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Monday, October 22, 2012

Lee Garrett's expert skincare rules for everyone


Ditch your moisturiser, wear less make up and, yes, always wear sunscreen. Skincare guru Lee Garett shares his essential rules for beautiful skin, to beat adult acne and avoid pigmentation.

Pigmentation


The number of dark spot correcting, pigment busting products on the market has risen hugely in the past 18 months but Lee says most of them don’t really do much good.
“Prevention is really important,” he says. “Wear factor 50 sunscreen every day. But remember, even with the higher factors, there is no block. Factor 30 offers about 96 per cent protection and 50 is maybe 97 per cent.  You’ll still colour – it’s your skin protecting you.”

“Be especially careful of any areas that you wax or treat with particular products as this can cause a weak area that will be more prone to pigmentation.”



When it comes to getting rid of pigmentation marks, it’s quite tricky.

“The only thing you can do is use a product called hydroquinone. But it’s very strong and prescription only. It’s definitely worth using if you’re very unhappy with pigmentation. Hormones play a big part, and if you have melasma after pregnancy, hydroquinone may be a good option.” But without resorting to the doctor there are some options that can help reduce pigmentation, albeit slowly.

“There are substances in products coming out now that do help in milder cases. Vitamin C is very good for pigmentation, and liquorish. Treatment-wise there are lasers but really, the hydroquinone is the only thing that really gets rid of the pigments.”

Adult acne
“Older acne is actually usually hormonal though your diet and lifestyle plays a big part,” says Lee. “Diet adds to breakouts. If you have a lot of chocolate, or a heavy weekend and a lot of alcohol, you can break out into spots. And if you’re stressed, it will show on your skin.”

So what can you do if you haven’t broken out since your teens and suddenly you’re 30 with teenage skin? “The treatments that work well are products that contain salicylic acid. It’s a very good component – it’s an anti inflammatory agent and when it’s on the skin, it stays within the pores even after you wash it. “Look for glycolic acid too – it helps exfoliate.”

Sensitive skins
Lee says not to worry about using acid on sensitive skin as it still does good work. “Salicylic acid is an aspirin, it’s meant to tingle. It’s also an AHA so it’s going through the barrier of your skin as it’s meant to do. The problem with these acne treatments is that everyone uses them whether they’re Fitzpatrick (very pale) or black – and they cause sensitivity to the light so if you’re using them you should definitely have suncream on the top.”

“Some treatments we do here are excellent for acne.

Chemical peels and be brilliant and lasers can help reduce acne scarring.
“The main point with acne patients is to stop them scarring and if you can do that and get them through the phase it’s much better than just throwing antibiotics at it.”

If you do suffer from oily skin with your acne, how can you disguise it?
“Rice powder is brilliant. It’s got no colour in it and it stays underneath make up. Put suncream on underneath, then the rice powder and the oil will soak into the powder and won’t bother your foundation, keeping you shine free all day.

Skincare rules for everyone

Lee recommends taking a step back from your skincare regime and thinking about what you’re buying. “People spend an awful lot of money on products that don’t work and ideally with skin, it’s meant to moisturise itself, for example. When we’re born that’s what it does. When we get older and we start to put all these things on the skin it gets lazy. And chopping and changing products confuses it."

“I say, use a good cleanser twice a day, with water so you get a nice lather. Your cleanser will be alkaline so use a toner because they’re acidic and will get your skin back to its natural balance so it’s ready to take in the product. The product I always recommend is a good quality vitamin C serum, for daily use and nighttime use and then on top of that a separate suncream for day. And that’s it.”

Wait, no moisturiser? 
“No moisturiser, you don’t need it.”

“With the suncream, use a good application, a little smaller than a 10p piece for the face. You want good coverage and then it acts as a makeup base.

"At night your skin needs anti oxidants and the vitamin C serum is a great free radical clearer. It will remove them from the cells and it’s very detoxifying. I recommend people take vitamin C and vitamin C Ester supplements together too.”

Yahoo Lifestyle
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