I am 55 and have oil "gusher" skin, with a few lines under the eyes. I've fought oil and blemishes since age 13 and it wasn't until I started to treat my skin like sensitive skin that I had any success. First; HANDS off - no picking, popping, or squeezing. I use a blackhead extractor when needed. I use Mary Kay time wise 3-1 bar soap and an Old Vic washcloth (can be found at Vermont Country Store, Amazon, Caswell Massey on line) - squeaky clean and gently exfoliated. A blackhead clearing astringent (Avon Clear Skin) and then a primer: Smashbox Matte: just soaks up the oil. Makeup is Loreal's Mineral powder foundation over Dermablend concealer (I have old acne scars on my cheeks), loose powder, powder blush and I'm good to go for a few hours. I like Mary Kay blotting tissues ($5/75 tissues) and always blot first, apply a touch of Smashbox to my t-zone and powder lightly. I've found that after my morning make-up application at 6:30am I usually need touch ups at 10 - 12 and 2pm. Evenings I again wash after removing eye makeup with Mary Kay eye make up remover, astringent, and then a moisturizer/oil control lotion (Mary Kay or other brands). I also like to dab a bit of eye cream on in the evenings (I like Mary Kay or Anew by Avon). Hands get FREQUENT applications of Mary Kay Timewise hand/body lotion during the day and before bed I do cuticles with almond oil or olive oil, what ever I can pick up - I rub it in real well and apply a nice hand cream.

olive oil. grapeseed oil. after a shower, rub it in to your whole hand, then use the pad of your thumb to push back the cuticles on the opposite hand... after thre days of this, they should 'free' themselves, and be more mobile and supple. NAIL JUNK KILLS CUTICLES. polish. remover. fiberglass. acrylic. all of it. lay off it for a while- learn to give yourself a real 'french' manicure, where the nails are buffed and oiled on the tops, and whitened with a pencil (revlon and sally hansen both make them) under the free edge. carmex, blistex intensive, and the like are ok- but burt's bees (the healing comfrey balm with lavander especially) is better, since it had no petroleum in it. vaseline is addicting- petroleum is hydrophillic- meaning it will suck the moisture out of your skin- I have accues them of doing this deliberately, so the more you use, the drier your skin gets, the more cream you slather on, the more cream they sell... but I can't prove a word of it.

Good healthy skin starts inside and trying to solve skin problems by applying toxic creams and lotions isn't the answer. Almost all prepared skin care creams that do not claim to be natural (and some that do) contain harmful chemicals that are known to lead to disease. Your skin is the largest organ of your body and absorbs whatever you put on it directly into your blood stream. The link that flyingflower posted tells about some of those chemicals. Read the labels on your products to see which poisons are in them. I use organic coconut oil of a high grade (that can also be used in cooking) after a bath or shower as a protective layer for my skin and it's also good to remove makeup. I also use essential oils for skin care. Pay attention to what you eat, especially the oils. Your skin is a reflection of the general state of your health. EVOO, coconut oil, and butter are the healthiest oils to eat. Also lots of fresh vegetables are necessary for good health. I use only organic as I don't want all the noxious chemicals. I take Omega 3 supplements and occasionally flax oil altho I hate the taste. I also take a good multivitamin/mineral supplement to provide what my diet might miss.

I have no knowledge for sure but have heard rumors that when it says oxy/oxi it is an alternative. My understanding, though it could easily be mistaken, but my understanding is there's no percarbonate or peroxide in those detergents. I do know for a fact (from P&G) that the Tide w/Bleach is a bleach alternative and they do say "alternative". There is no chlorine and there is no peroxide or percarbonate in the Tide w/Bleach. They use other chemicals that do the job of a bleach and thats why it's branded w/bleach alternative. One suggestion: When you mix the peroxide, also my understanding (though could easily be wrong is the timer starts ticking and there's a limited lifespan for it. Also peroxide should not be exposed to daylight - it will break it down, which is why they're in the brown opaque bottles to start with, so use an old peroxide bottle (spray units usually fit right on them) to keep the light out. I just mix them together when needed. I had a grease stained t-shirt the other day and was going to try the peroxide, baking soda and Dawn stain remover suggestion but didn't have baking soda handy so I thought why not use OxiClean? I just saturated with Joy (didn't have Dawn handy) then put some OxiClean on it. Used a little hot water to dissolve it in and then thought hey, why not try the peroxide so I sprayed some peroxide on it. (I have a spray bottle of peroxide for medical purposes always handy) It took the stain right out. I've NEVER had good luck with Oxiclean or the generic knockoffs in the laundry. I'm thinking I just never used enough of it. Then last week I had some old white stuff stained from years ago and they were through washings several times and I haven't used it but thought there's nothing to lose so I used a mixture of Sun's Oxygen cleaner, the Sun "Color Safe Bleach" (Dollar Tree find) which is basically washing soda, oxygen cleaner, surfactants, salt, stench and color, and let it soak in 140° water about 6 hours, added some ERA free & clear and put it through a wash cycle and I was very pleasantly surprised. I just used enough water to cover it while presoaking and then added more hot water to get the temp up and do the wash. Removed a bunch of the stains completely (VERY surprised) and some that were terrible were really lightened and the other white parts were noticeably whiter. Again, I was impressed. America's Test Kitchen did a report on OxiClean and my experience supports it - doesn't work in the washer as part of the load but when you let it soak in the stuff, it does do a good job. AFAIK, oxy or oxi is just a labeling. OxiClean™ is a registered trademark that's a take off of oxygen cleaner. Nothing to get too worked up over, oxy/oxi - it means basically the same thing. And mamapinky, I totally agree that a good enzyme detergent would be preferable but often I'm upstairs and a bottle of Dawn/Joy is more multi-functional so more likely to be handy and being crippled up like I am, ability to run to the basement every time a slob like me spills something isn't too easy! And yes, I probably should take a small bottle of the new Tide or the Era and keep one in the bathroom, maybe the kitchen. Would make sense wouldn't it? Ah, but that doesn't mean I'll do it! :D I'm going to give both the Palmolive and Dawn Platinum a try and see what happens. That adds 2 more things to my list of new cleaners to try out! Tide Ultra Free, 3 powders, a new Mean Green Anti-bacterial... and whatever else. Oh, and a knock-off of Tide2go pen. Need to dirty up some clothes. Thanks all, for your comments and opinions. Much appreciated. If you get any experience on it, I'd like to hear the results. Oh, and FWIW, and if you were wondering, I gave up testing other dish detergents long ago and stuck with Dawn and Joy. I would buy them at Family Dollar for $1 a bottle and they were a total bargain. Not the ultra, these were the OLD style, now "unsupported" but they work great. Made dishwashing easier. I found no difference between the Dawn and the Joy in performance. And every time a new Dawn variant came out, there was a new Joy variant on the shelf too. And I like the smell of Joy better. But for dishes I guess I just got Dawn because Joy wasn't as widely available. However, when I started using a CPAP they recommended Joy or Ivory for cleaning it and specified NOT to use Dawn for some reason. So I bought a couple bottles to have around. That's why I wound up with some Joy at my fingertips. And for everyone yawning and thinking WTH??? My apologies! Hope everyone is having a great weekend.