Well, you wear whatever you want. I’m wearing a hat.

I think hats are fabulous as a fashion statement.

I have a practical reason too – keeps the sun off the face. Maybe you all remember my post Can a Leapord Change Her Spots where I told you about my melasma? Well, I got quite a few comments from other women with the same problem.

To break melasma down, it’s a skin condition with dark brown spots caused by hormones produced during pregnancy. Many dermatologists say it’s latent sun damage which is exacerbated by hormone changes during pregnancy. Whatever causes it, everyone agrees that sun exposure makes it way worse.

Not only that, but the creams and gels to fade the dark spots are all very photo-sensitive. Which means, if you are exposed to sun after you use them you’ll burn your face off.

We must wear sunscreen – every single day, no matter what. But, I’ve been at the pool with SPF 50 and still gotten noticably darker spots.

I thought back to my Granny, who always wore a sun bonnet. Why? To keep the sun off her face. A hat creates shade wherever you go. See how much of my face is in the shade up there?

Oh, and yes, I have found something that works pretty well to fade the spots of melasma. It’s SkinCeuticals Phyto Corrective Gel – 30 ml and it’s about $50 a jar. Which, after spending a few hundred on products that absolutely do not work, isn’t sounding like so much anymore.

I figure – shell out the $50 to correct the problem and then wear sunscreen and a hat to prevent it from coming back.

More stories about Melasma and the other products I’ve tried:

Can A Leopard Change Her Spots?

I Found The Spot Remover

Pur Perfection For Pregnancy Mask

Post from: Blisstree

Bringing Back The Hat

Pur Minerals Pur-fect Starter Kit(boxed)is what it’s called. It’s the same concept as the Sheer Minerals, surely you’ve sat through the info-mercial while breast feeding the baby at 3 am. Or was that just me? I seriously considered buying it, except I thought the mask would go away within a few months so why waste the money?

Here’s why. It’s all over my freaking face, that’s why!

I’m cheap to the point of mental illness on lots of things, but I realized I don’t want to be embarrassed about my face. I can’t hide it, it’s what people first look at and see when they talk to me. I’m used to being an attractive person and that is, evidently, something that turns out to be important enough for me to spend a little $$ cha-ching.

Other brands are $65, which I might not have spent, I figured $35 was not that bad for a concealer, bronzer, foundation, powder, blush and brush. I bought the set because they retail the “special brush” for $25. It was a splurge, but since I had left all my make-up at home accidentally I had a good excuse. (Thanks, God).

Here’s the key, after speaking to the cosmetologist, who also had an very good education about melasma or pregnancy mask – you have to go with a very dark color to cover the dark spots. Otherwise, you just look stupid and even more spotty. It looks and feels like a lot of make-up, I won’t lie. But, it does create a smoother, more flawless finish. Which is nice.

The cure – going to the dermatologist for 4% Hydroquinone or a chemical peel like Retin-A – will have to wait until after summer. Those photosensitive chemicals will burn my face off even with a ton of sunscreen. I’m unwilling to give up being fun mommy. You can get 2% Hydroquinone that will lighten the spots a little in creams like (Pack of 2) Palmer’s Skin Success Eventone Fade Cream regular, 2.7 oz for under $10 in the meantime.

p.s. I’m aware that my digital photography sucks, so really you’ll just have to take my word for it – I AM attractive and the makeup does cover. Eventually, I will invest in a decent camera. Until then. . .

Post from: Blisstree

Pur Perfection for Pregnancy Mask