– We’re at Curology my name is Phuong and this is Laura. – Hi, everybody. – I’m a physician assistant and Laura’s a nurse practitioner and we’re here to answer a few of your questions. We’ve gotten so many this past week that we really have to narrow it down to the four most common questions.
And I’m gonna start. – Go ahead. – Miss Aisha asked, “How do I get rid of back and chest acne?” I wanna put out there that it just depends what products you’re using and not only that but it depends on whether that product contains any pore clogging ingredients. So, I wanted to mention this website first, it’s called CosDNA, it’s CosDNA.com and we recommend this website for patients to look up their products and kind of educate themselves on what’s in their products.
And, so when you go onto the website, you go into product ingredients, you enter the exact name, it’ll pull up a bunch of product names, and you look at it and you’re like, “Okay, which one do I choose?” – Yeah. – Well I typically go for the ones that’s most up to date, so I look at the most recent date on it and I click on that. And then I go up to the top where it says source, where is it coming from? So I look at either it’s from the product label, body label, or from the official website. And so those are two things I like to see when I’m looking at this product.
Then I look through the products and I analyze. There’s a comedogenic column and then there’s an irritant column. I’m looking at the clogging pore column. So, I’m looking at that and I want to avoid anything that label three, four, and five.
Okay? So, that’s really, that’s is really. So very, very easy. So, I see that Miss Helen is using the zinc and sulfur and she’s just still not having success, but the zinc you gotta check, is it containing any coconut oil? That’s a, – That’s a bad one. – That’s a bad one.
So, and then really it’s combining multiple products to treat this stubborn back acne and it’s really finding a good regimen, one alternating either the zinc and the BP, benzoyl peroxide such as topics, you know 5% or 10%, body wash, or if you want a salicylic acid, then most Neutrogena brands are pretty good for their body washes as well. – I’ve used the Neutrogena before. The Body Clear body wash or the Body Clear body scrub, which is both the chemical and a physical exfoliant, so it’s a really good option for salicylic acid for body. – So, really, it’s using zinc, or sulfur, one night, and then the next night switching it over to one of those other body cleansers.
And just being diligent with it, get a good routine going, being diligent because it takes about seven months before patients start really noticing a difference on their skin. So, and did I miss anything on that one? – I don’t think so. – Okay, and then the next question is from Mr. Nick, he asked, “Why don’t you use benzoyl peroxide in your products?” And I think the number one reason why is it’s readily available online, over the counter. We are very particular on what we want in our Curology bottle.
So, two, it stains your clothes, it stains your sheets, and why would we want that? – Who wants that? – Who wants that? – Curology medication doesn’t do that. – Yeah, exactly. So, and then thirdly, there’s about 5% of people who are allergic to benzoyl peroxide. – It’s true.
– So, why do we wanna keep that in there? – We’ve had quite a bit of patients come through that have been either allergic to it or irritated by it. – Irritated, exactly. – That’s why we don’t use it. – So that’s why we don’t use it.
But those are great questions. – Those were great questions, definitely. – Now it’s your … – So I’ve got a couple questions here.
First question’s from Calli, she asks, “My question is about sequences and steps. There are many products out there like essences, oils, serums, I currently have a vitamin C serum to target hyperpigmentation and post acne spots. When would I use it? Before or after my Curology? Or after my moisturizer?” I think that’s a really great question. We get asked that quite a bit by all of our Curology patients, is where do they use their other products in relation to their Curology medication.
So, there’s a couple rules of thumb with that. So, the first being you probably want to move from your thinnest most liquidy products up to your thicker, more creamy products. So, like a toner and then your serums and things like that would go before your Curology medication. Another rule of thumb is the more transparent products, – Yup, clear.
– So, toners and serums are clear. And those would go before the creamier products like your Curology or your moisturizer. So, I use a vitamin C serum daily. I use the Mad Hippie serum, I love this.
– Mhmm, smells really good. – It smells amazing. I’ve had some vitamin C serums that don’t smell that amazing. – Oh, I do.
– So, what I do is after I wash my face I let it dry and then I put the vitamin C serum on my dry face, I wait a few minutes, and then I put my Curology medication on. Sometimes I’ll use a moisturizer after and sometimes I don’t. Curology’s pretty moisturizing for me so I don’t find that I need an extra moisturizer. But, that’s a great question, we get that quite a bit.
– Yeah. – Absolutely. And I have another question from Kelly Higgens, “I’d love some tips on using self tanner and a chemical exfoliant without looking splotchy. Some product recommendations would be awesome too, bonus points for budget product recs.” So, I’m gonna try score some bonus points with you Kelly in a little bit.
I am originally from upstate New York where the sun does not shine as readily as it does here in San Diego, so I did use to use tanning beds quite a bit, which I don’t want to admit to you, but it will. I have changed my ways and you know what they say is, if I knew then what I know now. So, I would definitely not do that. I don’t advise you to do it.
There’s so many great self tanner options out there. So, what I do to not look splotchy like you’re asking, kelly, is I use both a chemical and a physical exfoliant before I apply my self tanner. So, in the shower I’ll use a scrub that contains an AHA or a BHA so that helps exfoliate both chemically and physically so your skin is nice smooth. The way that self tanners work, the active ingredient stains the dead skin cells on the top of the skin.
So, if you have dry patches your self tanner is gonna adhere more to those and that’s gonna cause you to look splotchy, which is not good with self tanners. Doesn’t look good. So, I would request you please to exfoliate beforehand. Likewise, if you’re a regular user of exfoliants like AHA and BHA you can still use those when you have your self tan on, but just know that since they exfoliate the skin you probably need to apply your self tanner more Because it’s exfoliating the dead skin cells.
And in terms of tretinoin, your questions about tretinoin, it’s not exactly an exfoliant like AHA and BHA are, what tretinoin does is it changes the way the skin cells turn over, so it doesn’t remove the dead skin cells it just makes the skin cells turn over more quickly. So, I use, I’m an avid tretinoin user just like I am an avid self tanner and I have no problems using my tretinoin with my self tanner. I will, if I apply my self tan, I will wait about a day afterwards with the tretinoin, but no problems afterwards. And product recommendations, so drugstore wise I would recommend L’Oreal products.
So, L’Oreal makes a Sublime Bronze line and I like the towelettes. I travel quite a bit, so I bring these with me. And they also make a jelly. So, L’Oreal, and that runs about $10-$12.
There’s another great brand at Ulta called St. Moriz that I have a friend that uses and loves it. So, you can check that out too. They’re mists and mousse. I’m using a mousse right now.
And also, Kelly, one more thing, make sure you apply with a mitt. So that ensures even application as well as avoids the messy self tan hands. – Yeah, right. – So, I hope that answers your question.
– Yeah. So, let’s take a question. – Okay. – Would you like to take a question here? – Awesome.
– From Ms. Liz. – Okay, Liz. – “Hi there from Michigan.” – Hi. – “I have really oily skin around my nose and forehead.
What can I do about that? And what do you do about large pores?” Oh, wow, this is a very, very, very common question. – Yeah. Do you wanna tackle part of it, and I’ll tackle the other part? – You go first. – Okay, so oily skin.
That’s a very common question again like we have. There’s a lot of causes for oily skin. People naturally have more sebaceous glands than other people do, so some people are just naturally more oily than others. Unfortunately, there’s not a lot we can do to change genetics, so there’s that.
You can use oil blotting sheets during the day to help with it. Sometimes reducing or eliminating dairy can also help with oiliness and if you use hormonal contraceptives, birth control, that sometimes can also reduce oiliness. So, it kinda depends on what you think may be contributing to the oiliness as to how you would treat it. – And what about large pores? I don’t think we can change that, right? – That is a great question we get asked a lot as well.
– You can use like toners. – Right. – There’s stuff you can do for minimizing the look of large pores. There’s some primers out there.
I don’t really use too much products, so I don’t really know exactly. – No, but those are great suggestions. So, you really can’t, I guess the question about large pores, you can’t really do anything to change them permanently, but things like toners and primers can help reduce the appearance of them and hopefully make you feel a little bit better, but unfortunately we can’t do anything to close those pores and make them tighter. – Yeah, they don’t open or close.
– That’s another thing we can blame on genetics as well is pore size. – Yup. I think that’s all we got. – Yeah.
– Yay! – Awesome, guys. See ya later. – See ya next week!
Nature’s Way Sambucus Black Elderberry Gummies with Vitamin C and Zinc, 60 Gummies
Source: Curology
Comments
Post a Comment