Valen’s Vanity Square

Since I complained about the giant zit on my chin last week, IT IS STILL HANGING AROUND today and won’t go away!

Went for my facial treatment last week, but my beautician can’t do anything about it, as it was red and big and as my beautician said ‘It’s not time to ‘poke’ it yet.”

Tried using Nexcare acne patch (a round sticker to stick onto the acne and it will absorb sebum out of the congested spot) for a couple of nights. The pimple seemed to shrink slightly. But after stopping using it, the zit resumed to its normal size.

Last night I managed to squeeze out some pus and blood from it. Today it got flatter, but it still appears as an obvious dark red round bump on the chin. I don’t have an acne facial cleanser to cleanse my face, but I just bought an anti-acne gel. I have neither used or heard of it before, but I just want to give it a try. It’s one of those acne gel in a pen thing, looks cute. Hehe…

I really don’t get it. I’m almost 4 decades old and I still get pimples! I  must be so hormonally active, haha!

Aging is a natural process, and there is nothing that can stop it from happening.

The more I look at the mirror when combing my hair, the more strands of white hair I found! I can’t stop white hair from growing out, so I need to dye my hair. Well, although I can start taking supplements for reducing white hair, but dying hair is the fastest way to cover up the whites.

That’s why products that have to do with anti-aging, anti-wrinkle, anti-white hair, anti-hair fall etc are forever so popular. For most men, they usually start to worry about aging when they see the first sign of baldness. For women, a strand of gray hair or one fine line under the eye would trigger the aging alarm - it’s time to use anti-aging products or apply anti-aging skin care measures!

But actually, anti-aging skin care should start way before the symptoms of aging appear. Basically, it’s about practicing proper skin care from young, follow a healthy lifestyle, avoid stress, drink lots of water, etc. Additional anti-aging skin care products can be added when the signs of aging start to manifest.

Today’s market has a gazillion of anti-aging skin care products to choose from, but finding one that is suitable for your skin type is not that easy. Some brands are well-known but may not suit your skin, while some that you’ve never heard before may be the right one for you. So it’s always best to do a bit of research here and there.

For example, if your friend told you that prototype 37C had done wonders for her skin, perhaps you should find out more about the product first by checking out prototype 37c reviews online or from magazines. This helps to ensure you are investing in the right kind of anti-aging products.

Well, same for me. I also need to do a bit of research on anti-aging moisturizers now, gotta replenish my L’Oreal Revitalift very soon!

If you think gray hair or wrinkles are what makes you look old, actually the dark circles under your eyes can make you look more tired and unhealthy, and much older than you think!

While insufficient sleep and fatigue due to stressful work can be the main reasons for dark under eye circles, you may also have dark eye circles even if you get plenty of sleep. This will be the case if you are afflicted with allergies, eczema or nasal congestion, or if you smoke or drink alcohol, or it just simply runs in your family. These are just some of the reasons.

If you ask me how to remove dark circles in general, I suppose the cheapest way is to DIY, ie self care methods at home, such as use cold compress (eg chilled teaspoons, cooled used teabags) on your eyes to reduce the dilation, and thus the discoloration of the under-eye blood vessels.

Most importantly, get extra sleep. And when you sleep, try to sleep on two or more pillows to elevate your head. This helps to prevent puffiness caused by fluid pooled in your lower eyelids.

If you have some money to spend, than you may ask your doctor to prescribe you with special creams that help to reduce discoloration or prevent under-eye circles. These creams usually contain vitamins, such as vitamin C and vitamin E.

Other than that, apply concealer to hide those dark circles. Choosing the right color of concealer is important here. Use a peach-colored concealer if the dark circles are bluish.

As the reason for my own dark under eye circle - less than 8, sometimes 7, hours of sleep every night!

May be I wasn’t sleeping well in the past few nights, plus I haven’t been to for facial treatment for almost 2 months, blemishes started to develop on cheeks and chin. From what I observed of my skin condition, I think I will have this occasional acne ‘eruption’ up till I’m 50 years old. Haha!

Acne is indeed a skin problem regardless of ones age. The root cause is the active sebaceous glands, that can be due mainly to changes in male hormones in the body. While this hormonal changes usually occur during puberty age, certain changes - in the body or environment - can cause a change in the hormone levels in adults, too.

For example, acne that flares up during menstruation or pregnancy, or recurrence of acne that cleared up after adolescence. Other times, dusty environment, stress, insufficient rest or touching the face with dirty hands can all trigger hormonal fluctuation as well.

Sometimes, acne that occurs in adulthood may be more difficult to treat than teenager acne. No wonder adult acne treatment is so in demand nowadays.

While my acne usually resolve on its own most of the time, I think I should have a bottle of tea tree oil standing by. You see, I’m a working woman now, I meet people, so I need a clean face to show people all the time.

I may be bugged by pimples once in a while, but in general my skin condition is considered steady and free from serious skin problems compared to many out there.

One of my colleagues has been troubled by acne since her school days, and she is still in the search for the best acne treatment or anything that can at least maintain her current skin condition and not worsen it. Even if this means that she has to spend almost 1k for three bottles of daily skin care items. But at least she doesn’t need to go for expensive facial treatments, like me.

Sometimes you can’t blame people for wanting to keep on trying different acne treatments, because they have been disappointed by the so-called skin specialists or dermatologists at the first place. Hormone pills, skin peels, injections, etc, nothing worked for good. And so much money had been spent on those treatments. Even if she had been avoiding eating oily and spicy foods for years, that didn’t change a thing.

Of course, her current acne problem is no longer as serious as she used to suffer during her teenage and college years. She is now using some ‘brand-less’ new products that seem to be able to keep her skin condition under control. Well, if her skin improves few months down the road then may be I can inquire if there the brand-less products have something for aging skin, hehehe.

Sometimes I get a bit paranoid, worrying that things will happen if I don’t do this or that. So I decided that I should bring along my allergy medicine with me to work everyday, you know, just in case. And thank goodness I did!

Really, the cause of my skin allergy remains a mystery. I didn’t use facial mask this week, neither I went for facial (no more facial appointments during working days for me). But it just happened!

Two days ago, my eyelids and the corner of my lips started to feel itchy after having lunch with my new colleagues. These are the areas that are prone to itchiness and red bumps whenever the allergic reaction kicks in. Quickly I took my antihistamine to calm down the itchiness before things went bad. But the redness and slight swelling, though mild, remained till today. Now. Jeez, I really need a permanent allergy relief solution!

I’m truly puzzled. What triggered the reaction? Was it my sister’s bedding (I slept over at my mom’s place in my sister’s room)? Was it because I ate eggs over the past few days? Was it the eye shadow I put on to work? (But I didn’t put eye shadow around my lips!) Or was it stress, which quietly creeps in once I started working?

I have no clue. All I know is that I will avoid eating eggs, peanuts and seafood this week, and put minimal stuffs on my skin. *Sigh*

vv