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

I usually don’t consider myself at all vain. I think I’m attractive and I have a positive self esteem about my looks. I’m one of the few women I know who would not choose plastic surgery because I don’t particularly hate anything about myself. My boobs have held up nicely, I don’t have terrible stretch marks, I’m just fine with how I look and I think that’s a super healthy attitude. But, this melasma is REALLY getting to me.

 For those of you who don’t know pregnancy mask or melasma is extra pigmentation on the face that occurs in about 20 percent of women during pregnancy. Although it is much worse when exposed to the sun. One dermatologist wrote an article about sun damage being the actual cause and pregnancy making it worse. Either way I’ve got it.

I confess to frequent sun worship as a teen and young adult, but I never had this. After my daughter the pregnancy mask went away, just as the doctors said it would, after a few months. But, now my son is 14-months-old and I’m still a freaking leopard face.

There is no cure. That’s what kills me. I can try oodles and oodles of creams and potions that all cost a ton of money and probably won’t work. I can try laser treatment that will likely not be consistent across the face and may, in fact, cause scarring. So, some spots and some scarring – how is that better?

Foundation, cover-ups and concealers, I’ve tried bunches of them but they only make it worse. They don’t cover the dark spots, but make the light spots look like I’m gobbing on the wrong color of foundation.

Even with all these facts I’m begging anyone out there to tell me about some miracle cure. I’ve read about this chemical Hydroquinone, but it’s photosensitive, which means you can not be in the sun at all or you’ll turn into a beet. Then, I’ll be a spotted beet. It’s summer and I’m fun mommy so I can’t avoid the sun altogether.

Post from: Blisstree

Can A Leopard Change Her Spots