The whole nine yards and then some!

The most important thing when it comes to my skin, though is that it's all natural. Second is that the ingredients have healing/repairing properties & anti-aging. I mostly use this one brand (Green Street Lux), which includes using the exfoliator (my favorite!) 2-3 days a week, a green tea tree oil bar of soap once a week. The shea butter bar if I wash in the morning, but it really seemed like it was helping my face to break out, so I've been giving that bar a break.

Once a week (sometimes less) I use an ayurvedic mask with honey, coconut oil, etc.. I'll cut a piece of aloe from my plant and rub it all over my face & leave that for at least 10 minutes before showering and washing it. Unfortunately, I only do that when I have enough time for it.

At night I use this Radiance Serum stuff (from Green Street Lux) & it is just miraculous what it does for my skin! Love it! It's extremely anti-aging too. Other nights, like tonight, I'll use their regular all-skin type lotion, which is also amazing & has awesome ingredients.

There's so much you can experiment with. It's a lot of fun for me. Sometimes I'll slap on wet coffee grounds, sometimes raw honey, sometimes ketchup (for extreme exfoliating, and a bit of skin lightening). Sometimes I'll crush up my own ingredients for a mask. Depends on what my skin is like. It changes from season to season.

Scrubbing the hell out of your skin feels nice. Lol. I have a tendency to feel like I need to really scrub to be sure it's clean, but too much of that will really have a sort of opposite effect, leaving it tight, dry & irritated. But you're using a moisturizer after, so that's really good!

Sounds like whatever you're using is working since you've been getting compliments. I love good skin days! I have them every once in a while. Lol

I think it's great you have found a natural product that works for you! I can't say I'm surprised that it does because it's also fabulous on minor wounds. Kendra, (she posted a few comments above you), knows about a lot of natural health topics.

You know another natural solution that really can help is yeast! Let me explain. People who break out have a natural population of bacteria on their skin, just as we all do, but they have a special strain. That bacteria is responsible for the break outs, (I didn't want to get into too much detail). Benzoyl Peroxide is often used because it kills the bacteria, but it also dries & irritates the skin for many people. Anyway, killing the bacteria is the basis for many treatments. Similarly, removing the excess sebum, (oil), from the skin is another approach because it is what the bacteria are breaking down as one of their food sources & causing the blemishes.

So, the goal is to control the bacteria causing the problem. The harsh products many people resort to, are actually causing a greater disturbance in the natural balance of microbes on your skin. That allows this particular bacteria to take over! A natural approach is to try & re-establish the balance, so it cannot take over because the other microbes are competing with it! One of those that compete with it is yeast!

You can take a package of dry yeast from the store, activate it as the directions say & then spread it like a mask all over your face. It will be yeasty smelling, but you will be rinsing it off & it's worth it if it helps! Leave this on until it starts to dry up, then rinse it off with lukewarm water - not hot, because you don't want to kill them before they really get to work. If you must use a cleanser after, make sure it's pH balanced, is very mild & doesn't disrupt the acid mantle of your skin - Cetaphil is a good one!

You can do this 1-3 times a week to help maintain the natural balance of your skin! Using this in conjunction with the honey treatments should really help. The honey is providing a similar service as the yeast. Honey is antibacterial as well as having all the other benefits you mentioned. And as I already explained, you can see why that is a good thing. It's not about removing only the one bacteria, because you need a balance of all of them to keep any one particular one from taking over. That's nature's way of keeping your skin healthy & it's always best to try & work with nature, rather than fight it.

If you try this, please know that it may take a week or two before you see an improvement. Sometimes your skin needs time to heal any existing blemishes.

I know I've definitely been guilty of over-treating in the past. I've tried so many harsh acne products and they have done nothing for me (except making my skin red and blotchy), and now I've switched to simple, non-medicated cleansers and toners and my skin is a lot better!
I also have a simple moisturizer with vitamins that my mom got from an organic market, and it's so much better for me than any products I've ever bought from a drug store.

I knew the honey had the anti-bacterial properties, and I'm in love with the difference it's made. I've read a little about using yeast as a facial mask, but I didn't know exactly what it did for the skin. I'm definitely interested now that you explained everything so well, thanks for the tip!

I'm starting to realize that the natural products I'm trying have been so much better for my skin. I really wish I had learned about them sooner!

Just some water.

There is such a push in this country by Big Pharma to treat everything with a pill or some manufactured product. Oftentimes the active ingredients are just purified from those found naturally. There is nothing wrong with that, look at the aspirin we can swallow in pill form, instead of all the willow bark tee you'd have to guzzle for the same effect! Standardized extracts have been a terrific advancement in using herbs, etc, but that is another topic

However, a lot of the studies done on the effects of herbs & such, focus on one ingredient, when in fact it can be a synergistic benefit of several chemicals in the plant. It's all so recently studied, that there are huge gaps in the pharmacological knowledge of the remedies used for centuries throughout the world. It has been shown, time & again, that there is scientific validity in many of the homespun cures, they just haven't been studied all that much, (some are not helpful & some are dangerous, but that's another topic all together). But it shouldn't be an either, or situation. I think it prudent to try more natural products first, depending on the severity of the condition, & if needed, try more mainstream, drugstore items. Unless I know what everything is & why it's used, I don't even try the product.

Your skin is a self-renewing wrapper that acts as a filter. It's never too late to address issues & give it tools to use for maintenance & repair, (yes, the functioning is slower as we age, so it takes more time to repair, etc). But, whatever you put on your skin gets absorbed to some extent by this filter effect! Why on earth would you want to use something that you wouldn't put into your body, otherwise? (I am just talking about cosmeceuticals here, not necessary medical treatments!) They have actually found foundation make-up & body lotion in the lymph nodes of cadavers, (they weren't looking for it either, they stumbled across this info while doing routine dissections.) That is an alarming example of just how thoroughly some of the products we use can penetrate our skin.

I use a skin care line that, for the first time ever in my life, has not given me any allergic or sensitivity reactions. I was never before able to take advantage of the cutting edge advances in skincare. Now, I have been able to reverse some of the signs of aging. I want to look as good as I can for my age, not erase all signs of it - I don't want to look 20 & artificial, but conversely, I don't want to look older, either!

I am a medical pain in the ass, I know that, but none of that is my fault. All I can do is educate myself the best I can & keep trying. It's better to do less, than too much & to be as natural product based as possible. Understanding the reason behind an ingredient's use & the functioning of the skin, really helps. If anyone has any questions about anything to do with their skin, even just cosmetic, I am always happy to help - even if you don't want a long explanation about how it works I can just recommend or tell you about whatever you are currently using. Obviously, I can hardly restrain myself from sharing. LOL! (I am NOT affiliated with any products, I'm just informed & know about some things based on my experience.)

No problem! Someone took over But you said it was okay, so...

How's YOUR skin doing?

I get all of my facial care from The Body Shop & use organic! I have a wash, scrub, lotion, pore refine, under eye wrinkle cream and toner. 3 sets of these things in different lines of their products & use twice daily. SPF is a MUST!

You are most welcome! If you have any questions about anything skin care, feel free to contact me, maybe I can help!