I was honestly shocked by the number of people who requested a skincare routine from me. I have never considered myself someone who had great skin. I spent the first half of my twenties fighting hormonal acne flair ups, and I won’t even get into the mess that was my skin before that. Pregnancy gifted me with the best skin of my life, and now I’m back to dealing with monthly flair ups, courtesy of womanhood. I really wanted to deliver a life changing skincare regimen for you all. The truth is I don’t even have a skincare routine. It’s a good day if I have on moisturizer, and what’s an eye serum? Kidding, I know what an eye serum is. I don’t have great skin, but I don’t have bad skin either, so I guess I might be doing something right. You won’t find a full blown skincare regimen here, but I will share some of my skincare “secrets,” because I guess I have learned a few things that I can attribute to my healthier, clearer skin.
- Know YOUR skin. First things first, what’s your skin type? You can’t fix something you don’t know anything about. I consider myself to have oily acne prone skin. On rare occasion when I think about trying a new moisturizer or face wash I tend to avoid oil based products because my skin produces a lot of oil naturally. Tip numero uno, pay attention to what your body is telling you. Your body will tell you what it needs. It’s important to listen. Do a little research before you hit your nearest beauty market, and study up on the ingredients used in that new skincare product you’re determined to try.
- Stop picking your face. Put your hands down and step away from the mirror. Thank God the lighting in my bathroom is horrible, and I can’t see every bump that graces my face. Yes, I know how hard it is to ignore those pesky bumps starring back at you every time you look in the mirror, but trust me you’re only making them worse by picking. It took me a while to learn to keep my hands off my face, and sometimes I revert back to my old ways, but I always, always, ALWAYS regret it. Every time I squeeze a bump on my face it gets a billion times bigger, and I have to deal with it twice as long. Quick story for ya, a few years ago, I was living in Knoxville when my sweet sister in law invited me to try out a hot yoga session with her. At the time, I just so happened to have a huge whopping zit smack dab in the middle of my forehead that probably wouldn’t have been so bad if I would have kept my hands off of it. I was able to make it less noticeable with makeup, but I knew makeup and hot yoga was a deadly combination. So, I hit up Tjmaxx thinking I could possibly find a headband that could help cover it. In a rush I grabbed the first “headband” I came to in the activewear section and hit the door. Turns out it wasn’t a headband. It was an ear warmer. So, here I was headed out to attend my first HOT yoga class sporting an ear warmer pulled down to my eyebrows, zit half exposed. The looks I got were well deserved. I’m laughing and cringing at the same time. Moral of the story, keep your hands away from those bumps! We’re all too worried about our own imperfections, so odds are you’re the only one who noticed that itty bitty bump anyways.
- Wash your face. Bible. Every night. Every morning. No excuses. Even if you’re not wearing makeup, wash your face.
- I don’t want no scrub. Unless it will leave my skin feeling like butta. I like to exfoliate once every week or two. I do not scrub my face more than three times a week because it tends to break me out. Same goes for masks. If you’re a mask girl that’s okay. I’m just not a huge fan, so these are like a once a month, or six months, kind of thing for me.
- My best kept secret. Drum roll, please…… Dove bar soap. Every skincare professional is probably screaming right now, and you might be too. I’m sorry okay, just let me live my life. I wash my face with bar soap every morning and evening. I’ve tried a number of makeup removers and cleansers and I always come away with one thing, acne. Try to change my mind.
- Sometimes less is more. I’ve tried a lot of the multi step skincare regimens, A LOT. They all usually end up under my vanity after a couple uses. Personally I’ve noticed my skin doesn’t react well to a large number of products, so I simplified. My current routine is down to two products, a moisturizer, and an eye cream.
- Moisturizer. I’m not going to lie I don’t use a moisturizer everyday, or every night for that matter. I honestly wasn’t even actively seeking a good moisturizer until I noticed some fine forehead lines appearing over the last few months. My mom reminds me daily that she was regularly applying moisturizer by the age of 16, and lack of use is probably why I’m noticing some forehead lines at 26. Let’s hear it for Botox people. Don’t worry, I’ll be sure to give you all a good review of it when the time comes. For now, I figured I would give this daily moisturizing thing a go. I hopped over to our local Sephora with no foreknowledge whatsoever, and picked up Tatcha, The Water Cream. Travel size because that stuff is expensive and I was not about to pay $50+ for a moisturizer that didn’t deliver. I was sure to ask the sales rep to school me on all the ingredients, and was sold after the first mention of water based. Ive been using this moisturizer on and off for about three weeks, and I like it. It’s light, hydrating, and I’ve not attributed any breakouts to the product. I have not noticed any improvement in my fine lines, but maybe with time I’ll see some progress. I’ll keep you all updated.
- Eye cream. Along with my moisturizer I also picked up an eye cream because I’m a mom (or I’m just getting older), and these bags aren’t Chanel. I love a good product that does what it says the first time. Like I mentioned earlier, I went to Sephora with no foreknowledge so I was really unsure what I would be getting when the sales rep handed me Okehenriksen Banana Bright Eye Cream. Y’all, when I used this eye cream I could literally feel it working in a good way. I love it. This is a product I loved so much I was willing to leave a review on it. That’s when I noticed that some people don’t have as much luck with this eye cream as I have. There are a number of reviews that mention reactions and redness as a result of using this product. I felt that’s worth mentioning because if you do have sensitive skin this might be a reality for you if you decide to try out this product. Personally I don’t feel like I have super sensitive skin, and I have not experienced any negative side effects from this product at all. Be your own judge, but it gets a 10/10 from me.
- Acne spot treatment. It’s always a good idea to have some spot treatment handy if, or when an unwanted bump decides to appear. Let me just say I 100% still experience breakouts. Honestly, I probably always have at least a couple small bumps on my face. Currently I’m using La Roche-Posay Effaclar Duo Dual Acne Treatment and it gets the job done, but I’m on the market for a new spot treatment. I’ve had the best luck switching these up pretty regularly so I’m always trying something new. As tempting as it is, do NOT drown your face in spot treatment. I’ve been known to use spot treatment like moisturizer and it never worked. Hahaha, wonder why? Yes, so just use as directed.
- Watch what you eat. Yea, yea, healthy food blah, blah, blah. Seriously though, your diet has a huge impact on your body, and heads up that includes your skin. I’m not telling you to turn away all the sugary goodness, but try to avoid processed sugars with every meal, and bring some color to your plate.
So, there you have it. This post might have went a little bit differently than you hoped, but the true secret of great skin is that it’s not always great. You may not see my breakouts, but that doesn’t mean I don’t get them. Trust me, I do. I’m sure we all do. No ones perfect and that’s what makes us human. So, let’s all agree to stop being so hard on ourselves, step away from the mirror, and stop picking ourselves apart. You will be happier for it.
XO
-KP
