SCENTsational Saturdays- Midlife War on #Acne

Part of feeling like the heroine in your own life comes with its own set of pitfalls.

Sure, makeup can enhance your outer beauty and give you confidence a favorite fragrance can make you feel feminine

and that lacy bra or frilly pair of panties can make you feel sexy "underneath it all."

Truth is, just as there are lots of lovely things to make us feel all girly and feminine, there are also plenty of things we can do without. You know, those personal beauty, or NOT so beautiful, tricks Mother Nature and our hormones and bodies pull on us.

One thing I could surely do without, that is the bane of my womanly existence in this "middle-place" in life is

hormonal acne.

No one told me that I'd have to revisit my teen years tenfold in the

Pizza-Face arena.

Unfortunately, Oxy-10 and Clearasil do not help my cause these days. I can't win this fight. Sometimes it seems nothing helps but time, especially since this isn't run-of-the-mill acne, but with age comes this super zit with staying power- usually not so much the typical whitehead or blackhead, but almost a tough grizzled old monster that itches, flares up, and takes on a life of its own. And it seems to only occur when I least need the embarrassment at certain times of the month, like some flag or rite-of-passage that stubbornly sticks around long after it has served its purpose in shaming me.

I've tried the Wal-Mart equivalent of Pro-Active, but it only made matters worse, in fact, drying out all the wrong places as though the angry little node drew strength from the rest of my face and neck's weakness. I've used astringents, and acne cleansing pads to clean my face. Witch hazel, plain water.

The one thing that helps- at least a little?

Toothpaste!

Yes, I used it as a teenager from time to time. (I once tried using salad dressing on my face and that Pink Bismuth, because I'd heard they worked, but all they did was set my face on fire with inflammation.)

Apply toothpaste like a pimple cream, either for a few minutes and then wash off or leave it on as a treatment blended in can help "dry" the acne, right where you need it to, but even it does only so much.

There are days even concealer can't hide those monster zits that make me want to craw back under the covers and just wait out the storm. I sure don't feel like the heroine of my story when I feel like an unattractive adolescent with the oily, itchy skin and an ugly-duckling complex.

I'm 99% certain it's hormones and I'm not even close to understanding what else I can do about it other than

Grin and bear it with my shiny Colgate smile, and my minty Colgate FACE.

Have a SCENTsational Saturday!