Beauty Suggestions, Concerns and Complaints

Shopping for a skin cream doesn't have to be difficult, if you know exactly what your skin needs. So how do you find out? One way is to take advantage of those free offers at the mall to get a facial makeover. A beauty consultant can tell you about your skin and provide you with suggestions on caring for it. You can also contact a local beauty representative via a phone book or make an appointment to see a dermatologist. However, if you already know what your skin type is and you are just looking to enhance it, then a little research on skin care creams will help you select the right product for your skin's needs.

Most people who purchase age defying creams are looking for a product that does the following: gives one a youthful appearance, removes age marks and sun spots, and reduces fine lines and wrinkles. What might be your skin care issues? Once you know the answer to this question, you will want to consider a product that will help you with your skin problem.

When shopping online, consider a product that doesn't require the use of additional products to be effective. Also, you will want to think about how often you will need to use the product. Most of the best beauty items are usually used twice a day--morning and night. A cream's fragrance is often a big issue for many customers especially those who have allergies, so products that indicate they are free of fragrances and other chemicals are a plus!

A health and beauty website store should also provide you with a trial offer and a money back guarantee in case it doesn't work. When surfing the web, also check for reviews to get some idea how the item may work or not work for your skin care issue, but keep in mind what might not work for someone else, just might work for you.

Just when you are ready to take a photo, be amongst family and friends, or attend a work function, here comes one of those dreaded ugly bumps rising beneath the surface of your skin ready to make its grand appearance! It is dreadful!

I watched an episode of Dr. Oz today, and learned popping pimples is okay only if you use something like a needle to break the pus bubble by inserting it to the side, not down the middle, of the pimple,according to Oz. First, use alcohol to clean the area then sterilize the needle by cleaning or using heat. He doesn't support the old squeeze method because it actually damages the surrounding skin.

Oz suggested over the counter medicines for maintaining a clear complexion.

However, that episode didn't cover acne scars which may occur after the pimple is gone. So here's a video I found non-related to the OZ show that may be helpful. Of course, in the video they don't advise picking a pimple, but Oz's advice I personally agree with, why not bring the infection to the surface of the skin and out? You would do the same if you had a boil on your skin, now wouldn't you?

Hope you find the video helpful and the acne products.

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She was my former co-worker. A very attractive, young African American woman who worked with disadvantaged youth at a career center. One of her job requirements was to instill positive principles in the youth about one's self and provide hands-on experiences that would help the youth feel more confident, so that one day they could graduate from the program with a job in one hand and an apartment in the other.

Since all of the students had horrible stories to tell about their childhoods, they were either mentally or physically damaged and needed a support system that would help them put the pieces of their lives together in an environment that gave them a good start. Ms. Young, as I will call her for this article, knew how important with being happy with yourself was since she, I and our co-workers were the only positive examples around these disadvantaged youth. However, what I and others didn't know is that Ms. Young would leave the center and go to a home that she didn't practice what was preached.

Ms. Young was in a relationship with an unhappy husband. He didn't like the way his wife's body had changed since the birth of their two children, so he requested that she get breast augmentation done. Ms. Young had thought about it in the past, but wasn't completely convinced until her husband's promptings and his offer to pay almost $4,000 dollar for the operation. (This was back in 2005.) Ms. Young told me, after being gone for almost two weeks since the operation, "I wanted to make him happy so I went for it and I wanted it too." From the sound of her voice and the nervous laugh, I think it was more for her husband than for her, but I kept my thoughts to myself.

"I was unhappy with my boobs. They were beginning to sag." Ms. Young spoke with some discomfort as she tried to adjust her suit jacket. She was heavily wrapped with bandages. "The doctor said I have to leave these on. Sometimes they itch."

I didn't know what to say, I was still somewhat in shock. She was the first African American that I had personally ever known to have such a barbaric thing done to her body. Most women I knew was very content with their bodies from small boobs to big ones and the big booties to match!

I had seen the cosmetic surgery cutting and stuffing on one of those medical shows before I met Ms. Young. I had cringed when I thought about what this fair-skinned beautiful hazel eyed woman had allowed be done to her. "So what size are those?" I asked smiling. I don't recall if she said a size c or d, but I do recall that Ms. Young said her husband told her what size she should get. She said her husband wanted them big and she thought he would be happy once the healing process was over. "He talks about them and he is anxious to see them." She seemed happy, so I sat back and let her spend about 10 or 15 minutes talking about her "new boobs."

She proceeded to talk about things like side effects, infections and other people's bad cosmetic jobs. She also mentioned how when she gets her first menstrual cycle, since having the surgery, her boobs may be hard. "Completely normally," she said with a little concern. We talked about how the implant's materials are better nowadays and she spoke of some kind of material she had in her body which I don't remember the name. I had heard about silicone leaking after so many years, but she, like anyone else who just got something new, talked over any potentially negative or controversial comments. She continued to smile.

I thought to myself, "I wonder if Ms. Young and her controlling husband should ever have any serious relationship problems, would she take her boobs out to spite him?"

For most of my childhood I was told that I was ugly. I didn't have flawless skin back then. There was red pimples, white zits, black heads, and other forms of acne living on my face.  I had tried everything from a vinger, hydrogen peroxide and oatmeal mix to clearasil, nothing seemed to work.  I didn't have the nice hairstyles either, since my mother wasn't very good with doing straight hair styles. I often wore corn rows (braids tightly twisted in three strands continuously closely to the scalp). Some of the rows were stylish and others were big and fat making me look like a child slave stepping off a plantation.

When I got old enough to do my own hair, about 11, I did some really nice hairstyles, but my face just didn't seem to catch up. I was often covering my face with my hair. Rarely did anyone see a side profile shot. When I was about 13, my first sweetheart, kissed me and told me, "Now let's see your forehead. I want to see your face!" He leaned me back and moved all my hair out my face. Fear began to set in and I closed my eyes. I didn't want to see his reaction. He said, "What's wrong with your face?" Finally after years of listening to children call me everything from bumpy to zit face, I felt a warm feeling come over me. My gentleman back then complimented me that day and days since.

I can't tell you how important it is for a father to sit down with his daughter and just listen to her talk. She doesn't need any prompting when she feels comfortable in her father's presence. I never felt relaxed around my dad. He too made his share of ugly statements about my face. So he would never hear any stories come directly from me about the children teasing me, a boy liking me, or other things I found personal. My mother only got part of my stories, because I knew she would tell my dad everything like she still does to this day and I am 30 plus years old!

The term ugly would come back to haunt me in a violent relationship and when I decided to upload my face on the Internet. People are so cruel. As women we have so much pressure put upon us to look this way and to act that way despite the feminist movement. The relationship experts tell us to look appealing to our men so they won't lose interest, but never do they say that you should express to your man how he needs to lose that belly fat, buy a toupee, and do something about his body odor or she will walk out the door and find a new man.

Even if we look or act ugly sometimes, do we have to be told that? Do we really need to hear that? Insults in my experience aren't effective; rather, they make the listener hate. Unstable people contemplate revenge or hurt themselves in some way as a result of the word "ugly."

May no one ever call you ugly from this day forward.