Long time readers will know that of all the makeup that I have and wear, my absolute favourite is blush. I can skip lippie but blush is a must in my makeup routine.
Funny thing is, when it comes to my mum, it’s the one item of makeup she wouldn’t wear. In fact, she has nagged me from time to time to stop wearing blush, or she would call it, rouge. I didn’t question her reasons before because I simply assumed she thought I’d look like a tart with blush on.
However, when I asked her finally why, she said it was something her dermatologist told her. Mum’s dermatologist advised her not to wear blush because apparently, “blush causes freckles and exacerbates them“. No wonder Mum has been reluctant to wear blush for so many years!
No disrespect to that dermatologist but that’s one of the biggest loads of rubbish I’ve heard in a while.
You see, mum’s hyperpigmentation is quite severe. She has a lot of freckles on her face and the freckles have gotten worse over the years. It’s like her freckles had gotten together and made more freckle babies.
You get my drift.
Don’t get me wrong, I love mum’s freckles. I think she looks good with them but she really hates them, is very self-conscious of them, often asks me what products she should use to get rid of them, so on and so forth.
Now I understand if her dermatologist said that blush draws attention to the hyperpigmentation and if she didn’t want them to appear more obvious by having the blush draw attention to her freckles, she should avoid wearing any.
But to say that blush causes freckles? Say what?!
*facepalm*
Freckles are often hereditary. Hyperpigmentation is caused and exacerbated by exposure to UVA and UVB radiation from the sun. Mum is very diligent in application of sunscreen, wears wide-brimmed hats each time she plays golf and stays away from other outdoor activities as much as possible (sorry, she can’t say no to golf, not at all). She still gets freckles. My late maternal grandmother had a lot of freckles, mum has a lot of freckles and now I’m getting quite freckled too even though I apply sunscreen religiously.
The only way to prevent overproduction of melanin and curbing them from coming to the surface is sunscreen. To date, it’s the only skincare product that is proven to be anti-aging.
Look at it this way. The Japanese ladies love their blush. They may not wear bright lippies but they sure as hell will wear their blushes. And you won’t find another who are more obsessed about UV protection than Japanese ladies. They wear a lot of UV gloves, hats, umbrellas, etc. It can be stinking hot in summer and they’ll still be wearing cardigans and not sleeveless clothes because of their worry of UV exposure (and also because they’re afraid to get a tan).
My point is, blush will not be selling so well in Japan if indeed they do cause hyperpigmentation because the Japanese ladies will run away from them just like that *snap*.
I’m not a medical expert but even I think it’s far-fetched to say that blush causes freckles. The dermatologist should known better than to scare my mum into thinking that blush causes and exacerbates hyperpigmentation. I checked with my dermatologist and with quite a bit of chuckling, he said no, blush does not cause freckles.
And that, to date, is the worst advice I’ve ever heard about blush. Believe it or not, that doctor is still mum’s dermatologist. Tsk tsk.
What a load of BS. I hope you told your mom that it’s BS or even gave that doctor a piece of your mind. I certainly would. This is def one of the worst beauty science BS I’ve ever heard!
I told my mum many times but she remembers what the dermatologist said one time more than what I said many times. *shakes head*. It truly is one of the worst beauty science BS I’ve heard too.
Aw noo. Your poor mum! That is truly rubbish to say that blush causes freckles. The worst beauty advice I have received was when I was living in Singapore where I grew up. Being tanned in an Asian country where fair skin is favoured (generally), i was told that if i wanted to look fair, i simply have to wear foundation that is lighter! I was young then and let’s just say I followed the advice (it came from a make up salesperson at a counter afterall!) and i had mismatched foundation for a while until I learned more about makeup. The horror!
Mandy recently posted..A Lesson On Forgiveness
Yikes, the horror indeed! The problem with looking “fairer” than you really are is that it looks really, REALLY unnatural. When I was at Kansai Airport at Osaka, I was doing a bit of duty free shopping. When I was about to pay, a Japanese lady cashier served me and I had a shock because she was almost using a white foundation and powder on her face. She is naturally fair, looking at her hands but she went overboard with light foundation which made her face appear white. I admit, her face really scared me for a while there.
Wow now I have heard everything… Your poor mum! I have a fear of putting SPF on my face after being told it worsens acne, at a time when I already had bad skin.. I was terrified of making it worse! And that fear has stuck with me into adulthood… which is annoying since I should be wearing it religiously! Gah.
Angie recently posted..Beauty Battle: The Liquid Lipsticks
Oh dear! Sunscreen doesn’t make acne worse, although I can understand why you (and many women) would be fearful of it. Try a very lightweight one or a physical sunscreen (the Dermatologica Ultra Calming one is fantastic as it’s lightweight and not thick and greasy). Good luck! 🙂
IPL is very effective with freckles and melasma (age spots). Sunscreen is a good prevention topical solution but to treat hyperpigmentation, I’ve been told to lean towards ingredients like licorice extract (to control and prevent melanin to surface on skin) and hydroquinone but its downside is that you can’t use it on sensitive skin.
Things like AHA, kojic and ascorbic acid helps too!
ponikuta recently posted..L’Occitane La Collection De Grasse Collection
I’ve been trying to convince mum to give IPL a go but understandably she’s concerned about doing it in Malaysia. I advised her to go to a proper dermatology clinic or hospital to at least ask more about it. Kojic acid and liquorice extract are not as effective as hydroquinone but yeah like you mentioned, it’s not suitable for sensitive skin and mum’s skin can be quite sensitive. I’ll need to have another proper chat with her when she visits in September.
Uh, there are lots of mis-information about beauty products these days. An example, I can still remember when I broke out from Clinique’s clarifying toner-thingie as the advice I got when I first got into skin-care was that alcohol content in toners/astrigents can reduce redness and make your acne “vanish”. And of course, I believed it then and tackled my face with toners full of alcohol (which made it worst, mind you – and stopped ever since-).
P.s.: This is my personally opinion on alcohol on skin, so if it works for you, don’t go all keyboard warrior on me please >.< . Another note, alcohol that are at the bottom ingredient list of a beauty product, in my opinion and experience, won't affect skin, I think, so please don't get the wrong idea D: .
OMG I completely know what you mean! I started on Clinique’s 3-step skincare regime when I was 11 years old and used their alcohol-based toner throughout my teens. Initially I thought the cooling effect was awesome, especially when it’s in the hot Malaysian weather. Then my skin started getting dry in certain areas and it was dry for a long time too. I never thought it could be from the alcohol in the toner. After all, like your experience, the sales assistants have been telling me about those Clinique clarifying toners being able to reduce my blackheads and oil secretion for years! It was only when I stopped using those toners that my skin started to improve. To date, they’re still selling those highly astringent toners. I have no idea why.
Not all alcohol in skincare are bad. Fatty alcohols are useful ingredients in skincare products. Personally, it doesn’t bother me because most of them don’t affect my skin.
I know right?! After that experience I learned never (not fully) to trust the SA behind counters about skincare anymore nor the marketing claims that companies advertise for their products :/
And yeah, thanks for mentioning that fatty alcohols such as cetyl alcohol, etc are beneficial for the skin. The harmful one is alcohol denat (denatured).
Actually it’s not the first time I’ve heard this and I think the fallacy stems more from the colour of blush used than the product itself. I used to wear a lot of deeper rose shades and peach shades but I realised a while later that those colours actually dull my complexion and makes my freckles & pigmentation look more prominent. Wearing a light pink makes me look better and actually doesn’t make the pigmentation look as prominent. I have also read that some blush formulations may contain ingredients that can make the skin sensitive and coupled with lack of UV protection it can therefore make pigmentation worse. So I don’t doubt the grain of truth in the statement, just that it is far too much of a generalisation. The trick is to find the right shade and to wear lots of good UV protection and to treat the pigmentation if that’s a concern. There’s no real need to fear wearing blush 🙂
Paris B recently posted..Real Techniques Blush Brush : What’s in a name that I may use it for something else besides blush
See, I would believe that if that was what the dermatologist told my mum. He generalised that all blushes cause freckles and my mum should stop using them right away. Scared her so much, she literally threw them all away! Mum is very diligent in UV protection and makes sure she wears layers of them so blush shouldn’t scare her at all.
WOW, that’s news to me! Haha. I’ve NEVER heard that before! I don’t really get a lot of advice from my mom about makeup, but I think like your mom, she is way too hard on herself about her insecurities and “flaws.” I just want to hug her and say, “Ma, you’re beautiful!” 🙂
Carina recently posted..FOTD: I Went to a Wedding Pt. Deux
Aww I agree! That’s what I tell Mum too! 😀
Worst advice? Because I’m Asian, I must automatically use the darkest or second darkest foundation shades. *rolls eyes* One sales person even stopped me from buying my shade because it was too light for me. I was so put off that I walked out. *rolls eyes*
Man, there’s so many levels of WTF in that one. I can’t believe that that sales person actually stopped you from buying your shade. Hello, if I want to buy the whitest or darkest foundation, why do you even care? Ugh.
I’ll come out and say it…WTF?! And this is coming from a dermatologist. Not a beautician. No wonder your mum took the words as gospel! I don’t blame her. But still…sigh…it’s dangerous when people dish out false ‘truths’. I can’t think of what ridiculous things about beauty products off the top,of my head…oh yes not beauty products but food. My mum was told by who the hell knows who, that eating pork causes pigmentation. I said to her…mum…those are age spots. Good thing she listens to me but that could be because she doesn’t eat pork and now has a few age spots! Lol!
Norlin recently posted..Random Monday: Mid Year Stock Take of My Life
Right? Right? A DOCTOR, a freaking skin specialist, told her blush causes freckles. What a very generalised and inaccurate statement! Hehehe oh dear, if that statement that your mum learned from who the hell knows who is true, then I’ll happily be full of pigmentation because I just cannot give up pork. Ahem. 😛
I love freckles and people shouldnt cover them, except with sunscreen.
Lindy recently posted..The Pin Up look
I totally agree!
Gosh, that remembers me when two different dermatologists told me to use hand soap as my cleanser (both times it was jaw-dropping) I didn’t follow that advise but it still freaks me out think about it, since we all know that it’s better to use a cleanser without soap.
Also I remember many sales assistants that don’t believe me when I told them that I have a combination dehydrated skin, I ask for really moisturizing products but without being too heavy.
Efrain recently posted..Los imprescindibles en belleza cuando falta tiempo
Say what?? Hand soap as cleanser? Face cleanser? Okay what were those dermatologists smoking? :O Yeah, I too recommend using soap-less cleaners, even soap-less hand soaps if you know what I mean. It’s not so drying on the skin.
I can definitely relate to your mom’s freckle phobia! I have freckles making freckle babies myself, regardless of how much sunscreen I use, lol… and no, blush had nothing to do with it.
Me too! My freckles are now making freckle babies despite the amount of sunscreen I use. Sigh … surrendering to the inevitable … those babies will also make babies no matter what I do.
That’s about the strangest thing I’ve ever heard. Did you mom ask the deem why? Too bizarre. On the freckles front, I always had them on the bridge of my nose to go along with my fair skin. Now I have bonafide sun damage. I’ve been using OTC 1% retinol Poetry In Lotion for about a year, and it has helped fade them some. I added vitamin C serum a couple of months ago, and that seems to be helping with the fading. Have you tried vit C serum?
Allison recently posted..Giveaway Winner & Vince Camuto “Effel” Summer Sandals
Nope, mum just accepted it because it did come from a “skin expert”.
I love Vitamin C serum for brightening the skin (not whitening). I told mum about it too. I think she’s using the one by Obagi.