Shoppers Magazine 02

SIMBA SHOPPERS MAGAZINE - THE CHRISTMAS ISSUE
Beauty ACNE
AND
COSMETICS
By Hajila Kimeria
So what happens if you don’t have perfect
skin?
You know her, that girl who does just about
everything to destroy her skin-sleeping
with make-up, not getting enough rest,
eats just about any food with no allergic
reactions, and worst of all washes her face
with detergent bar soap but it never gets
affected. While for you, that one day you
brushed against some dust, you had a major
acne break out that took two or more
weeks to clear out and another 2 months
to clear the dark marks and spots…
I decided to write this particular piece
about acne because despite being a makeup
artist, loving beauty and beautifying
people; I have struggled with acne since I
was a teenager and my experience is that
beauty products and beauty lessons rarely
cater for the rest of the women who have
mild to serious skin conditions and acne.
A lot of the products out there work for
people with balanced skin but for the rest
of the people like us, you just find yourself
moving from product to product trying to
find a permanent solution that will bury
your acne for good. It’s a long topic so for
now I’ll just list a few general and universal
tips of things I’ve read about and have
done to control acne.
A short story about acne
“Acne vulgaris (cystic acne or simply acne)
is a common human skin disease, characterized
by areas of skin with seborrhea
(scaly red skin), comedones (blackheads
and whiteheads), papules (pinheads), pustules
(pimples), nodules (large papules) and
possibly scarring.”
What some of that greek simply means in lay man terms is:
I’m not talking about that small skin colored rash or pimple you
get once in a while or that once a month menstrual pimple. It’s
basically like a whole host of ‘menstrual type’ pimples all over
your face and other areas of skin with the densest population
of sebaceous follicles; like the upper part of the chest, and the
back.
Regular pimples and acne comes to the surface and you can
pop it (don’t do that) but cystic acne feel like big hard and
sometimes painful bumps under your skin filled with blood and
puss and takes weeks even months to clear out.
Some causes of ACNE
Hormonal factors - hereditary or diet caused
Genetic - Some people are predisposed to have acne because of
inheriting those genes
Psychological – stress in general bad for your health
Infectious - Propionibacterium acnes (P.acnes) is a bacterium
widely concluded to cause acne
Diet - Some foods especially those high in sugars, or dairy
products have been shown in some people to cause the flare
ups of acne, pimples and rashes.
General guidelines and tips of how to get rid of
hormonal or cystic acne
Your current lifestyle is contributing to your acne because what
goes inside your body is just as important as what goes on it,
that is; topical creams, make-up and cosmetic products. What
you are eating combined with your environment and living
conditions can and will affect the health of your skin.
Seeing as genetics predispose you to get acne and hormones
might take a little longer or require expensive therapy to con-
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