Stars, acne and agony

Has all this talk of lasers, chemical peels and surgery freaked you out? There is another pain-free solution. Do nothing. Live with your scars. Many people have and have even become famous faces in Hollywood and on the music circuit. Think Kevin Bacon, Seal, Bryan Adams and even the late actor and twice married husband of the late Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton. . Scars can give one character, why do you think that the stars mentioned above never had their acne scars treated? It certainly wasn’t because they didn’t have the money! . Alicia Keys and Cameron Diaz also have bad acne scars, we just don’t see them thanks to the wonders of photoshop and professional make up artists. . Weigh up the pros and cons. One major con will be the expense of such treatments. Your medical aid might not pay, because facial surgery could be considered as cosmetic. . On the other hand, if your face is severely disfigured and you feel that your scars have ruined your confidence and your life, treatment may just be worth the huge financial outlay. . . How Does Hollywood Cover Up Pimples? . Acne can be found quite often in teenagers, almost 80 per cent of the young women and men are having pimples and half of them come in such forms that require professional medical treatment. Adolescents are suffering of acne due to the androgen hormones that are increasing the sebum secretion of the skin and can be found in high levels in their blood. . But teenagers are not the only ones that are being affected by acne. Women who have fluctuations in their hormonal levels due to an irregular menstruation, those who use birth control pills and pregnant women can also have acne. . When you see all those stars on TV and in the movies looking good you cannot imagine that some of them had to deal with problems such as acne. Well, you should know that many Hollywood stars still have problems with acne but they know how to cover their pimples to have a perfect image on TV. . Pimples are pretty unpleasant for any of us but imagine what disaster they are for a cinema star. Having a little blackhead on the forehead? Try showing it on TV and then you can expect it to grow until it reaches the sizes of a cauliflower. When was the last time you saw Jennifer Lopez or Colin Firth having a pimple on their face? Many people ask themselves whether celebrities have pimples or not. Of course they have, but the difference between regular people and them is that they cannot let their pimples and other flaws be seen. . There are some tricks for covering acne you can learn from the famous make-up artists of Hollywood: . The undercover walking: You can totally hide the colour differences on your skin even if we are talking about pink, red or purple. The secret is to find a good foundation that is appropriate to you natural skin colour and has a high pigment concentration. Most of the foundations we find on the market have a 12 to 15 per cent pigment concentration. Only looking at a foundation sometimes might be tricky so you should always try it on your skin. If the skin cannot be seen any more after applying the product that means that the foundation has a high pigment concentration and you will manage to hide your skin imperfections properly. . Some make up artists try another trick to cover pimples: they use two layers of foundation separated by a generous layer of transparent face powder. This way every layer of make-up will be fixed and of course, the pimple will become invisible for others. . . If you decide to use this cover-up trick you should know something else: you always have to remove make-up before going to bed, or else your skin pores will clog up and in the morning your face will have even more pimples than before. Use an oil-free cleanser and avoid lotions that contain alcohol. Choose only products specially designed for acne skin and in time you will see that pimples will not assault your face and body any more. . . Celebrity Acne Agnst! . So don’t think that you’re the only one who has to suffer from bad acne. Even Hollywood stars can’t avoid it. Read on and see the revelations of the stars and how they dealt with their battle with acne, how it made them feel, and how some of them still have acne even as adults to this very day! . . MADONNA . Age 54 . Singer/Actress/Director . “I always have to carry concealer in my make-up case because I have adult acne.” . . CAMERON DIAZ . Age 40 . Actress . “I’ve always had a serious pimple problem. It’s one of life’s trials, right?” . . BRITNEY SPEARS . Age 30 . Singer/Host of The X Factor . “I hate zits. I had this blemish on my cheek when I was opening for ‘N Sync at the Bronco Bowl in Dallas. I covered it with eyeliner and made a mole but it smeared because I had been sweating. Ugh!” . . WINONA RYDER . Age 40 . Actress . “No kid should have to worry about getting a pimple that’s going to cost $300,000 to shut down shooting for a day. No kid should have that kind of pressure on him. Skin in high school is bad enough.” . . SARAH MICHELLE GELLAR . Age 35 . Actress . “I hate them and, of course, I still get them like everyone else. Clarins makes a blemish gel that I swear by.” . . CINDY CRAWFORD . Age 46 . Supermodel . “I feel like people are disappointed when they see me in real life — with greasy hair or a zit.” . . CELINE DION . Age 44 . Singer . “Blemishes have always plagued me. I have lots of skin problems. I use this Imperiale Drawing Paste, manufactured by Kiehl. It’s awful-looking but dries out problem areas at night.” . . THANDIE NEWTON . Age 39 . Actress . “I feel incredibly fortunate to have honey-coloured skin. If I have a breakout, I just surrender to it. You know why it’s there — you’ve been eating too much of the wrong stuff, or you’ve had too many late nights. I just drink a ton of water, watch what I eat, take a yoga class and try to chill out.” . . RICKY MARTIN . Age 40 . Singer . “I used to get zits like everybody else — and I hated ’em, like everybody else.” . . MIKE MYERS . Age 49 . Actor/Comedian . “Look at me. I have pasty-white skin, I have acne scars and I’m five-foot-nothing.” . . ETHAN HAWKE . Age 41 . Actor . “I used to have very bad acne, so bad I wanted to commit suicide over it.” . . REBECCA ROMIJN . Age 39 . Model/Fashion Runway Host . “I get pimples and I squeeze them. I know you’re not supposed to but I’m a popper.” . . JULIA STILES . Age 31 . Actress . “I worry about my skin like everyone else. When I get blemishes, Benefit Boo Boo Zap. You just put a little on and it gets rid of it.” . . JENNY McCARTHY . Age 39 . Reality TV Star . “When I posed for that [now-famous] poster, I had huge zits ... a huge cold sore on my lip ... stretch marks all over...birthmarks, bruises. You name it, it’s airbrushed.” . . JOAN RIVERS . Age 79 . E! Entertainment Star . “The psychic scars by believing that you are ugly because you have pimples leave a permanent mark on your personality.” . . KIRK CAMERON . Age 42 . Former child star/actor . “What happens to a kid in this business when he’s 13 years old and his face starts breaking out? Everyone goes nuts and doesn’t want him anymore. How do you tell a kid that nobody wants him because he isn’t cute anymore?”