylic acid can result in skin irritation that may end up causing more hard than good. It’s for this reason that treatments which contain SA commonly include a moisturizer such as aloe as well. Unfortunately, watering down the formula with lots of moisturizing agents results in less exfoliation, so product manufacturers can be left in a catch 22.

Salicylic acid is a surface-level treatment, and since most moderate-to-severe cases of acne require something that goes deeper, its benefits are limited. On top of this, the fact that it often causes damage to the user’s skin makes it even less helpful. However, salicylic acid can still have its uses.

While the skin on your face is apt to be sensitive and easily irritated, this is not the case when it comes to many other places on your body, such as your back. Back acne is commonly caused by surface-level clogged pores due to an uneven build up of dead cells, and in these cases salicylic acid may be just the right treatment. The fact that your skin is tougher and more resilient in areas such as your back also makes the treatment much more practical. So while salicylic acid is not usually the best treatment for your face, as a body acne solution it may prove useful, especially when combined with a preventive internal clear skin treatment.

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