Zinc Oxide the miracle cream?

I have been having some skin problems around my nose area, it's been dry and flaky and frankly pretty painful.  I have been trying different things to heal the area and finally broke down and asked my teacher, I am in school for skin care so who better to ask right?

She's a great instructor and very knowledgeable about just about everything skin related especially products.  I don't mean the designer overpriced ones, I mean the core ingredients that are really the reason the designer products work at all.  She quickly reminded me that my skin is very sensitive and that getting facials all the time (the students practice on each other daily) is very hard on the delicate skin on my face.

As usual she wowed me by recommending that I try zinc oxide.  That's it, pure and simple. Easier said than done as I found it somewhat challenging to find pure zinc oxide.  Well today I had success and am sitting here happy as a fat cat with my little zinc tube.  I just put it on and am happy to report there is no scent and no tingling or burning on my damaged skin.  I will update on the final result in a day or so.

Zinc Oxide by definition is a mineral.  It is a common ingredient in sunscreen products and according to my cosmetic ingredient book is is somewhat astringent, antiseptic, and antibacterial.  In sunscreens it provides both UVA and UVB protection it can also increase the SPF (sun protection factor) in sunscreens.  It is also used in products when an opaque white color is desired.  This mineral is also relatively nonallergnic.

This is all great news, I like what I have read and of course wanted to know more so I zipped on to the highway of mis-information......um....I mean the Internet to see what people say about it there.......
I found a pretty funny you tube clip on zinc oxide which you can view by clicking on the post title.  One of my favorite mis-information web sites is currently down maybe the jig is finally up for them, who knows.  If their site comes back up I will check it out and share.  They are a real fun bunch, basically everything will kill you unless it's an ingredient used in one of their funder's products, but that is for a whole other post.

Well this is my story for today, I amazingly did not find a lot of controversial information on zinc oxide, if I do I will add it as an edit at the bottom.  After using it I will also report results.

TaTa for now
~CM

UPDATE!  9-4-10
Yes I know, it's been less than 24 hours.  I put a generous helping of the zinc oxide on my damaged skin last night before bed.  Guess what?  I woke up to no redness or soreness and the dry skin is going away!  YAY!  So in conclusion I have to say yes it IS a miracle cream.  This can also be used on baby bottoms I read.  Happy zinc-ing!