The Skin Type Solution

Do you hate your skin, or is it just me?

I don’t mean that I hate YOUR skin, I mean that all my life all I have ever seen are the many flaws that make up my face. I think I look so BLOTCHY, and so PORE-Y, which is a word I just totally made up, and also so BREAK OUT-Y and now? As a bonus? I am getting WRINKLY.

This last woe may have something to do with the fact that the only times in life I have ever liked my skin was when I was tan. And oh, did I tan. I spent every summer from age 12 to 25 visiting my father, who lived in Dallas and then Atlanta. He ALWAYS had a pool. I ALWAYS had one of those sort of tin-foil-looking reflective mats to lie on.

He would go to work, and I would roll out of bed at around 10:30, before tanning hours really began. It seems like I always had coffee and a blueberry yogurt. Now, at some point or another I must have had some other thing for breakfast. There must have been raspberry yogurt mornings, but all I remember, for 13 consecutive summers, was coffee and blueberry yogurt.

But, shockingly, I digress. After that hearty fare, I would go to the pool, and lie there. Sometimes I would swim, but mostly I would sun myself. Like a lizard. Until he got home from work.

Man, I looked good at the time. I’d go back to school all brown and cute and thin from living on coffee and yogurt. But now? Keith Richards called. Wants his complexion back.

A few weeks ago I touted the virtues of my Smashbox makeup to help disguise my skin and its sad state. But a while back I also bought a book to teach me how to improve the actual skin that’s there, rather than just covering it up to Topeka and back.

The book is called The Skin Type Solution, written by Dr. Leslie Baumann, a dermatologist.

The book talks about all types of skin. You take a giant test, and the results direct you to the chapter that address your problems. And even better, after you have figured out what type of skin you have? She recommends products for you: cleanser, toner, sun block, moisturizer, oil control serum, etc.

There are 15 different skin types she addresses. For example, my charming type is ORNW — oily, resistant, non-pigmented and wrinkled. Don’t I sound pretty? Don’t you just want to chuck it all and date me right now?

The best part about this book is that Dr. Baumann recommends all kinds of products, from the lowest-priced to the fanciest. She has a little code next to each product so you know if you can just gather up your spare change or apply for a small business loan to purchase the products. Then, finally, she tells you the two or three from this list that she just loves.

I have used the low-end cleanser she recommended (L’Oreal Pure Zone Unclogging Scrub Cleanser
) (maybe they should try for a longer name next time) and I love it! I also bought the sun block she suggested (Neutrogena Ultra Sheer Dry-Touch Sunblock
).

I’ve loaned the book to other friends, and I hope Dr. Baumann doesn’t sue me for it, and they were pleased, as well. So, that’s the SKIN-ny on The Skin Type Solution. Go get it!