I am a little concerned about having a major zit breakout just before my wedding. This worry combined with the fact that I just KNOW I will have a few stress induced migraines thrown in for good measure have me a little tense. I am looking for zit cures. For exmaple I have heard of a product called “Mario Badescu Drying Lotion” that is quite popular. Anyone used it? Please help and I’ll send you a piece of cake.
I don’t have any super after-the-fact cures, but I can tell you that eight ounces is worth a pound of cure. Eight ounces of water, that is! [sub]Ouch! Ok Ok![/sub]
Get in the habit of drinking lots of water. At LEAST the recommended 8 glassed a day, but preferably more like 10. I don’t know how close your wedding is, but the ater trick works wonders within a week, and keeps working wonders for as long as you stick to drinking enough of it. Do not substitute anything caffeinated or sugared. Just water or decaf tea. Once you get in the habit, it’s easy top remember, and your skin will clear up and stay clear. Try it.
Wow, I previwed, even. Sorry about those typos.
Go to a dermatologist. Nowadays they have GREAT zit cures. It’s worth the bucks to look good on your wedding day!
Try giving Paula Begoun’s books a try… she wrote “don’t go to the cosmetic’s counter without me” and if you can find a relatively up to date version of it at a library or second hand book store (buying it new is questionable, since it’s updated every year) it would be a good idea. The first part has a lot of debunking regarding skin care myths, etc. I’d skip her Milk of Magnesia face mask idea however, it glues itself to your face like a high school boyfriend.
You can’t technically “dry up” a zit -but you can disinfect it. A zit is formed by a clogged pore - the trapped goop -sebum and dead skin sells, etc. sits in there - add bacteria to the mix and voulah! you’ve got a pimple (a blackhead is different). The idea is to kill the bacteria and avoid it becoming inflamed and infected… and keeping your skin cleaned and exfoliated to avoid clogged pores (btw, “deep cleaning” your pores is a myth, unless you take a shopvac to your face…the biore strips can damage your skin when you pull them off). Hydrogen peroxide works really well for disinfecting - just avoid your eyebrows and hair.
Go out of your way to avoid putting irritants on your skin and don’t moisturize what doesn’t need moisturizing.
There’s an awesome cleanser she recommends and I really like called Cetophil -it’s a non-soap cleanser and it’s super gentle… they have one for oily skin that apparantly removes makeup really well. To exfoliate she recommends either using an alpha/betahydroxy acid product or mixing the cetophil with baking soda and gently rubbing your face (no scrubbing). Avoid products with Stearyl Alcohol and other “drying” alcohols - Cetyl Alcohol is ok.
You can find this stuff and more in the book along with product reviews… I’d say as far as your wedding goes, find makeup products that work best for you and take those with you to the person doing your makeup on the big day. I wouldn’t sweat over a couple zits - anything can be covered up and they’ll put more makeup on you than you’d normally wear anyway for pictures.
Another tip: go to your hairstylist and whoever you plan to have do your makeup well before your wedding and take them on a test run. When you leave, have someone take some pictures -with flash and without - in the lighting situations you anticipate for your wedding… when the pics come in, look carefully at the makeup -is it too dark? too light? colors off? Trust me on this -I had a friend who worked at an Aveda salon do my hair and for convieniance, I had someone there do my makeup as well without a test drive. My hair came out awesome, of course, but while in most of my pictures my face looked fine - in some of them, you can see very clearly that the girl made me look like a geisha. Comparing that to the rehersal dinner when I slapped on my own makeup and went and…well… it turns out I did a better job than the person I paid 30$ to do it. D’oh.
At any rate, go get the book and give it a read & good luck!!
Oh yeah, get a massage the day of, or day before, while you’re at it. 
Keep in mind you’re planning a celebration … etiquette can go hang itself when it comes to sacrificing fun in it’s favor, so don’t let the pressure knock you down!!
Meg
First of all, congratulations Poysyn! The happier you are, the more beautiful you will look!
To the issue at hand- I was nervous about this too. If anyone has suggested you get a facial before your wedding, make sure you do it at least one week before the wedding, preferably two weeks. A facial, while removing deep-down dirt, oil and bacteria, will upset the current balance of your face (good or bad- it “stirs things up”), and you will probably break out a day of two afterwards.
As for topical ointments, I use Neutrogena On The Spot acne treatment, and it works but doesn’t kill your skin.
Enjoy your day! And try to remember that everything will be perfect as far as everyone else is concerned, so you shouldn’t worry about a thing! Delegate some anal-retentive to do that for you!
I agree with Beadalin- drinking water is good for helping to “flush out your system”.
I would NOT recommend using any new products on your face near your wedding- whether they be a cleaning product or a moisturizer. Use what your face is used to so that you don’t have any surprise breakouts from your skin reacting to new stuff.
I have sensitive skin, so I wash with a mild, unscented soap and use Lubriderm unscented moisturizer. I have found that one way to slow down a breakout is to wash your face in the AM and then also in the PM, and always take your makeup off at the end of the day if you wear any. And always, always use moisturizer after you wash! It’s also good to use something “non-comedogenic” (sp?) meaning that doesn’t clog your pores.
Good luck! I got married last December, and I tried to schedule my wedding so that it was NOWHERE near my time of the month because my face always breaks out the week before & sometimes during that week!
I’m sorry, I have to disagree a bit here.
Drinking more than 8 glasses of water definitely won’t clear up skin for good. The skin does excrete liquid waste, so more water might bump up that process - a side effect is you might feel like your skin is “oilier” - though that might not necessarily be a bad thing…it’s better to have things “flowing through” than stopped up.
Acne is caused by hormones & hormone fluctuations… Diet, dead skin, dirt and bacteria only aggrevate an already existing condition -they do not cause it… You can treat the outside and prevent infection and clog ups, but you can’t all together “stop” acne without some sort of change in hormone balances.
I agree with leaving caffiene and sugar alone. Sugar & caffiene both affect your insulin levels & since insulin is a hormone, it’s not really unreasonable to stretch a bit and assume a rush of sugar/caffien =a rush of insulin = some effect on your face. Your diet in general can play a part if you eat sugar in simple forms like starches - pastas, store bought breads, especially white- and desserts, etc. so the water advice might also be good in the sense of replacing what could be negatively effecting your body with something positive. Fresh veggies can’t hurt either.
I ditto the suggestion to see a dermatologist above -I’d also go see your doctor. If you’re on the pill, you might be able to switch brands… if you’re not on the pill and plan to start before your wedding, start at least 3 months ahead so your body has time to get used to the changes. The nuisence side effects, if they’re going to leave, usually go away around the 3rd month.
ditto the congratulations as well (belatedly).
Meg
Poysyn,
First of all, congratulations! Second of all, what EJsGirl said:
Let someone else sweat the details if you can (your mom, a wedding planner, whatever works for you). Or if not, try to keep things as simple as possible to keep the worry quotient down. Do stuff that relaxes you. Take a yoga class, meditate, exercise, get massages, take hot baths with lots of nice scented candles in the room. The more serene you can manage to be at this time, the less likely your body is going to throw something at you that you really don’t want to have to deal with. An ounce of preventative maintenance is worth a proverbial pound of cure.
And if something happens anyway, a visit to the dermatologist just in case is in order. My friend who had acne in college used to get this most amazing stuff that was a like a masque - it was white, you left it on for 15 minutes, washed it off, and it took the redness right out of the zits!
Anyway, don’t worry! You’ll look perfect no matter what!
Aside from the acne issue, it is so worth it to get a manicure. The best thing is actually to start 6-8 weeks before the wedding and get a weekly manicure, as they can get your cuticles, etc., into shape better that way, but even if you just go the day of or before the wedding, it’s a good idea. You will never have so many people look at and take pictures of your hands any other day of your life.
Here’s Paula’s website:
Moggy, I agree with the recommendation not to try anything new close to the wedding & getting the makeup off every night, but disagree with the soap, moisturizer comments. Soap overdries the skin -even mild nonscented soap. I used to follow a similar routine - I stopped using soap on my face, I also stopped using moisturizer. The only time i need it is in small dry areas from time to time. If you’re concerned about throwing your skin out of balance, you first have to eliminate everything you’re putting on it that might be an irritant and start from scratch.
There are products out there that are lotion based exfoliants -like Neutrogena’s Multivitamin Acne Treatment that can do the trick as far as needing to put something on your face to give foundation more “slip” when applying - it’s too strong for me, however, and stings my skin (I, also, have super sensitive skin). Neutrogena also puts out an Alcohol free toner that is absolutely awesome. I think many different companies have some great products, but it’s mixed in with stuff that’s not so hot.
Non-comedogenic is also somewhat of a myth - anything left on the skin can cause clogged pores… http://www.cosmeticscop.com/skinfacts/oilfree.htm
Secondly, why would oil clog pores, but not talc? or it says “oil free” but it contains silicone? Like that’s any better? Or even better, say it IS oil free, but it still contains SD alcohol - great, so you don’t have to worry about clogged pores, but your skin will be dry and irritated as a result of the alcohol content (SD alcohol has a low molecular weight and is drying to the skin, Cetyl alcohol is a “fatty” alcohol and non-drying).
I do apologize for being somewhat argumentative, but this happens to fall within one of my pet subjects.
Meg