Scrubs, I don't use those anymore and how I wish I had stopped before I did. Because of the last one I used, Clinique, I ended up with a few broken capillaries on both my cheeks. *cries*
Needless to say that I have warned my daughter about them and hopefully she will never consider them. She has pale, delicate skin with a tendency to get red cheeks. She might even be a candidate to rosacea in the future. Using a scrub, even the mildest one, could do a number on her skin so it will definitely be best for her to avoid them all together.
The best product I ever used for cleansing the surface of the sebaceous filaments I have on my nose and helping with blackheads was Estée Lauder's Solid Milk Cleansing Grains. This was HG during my teens & 20's. It came in a cylinder container and was in powder form. All you had to do was pour about a teaspoon in the palm on your hand and add a bit of water to make a paste. Used as a scrub, it was super gentle and gave my skin some kind of extra boost making it glow. Really I'm not kidding! There where no beads or rough particles in there to irritate the skin and it did such a great job. I don't know when it was taken off the market but I so wish it would return. I may try to experiment eventually and make my own. I think the main ingredients where milk powder, oatmeal and some almond powder. I tried to find a reference to in on the web but had no luck. I guess it's been off the market for too long.
My second best is another old timer but this one is still, thankfully, on the market: The Body Shop's Honey & Oat 3-in-1 Scrub Mask.
This is a mask but you don't have to use it as such. For relaxation purposes you could apply a good amount on your face and neck, wait about 10 minutes and gently rince off, massaging to get the "scrub" effect. Don't let it dry completely, doing so you may end up rubbing too much to loosen it up and as a result, irritate your skin.
Most times I don't do this. I simply take a little less than a teaspoon of the product and on a clean face, gently massage as if it were a scrub adding just enough water so it will glide nicely without being too runny. The mixture, combined with the oatmeal particles, exfoliate just like a scrub would but is much more gentle for my skin.
The only downside of this product, the container is too small! 100 ml is not enough!
For some reason it's not showing on The Body Shop Canada website but appears as a Best Seller on the UK site. I can only hope that this is a temporary thing. I wouldn't want to have to start ordering it. I haven't been to a boutique since last summer when I purchased my last jar so hopefully they still have it in stock. If I remember correctly I believe I paid about $17.00 CAD for it.
Reviews:
MakeupAlley: 4 / 5 lippies for 129 members
Beauté-test: 4 / 5 stars for 84 members
Click below for the ingredients.
Ingredients from The Body Shop website:
Aqua (Water) (Solvent/Diluent), Avena sativa (Abrasive), C12-15 Alkyl Benzoate (Emulsifier), Kaolin (Absorbent), Mel (Honey (Mel)) (Natural Additive), Glyceryl Stearate (Emulsifier), Butylene Glycol (Humectant), PEG-100 Stearate (Surfactant), Myristyl Myr
Now what's a little disturbing is that The Body Shop states, "Full Ingredients". Yet, if you go on Beautypedia, you see it's only half the story or is it?
Ingredients from Beautypedia:
Water, Avena Sativa (Oat) Bran, C12-15 Alkyl Benzoate, Kaolin, Honey, Glyceryl Stearate, Butylene Glycol, PEG-100 Stearate, Myristyl Myristate, Behenyl Alcohol, Glycerin, Hydrogenated Coco-Glycerides, Sodium Lactate, Benzyl Alcohol, Phenyl Trimethicone, Titanium Dioxide, Biosaccharide Gum-1, Phenoxyethanol, Hectorite, Sodium PCA, Fragrance, Saccharide Isomerate, Methylparaben, Butylparaben, Ethylparaben, Propylparaben, Citric Acid, Caramel
The most complete list I found was on Beauté-test:
Aqua (Water) (Solvent/Diluent), Avena sativa (Abrasive), C12-15 Alkyl Benzoate (Emulsifier), Kaolin (Absorbent), Mel (Honey (Mel)) (Natural Additive), Glyceryl Stearate (Emulsifier), Butylene Glycol (Humectant), PEG-100 Stearate(Surfactant), Myristyl Myristate (Emollient), Behenyl Alcohol (Emollient), Glycerin (Humectant), Hydrogenated Coco-Glycerides (Emollient), Sodium Lactate (Skin Conditioning Agent), Benzyl Alcohol (Preservative), Phenyl Trimethicone (Emollient/Hair Conditioner), Titanium Dioxide (Sunscreen), Biosaccharide Gum-1 (Skin Conditioning Agent), Phenoxyethanol (Preservative), Hectorite (Opacifier), Sodium PCA (Humectant), Saccharide Isomerate (Humectant), Methylparaben (Preservative), Parfum (Fragrance), Butylparaben (Preservative), HexylCinnamal (Fragrance Ingredient), Ethylparaben (Preservative), Benzyl Salicylate (Fragrance Ingredient),Propylparaben (Preservative), Linalool (Fragrance Ingredient), Citronellol (Fragrance Ingredient), Butylphenyl Methylpropional (Fragrance Ingredient), Geraniol (Fragrance Ingredient), Citric Acid (pH Adjuster), Limonene(Fragrance Ingredient), Benzyl Benzoate (Solvent), Hydroxycitronellal (Fragrance Ingredient), Methyl 2-Octynoate (Fragrance Ingredient), Isoeugenol (Fragrance Ingredient), Eugenol (Fragrance Ingredient), Amyl Cinnamal(Fragrance Ingredient), Amylcinnamyl Alcohol (Fragrance Ingredient), Anisyl Alcohol (Fragrance Ingredient), Benzyl Cinnamate (Fragrance Ingredient), Cinnamal (Fragrance Ingredient), Cinnamyl Alcohol (Fragrance Ingredient), Citral (Fragrance Ingredient), Coumarin (Fragrance Ingredient), Evernia furfuracea (Fragrance Ingredient), Evernia prunastri (Oakmoss Extract) (Natural Additive), Farnesol (Fragrance Ingredient), Hydroxyisohexyl 3-Cyclohexene Carboxaldehyde (Fragrance Ingredient), Caramel (Colour).
As you can see, all the fragrance ingredients have been includes which makes the list quite long.
