Monday, January 15, 2007

Begone, zits!

It has only taken me 38 ± 2 years to find a product that seems to actually do something about a pimple. For real! Honest! I had one of those burgeoning red bastards, and instead of progressing volcanically, it's dwindling away to nothingness.

Yeah, it would be nice to find something that actually prevents blemishes, but I haven't found anything that works well. Not antibiotics, not ProActiv, not rosacea medication—nothing.

What's working now is the Desert Essence Tea Tree Blemish Touch Stick. It's a wee glass tube with a roll-on applicator to dispense this aromatic liquid that contains tea tree oil, lavender oil, and other herbal substances. I bought it at Trader Joe's, and it smells far better than the Herbal Blemish Stick from Burt's Bees. That one contains fennel oil, and I hate-hate-hate the smell and taste and yea, the very idea of fennel, anise, fenugreek, and licorice. Ben hates the smell of the Desert Essence one, but it dissipates and hey, he's not the one applying it to his face.

So if you're afflicted by the occasional zit, can't bear putting benzoyl peroxide on your aging skin, and can abide herbal aromas, try one of these herbal blemish stick dealios. I have a linen closet packed full of chemicals and pharmaceuticals, so it's not as if I'm one of those all-natural, herbal-friendly types. But these mini roll-on gizmos seem to defang zits, so I'm sold.

5 comments:

Narya said...

Tea tree oil is an amazing substance. It heals just about any skin issue.

momo said...

Yes!! I can't remember why I bought it in the first place but it really works.

Mignon said...

I was in Singapore for a long work trip once, and had traveled there with a raging Poison Ivy rash on the backs of my legs. I finally went to a pharmacy in the busy downtown area, and had the pharmacist take a look. He was familiar with poison-y bushes and rashes, and I told him I'd been applying tea-tree oil (the only "pharmaceutical" I had in my travel kit). He narrowed his eyes at me and said, "Is this an American remedy?" I said probably not, and he said, "Good. I was afraid what kind of medicine was being practiced over there. You need to get that off of you as soon as possible and don't put it on any more rashes." After talking to him, and seeing his ointments work in a matter of days, I was ready to throw my tiny brown bottle of tea tree oil into the Singaporean jungle. But it's not much of a jungle, so I didn't do it.

I'm glad about your zits. Zits on grown-ups make me suspicious.

Mona Buonanotte said...

Tea Tree shampoo supposedly wards off head lice, which is why I use it religiously. (I work in the school library once a week...those kids are DIRTY.)

The Absent Minded Housewife said...

POP EM!!!!

ahem...I got excited.