Things I Love Thursday--MD Skincare daily alpha beta peels

Things I Love Thursday is a blog carnival over at The Diaper Diaries. 


Since I love skin care so much, I thought I’d focus on a skin care product that I L-O-V-E! This really got me thinking, because since I have left the workforce I find it excruciating to spend money on myself. After all, I’m not bringing any money in, so what right do I have to spend money on frivolous (to my husband) things like beauty products? Over the past few months I have really begun to get over that. I’m not saying I am going to go out and spend buckets of money on spa treatments, but when I look in the mirror and see breakouts, the beginnings of *GASP* crows feet, and rough patches on my cheeks I feel bad about myself. When I feel bad, how can I be a good role model for my daughter? How can I teach her confidence when I’m not confident myself? I know I do not want to teach her that looks are everything, but I, personally, feel a whole lot better about myself when I FEEL good. And, being the girly girl I am, pampering myself makes me feel good. Confident. Happy. Gorgeous.

One of my favorite products to pamper myself with is a daily (well, sorta) alpha/beta peel by MD Skincare. I don’t use it every day. Once or twice a week is plenty. I don’t always have it on hand, in fact I haven’t had any in my overflowing-under-the-sink cabinet in months. However, I always come back to this product. I find this is the best way to approach a more aggressive hydroxy acid skin care treatment. Skin actually has a way of getting ‘used’ to alpha hydroxies, so if you were to use this product daily for an extended period of time it would eventually start to lose some of its effectiveness. Thankfully, this is not the same for beta hydroxies. I have an on-going love affair with salicylic acid. (please don’t tell my husband)

Alpha hydroxies work by breaking up the stuff that keeps your skin cells together, called intercellular cement. Think of your skin as a brick wall. Intercellular cement is the mortar. When that mortar is dissolved, the old, dead bricks can fall off much more easily. This results in clearer, smoother, and brighter skin.

Beta hydroxies work by helping to peel away the layers of skin. Think of how you peel the dead, dry outer layers of an onion off to get to the shiny and supple inside. That is how salicylic acid works. It’s great for keeping breakouts at bay and helping bring a nasty under the skin breakout to the surface.

I love the MD Skincare daily alpha beta peels, and when I have them, use them once or twice a week. They help to reduce breakouts, even out skin tone, reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, and help your skin achieve a bit of a glow. My best tip for using this product is to cut the pads in half and only use half a pad for each application. This makes the product last much longer so you can get more bang for your buck!