Day and Night, Night and Day
This is the last of the half-assed short columns, I swear. But I am leaving for Austin in like, 10 minutes and am trying to get all these entries written ahead of time. Oh! Woe is me! My writing gig is going to cut into my drinking time! Noooo!
Dear Great One Who Has Been Designated As Knowing Many Things By The Internet (And Who I Totally Look Up To Because You Get Paid To Give Advice!):
I live in Chicago and this winter my skin just sort of freaked the hell out. What with the heat indoors. The arctic outdoors. And always with the switching between the heat and the arctic. After much angst I managed to find a cleanser that is gentle and effective but I still noticed that my skin was way too dry at night. I wash my face in the morning and evening, because otherwise? Gross. I’ve started moisturizing in the evening as well and miraculously this seems to have mostly solved my problems. However, I have just been using my regular morning moisturizing (Olay with SPF 15) and my question is should I be using something different at night on my skin? Some kind of magical night moisturizer?
Thanks,
Abby
Yes, in your case, I’d say you should be using a different moisturizer at night, if only because you don’t need that second helping of SPF. Nobody needs that. But for really dry or aging skin, yes! They do make magical night moisturizers. Made of enchanted fairy dust and unicorn tears.
Okay, maybe not that magical. But a lot of dermatologists recommend night creams for everybody over 30. Since my complexion tends to be pretty oily, they’re a total no-no for me. I’ve yet to try one that didn’t clog my pores. I think pretty much every product line offers at least one moisturizer designated as a “night” or “overnight” cream these days: Olay makes several, as does Burt’s Bees and even Philosophy offers one. These are hardcore moisturizers for seriously dry or older skin. (Which again…gah…is pretty much considered anyone over 30.)
So: if you have concerns about breakouts, and since your morning cream seems to work, you could probably get away with just using a regular moisturizer with the SPF at night. (Although I’d guess that the SPF would be just as likely to anger your pores as a night cream, so if you don’t have problems, you’d be okay with them.)
If the winter freakouts continue, as they probably will as you get older, I’d highly recommend you start playing around with night creams before the months of dryness start taking a permanent toll on your pretty skin.
Readers? Anybody got a specific suggestion for Abby?
Hiya!
I left you a comment a couple of weeks ago on your Smackdown post about mascara and eyelashes, wondering about Laura Bennett sleeping in her eyelashes. Well, curiosity got the better me, so I did some research on my own…
Here are the results, if you are interested.
Thank you for doing what you do–I can’t tell you how many times you have helped keep me sane in these sleepless months since I had my own turtle boy.
Thanks,
Paige
Awesome! And thank YOU, Paige, for writing this section of the column for me, because I am totally counting this as a question. Ka-CHING!
And I am also sooooo getting myself some falsies. And I will be one step closer to my dream of waking up every morning and looking like Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffanys.
And only about…oh, 4,294,245 more steps to go. Sigh.
