The New Regime to Take Care of Hair, Skin, Nails - Day 33

A "What Cosmetics Routine Works For Me" is right after this summary...

Well, technically, now I'm a day or so behind. All this damn snow (thigh deep! dear lord.) made it impossible for me to keep my original appointment, and I ended up missing a pill because my refill was late. So! We shall just call this 'Day 33 of actually taking Accutane' and leave it at that. It probably doesn't make any difference long term, but just sayin'.

So, my dose got doubled, and now I'm taking 80mg. I had the generic Claravis for the first month, and now I have Amnesteem. I've heard rumors that Amnesteem is a little gentler with the side effects, so let's see if it makes any difference.

Now, the beauty regime!

Face

• Basic routine: wash and moisturize morning and night. No exceptions, ever. You will pay the price the next morning in excessive dryness and blotchiness if you don't. Wear makeup as little possible. Put it on right before you leave and take it off as soon as you get back so your skin can breathe.
• Ditch any and all products that have even the slightest hint of 'oil control' or 'acne' or 'blackhead' or 'alcohol' or ANYTHING similar in the name. No toners, astringents, nothing. Accutane is abusing your skin enough, all these things will just make it worse. Switch to a cream cleanser. I use: Aveeno Baby Soothing Relief Creamy Wash. It does a great job, even for makeup. My derm suggested La Roche Posay Toleriane, which is very good, but also relatively expensive. If you like splurging at Sephora, try Philosophy's Purity Made Simple facewash. I'm working through some samples I got, and I really, really love it. It does an unbelievable job removing makeup, no lather, very gentle, doesn't dry my face out. Give it a shot, I'm considering getting the full size bottle (24oz = $40... sigh.) once I'm off the Accutane. The other classic option is Cetaphil. Almost everyone loves this stuff. I haven't tried it though.
• Moisturizer - ditch anything that has fragrance. It's incredibly irritating to your skin, especially when it's on the dry, irritated side. This goes for ALL your cosmetic products. I'm using Cetaphil cream for the night, and Neutrogena Visibly Even SPF 15 during the day. (Which isn't enough, but I have dark skin, so I can sort of get away with it in the winter. Lighter skin should use SPF 30.) On days when my skin is *really* dry, like even the Cetaphil isn't completely fixing it, I'll moisturize and then put a THIN layer of Vaseline on the dry areas before I sleep. It works like a charm, but Vaseline isn't the greatest thing to put on your skin on a regular basis. Another trick is to smear excess Cetaphil on, but don't rub it in. Just let it sit for 20 minutes or so, it'll absorb and really relieve the dryness.
• Note on Vaseline - it's not a moisturizer. It will seal moisture in, however. So putting just Vaseline doesn't provide anything extra. It's only useful if you use moisturizer underneath.

Lips

• Oh, this is the worst of the side effects. Carmex, Burt's Bee's, Rosebud Salve, some regular Neutrogena stuff has all been wonderful. Re: that note on Vaseline up there, apply this stuff then put a thin layer of Vaseline on top every time you possibly can. If all you have on you in Vaseline, then use it. It's better than nothing. I've been known to rub the leftover Cetaphil from my hands onto my lips after I moisturize my face when I've been really desperate. There were a couple days when they were so red and painful that the only thing I could think of was to apply straight Neosporin. It worked beautifully, even if it was a little gross.

Body

• The body dryness is brutal. Moisturize everywhere as often as you can, and keep moisturizer in your purse for your hands. You will need it. I pink puffy heart Curel. It's amazing stuff, the one in the blue bottle. And cheap!
• Use a moisturizing body wash, if not a cream based wash. Using a cream based wash isn't as important for your body as it is for your face, but it will definitely help. The Aveeno Baby stuff I use for my face would be fine as a body wash too. Just remember to go fragrance free!!!

Hair

• I probably spent the longest time researching this. I have long, long hair, past my waist. It's also pretty coarse, thick, and dry. This is... the worst scenario, because the Accutane might dry it out to the point it just starts breaking off. I will not let this happen!
• I'm washing my hair 1-2 times a week, depending on how oily my scalp gets. Yes, my hair really is this dry, trust me. I cannot wash it more than that, it'll turn into straw. I never blow dry, and the max I straighten is once a week, for the weekend. If I need to wash a second time in the week, I skip the shampoo and only use conditioner to keep it from drying out too much.
• For now, I'm just sticking with Herbal Essences, even though I know I should use something better. Oh well. Gospel truth for hair: shampoo your scalp. NOT YOUR ENDS. Condition your ends. NOT YOUR SCALP. I cannot even begin to tell you how much healthier and manageable my hair became after I started doing this a few months ago.
• There are a million things you can do if you notice dryness. My scalp started getting flaky, and I'm nipping that right in the bud. No dandruff shampoo, I figure that'll be too irritating, and since the flakiness is from dryness, I'm trying to get moisture/oil back in. (If the following stuff doesn't help, then it might actually be dandruff. Try Denorex or Head & Shoulders or Selsun Blue, etc.)
• On that note! Precondition your hair before washing. As an experiment, I took a decent amount of baby oil (yes, the J&J variety, and no, I'm not crazy) and really rubbed it into my scalp. Left it in for about half an hour, and then washed and conditioned normally. Flakiness GONE.
• J&J is nothing special. Sephora sells some incredibly overpriced jojoba oil hair oil, if you would like. Me? I'm heading to an ethnic store (it'll be a fraction of the cost of mainstream stores) and getting a small bottle of coconut oil. It smells, but it'll get washed out, and coconut oil is the oil that is best at absorbing into the hair shaft.
• DO NOT turban your hair after you wash it. This leads to breakage, and all that 'baby hair' around your forehead. Squeeze it with the towel (don't wring it out either) and let it air dry. Heat process it as little as possible. Put a leave in conditioner in every day. I vote for Biosilk Silk Therapy.
• If you heat process, you must put a serum on first. Biosilk Silk Therapy Serium has been a godsend for me and my dry hair. Check ebay, I got a 1 liter bottle for about $50, which is fantastic. It lasts forever, also. I've had it for a year, and I've gone through maybe 1/5 of the bottle, on my waist length hair. TOTALLY worth it.

Vitamins

• I'm taking two supplements. A Rainbow Light brand multivitamin for women, and Nature's Bounty 1000mcg of biotin. Biotin is supposed to help hair, skin, nails, and metabolism. I've heard amazing things about it, but it's going to take a few more weeks to see if it's making any difference for me. The reason I'm using these two brands is because they're minimally synthetic and as natural as possible, which means your body is more likely to actually USE what's in the tablets. A lot of the cheaper, more synthetic pills pass right through your system because your body isn't as good as absorbing it.

Above all: DRINK WATER. Drink more water than you've ever had in your entire life. It will serve you well.