#skin lab

[musicmags]

[musicmags]

[kindofluxe]

M.E. Skin Lab Baume 27

[phanlab-blog]

Is Baking soda skin friendly?

As I introduce a bit about myself and my interest in my first post, I am fascinated in learning new languages and learning about natural skincare methods. I would like to make this blog as a place where I share and learn about them both. It seems a bit odd to put these two unrelated subjects into one blog, but, yep, why not?

If you are okay with that, let's first get start with Baking soda, one of the most controversial ingredients for beauty.

Oh, I think I should let you know what are my beliefs in beauty regime so that you could identify if your share any relevance to it or not. 

First of all, I only believe in the efficiency of a product including both natural or synthetic cosmetic after I have a time to test it out on my own skin. I learn a hard way that there are so many things that are too good to be true out there. Also, the ways to use the produce and the amount are the key factors leading to success. I learn that if I have bad experience from a product in the first time, possibly, I use it incorrectly.

Now, back to baking soda, there are a lot of confusing information for the use of baking soda on skin out there. Some say good, and some say bad. I am not going to talk much "theoretical" information about it. Instead, here is what I have been experiencing with Baking Soda on my skin:

I have been using baking soda as my primary exfoliant for almost 9 months, twice a week, at night. I experience good results so far, however, only when I use it correctly. 

How did I use it?

First, when I use baking soda for exfoliating, I do not wash my face with anything, not even water. Because baking soda is quite harsh, so I don't want to over exfoliate my face with it. I start with a teaspoon of baking soda on my left hand, then slowly pour some drops of water in the hand to make a base of baking soda. Then I use my right hand fingers to gently spread the baking soda base on my face like a face mask. The key is " to gentle", don't rub it on your face.

After you done the face mask, leave it there for about 5 minutes.  Then wash it off. Washing the baking soda off your face is also a crucial step. Please don't rub! Since the baking soda is supposed to be dry on the face right now, I take a bit of water on my both hands and damp the whole face. Haft of the baking soda mask is supposed to be remove by water alone. Again, don't rub at this step.

Then, when with the rest of baking soda left on your face, now use your fingers and gently massage the face all over for about 2 minutes. You will notice a lot of death skin come out at this step. Wash everything off after you done the massage.

I always, always, always, follow the baking soda mask with a honey mask. I put pure honey on my face right away when my face still a bit wet. Honey will bring back moisturize and other good stuffs for your skin. Some people advice that you should not leave any mask on your face for more than 30 minutes. However, I often leave the honey mask as long as it all dried, or as long as I want to, normally up to 1 hour. 

I used to have terrible white heads, but now they all gone. This combination of baking soda exfoliator and honey mask work wonderful for me.

Next time, I'll take about my experience with another controversial beauty ingredients: Coconut oil

[skincareobsession]

Hada Labo Lotions and Essences

I want to share with you the Hada Labo brand. Their products are fragrance free, colorant free, mineral oil free and alcohol (ethanol) free.

A description of the great properties of super hyaluronic acid on sasa.com's hada labo page:

"Hyaluronic Acid helps improve the moisture retention of skin. For 1g of Hyaluronic Acid, it could hold 6L of liquid. HadaLabo Gokujyun skincare products contain Super Hyaluronic Acid (which has double moisture retention power than regular hyaluronic acid). With sufficient Hyaluronic Acid, your skin looks moistened, soft and supple." 

I have been using two sets of Hada Labo lotions and essence for the past six months. I use the regular Gokujyun Super Hyaluronic acid lotion and essence in the morning, and then the whitening lotion and essence at night. I have pretty bad acne scars from a hormonal outbreak last year. The whitening lotion and essence works wonders. Sometimes, I even soak up a clean dry sheet of precut sheet masks which can be purchased from Daiso or any other Asian skincare store retailer. I soak up the dry mask with either one of these lotions and leave it on my face for fifteen minutes. This is a great way to make your own sheet masks for a cheap price.

Hada Labo supposedly sells one bottle of their Super Hyaluronic Acid Lotion every four seconds in Japan! 

The texture of both lotions are extremely light. I cannot tell much of a difference between the two lotions. However, if you would like a whitening and moisturizing effect, choose the blue bottle type. 

You only need one to two drops of lotion and slowly pat it on your face until there is a sticky feeling, and continue patting and the sticky feeling will be gone. The texture of both lotions are thicker than a normal toner. I usually use two to three pumps of essence and pat it on my face the same way. The texture of the essences are somewhat sticky. 

Some details of the type of ingredients in their products...

The ingredients of the Super Hyaluronic Acid Lotion are: Water, Butylene Glycol, Glycerin, PPG-10 Methyl Glucose Ether, Disodium Succinate, Methlyparaben, Sodium Hyaluronate, Hydroxyethylcellulose, Succinic Acid, Sodium Acetylated Hyaluronate

The ingredients of the Super Hyaluronic Acid Moist Essence EX: Water, Glycerin, Butylene Glycol, 1,2-Pentylene Glycol, PPG-10 Methyl Glucose Ether, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Hydroxyethyl Acrylate/Sodium Acryloyldimethyl Taurate Copolymer/Squalane/Polysorbate 60, Sodium Hyaluronate, Limnanthes Alba (Meadowfoam) Seed Oil, Methylparaben, Disodium EDTA, Disodium Succinate, Sodium Acetylated Hyaluronate.

Where to purchase? The Super Hyaluronic Acid Lotion is cheapest on Sasa.com, which is currently selling it for $12.30USD. The Whitening version of the lotion costs a bit more, and so do the essences. But you can purchase a good Hada Labo essence for under $20 on there. Hada Labo products can also be found in Japanese markets here in the U.S. However, they charge double the prices charged on sasa.com. 

Overall, their lotions and essences are a great buy! A bottle of the lotion lasts forever, because you only need a little bit for each usage. It is worth the price for what it does! My skin is super moisturized and supple after using Hada Labo products!  

Overall Rating for my experience with Hada Labo products featured in this post:    5/5     ★★★★★