I’m all about finding any product that can help control my acne. Not long ago it hit me that I’ve been battling acne since I was in my very early teens and I only had a short respite from acne in my 20s and early 30s.

I have to say that never in a million years would I have ever thought that I’d still be battling with acne at my age. The reality is that more and more women are dealing with acne well into their 40s and late 40s (I’ve actually spoken to women in their 50s who dealt with acne) because of environmental and nutritional changes that are affecting our hormone levels.

Another major cause of acne is stress! We’re living in a time where we are “on” 24/7. We’re multi tasking … we’re double and triple booked … we’re flying around the globe for business meetings or conferences … we’re working longer hours … we’re sleeping less now than at any other time in history … we’re eating low quality food on the run. It’s really no wonder why so many women deal with acne in their 30s and 40s.

Summer is such a glorious season. Since I’m a summer baby, I have a soft spot for a season that allows me to go about town without a heavy coat and boots.

Summer is about slowing down and taking in the glory that is Mother Nature. I L-O-V-E everything about summer expect my summer acne.

I call it summer acne, but it’s a bit more complicated than that.

During the summer everyone perspires more than they would during the rest of the year. In my case, I perspire even more when I step into a spinning room that will get hot and steamy from 20+ bodies cycling like mad.

If you are of Southeast Asian, Hispanic (darker complexions and black Latinos), Asian, or of partial or full African descent, you should be aware of the five key factors that affect acne sufferers with darker skin. If you fall into these ethnic categories, you’ll be comforted to know there are some specific facts you need to consider before making informed decisions about your best adult acne treatment options.

Darker complexions should be aware of these facts when dealing with their acne:

1. Hyperpigmentation

Darker skin usually develops dark spots; in some cases the scars are so dark, they appear almost blackish in colour. These darkened spots or hyperpigmentation on the skin occur at the site of the healed acne flare-up. Hyperpigmentation is caused by excessive melanin production (darker skin tends to produce more melanin than fairer complexions).

I recently tried the Platinum Soothing Mask by Tu’el (Tu’el is a brand created by Eva’s Esthetics). I wanted to try it because I had heard that it helped calm redness and

inflammation.

One of the major issues with adult acne is the inflammation and redness that are caused by blocked pores and I wanted to see if this mask would help deal with this problem.
The Platinum Soothing Mask by Tu’el contains aloe vera, safflower seed oil, butchers broom, green and white Tea, chamomile and comfrey, which all help in calming inflammation.

Just in case you didn’t know, the Tanda Skincare System is a little device that helps control acne and boost collagen. That’s right, you read correctly, if you are dealing with adult acne and are looking for a gentler treatment than topical prescription or over-the-counter acne medication, you might be quite pleased with the results Tanda Skincare System delivers … AND you get to also deal with fines lines and wrinkles.

You’ve surely read past posts where I’ve gone on about my adult acne and worse … my acne scars. Now, I’ve got to specify that my scars, which are dark spots caused by hyperpigmentation, are surface scars and don’t indent my skin. So essentially, I still have smooth skin, but trifled with dark spots.

I’ve tried chemical peels in the past, but unless you stick to a very regular schedule, you won’t really be able to see many benefits from the product. This is where I failed, because I have so many treatments to try on a weekly basis. In essence, I cannot do too many treatments of this sort or else the frequency would end up damaging my skin.

Washing your face more than twice a day will not help with your adult acne…it will only dry up your skin. It’s true there are a lot of acne products promoted on TV, but as an adult you might have to shy away from them because they may cause considerable dryness to your skin because you are simply not producing as much sebum as you did when you were a teenager.

So what do you do if you have an event in a couple of days and wake up with a pimple on your chin or in between your eyes? No need to hide in your bathroom in complete hysteria, you can simply zap that pimple away!

You might have been lucky enough to escape the trauma of teenage acne just to wake up as an adult and discover that those blemishes on your face are becoming a recurring problem. Yes, you’ve got adult acne! This problem is afflicting more and more adult women. Adult acne can start in your mid twenties and last until your fifties. For some of us, acne has simply been part of life since our early teens and remains a problem in our mid to late thirties (and beyond).

Because beta hydroxy acids are oil (lipid) soluble, they are better at penetrating into the pores which contain sebum and exfoliating the dead skin cells that are built up inside the pores. If you are dealing with oily skin and/or adult acne (with blackheads and whiteheads), this might be an option to consider, rather than alpha hydroxy.

The annual Canadian Medical Spa show held in the fall in Toronto is the best place for industry people to find out the newest and greatest new anti-aging products and treatments on the market. During the last Medical Spa show I bumped into a medical nurse who used to treat my post-laser hair removal treatment fiasco. She wanted to know what was new in my life and I told her that being at a show like this and waking up that morning with a bad case of adult acne was too cruel of a joke.