Beauty Tips For Body Care
It has recently come to my attention, after intensively tending to my skin over the last 5 years, that salicylic acid has made the biggest impact on my skin. No, I am not talking about Stridex or Paula's choice. I'm talking about deep salicylic acid peels, think anywhere from 10% to as high as 30%. I wanted to share with you all that I know about it and all of its beneficial uses. If I could only help out just one person struggling with acne, I'd be happy = )Salicylic acid has been clinically shown to be one of the best topical treatments for acne. Google "salicylic acid acne pubmed" and read all of the clinical studies that pop up. You will see that it has been shown to be remarkably effective (more so than other many other topicals) at treating active acne, preventing breakouts, and even treating scarring (both pigmentary and even some shallow scarring). It's effectiveness lies in its unique ability to permeate the lipid barrier, allowing it to actually go inside your pore. Once inside your pore, it kills acne by accomplishing these great things:It breaks up bonds between conjoined skin cells, allowing your pore to slough and renew itself healthily, preventing pore blockage, which is an initial stage of comedogenesisIt is a bacteriostatic and bactericidal agent, meaning that is will stop and prevent any bacterial overgrowth, which allows any active or about-to-be-active pimple to heal significantly quicker or even stop dead in its tracks.It is highly, highly anti-inflammatory. Research suggests that people with acne have an overreactive inflammatory response to acne bacteria, hence why many of us get big, red, inflamed pimples (and those sucky red marks afterwards). Salicylic acid will actually go inside of your pore and calm this overactive inflammation. In my experience, treating an active pimple with Salicylic acid will significantly reduce the subsequent scarring (but more on this later...)For these three reasons, it's basically an acne-killer. The reason I don't find low percentage salicylic acid so great is that a 2% solution will not go nearly as deep into your pore as would a 20% solution. Don't get me wrong, daily, low percentage salicylic acid is great, but at that concentration, you won't reap the full extent of its amazing benefits. Here is how you go about working a deep peel into your routine:Start with a 10% peel, and aim to leave it on for 5 minutes.Leave it on for as much as you can handle, and then rinse with cold water (Salicylic acid is self-neutralizing)Do your next peel after 7-14 days. My general rule of thumb is to re-do a peel about 3-5 days AFTER I see results from the previous peel, which usually takes 5-7 days. This ensures your skin gets enough recovery time.If you were able to leave it on for 5 minutes, for your next peel you will apply a second layer of the same percentage salicylic acid on top of the first layer, and aim to keep that second layer on for 5 minutes.Work your way to doing 3, 5-minute layers of one percentage. Once this occurs, bump up to a higher percentage, 15%, or 20% if you are a highly experienced chemical peel-er.After you bump up to a higher percentage, the cycle restarts. Aim for one layer of five minutes, and work your way up to 3 layers.Do not go higher than 30%. I don't even think companies manufacture anything higher than this. To even get to doing 3 layers of a 30%, you will probably have to do salicylic peels for about 6-9 months! They are strong. Now on to expectations, drawbacks...etc.You may purge. Sorry about this, but theres no way around it. You are speeding up your skin renewal cycle, and CC's or pimples in the making will sprout up. However! Because salicylic acid is bactericidal and anti-inflammatory, any purging or new breakouts will diminish by the next time you do a peel, or if you spot treat (see below). After about 6-8 peels, purging should start diminishing or stop altogether! If you're lucky, you may not even purge at all.Your skin will (or at least mine does) look like crap from days 2-5 post-peel. It will look dry, old, and acne scars will appear darker and more saturated. And you will most certainly flake. Do not let this make you feel defeated. Make it through these days and you will be so glad by day 6-7! Enjoy the next few days of bright, smooth, clearer skin before your next peel, lmao.Also, salicylic acid has been shown to NOT increase photosensitivity, unlike AHAs, so do not panic about being outside after this peel!I also would like to share that spot-treating with 20% or 30% salicylic acid is AMAZING. Saturate a q-tip and dab on an active or emerging pimple and, 9/10 times, it will go away. It will certainly sting, but as long as you are careful with where you are dabbing the salicylic acid, you will be fine. I am the type who's gets very, very red, inflamed pustules, which have mostly gone away after doing salicylic acid peels. When I see one emerging, I spot treat it once a day, sometimes twice if I see it's still growing. This spot treatment is such a miracle because, by doing this, you prevent a big red mark from staying after the pimple, due to the bactericidal and anti-inflammatory power of salicylic acid. I HATE red marks with a passion, so doing this makes me so happy, and it kills any stressful response I have to seeing a new pimple forming (which in turn decreases my acne further!). You do not need to spot treat on a day that you are doing a complete peel for obvious reasons, but I have found you can spot treat on any other day and your skin will be ok.I think I have written down all that I can currently think of about this amazing acid. If anyone has any questions whatsoever, please reach out to me! I'm a reddit junkie so I'll probably get back to you right away.
Girls Blog 2015
Submitted by donutglaze123
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