Posts Tagged ‘obagi’

Skin Care Secrets

Dry, Itchy, Flaky, Red Skin? Must be Winter.  Whether it’s the Cold or the Wind or the never ending Wet – by the time we get to February, my skin is in desperate need of a little TLC. Fortunately, it doesn’t take a lot of effort to prevent winter damage, and there are several fantastic products to help repair your skin too!

Moisturize, Moisturize, Moisturize!

If you’re aiming to prevent the damage, the first good step is to moisturize, moisturize and moisturize! Ironically, washing your hands is one of the quickest ways to dry them out. Try finishing your hand washing routine with your favourite moisturizer.

We like Eminence Vanilla Mint Hand Cream (2oz).  For a fantastic all over body lotion, give Pangea Organics Body Lotion (8.5 fl oz) a try.  Chockfull of organic goodness, it leaves your skin feeling smooth and protected.

If your skin is extremely weather-damaged skin, our estheticians recommend GM Collin Bio Organique Treating Serum: Serum Traitant (30ml).  As the cold can cause all kinds of damage on the skin, they also recommend a visit to your local esthetician who can properly assess the damage.

Men, especially those working outside, experience winter damage and flaking on their hands.  Our team recommends Jack Black Intense Therapy Hand Cream with Vitamins A & E (88 ml). Jack Black tested this hand cream with golfers, carpenters, and chefs. It heals dry, chapped, cracked skin and works to repair tough, calloused skin and cuticles.

Don’t Stop Sunscreen-ing

Even on the greyest of days, sunscreen can make a HUGE difference to the health of your skin. UVA and UVB rays can still cause damage, especially if there’s light reflecting off clouds, snow, or buildings.

When choosing a sunscreen, even in winter, it needs to be at least 15 SPF in order to protect from UVB rays. It’s also important to make sure the product you choose protects from both UVB and UVA rays. If you have fairer skin, or tend to burn easily, choose a sunscreen with a higher SPF.

Try one of our favourite sunscreens:

Laboratoire Dr Renaud Moisturizing Anti-Wrinkle Suncare SPF 15 – Soin hydratant anti-rides FPS 15 (50 ml) Oil Free, this sunscreen is sweat resistant AND protects against sun damage, pre-mature aging, and other photo-induced aging issues.

Eminence Tropical Vanilla Body SPF 32 (5oz) Filled with organic ingredients, this sunscreen is safe for the entire family to use. A combination sunscreen, it protects against both UVA and UVB rays. Plus, the hydrating shea butter and lovely vanilla scent are utterly indulgent.

Obagi C System SunGuard SPF 30 (90 ml) This ultra sheer sunscreen is fantastic to layer with the rest of your routine. It protects against both UVA and UVB rays and has the added anti-oxidant benefits of Vitamin C.

Create Kissable Lips

Finally, it’s really important (Especially with Valentine’s Day right around the corner) to keep your lips kissable! Lips are particularity vulnerable to chapping. It’s important to exfoliate and protect your lips to minimize weather damage.  My lips have a tendency to chap and split after about 2 minutes outside.  I’ve grilled our estheticians for the best ways to repair and prevent winter lip damage.

Start with Jane Iredale Sugar & Butter Lip Scrub & Plumper (3 g). This scrub has an exfoliant on one end and a plumper on the other. It’s a great double duty product for a woman on the go. We love pairing it with Jane Iredale Lip Drink SPF 15 (5.2g). A fantastic colourless lip balm, its lemon scent is great for her or him (and perfect for your purse)!

Now, the gentleman in my life, (nameless for his own protection), is horrible at taking care of his lips. Preferring to be chapped over a lip balm as he finds too “Girly”. However, the guys on our staff have all been raving about Jack Black Intense Therapy Lip Balm with Natural Mint & Shea Butter (7 g).  So, I insisted he try it. Sure enough, it soothed and relieved his irritated lips in no time. With it’s masculine packaging, this is a balm he’ll actually use!

Don’t let the fierce elements damage your skin. Take the proper precautions, moisturize, keep using sunscreen, and make sure your lips are protected. Our esthetics team often gets asked how to heal and repair winter damage. As always, the answer is simple, it’s much easier to prevent damage than to repair it.

As always, just for being a follower of our blog, enter coupon code BLOG10 for 10% off your next purchase! Also, remember to follow us @spaboutique on Twitter, like our Facebook  page, and check out our boards on Pinterest! You could be the lucky winner of one of our many contests!

Achieving an Even Skin Tone: how to prevent and treat hyperpigmentation

In the past, anti-aging skincare was all about combating wrinkles, texture issues, and sagging skin.  Nowadays, evening out skin tone (reducing dark spots) plays a huge role in achieving a more youthful looking skin.

The problem is that most of us didn’t realize the damage that was happening to our skin (by not using a daily SPF product) until it was too late.  Now we are all scrambling to find the best answer to lighten pigmentation spots without wasting our money on the latest ‘miracle in a jar’.  Is it really possible to lighten dark spots on your skin with a cream or a masque that we see on TV commercials and in magazine ads? Probably not.  Let’s face it, getting rid of dark spots on the skin takes a lot of time and effort and one simple product is just not going to do the job.  What we need is a skincare system designed for our skin’s needs and we need to use it properly and diligently.

Obagi Medical is a leader in complete skin rejuvenation using specific top-quality ingredients to prevent and correct all types of skin conditions including skin with hyper/hypo-pigmentation.  Obagi is most well-know for their Nu-Derm system  which effectively treats all signs of aging and evens out skin tone using products that contain proven pigmentation lighteners like arbutin or hydroquinone.  Another excellent system is the Obagi-C RX System which also has products which contain arbutin and hydroquinone, but the Obagi-C system also contains premium grade Vitamin C in the L-Ascorbic Acid form.  This form of Vitamin C penetrates deep into the skin to stimulate collagen synthesis as well as acts an an powerful antioxidant which protects your skin from harmful free radical damage.

Here is a brief breakdown of each Obagi System for lightening skin pigmentation:

The Obagi Nu-Derm FX System (with arbutin) is suitable for anyone with no to mild pigmentation, fine lines, wrinkles, loss of elasticity, texture issues, and/or adult acne.

The Obagi Nu-Derm System (with hydroquinone) is suited for anyone with mild to stubborn pigmentation (including melasma), fine lines, wrinkles, loss of elasticity, texture issues, and/or adult acne.

The Obagi C-FX System (with arbutin) is made for anyone with no to mild pigmentation, minimal signs of aging, and mild texture issues.

The Obagi-C RX System (with hydroquinone) is excellent for anyone with mild to moderate pigmentation, minimal signs of aging, and mild texture issues.

Each system comes in a starter set with full sized products and it is highly recommended to use all of the products in the set for best results.  Additionally, a prescription retinol (Vitamin A) may be added to the regime to greatly boost results.  The daily use of an SPF product is mandatory and if it is not properly used you should not expect to achieve good results.  A daily SPF is not only necessary during treatment, but continuously after treatment as well to prevent recurring pigmentation damage as well as skin aging.

Watch to learn more about each system>>

 

We would love to hear your thoughts on the topic of this blog!  Feel free to post your comments or questions below.  As always, just for being a follower of our blog, enter coupon code BLOG10 for 10% off your next purchase! Also, remember to follow us @spaboutique on Twitter, like our Facebook  page, and check out our boards on Pinterest! You could be the lucky winner of one of our many contests!

 

How to Treat Hyperpigmentation; age spots; sun spots; dark spots; freckles.

Hyperpigmentation is uneven skin coloring, discoloration and brown spots. It is usually the result of sun exposure, acne scarring or hormonal changes. Hyperpigmentation can also be caused by nutritional deficiency or prescription drugs. Hyperpigmentation is a condition where an excess of melanin, the dark pigment that produces skin color, forms deposits resulting in dark patches of skin.

Examples include:

• Freckles
• Age or ‘liver’ spots
• Uneven complexion
• Melasma
• Acne spotting

Sun damage and the resulting abnormal keratinization is the primary factor in the appearance of ‘age spots’ and many other varieties of hyperpigmentation. Birth control pills and other medications can also play a role. However, it is sun exposure which provides the trigger resulting in discoloration. Sun exposure causes complex chemical changes in the skin and these are responsible for the various forms of damage that are externally visible. Damage to the melanocytes, the pigment cells that give our skin color, or melanin, causes cells to be distributed or thrown off the surface of the skin unevenly. This produces the various forms of discoloration.

How to Treat Hyperpigmentation:

• Reduce further sun damage with an effective sunscreen. First, individuals who are prone to developing pigmented areas of the skin must be absolutely consistent in their use of sunscreen for even the most casual exposure. Unless they follow this regular regimen, even the most advanced therapies will prove to be ineffective. Make sure you use sunscreens that contain UVA/UVB protection.
• Exfoliate dead and hyperpigmented cells, and stimulate the production of new cell growth. Use products with AHA glycolic acid to boost the lightening benefit and to remove the dead, pigmented skin. AHAs accelerate cell division, thus increasing the production of collagen. When using glycolic acid, most physicians agree that the cumulative effect will provide the greatest benefit. A program that effectively combines frequent use of glycolic acid home care products with concentrations of 8% to 15% and product in the 3.5 to 4.5 pH range, will reduce the stratum corneum most effectively.
• Lighten uneven coloring with a pigment-lightening product. Use a product with Hydroquinone, the most effective skin lightening agent available without a prescription.

Suggested products to use:

1. Cleanse with Institut’ DERMed Clarifying Cleanser
2. Follow a beauty regime with Obagi Nu-Derm Skin Starter Set (Normal-Oily). Available for Normal to Dry/Sensitive Skin as well.
3. Moisturize with Vivescence Chromactive Clarifying Complex Cream

If you have any experiences with treating hyperpigmentation or would like to share anything with us, please post a comment or question below or contact our Esthetician online! As special bonus just for reading, take 10% off your next purchase with discount code blog10! Also, remember to follow us @spaboutique on Twitter, like our Facebook  page, and check out our boards on Pinterest! You could be the lucky winner of one of our many contests!