What exactly do I put on my skin every day....Prologue

Over the years, I have always struggled with keeping my skin clear and balanced. The typical teen acne continued into my 20's when I finally got serious about clearing it up permanently. My dermatoligist took me through the usual escalating treatments - topical creams and gels like Retin A, followed by prescriptons for tetracycline and settling on the use of Accutane when nothing else worked after six months. Taking Accutane was no simple remedy. The plan was to use it for six months during which time I had to visit my derm every month for checkups after ensuring that I was on birth control since the drug has such severe effects on a fetus and was required to have monthly pregnancy tests "just to make sure". In the end, the Accutane cleared my skin, but it dried me out so severely that my lips would bleed when eating. After four months, I cried uncle to my doctor and insisted on stopping the treatment.

After all that, my skin was more or less clear on a regular basis. I would have occasional breakouts but nothing overly objectionable. In the last few years however, it seems to be getting more sensitive to my surroundings. Of course, it has been a process of elimination to figure that out. Three years ago, I decided to work on evening my skin tone out from all of the years of scarring by alternating between regular chemical peels and microdermabrasion. This has been successful in improving the quality of my skin, but I started breaking out constantly on my chin and nothing my esthetician nor I would do could clear it up. Through process of elimination, we figured out that it is related to construction (what, specifically? who knows....) Between work and home, I have been around construction and renovation almost constantly for the past few years so it's not that surprising.

All that being said, I have become much more conscious about what I do to my skin and how I can keep it clear and healthy. If construction dust landing on my skin can have such an adverse reaction, what about my cleanser, moisturizer, foundation and hairspray? What exactly is in that stuff? Taking the time to find out, and find alternative products has been eye opening indeed! I'm now slowly phasing out my skin care products one at a time and one month into my experiment, I'm having excellent results with Dr. Alkaitis Organic Herbal Toner and Organic Day Cream. The ongoing breakout that has most recently plagued me for months is clear and I've noticed a glow to my skin. Bonus - the company is in West Sacramento so I'm also supporting a local business!

Here is a quote from his website: www.alkaitis.com
"Dr. Alkaitis manufactures his products from certified organic, biodynamic or ethically wild-crafted ingredients. All the products are manufactured in-house in his West Sacramento, California lab. The ingredients are never heated above room temperature to preserve the plant's healing properties. The products contain no synthetic preservatives or chemicals, trans-fats or genetically modified organisms. His motto is "if you can't eat it, don't put it on your skin."

Next up in my experiment....foundation, and based on my early research - this wil be trickier. Stay tuned!