photo of Melody Bruggeman
Beginners guide to skincare and advice to getting healthier skin
Are you looking for ways to keep your skin healthy and hydrated, but don’t know how to start a skin care routine?
When it comes to looking after your skin, the process can seem daunting; there’s so much to choose from whether your skin is oily, dry, or a combination.
You should be curating your beauty routine to your skin type. If your skin tends to get patchy, you probably have dry skin. If your face gets shiny all over throughout the day, you most likely have an oily type. However, if your skin is a combination of oily and dry, you have a normal skin type.
Beyond these prescriptive types, your skin can also be sensitive, dehydrated or acne-prone. As explains The Sydney Morning Herald, dehydrated is not the same as dry, which is patchier and caused by lack of oil; dehydrated skin is dull and caused by a lack of water.
Once you have figured out your skin type, it gets somewhat easier. If you have dry skin, you want a hydrating regime. If your skin is more oily, gel products apply best. This applies to both cleansers and moisturizers.
If you have trouble figuring out your skin type, or even just want a professional’s opinion, you’re in luck. Melody Bruggeman is a licensed esthetician and certified medical assistant who works for Solace Salon in Roseburg on 2564 NW Edenbower Blvd. She offers different forms of skin therapy and can help suggest products for personalized home skin care treatments. Bruggeman also does a wide variety of skin care treatments such as core skin treatments, porcelain peels and hydrodermabrasion. The core skin treatments cleanse, exfoliate, massage, mask and moisturize. The porcelain peel smooths the skin surface. The hydrodermabrasion lifts off damaged skin layers for clearer, brighter and smoother skin. It also refines pores with immediate results, according to Solace Salon.
Bruggeman also does hair removal, lash extensions and tints for eyebrows and eyelashes.
For skin treatments, Bruggeman suggests getting a full face treatment first. After that, she suggests targeted treatments, such as treatment for the T-zone of your face (the forehead and nose).
Her personal favorite skin treatment is the porcelain peel. This is a combination of gentle physical and chemical exfoliation of the whole face.
One of the most important things Bruggeman mentioned was home care. She stated that home care can make treatments more effective: “If you don’t do your home care, or even if you overdo your home care, it can make future treatments less effective.” Bruggeman said that people who overuse retinol or try to use a microderm machine without training tend to get less effective treatments.
Furthermore, Bruggeman explained that some skincare items found online are black-marketed, or not really as they are depicted, so it’s important to know where your products are coming from.
If there is a popular brand listed for half price on eBay, it is most likely black-marketed, she said.
When you don’t have the money to get professional treatments, Bruggeman recommends at least going to a professional to learn about skin care.
She also says that while cleaning your skin is important, if a person has dry skin, it would be more important to moisturize, especially because cleaning can dry out the skin more and damage it.
Most importantly, Bruggeman says that diet is one of the biggest factors to skin care. She recommends ingesting essential fatty acids first and foremost. The best foods to eat for essential fatty acids are fish, fruits, vegetables and avocado. She also states that smoking or ingesting nicotine can throw your skin off balance, and also makes skin treatments less effective. Smoking can also make the skin patchy and discolored.
Contact me at:
UCCMainstream@yahoo.com