Carla, we are in the same boat. I'm trying to get myself (skin, hair, and figure) in better shape for my son's wedding this summer and have recently started using Olay Definity Pore Redefining Scrub and Neutrogena Pore Refining Cream (spf 15). I think cleaning your skin with something targeted for your "problems" is every bit as important as putting on a cream or lotion. And really effective cleansing should help with the breakouts you mentioned. I've only been using these products for about a week but I can already see improvement - really! My skin looks and feels smoother and looks more even in tone. Even the dreaded pores look a bit better. I expect that part to take a while but I am very pleased with the results so far. I've gotten compliments - without make up. Neither of these products is very expensive and a little goes a long way. I think they are well worth the price and the effort to use them consistently.

We don't use our white wash cloths very much, but the centers always turn gray since body wash is regularly used in our household. We always use the creme colored wash, so I think Kathleen King has provided an interesting perspective. I did a load of just our white towels, the two white wash cloths we had used and some white socks yesterday. Hot water, Gain powder, 24 Mule Team powder, Sparkle FS and Clorox bleach. Everything came out clean. I tend to do laundry a few times a week, so wondering if the cloths get completely dry between use and laundering if that makes it harder to remove those center stains.

Our daughter (now 14 months) had the same problem. Both her father and I have/had food allergies and sensitive skin. So we had three different rashes. All looked the same - tiny, red bumps. The first I attributed to her bath products. She was using Mustela. I switched to Aveeno products and also found a brand called "Pure Baby" which makes an eczema therapy bubble bath and a moisture cream. As soon as she gets out of the bath I put on her Aveeno Baby Lotion and the rash went away. At six months she had peas for the first time and broke out in a rash, we stopped peas and went back to rice cereal only and the rash went away. At about seven months she developed a bumpy rash and had cold and flu like symptoms and our ped. also thought that it might be a virus just like imdymom9901 had. It eventually went away, but it took awhile. She hasn't had a problem since. Good Luck

It may not penetrate, but the purpose is to keep a barrier between the moisture in/on your skin and the air - so that the moisture can't evaporate so easily - my doctor told me that for very dry skin, cream is much better than lotion, it should say "cream" on the jar. I use Clinique moisture online for my face and Walmarts off brand of Eucerin cream in a pot for the rest of my body. I used the Eucerin brand cream and then tried the off brand and there was *no* difference, except for a radical savings price wise. I slather it all on *while I'm still damp from the shower* I only dab off the big water droplets. It won't be nearly as effective if you dry off the water. I have very dry skin, by following these directions it has really helped, for me anyway.