• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Saving Face: Know Your Skin Type Before Dropping Hundreds at the Cosmetic Counter

Posted on: Tuesday, 9 May 2006, 06:02 CDT

By Madeleine Marr, The Miami Herald

May 9--Think you're makeup-obsessed? Try hanging out with Dr. Leslie Baumann for a while.

Ornate compacts and embossed lipstick tubes from the '30s and '40s lie behind glass museum-style in her waiting room. Beauty mags from bygone eras line the walls. An 1899 book, A Complete and Authentic Treatise on the Laws of Health and Beauty, by one of the first columnists on the topic, Harriott Hubbard Ayer, sits on her shelves, tenderly encased in plastic.

Nope, Baumann's idols when she grew up in Texas weren't Farrah Fawcett or The Bangles but cosmetic groundbreakers like Estee Lauder, Elizabeth Arden and the biggie, Helena Rubenstein, who in the early 1900s was the first to split skin into four categories: normal, combination, dry and sensitive. Though Baumann, director of cosmetic dermatology at the University of Miami's Miller School of Medicine, still worships the pioneers, she is devoted to debunking myths and putting the word out that all skin is certainly not created equally.

"The problem with the old system is that no one took different skin types into account," Baumann says from her 8,000-square-foot office and research center in Miami Beach. 'Things like genetics, lifestyle habits and sun exposure weren't factored in. They would just say, 'Here, you're sensitive; use this moisturizer.' "

When Baumann talks about skin care, people listen. It's not just her credentials -- her extensively researched medical textbook, Cosmetic Dermatology: Principles & Practice, is a resource for skin doctors worldwide and she is on several advisory boards at megahouses like Avon, Johnson & Johnson and Aveeno -- for a gal pushing 40 she sure looks good.

A little on the porcelain-hued side -- in a Nicole Kidman/lady-in-waiting kind of way -- she has virtually zero lines. Sure, a little Botox goes a long way, as do religious use of sunscreen and retinoid lotion. "It's amazing how it works," she says of the latter product, a derivative of vitamin A. "I'm really surprised it hasn't received more attention." She also prevents the tip of her nose from drooping by dabbing on Cosmoplast, a fast-working dermal filler made from human collagen.

But before you race out for a prescription, you may want to read her newly released book, The Skin Type Solution (Bantam Books, $22).

Just because the doc's grooming habits make her look like a 25-year-old, they may not necessarily jive with your complexion. To be sure, flip right to the meticulously constructed questionnaire (page 34), divided into four categories: oily vs. dry; sensitive vs. resistant; pigmented vs. nonpigmented; and wrinkled vs. tight. After about 15 minutes, you'll have cracked your dermatologic code. For the record, Baumann herself is a DSNT, an acronym for dry, sensitive, nonpigmented, tight.

Questions range from how your parents have aged to how many fruits and vegetables you eat (see box). Once you're typed, then you turn to the corresponding chapter for advice on personal care as well as suitable products, at every price point.

One of the biggest shockers in the book, based on hundreds of case studies, is that it doesn't recommend hoity-toity It creams like StriVectin-SD and La Mer.

"Eighty percent of people don't know their type and will go out and buy $300 worth of things that aren't right," Baumann says. "It's not that the ingredients don't work, it's that they may not work for them."

Already maxed out the plastic at department store counters? It's OK; you were likely taken in by marketing or packaging.

"There's so much misinformation out there," Baumann marvels. "It's really hard to fool consumers in areas like diet and nutrition, where you know calories and fat cause you to gain weight." But there's a "herd mentality" with skin care.

"You wouldn't wear the same perfume as your friends, why would you use the same anti-wrinkle cream?"

Baumann sees this lack of knowledge up close.

'Half of my patients who come to me feel guilty, saying, 'Oh, all I do is use Dove soap and put sunscreen on,' " she says. "But they're doing exactly what's right."

Other patients are afraid to take the wrinkled-nonwrinkled section of the questionnaire because they dread hearing they will have a tendency to prune down the road. But hey, better to find out now so you can stub out that cigarette or cancel that tanning session.

"My goal is to have people rethink their habits. If I can do that with just one person, I've succeeded."

-- FOR MORE information and to ask the doctor questions, go to www.drbaumann.com.

-----

Copyright (c) 2006, The Miami Herald

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.

NYSE:EL, NASDAQ-NMS:RDEN, NYSE:JNJ,

Source: The Miami Herald

More News in this Category