To improve your complexion, you need to cleanse your skin every day. But not with just boring ol' normal soap (it'll dry out your skin); instead, you a soap formulated to interact favorably with the chemistry of your particular type of skin. All soaps work on filth by acting like a pair of handcuffs: one loop snags the oil; the other hangs on to the water and gets the grease off. This little cops 'n robbers scenario plays out a little differently for different skin types:
- Dry Skin: You'll need to pump a little moisture into your face with your soap. Look for brands of soap that contain either glycerine or a type of silicone, such as cyclomethicone or dimethicone.
- Oily Skin: You're going to want to dry up some of that grease with your soap. Quell the dirt by using a soap that contains salicylic acid.
- Sensitive Skin: You're going to need something a little milder than the typical ingredients. Believe it or not, the leading contender here is something called propylene glycol - which, when not gently easing you into a life of ivory cheeks, pulls double duty as the prime ingredient in antifreeze and the stuff they use to de-ice planes.
- Normal Skin: Count your blessings you lucky bastard. Hunt for soaps that use lanolin, a handy extract from the oil glands of sheep.
Any decent pharmacy or cosmetics counter will carry products with these ingredients.
Also check out The Skin Store to purchase products on the net, as well as the Prevention Healthy Lifestyle Site for the best skin care products of 1998.
SoYouWanna know more? Check out our full-length article SYW improve your complexion?
