April is the cruellest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.
– from The Wasteland, T.S. Eliot 1922
Yes, indeed, dull souls, we of the northern latitudes are once again at that time of year when the Ides of March and the Spring season of outdoor frivolity are soon upon us. Winter sports enthusiasts, say no more. We’ve endured your endless vim and vigor boasts to the very limit.
For us not yet to thaw, immobilized by sloth and torpor, our skin like an ancient ruin, we must emerge from our caves soon to greet an unfamiliar landscape and alight on our farthings fallen by hangover into the snow. It is the Eeyore time of year.
To prepare our skin for the shock of mere movement, natural light and even stretching (by the more adventurous and often conceited) the Dork has several suggestions.
First, the seasonal change invites sneezing. Wretched and prolonged sneezing can be made even more so by the cruel fragrances of Nature and what lurks in that decorative container of lotion from the Bide A Wee boutique in Oxfordshire sent to you by a well-meaning Aunt Buzz on tour last Christmas.
Consider instead the “gray label” versions of your favorite 302 Skincare emollients, moisturizers and cleansers. These products are without a sneezing stimulant, joyful scent or insistently delightful fragrance note. The gray labels provide the comforting cocoon of blandness, a wonderful nothing to those of us who cannot tolerate even pastels without a runny nose.
Avoiding fragrances of course is but a first step that should exclude spicy foods and that afternoon box of red wine. The histamines released by those and the Cheshire Cat consumption of cannabis and vaping, alas, set the big stage play performances of itching, flare ups, eye-rolling jags of epic sneezing, hours of languor and stupefaction, and a social attitude that entertains sin and mayhem.
Should you find yourself in such a thrall, especially if your skin begins to itch and redden in suggestive ways, consider an oral anti-histamine. Zyrtec®, Claritin®, Benadryl® are far better choices than cortisone creams that will leave your skin weaker than an orphan in the backseat of a Yugo.
Ahead of all this travail, and more especially while the sun scuds low and furtive across the sky gather skin strength by judicious use of retinol, a form of vitamin A. The chief advantage of retinol is that it is an uncharged molecule (an oil or lipid) and so, is better tolerated than other forms of vitamin A, while also being at the apex of effectiveness.
Retinol truly is so very effective at contributing to improved skin architecture, weeding out bad actors, building out blood vessels and improving the quality and quantity of cells. The Dork advocates A 1.0 DROPS from 302 Skincare applied once or twice per week. More often and the skin will go into a tailspin. For those who are sensitive souls (do you shudder at an off-color joke?) select A 0.5 DROPS.
Apply retinol in the evening, an hour, at least, before sleep.
Do this for the month of March and then come April set that aside and reach for C 25 DROPS or C 12.5 DROPS. Again, 1x or 2x per week. If you use the C 25 DROPS 1x is usually more than enough. Vitamin C esters are valuable agents for the dermis, while Vitamin A and the 302 molecule (Avogen 302) ingredients focus on the dermal/epidermal junction where the stem cells go to work.
Down in the dermis we find a lot of cellular wastes often called age or pigment spots use the zone as a landfill. If you have a lot of age spots, Vitamin C is your friend. But, beware – over frequent application (more than 2x per week) will put your skin into a coma. Stimulate. Prompt. Surprise.
Last, come the next merry month, apply 302 DROPS. Some choose SYNERGY DROPS that combines the 302 molecule and Retinol ingredients in the same bottle. Again, 2x per week max for SYNERGY DROPS.
302 DROPS can be applied 3x per week but usually 2x is sufficient.
If you are very responsive to Vitamin A – consider SYNERGY DROPS.
So, why this prefatory work to the Spring and Summer?
Skin is usually weaker at winter’s end and going right into more outdoor activities can set up a lot of surprising ‘age spot’ reactions or sunburn. (Note Bene: The Skin Dork is the arch-enemy of sunscreens.)
Many try to begin with an exfoliator like SALICYLIC CLEANSER to look better in sunlight – but this is the wrong timing. What in fact is happening is you are molting like a reptile. Only instead of shedding skin you are depositing a lot of cellular waste into the dermis, accumulated in the cell igloo during the cold slow days of winter.
Acids can increase cellular waste dramatically, sports fans, but not from housecleaning, rather the acids produce a lot of fragmented protein that the skin captain has to spend vital energy to haul off to the age spot landfill. Look good on Monday but not so good the rest of the week.
We want to increase circulation at this seasonal junction to encourage the awakening and get the metabolism kicked up a bit – but not the high revving that an exfoliating acid will bring. For some of us, our skin will not come out of its hibernation. Refusal in that instance, calls for B-BOOST from 302 Skincare to break open the crypt.
B-BOOST is a vitamin B formula that will flush the skin for 20-30 minutes and is outstanding for unresponsive skin. Like yours. The Dork likes a B-BOOST treatment and then after two days, apply C 12.5 DROPS – this combination done 1x or 2x per month will go a long way toward shedding those spots.
The skin will however send future cellular waste (called lipofuscin) to the same landfill area. This is why laser and other treatments are only temporarily successful. It is important to avoid over stimulation of this zone or risk even more deposits. The B-BOOST and C 12.5 DROPS combo (the other weeks apply only C 12.5 DROPS) can keep the landfill spots faded – recall that Fade Cream was used back in the 1940-70’s era to do this. Fade Creams were formulated with sodium hydroxide (the chemical opposite of acid) leaving everyone as dry as a lizard’s kiss.
This Spring, say hello to your pickle-ball friends with your gloating skin and barely concealed disdain for their laughable mortality. Then, after beating them all soundly, find another sport.
