Acne? I think that one reason I didn't have acne when I was in high school was alcohol. Swabbing my face with cotton balls soaked in rubbing alcohol kept it from being able to break out because I kept killing the bacteria.
When my son was in his teens and had acne when he came to visit I introduced him to alcohol, and while it stung, he stuck with it and the acne went away, much to his surprise.
Periodically when I'm checking out in a grocery store the young person who is bagging my things has intense acne and I so want to tell him or her about alcohol. But so far I've always been afraid that I'd hurt feelings more than I would help. Silence doesn't feel good, though.
Breakouts on your neck? I only recently learned that breakouts on the neck can be a sign of a dental infection. This is what the periodontist I went to said, and he said that the reason my old dental implants are infected and deteriorating the bone in my jaw is not just that the kind I have has a bumpy surface but also because the more Ibuprofen I took to stop the pain, the more the bone was weakened and the infection encouraged.
I had no idea that Ibuprofen (Advil) weakens the jaw bone, but apparently it does, as does Fozimax which people are prescribed to strengthen bone.
If you have break outs on your neck and have been feeling tired, and if you don't have the money to go to a dentist, I have found that vitamin C works really well at controlling infection. I use over 12 grams a day taken in sets of 3 grams with a lot of liquid; but that may be too much or too little for you.
If an infection is advanced then more vitamin C is needed and it takes longer for the vitamin C to cause loose stool. Once it causes loose stool it means you've taken the maximum amount your body can use and the rest is being eliminated. The elimination can also be a sign that the stomach and intestines are being cleaned of bad bacterium that take up residence there, like h.pylori, so it's not a bad thing. Also, if someone is tall and/or heavy set it takes more vitamin C to achieve results.
Vitamin C in amounts over 250 mg. is not good for people who have a particular gene and diabetes.
If you don't have diabetes then it's good to test out varying amounts of vitamin C to see how it goes. A large dose of vitamin C will cause loose stool once it has fought the infection. It's not good to take a large dose at night, just in case. (1,000 mg. is equal to 1 gram.) In the beginning when I was getting the infection under control I had to take 24 to 30 grams of vitamin C a day.
Be sure to drink a lot of liquid with the vitamin C.
Large pores? When I was in high school I read in a magazine that after washing ones face with hot water, splashing on cold water would reduce the size of pores. So, I always followed a hot face wash with a douse of cold to snap my pores closed and either it worked or I had small pores genetically. I think it worked.
But, when I was living in the condo with toxins I began to see my pores getting larger and more coarse looking. Because I didn't know about the toxins for a couple of years I kept wondering why my face was looking more and more as if I smoked.
Once the hydrogen sulfide in my condo was identified and I had the privy pit under my bedroom dug out I felt a lot better, but my pores did not return to pre-toxin condition. They did improve, though.
The reason the toxins enlarge pores is that the toxins interfere with oxygen availability throughout the body, so I think that if I'd been eating more veggies it might have helped oxygenate my blood and reduce the stress to my skin that ultimately resulted in larger pores.
Similarly, since vitamin B12 reduced my symptoms from the toxins, that is, it reduced how badly I lost my balance, was numb and forgetful, I am inclined to think that if I'd been having more B12 shots or using methylcobalamin lozenges while I was living in the toxins it might have mitigated the damage to my skin dramatically. (But, I'll never know for sure.)
What I do know for sure is that milk thistle taken as a supplement removes toxins, and Epsom salts in the bath remove toxins. So, if I smoked I would put Epsom salts in my bath a few times a week and soak to remove toxins as well as relax, and I would begin taking milk thistle for a week or two a month.
Dry, lusterless skin? A couple years ago I had my deck redone and the first man I hired, who did an abysmal job, showed me something very important about face skin. He was ten years older than me, but his skin looked ten years younger, so I paid attention when he said he took a variety of vitamins each day. (At the time I was taking mostly B12, a multi, and vitamin C.)
The dry skin on my legs, however, is a different story. All my life, at least that I can remember, my legs were very dry skinned. Later on in life I found that my back itched, especially during the winter, because it was so dry.
That all changed when I began having B12 replacement, which totally surprised me. I knew B12 was good for nerves, memory, balance and things like that. But dryness? I hadn't heard that vitamin B12 could reduce dry skin. Nevertheless, the fact was that my legs ceased to have a scaly look for the first time in decades and for several winters now my back has not itched. So, I think vitamin B12 somehow helps regulate moisture and natural body oils.
I've noticed that when I'm stressed and forget to use methylcobalamin lozenges (B12) my tinitus, that awful ringing in the ears, starts up and then if I remember to look at my legs, they invariably have dry skin sticking up here and there looking much like parched fields in a draught.
Puffiness? Puffiness can be caused by a few things to include insufficient sleep, too many vitamins, too little water, too much vinegar in ones diet, among other things.
If you are noticing puffiness the first thing to do is to drink a lot more water and also green tea. Green tea is excellent at flushing out the things that cause puffiness (in my experience).
If the puffiness is from insufficient sleep it's a bit more tricky since if you're having trouble sleeping you can't just decide to sleep more and do it.
For weeks, this is August, 2008, I've been under way too much stress and I can't sleep due to ongoing legal problems from the privy pit, to include another foreclosure action. There were whole weeks when I barely got 4 or 5 hours of sleep a night, and that's with no nap during the day. The result is puffy bags under my eyes setting the tone for my whole face.
What's peculiar is that when I was much fatter my face was very pudgy so it didn't have wrinkles and that part of being fat I quite liked.
Puffiness is not like pudginess. Instead of looking less wrinkled my face looks a bit wilted overall, resembling a balloon that is filled with air, but at the same time doesn't have enough air in it.
While B12 helps provide healthy sleep patterns, and melatonin is an additional healthy aid, stress can defeat even these strong supports. Yesterday I had a banana before bed and that helped me get some extra sleep during the night, but I still woke up repeatedly. Apple Cider Vinegar is great an making sleep happen, but when it is taken regularly it affects the fingernails making horizontal valleys in them, which is what I also had when I was living in the toxins, so I don't think vinegar should be used regularly.
Wrinkles? Dry skin and puffy skin exaggerate the look of wrinkles and stress can make a horrendous number of wrinkles appear in a very short time. For instance once in London I wasn't well and it was a particularly stressful time. When I looked in the mirror my face was that of an old woman in National Geographic, photographed for the topography of wrinkles that her face had become.
I was shattered to think I looked like that. But when I got better the wrinkles went away. So, that's really encouraging, right?
Now my face looks best when I do a few minutes of exercises with it every night and use a cotton ball with alcohol to remove any remaining dirt from the day, followed by petroleum jelly as a major moisturizer. (Not elegant, I know, but back in high school I read about a model who used Vaseline on her face as a moisturizer and I was WAY impressed given how great her skin looked.)
I also think my face looks better, less wrinkled, when I walk around my garden for five minutes first thing in the morning to stimulate my metabolism.
Sunburn? Okay, I know we're "supposed" to use sunblock and thereby avoid getting burned. But! I've always worried about not getting enough vitamin D if I was using sunscreen, and now it looks as if my concern is being born out by the experience of all those who are getting cancer not from the sun but from lack of vitamin D.
I was very worried some years ago, however, when my boyfriend drove a little sports car with the top perpetually down, even all the way to Las Vegas. My poor nose, it was so sunburned even with 30 SPF sunscreen that I was sure I'd get something horrible.
But, so far so good until I got a horrible sunburn during a recent spring day when I wasn't paying attention to how long I'd been in the sun. When I saw how red my nose was in the mirror I was extremely worried and I decided to try rubbing the inside of leaves from my aloe plant on my nose and arms and legs, just in case it might help.
Well, I didn't peel at all. I don't know how that was possible, but it was a fact.
You can buy aloe in bottles, but I think using fresh leaves from the plant is especially therapeutic. (Right now I'm using aloe leaves every day to see if they reduce the intensity of a brown, age spot on my face.
Mask Appeal -- Triple Oxygen Energizing Mask is a super-quick-fix for dull, tired skin.
Points to Remember
1. Swabbing the face with rubbing alcohol on cotton balls kills bacteria and clears breakouts. (The stinging tells you its working. For faster results hold the cotton ball where it stings the most for a longer period of time.)
2. Breakouts on your neck can be a sign of dental infection. Rubbing alcohol and vitamin C together can control not just the symptoms of the infection but the infection itself, even getting rid of quite significant pain.
3. Washing your face with hot water then following up with cold water shrinks pores. Large pores can result from toxins causing a lack of oxygen, so milk thistle as a supplement and Epsom salts baths eliminate toxins and help keep pores lovely and small. It may be that ample amounts of vitamin B12 help reduce the effects of toxins, like smoking, smog and chemicals, in the same way ample amounts reduce memory loss, numbness and nerve pain.
4. Dry skin happens from the inside out, so drink water, eat veggies, olive oil, fruit and nuts and supplement your diet with alpha-lipoic acid, vitamin B12, lecithin, and whey protein.
5. If you're not getting enough sleep you aren't going to feel well, and your skin is not going to look any better than you feel. Adequate sleep is essential for healthy, beautiful skin. Since vitamin B12 helps combat stress and regulate sleep patterns, it can also assist your skin in looking rested and happy.
6. Stress depresses our metabolism resulting in puffiness. As little as five minutes of walking first thing in the morning stimulates our metabolism and within a month reduces puffiness and gives a fresher, more supple appearance to our skin, especially that of our face.
7. The sun is good for us, to include our skin, but we need to pay attention to how long we are in the sun and doing that is healthier than using sun block because of the vitamin D we get from the sun. Aloe is effective when rubbed on an over exposed area of skin and can keep the burn from peeling. Fresh aloe from a plant is excellent and available for years, even decades with very little attention.
8. Skin care products are great and give a real boost not only to skin but to the sense that we are taking steps to have better skin. I have genuinely had people comment on my skin after beginning to use skin care products. BUT, these are not a substitute for nutrition, sleep, hydration and stress reduction. Though, they may help reduce stress by their inherent relaxing qualities.
