Face It

Let's talk about my face.  Specifically, let's talk about the fact that I still have problems with acne and I am 28 years old.  Please, older and wiser woman, don't tell me about how you struggle too and it's one of life's great lies that acne goes away after high school.  That's not encouraging; that's completely demoralizing.

There were two brief times in life when I had this all under control.  The first was shortly after I was married when I bought a very special cream that I was supposed to use sparingly every night.  It was powerful stuff, man.  My face was clear, which was great, but my brand new, just-got-married, expensive-gift-from-somebody-special bed set had bleach spots all over it.  I was so mad that I promptly threw the stuff out and vowed never to use it again.

The second period of clear skin was when I was using the best face wash I have ever used.  Neutrogena Oil-Free Acne Stress Control Power Wash left my skin feeling as chemically clean as it has ever felt.  I loved the way this stuff made my skin feel tight and literally squeaky clean.  Every last layer of oil-laiden skin cells was stripped away twice a day.  And I was loving life.

But then I started my granola plunge and unfortunately stumbled across THIS website.  Basically it's a database of all the skin care products out there and how much cancer they'll give you, or something like that.  With great trepidation I searched my miracle Power Wash and found out that I was putting a lot of really bad things on my skin every day.  This lead me to look at the ingredient list on the tube and read the directions for the wash (I mean, I didn't read them before because how complicated is it to wash your face) which explicitly say to reduce your exposure to sun during the use of the face wash.  What?  The long and short of it is that chemicals in most commercial face washes strip your skin and leave you extra vulnerable to the sun's rays, which can increase your chance of getting skin cancer.  Ugh.

The more I thought about it the more concerned I became with what I daily put on my skin.  I mean, I take great care to make sure I use non-toxic toilet bowl cleaner and yet I was throwing the equivalent of Scrubbing Bubbles on my face daily.  That doesn't make a lick of sense.  So I googled "all natural face wash" and this is where things really went south.

Olive Oil, nature's best kept skin care secret.  The internet witch doctors all basically pointed me in the same direction: mix up some olive oil and some castor oil and apply it to your face every night, then throw a steamy towel on your face and let your pores have a spa day.  And you guys, I was LOVING IT.  I mean, rubbing grease all over your face feels good, people.  I may or may not have rubbed popcorn butter all over my face one time at the movies when I was in middle school, so I may or may not have known how much I'd like rubbing olive oil all over my face.  PLUS, it was cost effective since it doubles as makeup remove and you only have to use a tiny drop.  This was working.  My skin was feeling silky smooth and it was glowing.

Fast forward a month or two and I notice my scalp is itchy all the time.  Then horror of horrors I get a bad case of dandruff out of no where!   I couldn't get rid of it and was starting to WebMD all these horrible skin conditions I could have.  Then one day, as I am reading a parenting magazine I see a tiny little footnote of a PSA listing things you shouldn't use to cure your baby's cradle cap.  Olive oil actually feeds the yeast/fungus that causes cradle cap, worsening rather than curing the symptoms.  So my totally hippie, all-natural, cancer-free facewash was giving me some wicked dandruff and thus, I had to jump ship.

I'm still at a loss of what to do.  I bought some Alba Botanica brand acne wash because I love their sunscreen, but it ain't workin.  Am I doomed to a life of bad skin, or is there actually a good all-natural, eco-friendly face wash out there for me?