[Before & After] Dramatic Skin Improvement After Just 10 Days Without Toxic Make Up
by Caroline O’Connor
My name is Caroline O’Connor and it’s been 10 days since I last wore makeup. No big deal you may think, but, for me, as someone who wore a protective mask every day in order to feel confident enough to face the world, it is HUGE!
I have rosacea, ‘curse of the Celts’ or for those of you not familiar with the term, a bright red, blotchy, tight and angry looking face. You won’t see a face like mine in the movies or gracing the pages of magazines (unless it’s Dermatologist Weekly)! In an effort to blend in and feel more accepted, I carried out an elaborate routine for 20 years in order to keep my dirty little secret hidden.
After 20 Years, She Went Cold Turkey
I always had a rosey complexion but developed rosacea in my teens and turned to makeup when I was 20 or 21 to mask it. Every day for the past 20 years I have applied green cream to offset the redness, and then heavy camouflage makeup, followed by concealer and all this set off with lashings and lashings of loose power to ensure a lasting finish for 16 hours a day (God forbid the mask would slip and a sliver of my natural red skin would peek through).
I couldn’t nip to the shops without applying my “face”. Such was my embarrassment and desperation about how I looked that I would apply a full face of makeup to go the gym, return home, remove it, shower and then reapply it all over again.
Eventually, a slow drip, drip of awareness started to into my consciousness. Tera Warner has done an excellent job conducting hours and hours of research in order to get to the bottom of how and why we’ve all been duped by the beauty industry. The information os presented in such an easy to understand way, I couldn’t continue to ignore it.
Something in me resisted the logical solution–stop using harmful products on my already sensitive face. I thought I’d never be able to leave the house and considered myself a health hazard to small children and the elderly due to the high shock factor. I knew if I was going to do it, the only way I could make it happen was to go cold turkey.
Sometimes The Only Way Out is Through
I believe that the quality of our skin is a reflection of our overall health, so I try to maintain a relatively healthy diet and exercise regularly. When I first developed the condition in my teens, I was morbidly obese, ate a lot of processed and fried foods, dairy and gluten. With all of that cut out of my life, I reasoned that there is no logical reason for me to have rosacea and maybe it was my makeup (full of caustic, irritating ingredients) that was compounding the problem.
Either way, I was willing to do a little experiment on myself to find out!!
The first two days were fine as it was the weekend and I was only seeing close friends and family. Walking outside and exposing my face to daylight for the first time in 20 years was liberating, I felt like a rebel! “Look at me, look at me! I’m out and about with no makeup on! Somebody call the beauty police!”
Some of that bravado was lost on Day 3 though with the thought of facing my 800 colleagues at the office that day. I was convinced I would get to the steps of my building, turn right around and run screaming to the nearest vat of foundation. But when the day came, I walked straight through the doors and held my head as high as I could.
The reaction was mixed. I got some double takes, others pretended to ignore the gleaming beacon of rosiness before them. Some were concerned for my “poor face” inquiring whether I’d had a chemical peel or an allergic reaction. I had the jokers who nicknamed me “Rudolf.”
What She’s Putting On Her Skin Now
Eleven days in, my skin care routine is simply to apply Body Enlightenment’s Skin Renewal Solution from my authentic beauty kit. I apply it morning and night.
Initially, my face felt very oily, particularly in the morning, then that tapered and my skin felt lovely and soft. Then some spots showed up (in particular, a hard and painful one on my forehead, but I attribute this to all the toxic bad stuff oozing it’s way out of my skin. (On that note, I got a massive headache on days 3 and 4, just like when I gave up coffee!) Today, day 11 and my skin is feeling a little dry and flaky but after twenty years of makeup I’m sure my skin isn’t going to be magically healed overnight.
I have the occasional wobble in confidence (especially if I meet someone who is familiar with my old face), but most of the time I’m walking around like a self-empowered ninja!
I know without a doubt that I would never have been bold enough to do this if I hadn’t just completed Body Enlightenment’s Virtual Lifestyle Design Programme. I just have so much more acceptance of myself, of my body, of who I am as a person. For the first time ever I’m just comfortable being me. Yes, I have a big ole red face but it’s my red face so you can like it or look the other way!
The notion that, as a woman, I had to wear makeup every day was so ingrained in me I never really questioned why I did it. I now want to encourage other women to be comfortable in their own skin. Makeup should be an optional extra not a standard requirement. I guess for me, it just finally makes sense not to put all these caustic products on my face.
Join Caroline for an Authentic Beauty Workshop!
I’ve been so excited about these changes, I decided that I want to share this eye-opening information which exposes how unnatural so-called “natural beauty products” are with as many women as I can! I want to help women regain their confidence and have the courage to decide for themselves what level of risk they are willing to take with their personal care products.
If you are in Ireland and would like to learn more, I am holding an authentic beauty workshop at 7:00 pm on Tuesday 9th December at the Grand Canal Hotel, Dublin 2 – Cost €20. Contact me on [email protected] for more information!
Ladies, if I can do it you definitely can do it, too.