Make-up Monday

Hello,

My name is bwings and I must remove all imperfections.

One thing I've learned about applying make-up everyday is that I need an exfoliating scrub! When applying this foundation daily I noticed a frustratingly inconsistent look to my skin. Day 2 of the new year I returned to the market in search of an exfoliant. Not before first doing some amount of research to see what I wanted to avoid. I already knew to avoid parabens and EDTA which I expected to find in most creams. What I found, and already slightly knew of, was another ingredient I chose to avoid.

Salicylic Acid is an ingredient used to ease pain, reduce fever through consumption of asprin. It is also used in treating acne, psoriasis, calluses, corns, keratosis pilaris & warts. It is in many anti-dandruff shampoos as well as being the active ingredient in Pepto-Bismol. It is used as a food preservative and an antiseptic in toothpaste. In short, it is used about as frequently as EDTA but serves more purpose.

When I went off my birth-control several years ago my hormones went out of control. As a result I looked as though I was a chocolate hungry teenager for a good year. In that year the acne was so bad it burned and I needed to take action. As far as self-esteem was concerned I used foundation in high amounts to cover the scarring blemishes. However, the pain and burning was incredible and I needed to reduce them as much as I could. Some quick clickity clacking and I read up on Salicylic Acid. I went out and bought a facial cream with the highest amount of salicylic acid available over the counter. Application of this cream produced almost as much of a burn as the actual problem. I later reduced the amount of acid and the burn decreased. I don't know if it did much for me or if my hormones just leveled off. To be safe I continued to use the cream for three months at which time halting didn't bring back the blemishes.

All that said there is more to Salicylic acid as you would expect. If you are pregnant it is one of those many of hundreds of things you're not supposed to consume. In late pregnancy it has been associated with neonatal intracranial bleeding. A study of 108 infants born at 34 weeks gestation or earlier was performed to determine incidences of intracranial bleeding and possible risk factors. Of these infants 49% developed intracranial hemorrhage, studies showed the bleeding to be more common in parents who consumed aspirin during their pregnancy. Another study was carried out evaluating the effects of aspirin during pregnancy. 60% of the mothers and 90% of the infants had bleeding when aspirin was consumed 5 days before birth.

Lastly, and most importantly, the use of salicylate, such as with aspirin, has been linked with Reye's Syndrome.  Reye's Syndrome is a disease that attacks quickly and with no warning and in often cases is fatal. It affects all organs but focuses mostly on the liver and brain. Often misdiagnosed as encephalitis, meningitis, diabetes, drug overdoes, poisoning, SIDS or psychiatric illness. It typically follows behind a viral infection (flue, cold, chicken pox) when a person begins to recover fat develops in the liver and other organs, severe pressure in the brain and unless diagnosed and treated death is the end result in a few days.  I don't want to give you too much information as that alone terrifies me. I just know I will be sticking to advil, something which I avoid taking anyway unless absolutely necessary. But if you are concerned you can look more into it at the Reye's Syndrome Foundation.

As far as topical application is concerned there is far less concern in any of these reports, in fact most concern seems to lie in aspirin alone. However, I do not have severe dermatological issues aside from psoriasis which I have controlled by improving my diet. Because of my clear complexion I do not see any reason to use something I don't need and possibly create a chemical dependency.

I ended up purchasing St. Ives Fresh Skin Apricot Scrub. An inexpensive scrub that is EDTA, Phthalate and Paraben free. Most other scrubs ran $8/100ml and had EDTA and/or Parabens where as St. Ives was only $1.40/100ml and contains no oil or damaging ingredients save a fragrance that would cause allergies in some. A large recyclable container with no frilly packaging makes it that much more eco-friendly when purchased in bulk. For those animal loving types the products claims to not be testing on animals, a quick check of astrostar shows they make the list with no intentions of animal testing in the future. Sadly this doesn't mean that they aren't testing their products under another companies name. Some companies will commission another company to do their testing for them. An examination of Peta's list (they are anal and therefore thorough) shows St. Ives to be neither on the Do Not Test list nor the Does Test list. If I find out more I will of course advise. Right now I can just say it works and to the best of my knowledge does you no harm.

Altogether it's an inexpensive, eco-friendly, toxin free, recyclable, most likely animal friendly product that does what it advertises my skin was smooth the next day and foundation was less flakey in appearance.

Your friendly neighborhood hippie mom.

Edit: Having used it now for a while I can say it works wonders, my skin is sensitive though and so I can only use it a few times a week. But my skin looks and feels incredibly smooth now.