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To Steam or Not to Steam: That is the Question

Well, I have a quick answer here. In spite of all our best girl advice and experience, the answer is: No Steaming!

Most people use steam temperatures too high and steam for too long. This is seriously damaging and promotes even drier skin. Consequently, you are, in fact, burning your facial skin! The most you need to do is take a nice warm water to your face -- which is what you do anyway when you cleanse. Just by cleaning and exfoliating twice a week is equal to the weekly facial steam!

For the last word, here's what a dermatologist has to say (via a Clarins press release). According to Lionel De Benetti, Clarins Global Director of Research and Development, to improve your skin (besides using Clarins products):

Schedule regular facial treatments for yourself that do not include the use of steam and extractions.

Facial Weekend Detox

Midsummer is a great time to freshen up your skin. This weekend or next is a great time to devote to yourself. Stress, sun and overindulgence all shows up in your face, so let's do a quick detox. Part of the detox is also to give your body a detox too. In keeping things simple, this weekend use the minimal amount of product and let your face detox too.

To start:
1) Take it easy this weekend. No long nights, no drinking alcohol, no greasy fatty foods. Also, don't stress about issues that can be taken care of next week. So that means no working on the weekend either! Curl up take a nap, read a book or watch a DVD.

2) Simply wash your face with your cleanser and just apply eye and face cream lightly, and remember to leave a little dew on your face after washing. Do this three times a day.

3) Drink lots of fresh filtered water.

4) It's summer! Walks to the farmer's market and pick up apricots (anti-aging!), peaches (yellow and white), pluots, plums, pineapple, cherries and blueberries. Use these to make yogurt and fruit for breakfast, smoothie for lunch and a fruit salad for dinner. Do this today and tomorrow -- Saturday and Sunday.

5) Make a simple honey mask! I saw that the great book "The Secret Live of Bees" is now a movie hitting the cinema this fall. Just take raw honey and spread on your face like a mask. Keep it on for 15 minutes and wash off with a warm water washcloth.

6) Take a half hour walk morning and night -- and carry some weighs either in a backpack (a couple of heavy books should do it) or carry small weighs in your hands and pump as you walk.

And a quick word here if you are thinking of doing a face steam. I hear such contrary advice about steaming your face. But two people who should know and who I trust say: don't do it. I'll be checking into this issue soon.

Enjoy your weekend!

Part 3 of 3: Eyes & The Three Bads -- Puffiness

Puffy eyes, what do you do? I didn't know since I am lucky enough to not have all three eye issues -- I have just dark circle and winkles. So I had to do some research and ask my friends. Here is what I discovered.

Most of my friends reported that they experienced puffy eyes in the morning and usually after a night of drinking and then not sleeping well. It also happens that if you drink too much soda or have an overload of sodium in food and drink that causes water retention, you may experience puffiness. Other causes include stress, allergies and crying.

Let's talk a little more about the morning puffiness. As you know, I say over and over again to sleep on your back to avoid wrinkles. Well now, it appears that sleeping on your back and with your head slightly elevated will also help prevent puffiness. It seems that fluids are easily stored under our eyes when we sleep on our stomach -- and during the night the fluids in our body go to the head. So if you have puffy eyes every day, try this and you may find that after one or two nights of back sleeping on a pillow will help reduce or eliminate the puff.

Now remember, we are talking about "puffiness" here, not "bags" -- which will be the topic of a different entry sometime soon.

In the meanwhile, if you are just trying to reduce the puffiness of your eyes, here's some things that will help:

• It's true, cold cucumbers, cold gel packs and cold tea bags placed over your eyelids for 5 minutes does work!
• Or trying washing your face with very cold water or try adding ice to your water to make it even colder.
• Take it easy on both drinking and sodium intake.
• For allergies and puffy eyes, talk with your doctor
  
• And as odd as it sounds, drink water (to cleanse your system of the sodium!)

Be Sure to Check Twitter

Be sure to check my Twitter updates on the right hand side. I often "tweet" in between posts.

Wondering about my annual cost for skin care products listed in my last article?

I added up the cost of every item in the product list of my last entry. It all adds up to $485 -- or $8 a day assuming the products last two months. I must admit the eye creams last longer than two months plus the items I do not use on a regular basis, such as the masques, peels, spot control and two moisturizers (Panthenol Protein which I use on my neck and Antioxidant Skin Preserver which I use only when my skin is very dry). Probably the daily tally is closer to $4.50 to $5.00 a day. So, to take the next step...at $5 daily, my skin care regime (without makeup) is $1,825 a year.

Interlude: What I Do & Use

I was just asked about my facial skin care routine. So here it is -- and I realized that it is pretty complex and totally dependent on how my skin feels to me that day or night. At the end of this entry, I have listed the full brand and product names.

Before I go into my routine, you should know that I have fine pore, lightly dry to normal skin that is sometimes sensitive (usually to fragrance) and not prone to breakouts. However, the weather and what I eat can turn my skin either dry or slightly oily in the T-zone. So I have an adjustable routine that includes a variety of products. Plus, I do not always use them in the recommended way. So here is what I do.

When my skin is "normal" my regular morning and evening care is to clean with Kiehl's Washable Cleansing Milk. For the eyes, I then apply Kiehl's Dermatologist Solutions (DS) Line Reducing Eye Brightening Concentrate around the orb, then for my face and neck I apply Kiehl's DS Powerful Strength Line Reducing Concentrate with 10.5% Vitamin C. I wait a few minutes before I follow up with Kiehl's Cryste Marine Firming Eye Treatment and I use my fingerpads to gently pat in the eye cream around the bottom half orb (for me that a radius of half an inch -- I also smile and pat in the eye cream around all smile lines sometimes 1-1.5 inches away from my eye). I then apply (by patting unto my face after rubbing the product in my hands to distribute equally over my hands) Cryste Marine Ultra Riche Lifting & Firming Cream to my face. I wet my hands and then use Panthenol Protein Moisturizing Face Cream for my neck and upper chest area. If I need to spot treat, I do so immediately after cleansing my face and before any other product application. In the morning only, I apply eye color corrector and concealer and then gently tap in Kiehl's Creamy Eye Treatment with Avocado; then I finish my makeup application.

If my skin is oily I cleanse with Kiehl's Rare Earth Oatmeal Milk Facial Cleanser #1 or even Kiehl's Pineapple Papaya Facial Scrub. Then I follow the rest of the above routine. In the evening, I apply Rare Earth Facial Cleansing Masque. Then I will apply spot treatment to the T-zone and will not use face cream at all but do moisturize my neck and chest areas.

If my skin is dry (usually due to the weather), I follow my routine but change face creams and use the Kiehl's Antioxidant Skin Preserver. This is greasy stuff so I wet my hands and apply a small bit of this cream and blend the water and cream in my hands before patting unto my face. This works especially well in the evenings. Also, if I have no makeup on, in the evening I will "clean" my face by using water only then applying everything else.

Twice or three times a week I will apply Kiehl's DS Over Night Biological Peel (actually I will apply this on nights I am home and leave on for 5-6 hours) then I follow with Kiehl's DS Epidermal Re-Texturizing Micro-Dermabrasion. Then back to the routine.

I hope this answers the question fully!

FULL PRODUCT LIST OF WHAT I USE
Face cleansing
Kiehl's Washable Cleansing Milk for dry, normal to dry or sensitive skin types
Kiehl's Rare Earth Oatmeal Milk Facial Cleanser #1 for normal to oily skin types
Kiehl's Pineapple Papaya Facial Scrub made with real fruit

Masques & Peels
Kiehl's Dermatologist Solutions Over Night Biological Peel
Kiehl's Rare Earth Facial Cleansing Masque

Eye Care
Kiehl's Cryste Marine Firming Eye Treatment
Kiehl's Creamy Eye Treatment with Avocado
Kiehl's Dermatologist Solutions Line Reducing Eye Brightening Concentrate

Prep before Moisturizing
Kiehl's Dermatologist Solutions Epidermal Re-Texturizing Micro-Dermabrasion
Kiehl's Dermatologist Solutions Powerful Strength Line Reducing Concentrate

Moisturizers
Panthenol Protein Moisturizing Face Cream enriched with Vit E and beta carotene for dry skin
Antioxidant Skin Preserver for very dry skin types
Cryste Marine Ultra Riche Lifting & Firming Cream

Spot Control
Aveda Outer Peace Acne Spot Relief