The best results come with good, quality care over the long haul, but everyone needs a quick fix once in a while. For the following pesky skin problems, try one of the homemade solutions or, if you're not the do-it-yourself type, buy a recommended product.
CHAPPED LIPS
Homemade solutions:
- Dab a bit of Vaseline on your lips and rub gently with an old toothbrush. No, it doesn't hurt!
- Crack open avitamin Egel capsule and rub the gel on your lips.
- Rub olive oil or sesame oil on your lips.
Commercial products: Burt's Bees Lip Balm, Hudsalva Lip Balm, Mode de Vie Shea Butter Stick, Kiehl's Lip Balm #1, Mustela Musti Hydrating Stick. Avoid products with camphor, which dries the lips. Look for products with shea butter instead.
DEHYDRATED SKIN
Homemade solutions: Mix two drops of lavender oil with baking soda and water until it becomes a paste. Put on face and leave on for five minutes. Rinse. Moisturize. This light, exfoliating mask makes skin more receptive to moisture.
Commercial products: Clairins Huile Face Oil. Also try sweet almond oil from the health food store.
DULL, TIRED-LOOKING SKIN
Homemade solutions:
- Wrap grated cucumber in a cheesecloth, lie down and apply to face for five minutes. Rinse with cool water.
- Refrigerate aloe vera gel for at least one hour. Pat it on your face, and lie down for 10 minutes. Rinse.
- Lie on your back and hang your head over the side of the bed for five to 10 minutes. It will feed oxygen to your face and improve your color and tone.
Commercial products: Cabot Vitamin E Gel, Jason Witch Vera Herbal Gel, Roberts Cucumber Stress Gel.
FLAKY SKIN
Homemade solutions:
- Rub half of an apple on skin to help even out the texture.
- Place a sprinkling of sugar in your palm and dampen with water. Gently massage on the flaky areas. Rinse.
Commercial products: Elizabeth Arden Eight-Hour Cream, BeneFit Peel and Polish, Erno Laszlo Beta Complex, Oil of Olay Age-Defying Lotion with Salicylic Acid.
INFLAMED, IRRITATED OR SENSITIVE SKIN
Homemade solutions:
- Make a pot of chamomile tea. Pour into an ice cube tray and freeze. Pop out a cube, wrap it in a thin cloth and rub gently on face.
- Soak a clean cloth in a small dish of milk, squeeze and apply the compress to the affected area for 10 minutes. Rinse off with warm water.
Commercial products: Aveda All Sensitive line, Annemarie Borlind ZZ Sensitive line, Chamocare Light Therapy, Common Sense Chamomile & Primrose Salve, Penny Island Oat Amino Complex, Decléor Balm for Sensitive Skin, Sothys Immunoscience.
OILY PATCHES
Homemade solutions: Keep a small spray bottle of rose water in the refrigerator. Give yourself a wake-up spritz in the morning, after you wash your face, or saturate a tissue and dab it on at night after washing.
Commercial products: Crabtree & Evelyn Rose-Tinted Powder Leaves, Jublique Laender Silk Dust, Prescriptives Skin Balance Towlettes, M.A.C Oil Matte Gel (makeup artists' secret)
PIMPLES
Homemade solutions:
- Make a paste with water and coarse-grained sea salt, and apply it to the blemish twice a day until healed. Do not rub.
- Dab a bit of toothpaste on your pimple(s) before bed. Repeat as necessary.
- Dot a bit of clay mask on your pimple(s) and leave on overnight. In the morning, rinse off. Repeat as necessary.
- Soak a piece of bread in milk. Place it on the pimple and lie down. Leave it there for up to 30 minutes. Rinse.
Commercial products: Clarins Acne Control Skincare System, Clinique Acne Spot Healing Gel, Clinique Acne Spot Healing Gel, Iman Blemish Gel, Origins Spot Remover, Samuel Parr Aromatherapy Blemish Pen
RED, BLOTCHY SPOTS
Homemade solutions:
- Put a few drops of Visine on red, blotchy spots. Because it constricts blood vessels, it will do for your skin what it does for your eyes.
- Dab a yellow-based cream or pencil concealer on red areas after you apply foundation. Blend well with fingers.
Commercial products: Aveeno Lotion, Decléor Harmonie Jour Anti-Redness Cream, Laura Mercier Secret Camouflage, Prescriptives Magic Red Neutralizer
UNDEREYE PUFFINESS
Homemade solutions:
- Apply damp, ice-cold tea bags (with caffeine, a diuretic) or hold a bag of frozen peas to the eyes for a few minutes to reduce swelling.
- Wrap grated potato in two little cheesecloth sacks, lie down and place the sacks under the eyes. Leave on for 10 minutes and rinse.
- Place sliced cucumbers on your eyes; cover with a damp, cool cloth and lie down for 10 minutes.
- Place a satin eye pillow filled with buckwheat or lavender over your eyes as you lie back and relax.
Commercial products: BeneFit Eye Lift, Chamocare Undereye Therapy, Nivea Soothing Eye Gel, Origins No Puffery, Pond's Cucumber Eye Treatments, Shu Uemura Moisture Eye Zone Mask
Excerpted from Beauty: The New Basics © 2001, Rona Berg Used by permission of Workman Publishing Co., Inc. New York
All Rights Reserved
Reviewed on September 04, 2001
