I am not an expert on skin care but over the years I have found some products that work for me. I remember a few years ago trying out the Botanics range from Boots, worst mistake of my life, it left my skin dry and blotchy. I tried a few others which really let me down. Until one day this lady at Elizabeth Arden said to me "you don't have to buy all your products from one place yano, find products from far and wide and when you see what works for you stick to it". That's what I have done for the past 4 years ish.
CLEANSER
Let me start with the best cleanser I have used. Organic pharmacy carrot butter cleanser. It is oily but does the job. You apply it directly to the face and wipe off with a damp flannel. I tell you it takes ALL of your makeup and dirt off and leave face feeling soft and moisturised. Even in the morning when you wake up, the skin is still so soft. I must warn you it is a bit pricey at £40 but that small jar lasts for like 4-5 months.
TONER
I also use organic pharmacy herbal toner (I hear what you are saying right now, Alero you don't hear word, the lady said shop around lol). To be honest I never knew what toners were for, I always thought it was for people that whitened their skin. Anyways I still don't know what it does but I use it before moisturising and it cools the skin and seems to be a good base for the moisturiser. I like it. (Now off to Wikipedia to find out what a toner is really for).
MOISTURISER
I use Aveeno daily moisture for body and face (which is a no no in the skin care bible) but I don't really care. As I said I did that it works for me for several reasons. It keeps the face moisturised all day plus when I apply it before my makeup my face isn't oily but still feels moisturised.
In the past I used the Elizabeth Arden 8 hour cream with SPF 50 but it was really heavy on the skin. Very thick and oily. If only there was another face moisturiser with SPF higher than 30 that doesn't leave the face oily (if you know of any let me know).
EXFOLIATOR
To be honest I haven't found one that works for me. I don't mean a weak daily Exfoliator that does absolutely nothing for you, I am talking about hard core grains that will scrub off this dead cells. Please if you know of any comment below.
Some handy alternatives for periods of austerity when skin care products were not on the budget. Coconut oil cleanses very well. I love coconut oil on the hair and skin. I clean off all makeup with coconut oil and then wash and then use also as a moisturiser before going to bed. It's handy to buy coconut oil in a jar rather than a bottle because it hardens and is difficult to get out in a bottle.
These are a few of my favourite things. As I said find what works for you and don't chop and change products because it works for your friend. Find what works and stick to it.
The Baby food diet (no comment ), juicing diet (I am hungry jor), paleo diet (if the title doesn't reflect what the diet entails then pls jog on), sailors diet (is this like fresh fish peppersoup diet?), raw food diet..
These are just a few famous ones that feel like they are out to end peoples lives.
The diets I have tried personally and can comment on are below.
Atkins diet
We all remember this one right? My mum bought the book around 2001/2002. I began to study it just out of curiosity because I didn't have a weight problem. Fast forward years later all my studying came to good use. I started doing a low carb Atkinish diet (I wasn't going to let jellof rice pass me by, Atkins kor Atkins ni). Let's just say that phase didn't last long, no bread, no rice, no pasta, no carbs at all? Who did this man think he was? Mshewww. I was even angry at myself for trying. On to the next jor. (You see how it brings back angry memories)
Forever living Cleanse 9
Next one forever living cleanse 9 diet or detox or whatever they are calling it now. First of all it is not realistic to loose the amount they claim in 9 days. But being one that was addicted to diets I said "yes please, take my money and don't say a word". Day 1 I was so gingered, I breezed past it. Day 2 My senses were so sharp, I noticed I could smell unopened crisps from shops half a mile away, ah ah warris it, I was HUNGRY. Day 3 I gave up. The end. Weight loss zero kg and 3 vile Jerrycans of Aloe Vera sitting by my bedside giving me dirty looks every night at bedtime (na you know....gheez)
5:2 diet
By this time you will think ok diets have kicked her to the ground and stomped on her head too many times for her to fall for another one naw. NEVER! I am not a quitter. So I decided to buy the 5:2 fast diet book, I thought what's the worse that can happen. The 5:2 diet appealed to me because you can eat normally on five days and do a 600 calorie day on two days. I thought 5 days of Big Jellof rice and two days of small jellof rice, bring it on. This was a more realistic diet because you can do this long term and not miss or crave things. I managed to do it for a couple of weeks and I must admit I lost a little bit of weight. It was great while it lasted but the results were not fast enough for me. I wanted hard and fast results, I wanted my own before and after, I wanted abs that would set off metal detectors and fire alarms all round the country (is that not what we all want from diets?) so I moved on, nothing to see here pipo.
1200-a-day
So I went back to the good ole 1200 calories a day boring diet that when
You start to tell someone about it they fall into a deep deep sleep that even a true loves kiss cannot even begin to resuscitate. To be honest this is what worked for me. There is a very simple formula to weigh loss Calories consumed should be less than Calories burned S H I K E N A. eat less and exercise more. Say it with me "eat less, exercise more". I eat 1200 calories on my day off from the gym and on gym days I can eat between 1500 and 1800 calories and go hard at the gym. I don't deprive myself of stuff. I will still have ice cream and popcorn once a week at the cinema and kinda have all my bad things on one day of the week. It works but it is not a fast method of losing weight, it's gradual and if consistent you will see results.
In my opinion diets don't work, you have to change something forever, either portions or completely cut out the biggest hitters. It has to be a permanent long term change. Learn how to eat and change bad habits, once you do that you are most of the way there really. Change something today and stop making diet sellers rich.
Ps.
To purchase my "See me, I see you diet" send me a bank transfer of just £199. For the more extreme "silent crase" diet make that £399. Ok bye *off to go and price land in Lekki*
Wisdom of the day
