Tag: Aloe vera

Retin-A: Use with Caution

Hello everyone!!

In this month’s post, I am going to talk about a product that, at least until a few months ago, was unknown to me: Retin-A (as they call it in Latin America) or Retirides (known by this name in Spain). If you read my post about acne and Roacután, you will know that I strongly defend its use to defeat acne for good, despite the urban legends and horror stories that some people tell about. I defend it because it went well for me and for all the people I know personally and who had this treatment well, and it’s been like that until today. That said and taking into account that I had this treatment 13 years ago, I have to say that occasionally I have a pimple mainly due to my period, but nothing worrisome. It helps that I am very careful with the products I put on my skin and very scrupulous with hygiene (I never touch my face, I use towels that are exclusive for my face, I change the pillowcase often, I use little and mineral makeup, aloe vera …) . I also take great care of my diet, this and the changes I have made over the years are something that I will talk about in another post.

But getting to the point, in November of last year, I suddenly got one of those horrible-big-painful-pimples with pus in the middle of my face. For me there are serious and non-serious places where you can get a pimple, and in the face, that is, the cheeks, is the worst place. It is the worst place because that is where the serious-cystic-the kind that leaves marks acne occurs. So obviously I panicked, because it hadn’t happened to me in over a decade. Yes, I had the typical pimples in the T zone (forehead-nose-chin) and impurities in my neckline, which is also oily, but not those type of pimples. What I did was wait for the pimple to fully develop, and it took almost 3 weeks!! I tried not to rub it when washing my face, to sleep on the opposite side of my face so as not to spread bacteria, obviously not to put on makeup there…When it had grown up, I put some iodine on it, because I heard that you shouldn’t put alcohol on it, but then I heard the opposite, that you shouldn’t put iodine on it… It ended up disappearing, but left a round red mark, and I didn’t exploit it or anything. To this day you can hardly see it, but that confirms my theory that there are harmless pimples and mass destruction pimples of mass destruction (like that one).

Apart from the food issues that I will address in another post, I began to investigate what could I do, because at the cosmetic-hygiene level I already considered that I did everything well. And that’s where I discovered Retin-A or Retirides. It is an ointment with the same active ingredient as Roacutan (tretinoin) that occurs in concentrations of 0.025%, 0.050% and 0.1%. I saw some videos and blogs that talked about it (the most scientific one: Cómo se aplica el Retirides), and I decided to try it.

The good thing about being an ointment is that it does not pass through the liver or have as much risk to health as Roacután, but obviously its effectiveness is lower and slower. It would be like a light version of Roacután. Doctors recommend starting with the lowest concentration and going up, because it is a strong ingredient and reactions on the skin may occur (redness, skin peeling… I bought it after the horrible pimple because another one came out right next to it, confirming my other theory that bacteria in pimples move… In analogy with what happens now with the virus of the moment, if a mass destruction pimple comes out, you have to take serious measures as soon as possible to prevent it from spreading. And since I only wanted the ointment for that, because I was not willing to buy a bottle of 0.025% or 0.050%, spend it (which could take me months or years, since the recommendation is to apply a very small quantity and only twice a week) and then buy another one with 0.1% concentration. Also, it seems to me that there is quite a difference between the concentration of the first two and the third one. So, I started buying the 0.1%, the maximum concentration. As happens when having Roacután, this ointment can cause the area where you put it to peel (but not your lips constantly or as heavy as it happens with Roacutan), and it causes your skin very sensitive to sun (I have no problem with this because I am very careful, although in my daily routine I do not use sunscreen (normally).

In my case, when I applied it, my skin itched a little, but nothing else. It should  always be applied at night and with dry skin. And well, the start of massive destruction on my cheek luckily stopped, applying the ointment to the area twice a week. On the rest of the face I did not dare to put it on, because it is supposed to have the same effect as Roacutan: multiply by 6 the rate at which the skin is renewed and “bring out” hidden comedones. I had no intention of seeing what would happen because the rest of my face is fine so I didn’t want to risk it. I say this because Retin-A is also used a lot to eliminate spots and as an anti-wrinkles ointment: many people use it, let’s say, as an anti-aging cream. What I have done lately is to put it on my nose, to see if it reduces the appearance of pores, and on my neckline, because it is very oily and impurities form. I’ve noticed a great improvement in my neckline, not that much on my nose.

In Mexico Retin-A is sold without a prescription, but in Spain, Retirides must be prescribed by a dermatologist. However, Retirides is sold in Andorra without a prescription, so one can go there or maybe buy it online. In the United States, you can find it as Retinoid.

So now you know, if you decide to try this pseudo-Roacutàn, use it with caution!

Until next post!!!

*To buy the products I speak about (I only recommend products that I’ve tested):

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases

*From the United States:

·Retinoid 0.1%: https://amzn.to/35PO2m8

*From Mexico:

·Retin-A 0.1%: https://amzn.to/33Iizzx

*From Spain:

·Retirides 0.1% (disponible sin receta en farmacias de Andorra): https://www.farmaciaenandorra.com/shop/retirides-01-30g

UPDATE!!: read my post Double cleaning: oil+soap

Don’t buy aloe vera, have an aloe vera plant!!

Hello!!

In this month’s post I’m going to talk about my new discovery for (facial) skin care. Well it’s not really a discovery because I have been using aloe vera on my face for many years, but now I have switched to real pure aloe vera, straight from the plant. A few years ago, my mother bought an aloe vera plant and we had it on the windowsill in the bathroom. I tried to cut a stalk (leaf) and put the gel on, what was left over we kept in a glass in the fridge. The problem with this method is that there is a lot of gel left over and the gel spoils in a couple of days, even if it is in the fridge. That is why commercial gels, no matter how organic and pure they may be, carry some preservatives (like all cosmetics). Not that this is wrong, but of course I think that if aloe is only aloe, then much better.

That plant died and I did not try the natural method again. Also of course it is much more practical to have the aloe in a container that you take anywhere, put it on and that’s it. For years I used one from the Canary Islands that had very few ingredients, it was called Aloveria. I liked it a lot but they stopped selling it in El Corte Inglés and I didn’t want to spend more to buy it directly from the company, because of the shipping costs. With that and with the proliferation of eco stores and online commerce, I began to buy other brands of aloe on the Internet. I didn’t like them as much as Aloveria but they were organic brands, with pure aloe as the first ingredient, and they were cheap. My skin always felt somehow tight when I put aloe on, I thought it was normal because I had read that aloe, although it hydrates a lot, creates an effect like when you put a facial mask on the skin and it dries. What started to bother me is when I noticed that my skin was peeling a little. This happened with an Italian brand of aloe that I bought online and … surprise! Looking carefully at the ingredients list, I saw that it contained alcohol. I could not believe that I, who supposedly already knew all the tricks of the cosmetic industry, had fallen into that error. All for believing that since it was sold in an organic store it would be very pure and such. So I switched to another (made sure it didn’t have alcohol or too many ingredients). But I was wrong again. It turns out that one day reading a blog I found that now there are pages so that one can see what are the ingredients in cosmetics, for all the controversy that has been going on about lead on lipsticks, carcinogenic ingredients and endocrine disruptors etc. The page that I used is called cosdna.com. I put the ingredients in my new aloe vera gel and it turned out that it contained polymers (a petroleum derivative) and sodium hydroxide. I already talked about sodium hydroxide in another post. It is an irritating and very drying ingredient. Although it is widely used in natural cosmetics, especially to make soaps and shampoos, I think a soap that you rinse is not the same as a gel you put on your skin to absorb it. After investigating I saw that it is precisely something that irritates the skin of many people. So that encouraged me to try the natural method again.

I bought an aloe vera plant for 4 euros in a greenhouse, with its pot included. The aloe vera plant is very easy to care for, you only need to water it once a week and keep it at a warm temperature, tending to hot (between 15-25 degrees). In winter it can simply be kept indoors in an illuminated place, and in summer on a window ledge. It is not recommended to leave aloe in direct sunlight (at least not all day), so that the leaves do not get “burn”.

To use aloe vera, what you do is to cut a stalk that is on the outside. That stalk will then grow on its own. You clean any mud and put in a glass with some water on the part where the aloe gel is visible. This is to release the aloin, a kind of iodine that the plant has and that can be irritating. I left the leaf 24 hours and this was the water’s appearance:

The next step is to peel the leaf, making two cuts on the sides and opening it. The gel is removed and, at this time, what can be done is to put it directly in an ice bucket or to liquefy it with a hand rod mixer (and then you distribute the liquid aloe in the ice bucket)(don’t use any water!). If you choose the liquefy method, aloe vera lasts more, since you’re using all the aloe. If you don’t liquefy it you’re just using the liquid on the surface of the aloe pulp. Besides, if you don’t liquefy it, take into account that the aloe vera pulp is a bit messy to handle, it feels like snail drool.

Once the aloe pulp or liquid has been distributed in the ice bucket, it is put in the freezer and in a few hours the aloe cubes can be removed into a Ziploc bag. What I do is to take an ice cube out and put it in a small glass (one of those for shots) and I leave the small glass in the fridge. There the ice cube thaws, and I already have a dose of cold aloe vera, which lasts for about two or three days in pulp, and more if it was previously liquefied. I apply it twice a day, morning and night).

What I have noticed with this new method is that my skin is no longer dry, tight or peeling. You only notice some tightness in the first seconds of putting it on. It seems wonderful to me and it does not involve so much work, in addition to being cheaper than buying commercial aloe gel. The only difficulty I see is when it comes to traveling, for trips of more than 3 days and without access to a refrigerator. If not, just pop a cube or two in an empty cream container and you’re done.

I hope you like this information !! Until the next post!

*To buy the products I speak about (I only recommend products that I’ve tested):

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases

*From Spain: