Day Zero

This blog is about the adversarial relationship I have with my skin. My skin is very sensitive, and so I have break outs basically from the waist up when something crazy happens, most recently when my last boyfriend was deployed. Lots of people break out, but black people with sensitive skin like mine get pimples and things that like to leave their mark in case you forget that they ever existed. These marks (hyperpigmentation) seem to last FOREVER. An old friend of mine told me yesterday, "I didn't know you had freckles." I don't, but the break out scars from 2 months ago, say I do.

Admittedly, I have not been consistent with all of the reasonably priced remedies to my situation. I always fall off the skin care regimen before the prescribed six weeks. It's not that I give up or quit, I just lack consistency. This time though...I'm going to follow directions and stop fighting with my skin. This blog will be my skin diary.

So here's the regimen, courtesy Oprah and Cultura in DC. I have an Oprah-approved Colon Cleanse and Dorex (a type of antibiotic) for my insides. I've done the colon cleanse before and it's very gentle. I also take Coconut Oil capsules with my food to counteract the yeasty affects the Dorex has on my digestive tract.

For my face, I'm using Dermalogica in the morning and Aveeno bar soap at night. Both are followed by Clindamycin wipes. In the morning I coat my face with Obagi after the Clindamycin and then some Neutrogena moisturizer with 15 spf sunscreen. At night, after the Clindamycin, I use retinol, and then a vitamin C moisturizer.

On my chest and back I wash with Aveeno in the morning and Neutrogena calming acne body wash (the green one) in the evening. I follow with clindamycin wipes and retinol in the morning, 6% Salicylic acid lotion at night.

The wonderful doctors at Cultura in Washington DC suggested chemical peels and lasers, which I want. However, my concern is that if they give my a clean slate, so to speak, I'll just break out again and be back where I started, minus a couple thousand dollars. And so here I am, giving this regimen a fair shot. If I can get the break outs under control, I will jump to lasers and peels and things. It all begins tomorrow morning, but I have to wake up on time every morning for six weeks (difficult) and I have to make sure I have enough water to drink no matter where I am (also difficult). Here we go.