Scars

Who doesn't have a scar from something that happened in the past. While playing during their youth, an accident with a knife, one tripped over something, acne scars etc.
Scars can be really ugly, especially when they're in places visible to others. So I know everyone with scars in unsightly places is looking for that miracle cure to repair it and bring the healthy skin back.
If the scar is a deep wound, the scar might not disappear as easily. Up till now, the only way to remove scars from deep wounds/surgery is to consult a dermatologist who help to make it less visible in a professional way. Or you can apply a certain oil you like (olive oil, argan oil etc.) and massage it over the scar. Over time (I'm talking about months) it will become less visible.
When a scar is a scratch, meaning if it's small and on the surface of the skin, it will eventually disappear. The skin keeps making new cells, it keeps growing and reproducing and proliferating, so the small scratch would disappear at some point. But since this process might take a long time, you would want to give your skin a hand.

Ways to help your skin with healing the scars include the use of substances with acidic properties, like fresh lemon juice, fresh cranberry juice and yoghurt.
Fresh Lemon juice contains citric acid
Fresh cranberry contains quinic acid, citric acid and malice acid
Yoghurt contains the well known lactic acid

Since lemon and cranberry are a lot more acidic than yoghurt, these two have a faster and better effect to healing scars.
Yoghurt has the advantage that it contains lactic acid. Lactic acid is hygroscopic (meaning it attracts water) so it can help hydrating the skin. If you have extremely dry skin, a yoghurt mask can help hydrating the skin. If you use regular yoghurt the moist and fat in the yoghurt can also help nourishing the skin.

Love Chanel

I am about the biggest Chanel geek ever. I love everything from Chanel: the make-up, the fragrances, the bags, the beauty and even the woman behind the label.

But when it comes to creams and cosmetics, I know my skin can't handle everything. So I took the Chanel creams I use under the loop.
I use the Hydramax Chanel line, specifically for dry skin.
For example the "Hydramax + active serum", which I consider a good hydrating serum. I don't use this serum daily, because I like to vary cosmetics. It's psychological; in my opinion varying creams makes it easier for your face/skin to stay healthy. Like food. Varying food is better for your metabolism. But that's just my opinion.
The ingredients-list of the serum is shown in the picture:
On the ingredients list there are at least 3 different parabens used: methylparaben, ethylparaben and propylparaben. So perhaps people who are allergic to parabens should not use this. I still don't get the use of the parabens in this product, since parabens don't preserve well in creams.
A perfume used in cosmetics is often different kinds of perfume oils combined. Not all of the perfume oils cause allergic reactions. But since the serum contains a perfume oil cocktail, it might cause hypersensitivity reaction.
Then the serum contains citric acids, which can cause hypersensitivity when used for babies. I'm not sure if grown-ups are as susceptible, but carefulness is never redundant.
The remaining ingredients have not shown to cause hypersensitivity reactions.
So perhaps if you have sensitive skin, don't use the Hydramax + active serum from Chanel.

I don't want to eat cake anymore!!!

The Saturday I went clubbing with my friend, we also did a cake workshop.
I learnt to decorate my own birthday cake. Actually my cake was really pretty. I chose orange because I am in the Netherlands and we are getting a new King! Starting from april 26th.

Anyways I am not a cake lover, I prefer salt/hearty food. So now what was I going to do with this whole cake??? I shared most of it with other people. Gave a friend 1/4th, my cousin 1/4th and had a friend over for diner, who I also gave 1/4th. 1/4th I had left.
On wednesday morning, still no money. I woke up around 10 am. I had to do stuff for school, so I took a shower and started my day. But I am the worlds biggest breakfast lover, so I was hungry and wanted to eat some bread. I looked in the fridge and too bad all I saw was 2 pieces of cake which I got at my friend's birthday, another older carrot cake piece I got from my cousin and the cake I decorated. Waking up with a piece of carrot cake is like an ice cold bath in my bed around 6 am. "God I hate my life." I wanted to call my mother soo badly. Why did I do this to myself?

Sulfur

I very often read and hear sulfur is advised for acne therapy. So I took this chemical compound under the loop.
I went to the drugstore and looked into the use of sulfur in anti-acne products. And yes I did find anti blemish products with sulfur in it. It is mostly used in a less than 10% concentration. I searched in google for the use of Sulfur, and apparently sulfur is used for a lot of things. Like, in the rubber industry, as a pesticide and as a reducer in fire works.

 

I wanted to know the role of sulfur in acne treatment. So I consulted google.scholar.com in which I looked for articles about the use of sulfur against acne.
I learned that Sulfur has been used to treat acne for decades. It is safe and effective to use in a concentration between 1 - 10%. Although dehydrated skin is a common side effect, but tends to disappear when one keeps using it. Efficacy would increase if sulfur is used in combination with benzoyl peroxide.

How it works: Sulfur has mild anti-fungal and anti-bacterial properties. It thins the skin, and causes the outer layer of the skin to become loose. This is correlated to the side affect I mentioned above, thinning of the skin goes with increased dead cells and dehydration of the skin. Also it's said that sulfur has a bad smell, but I personally find the smell moderate. Other disadvantages of sulfur are that they can cause discoloration of clothing and the skin. So I would advice those with a colored skin not to use this product. 

Even if Sulfur has been shown to be effective in acne treatment, it doesn't work preventive. Meaning it flakes off the pimples, but doesn't prevent new ones from breaking out.

Tips: If you decide to use products with sulfur and you are suffering dehydrated and peeling skin, try not to scrub too much. Rub off the excessive skin layer with the fingertips. Like a facial massage, but lightly more rubbing. Use a serum to hydrate the skin, and a day cream as a temporary protective layer. Over the day, the skin will restore its own protective layer. Don't use the cream more than once a day, preferably at night.

I know that sulfur ointments are available in stores in the USA (Walgreens, cvs etc.), but I haven't seen it in Europe. If I find a source I will let you know!

Poor life...

So I guess since lately I have been extremely poor.
On a saturday morning, I found out that I had to pay a bill of about 500 euros. This was the money I had left for the rest of the month. I have a savings account, which is blocked (by my parents) and no back up money, since I was traveling/shopping/eating too much.
I realized the upcoming two weeks were going to be crap. But I didn't know what to do.. Call mums or just be strong and survive the stress.
I decided to survive the stress. When I payed my 500 euro bill I had only 80 euro's to spend for two whole weeks. I thought I would survive that.
The same saturday afternoon a friend called me up to join her for a party. "Come on Kay!! You should join me, the entrance is only 10 Euros". Wow, ohh why not. A very good hip hop party with a 10 Euro entrance fee. How can I say no. So I joined her.
I took 30 euro's with me cause with 50 euros I could survive the 2 weeks, so I thought. And of course, I didn't or couldn't show I was kind of broke. So I drank, every penny of the 20 euros I had left from the 30. And no I was not drunk, cause 20 euros for drinks yields 3 drinks. Ahh life sucked. But honestly I really enjoyed my night!
My food stock contained, Liga, chips, waffles, rice, a very little bit of pasta, couscouse, chick peas, some fish and shrimp. Later that sunday I had to tutor, luckily I had enough money on my card to pay public transportation. I only had a Liga for breakfast. No bread, no eggs, at home.. But I thought I would just get groceries the next day, and just eat whatever left overs I had in the freezer at night.
So the same sunday at night my friend decided to bring me food. It was her birthday and I gave her presents, so she brought me food. WHich was super sweet cause I needed it...
The food was very good, but I couldn't eat everything right away, cause I had to save some.
Then monday came, I had an appointment with my pregnant cousin.
We went to primark, which is a super cheap low quality clothing shop. But everyone loves it because it's so cheap. She was shopping for her unborn child and her son (other kid). And of course I had to shop as well. So I spend my last 50 euros on 3 shirts, socks and underwear.
I knew I couldn't do that, but my mind said "those shirts are so pretty"

How would I ever survive without money? With my lifestyle this is impossible..

Keep reading..
xx

Redness

If you are suffering acne, eczema, or something else that causes redness it's best not to wear make. Leave your skin to rest a couple days so it can breath, recover and heal. 

But of course if you have redness in your face you would do nothing else then to cover it up. 

Here are some tips how to reduce and cover up redness:

* Use zinc oxide ointment as a spot corrector or overnight facial mask (see the tab "Genius dermatics")

* Next day: 

If it's acne: take a shower or wash your face (use water only) and use a facial scrub to remove the dead cells.  Please don't scrub too hard, it will make your face red and can damage your skin (tips for how to make your own scrub will be up soon!)

If it's rash: do NOT use a scrub, it will worsen the skin condition. Mix a drop of menthol oil or tea tree oil (unsweetened) with your day cream. It might burn your skin when adding too much, so be careful! 

* Use of make-up: The best make up for sensitive skin is those without perfume, antioxidants and preservatives. Foundation almost always contains preservatives, because it's water based and water is a very good growth medium for microbes. Instead of water based foundation you can use oil based foundation. The disadvantage is that it might clog your pores and very often also contains preservatives, which can worsen acne. So I would say, no foundation. What could help with covering up your redness is making your own foundation by mixing a bit of covering powder with your own day cream, you can make a little stock but it's only good for a week. If you have a pimple I would advice powder with zinc oxide ointment. I will add a tip on how to make your own foundation soon. There are also advices for the usage of powders, since they also contain additives those might induce allergies.

Welcome...

First, Thanks for reading my blog!
I have decided to write about the skin (cutis), since the skin is the biggest organ and the only organ which can influence our self-confidence (note: the brains are our self-confidence). This blog will be mainly about the skin, troubled skin, normal skin, dry skin, happy skin :D. Also I will give hints and tips with make-up and beauty products.
I wish this blog to be very interactive, so please send me emails or post comments whenever you have a question or something to add.

A short lesson about the skin:
The skin is build of 2 layers; the epidermis and the dermis, which forms the cutis (note the name of the blog!). The epidermis is the outermost layer of the skin and forms the protective barrier over the body surface. The dermis is the skin layer underneath the epidermis. It contains a lot of important biological systems like mechanorecptors for touch, pain, heat and cold detection, vessels for blood transport, hair follicles, sweat glands etc.

Who am I?
My name is Kady, pleased to meet you!
Since I can remember I have always had skin problems. Constant visits at the dermatologist, a new treatment every 6 months, dozens of creams. Yes I do know how painful and difficult it can be if your skin is not as flawless, soft and clear as one would wish. So my interest in the skin grew.
I am currently a pharmacy student and hope to graduate by the end of this year. If it's something a pharmacist knows of course it's medicine, and second how to prepare creams and dermatics for therapeutic use. Being a pharmacy students broadened my knowledge about the skin and my knowledge about how to treat the skin. So I thought why not share it with the you...
Simple steps and changes in live and habits can bring major advantages to your skin. So please keep reading and following me!