Using sebum/oil in pores to activate BHA
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free skin care · Sat Apr 21, 2007 7:48 pm

... or other fat-soluble exfoliants.
Pardon me if I am reinventing a common wheen here, but I am not sure if something like this unless it's the way aspirin masks work.

I am envisioning something applied to a face that has not had oil applied to it, to be left on so that it is targeting the pores specifically and not doing much exfoliation on the rest of the skin -- a mask, or a serum with no oils, or a brush-on powder -- anything that would be lacking the oil that would enable the BHA to do more exfoliation except where the face itself is providing the oil.

Is this doable as a leave-on treatment? Or at all? I've seen products with salicylic acid but they usually have oils in them already.

Thanks.

free skin care · Sat Apr 21, 2007 8:15 pm

I never add any carrier oil or EO to my asprin masks and they work just fine.

free skin care · Sun Apr 22, 2007 10:22 am

It's about freaking time I tried one of those. Thanks for the nudge, Wild Cat. I just reviewed autumn's recipe.

If anyone else has thoughts on incorporating this strategy into a leave on gel or serum, please chime in. I'm wondering if it would be as simple as mixing some salicylic acid into aloe vera gel...?

free skin care · Sun Apr 22, 2007 11:24 am

Actually, I still use it as a mask. Just I leave it on me for very very long time...like an hour or more...I just do other things around the house, and I do it when my SO isn't home. Laughing

Btw, my skin is not at all sensitive.

free skin care · Mon Apr 23, 2007 2:40 am

Wild Cat wrote:

Actually, I still use it as a mask. Just I leave it on me for very very long time...like an hour or more...I just do other things around the house, and I do it when my SO isn't home. Laughing

Btw, my skin is not at all sensitive.

I thought BHAs stop "doing their thing" after about 30 min therefore it becomes ineffectual to leave them on the skin for 1 hour?

Confused

free skin care · Mon Apr 23, 2007 8:25 am

Hi amnis,

You're correct in terms of salicylic acid. According to the Biochemistry of Beauty [gee I miss those boards! Sad

] even when mixed with alcohol, salicylic acid only penetrates down a very few layers ... and then stops.

The whole idea behind SA peels, from what I understand, was that it was these very few top layers of skin that one wanted to remove ... Very Happy

That said, I use SA at 2% in a base cream. The initial benefit of the SA would be for the short time after applying it ... but there are lots and lots of SA products on the market that you leave on. So while it may only be actively working for a few minutes ... it doesn't hurt to leave it on ... Very Happy

Now ... just how that relates to the aspirin mask I don't know. Confused

ASA is, obviously, a related product to SA ... but whether or not it works precisely the same I don't know. Confused

Mary

free skin care · Mon Apr 23, 2007 8:45 am

Mary, I received your Refining & Rich & Refining creams just today!!!

As a person of ruddiness (possibble rosacea) and large clogged pores/orangepeel skin, I am looking for a strategy for targeting pores while leaving the rest of the skin alone so as not to redden or irritate it -- I'm not after exfoliation of all of the skin, just pores. That's why I was thinking of things that would not have oils -- so that product sitting on the skin would do little to it, while product sitting on a pore would actually get some BHA action. My understanding of how BHA works may not be quite right, but this was my thinking, based on BHA being fat-soluble, and AHA being water soluble.

Aspiring mask definitely seems like one thing to try -- perhaps having used a microexfoliation cloth half a day earlier.

I will definitely try out the two salicylic acid cremes I got from you and see what they do for me. Smile

free skin care · Mon Apr 23, 2007 11:33 am

BHA does most of it's exfoliating in the first 30 minutes, if you leave it on, it will continue to work all day - it retains it's antibacterial, anti-inflammatory and about 15% of it's exfoliating power even once the pH rises to 5.5 (normal skin). But as mentioned - that is BHA, not ASA - and while similar, they definitely are NOT the same thing. The pH plays a very large part in the efficacy of the BHA, too. If the pH isn't in the right range, you can apply BHA all you want & it won't do a thing for you.

free skin care · Mon Apr 23, 2007 12:39 pm

Well, that does it! I'm just going to have to order some real SA. (If I can EVER get around to finalizing my long list of ingredients on my "to order" list...). Maybe its time for me to evolve from aspirin masks....

Thanks guys. Smile

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