I first wanted to start with a post about my skin. I don’t have really bad acne but I have enough that has made me subconscious.
I first started getting acne when I was 11/12 ish. It wasn’t bad when it first started. When I was in high school it did get pretty bad. I had acne on both sides of my cheeks, my chin and my forehead. The forehead was more due to my bangs and me constantly playing with my hair.
I don’t have to many picture of how my acne was because I was always wearing foundation basically. When I got to the point of where I didn’t have to wear makeup, I wouldn’t use it. But when I needed it again I was fully caking my face with it again. It was a constant cycle. Here is a picture from grade 10. You can’t see to much, some on my forehead, upper lip and chin. The is some scarring on the sides of my cheeks.
Now I am in my late twenties, don’t wear any make up now, and haven’t really in years. I stopped wearing foundation the first year of University, I became a student who prioritized things a bit different from my looks. I would still wear eye make up but not foundation. I was still using the same kind of face wash at this point. I liked using Spectro for Sensitive Skin. I had experimented with some while in high school but nothing was really all that great for my skin, causing more acne or hives.
I know my acne is linked to stress, eating habits, hormones and what I was using on my skin. I was using foundation in the earlier years, and I was putting on products that may not have that great on to be putting on my skin.
I had a very basic skin care routine. I would wash my face in the morning, use moisturizer (till they stopped carrying the one I liked). I would sometimes wash my face at night. I had always found washing my face at night I would be to tired to remember.
Over the years, I had tried very hard to make sure I would be washing my face in the morning and the night. Up until I started my big journey last summer, I would wash my face with Spectro, Toner (whatever I would find to try) and the Body Shop Tea Tree Moisturizer during the day. At night, I would use Spectro, Toner (same as the morning) and Tea Tree Night Time Cream.
Over the past few months I have started watching videos that would be talking about skin care. For a few years I had been wanting to understand my skin a bit more. I would so out of touch of what was going on with skin care. I had grown up in the generation where you over exfoliate, use a cleanser that just strips your skin and not using SPF. Huge mistakes I now know.
End of 2020 I decided to get a better moisturizer, one that would not be quite as drying on my skin for the winter months. I do live in a very cold area, and in the winter months my skin is very dry. So I went out and kind of splurged on a few things to try. I bought a new day time moisturizer and a night time face mask. I had made minor changes over the years but these two changed something for me. The day time one was a Vitamin C one, so it was glow boosting and was helping lighten my scars. My night time one was one that I found very hydrating overnight and it was to help aging (don’t know how much that was helping). I was finding these two were helping with the appearance of my skin but I was still getting acne because I wasn’t using anything that was really helping beside a couple spot treatments. I was sort of using SPF at this time, I wasn’t every day all the time. The old moisturizer had SPF in it, but when I changed I kept forgetting to put it on.
I stumbled across Cassandra Bankson, a youtuber who talks about skin care, back in early to mid 2021. I has stumbled across one of her videos where she was reacting to celebrity skin care routines. I don’t remember who it was, but she was just breaking the skin care down to where I could understand what was right and wrong. So I started watching more and more of her videos just kind of having them in the background. I learned a lot about acne from her videos. Being someone who suffered from acne I was able to relate to what she was talking about.
So I made a few minor changes to my skin care. I looked at the toner I was using and switched it to something else, one that had salicylic acid in it. I grabbed the first one I could find at Wal Mart that had it in it. The more videos I started watching the more I learned about concentrations and how the ingredient lists were listed. I did find the toner was working for my skin, started to slightly clear my skin. It worked, but I realized it had denatured alcohol in it. It does dry out the skin, which I was finding that my skin was fine with it, but I would still have weird dry patches (that my moisturizer would good at covering).
After I had switched to my new position, I was mentally feeling better and wanting to find a skin care routine that worked for me. I was willing to change what I needed to or add what I needed to it to help target my acne.
Because I was watching Cassandra’s videos, Facebook also started popping up with more of hers (not just celebrity reaction videos), Skin care by Hyram and Mixed Makeup. Each one of them have slightly different philosophy of skin care. But there was a few things that they all had in common. They believe that good skin care doesn’t need to cost $$$. What I was liking about these creators was they have tried products, they look at ingredients and they tell you what the ingredients were doing for the skin.
I learned about chemical exfoliation over physical exfoliation. I was someone who likes physical but I have never been super rough while using a physical scrubs. I was not someone who used everyone's favourite St. Ives Apricot Scrub, I could never use this product due to allergies. But I did enjoy some of The Body Shop Vitamin C scrubs (one that was daily and one that was weekly). These do not contain plastic beads and they are not something that have sharp edges. I have liked ones that were more gentle on my skin.
Watching these videos, I have changed my skin care routine just a little bit. I definitely looking at how my skin is feeling, I am using products that are a bit drying to the skin (especially with it being winter and it being an extremely cold already). I do take breaks from the new face wash I am using (I will list what I am using at the end), I do have some serums I use (morning and night) and I do have a new toner. I did go a bit overboard with stuff for acne I feel, thus having products that are quite a bit drying to the skin.
I guess I should kind of clarify the skin type I have. I have combination skin tending to oily in the summer and tending to dry in winter months. I do have sensitivities (I am still learning all my allergies), but I am sensitive to some fragrance. I can tolerate some from some products, but if there is a lot in a product, I get more of a migraine then a major reaction. I can feel a burning sensation or my skin does go red (that sometimes doesn’t go away but this is more that ingredients are in there).
So here is a small break down of my skin care routine for reference now.
The Inkey List Salicylic Acid face wash
The Ordinary Salicylic Acid 2% Serum
The Ordinary Niacinamide 10% + Zinc1% Serum
The Body Shop Vitamin C Glow Boosting Moisturizer (I have tried other ones but I find this one my skin really does like)
I do use a sun screen when I go outside but it is still flip floping around on which one I like.
Spectro for Sensitive Skin (I typically use this as a first cleanse if I feel I need it)
The Inkey List Salicylic Acid Cleanser (If I my skin is feeling pretty good and I am not planning on using my toner or retinol, otherwise I do feel a burning sensation that lasts a while and I am very red for hours)
The Inkey List Glycolic Acid Exfoliating Toner (I use this about 1-2 times a week right now trying to build up tolerance right now, if I use this I don’t use any other additives)
The Ordinary Salicylic Acid 2% Serum (I use fairly regularly to help keep my acne in check, usually spot at night probably should do the spot in the day and all over at night but I am still working on my routine)
The Ordinary Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1% (I really like this product, it helps with the redness I get when applying other products, I still get redness but it does not last like it normally would)
The Ordinary Retinol 0.2% in Squalane (I use this every second night basically, I made sure I only use it when I have used my Spectro and the Niacinamide serum)
The Body Shop Drops of Youth Bouncy Sleeping Mask (I found that this mask my skin really likes, as long as it hasn’t expired, learned that the hard way)
Then I do roll my face for 10 mins every 2-3 days, just to help with puffiness I get around my eyes some things (thank you allergy season never ending for me).
Again this is just a work in progress. I am still turning and learning my ingredient lists (shout out to Cassandra to teaching me this). I will be still look at different products and thinking about different things I put on my skin. I am not recommending these products, this is me experimenting and finding what my skin likes.
I know I talked mostly about my skin in this post but I want to mention that I am wanting to help my skin to help boost my confidence that little bit more. I have worked hard on my mental state, and I am in a good place now but I know I start to slip when I am starting to go back to the dark place. I am using different methods to help me stay out of there, and I do did it is the small things that help me get out of there or stop me from slipping to far. This is not meant to be a band aid affect, but this is what I recognize for me when I am going there and its my preventative way. This is will be talked a little more in future posts on my mental health that I am working on.
Recent picture of me, I still have a bit of acne, it is a bit hard to see with the lighting but this was taken in November 2021. It was seeing a positive change but I still was having break outs.
