My name is Megan and I am a skincare junkie. I know not everyone is, but I will breakdown why skincare is important and how you should be practicing a routine.
My skin is my "thing". A good, multi-step skincare routine gives me all the fuzzy feels. Shopping at Sephora makes me feel like a natural woman. I know a frilly, no-holds-barred routine isn't for everyone, but skin is the largest organ of the body and needs to be taken care of accordingly. I am going to give you a few dos, don'ts and general guidelines of how you can start a good skincare routine for yourself. Not only is this type of care good for your skin, but it is good for your overall well being. Taking care of your skin is taking care of yourself, and your Self enjoys this. Sowing these seeds can lead to health and well being in several aspects of your life, not only your skin (but your skin will look great, too!).
Do: Cleanse Your Damn Skin
Cleansing your skin is crucial. Your skin, especially the skin on your face, goes through a lot in a day; sweat, dirt, excess oils and free radicals can cause premature aging, acne and just overall listless look to your skin.
If you were painting a wall, you would clean the wall before you painted, right? Cleansing the skin is the foundation for the rest of your skincare routine. If your skin isn't clean, none of the other products you use after will be effective because they aren't sinking into your skin, they are sinking into filth.
Do: Use Actives
This will vary by age, but everyone should have at least one active in their routine. Actives come in the form of retinoids such as retinol (the gold standard in the skincare community), AHAs such as lactic acid and glycolic acid, and BHAs such as salicylic acid. Also, antioxidants such as vitamins B, C & E, niacinamide and ferulic acid. The active needs to be in the form of a leave-on product such as a toner, serum or moisturizer, NOT a cleanser unless otherwise directed by a professional.
Oh and one very important note, you should consider sunscreen as an active and wear the damn sunscreen, damn it! I can't stress this enough. Any skin can burn and any can age and ethnicity. Even if you aren't prone to sunburn, UVA rays can still cause aging even if you don't burn. This is why I consider it an active.
Other than the sunscreen, which you should be wearing all day every day, I would strongly recommend starting with one other active and gradually increase use as you see how you react. Don't use several at once unless directed by a professional. Start by using one once a week, then twice a week but probably no more than three times a week. Again, this excludes sunscreen. You can also add your actives for your face on your neck, decolletage and hands.
Don't: Put Food on Your Face
It may seem like a good idea, especially during sheltering in place, but don't. Just don't. Put down that homemade coffee and lemon juice mask and thank me later. Your face doesn't have digestive enzymes; therefore certain foods may have wonderful benefits for skin, but it means when it is digested, not when it slathered on your skin in the form of a scrub/mask/spa treatment. Problems can develop form using food on the face, including build-ups of bacteria and sensitivities. For example, the strong citric acid found in lemons can cause sun sensitivity of the skin within minutes.
Don't: Use Scrubs on Your Face
Yes, you need to exfoliate, but most scrubs are too harsh for the skin on the face and plastic microbeads used in many scrubs are terrible for the environment. Just for the record, Americans are exfoliating too much anyway. Most people only need to exfoliate once or twice a week. My advice is start with once and see how that goes before adding a second. If you are using retinol, ask your dermatologist if you need to be exfoliating at all. You may just be able to get away with spot treating with an exfoliant on an as-needed basis.
What you should be using instead: Either chemical exfoliants such as retinoids, AHAs and BHAs, or gentle manual exfoliants about the consistency of silt.
Do: Moisturize, Moisturize, Moisturize!
Other than cleansing, this is the most important step. Cleansing skin may be the foundation but retaining moisture in the skin is the brick and mortar.
I don't care how oily your skin is or what ethnicity you are, your skin needs moisture. In fact, the right, lightweight moisturizer can help combat oily skin. If your skin thinks you already have oil on your face, it will likely be tricked into thinking it doesn't need to produce more oil.
Don't: Use harsh chemicals
I won't tell you not to use any synthetic ingredients, because most of them are fine, but they aren't all created equally. Especially be on the lookout for sodium laureth sulfates, also known as SLS or SLES, and polyethelene glycols, also known as PEGs.
PEGs are petroleum based solvents that are commonly used across the board in cosmetics because it can thicken products and help them better moisturize, cleanse and so forth, but they are basically liquid plastic. You find them a lot in cleansing balms. Since it is liquid plastic, you can imagine it is not great for the environment, but is hotly debated as a carcinogen as well. SLS is a cheap foaming agent and is often found in cleansers and shampoos. SLS is also irritating to skin and eyes and often strips all the natural oils off the skin and leaves that "squeaky" feeling, which actually is NOT good for skin. You don't need to scour your skin as you would a pot or pan. Your skin needs to be treated gently or it will become sensitized and problematic.
Some other guidelines to consider
Personal hygiene is extremely important. Use clean washcloths and towels and change your pillowcases often. if you wash your face in the shower, rinse all the shampoo and/or conditioner out of your hair and wash your hands before cleaning your face. You should wash your face at least at night and if you get really sweaty.
Reapply your sunscreen if you are going to be outside for any length of time or if your skin gets wet.
If you are still smoking, quit. There are so many reasons to quit, but even if for no other reasons than the telltale wrinkles it causes around your mouth.
Eat antioxidant-rich foods and stay hydrated. Skin especially loves papaya, berries, avocado, fatty fish, nuts and green tea.
Divorce makeup wipes. They are terrible for the environment and aren't effective at removing makeup, which is their ONE job. To take off makeup, try doing a double cleanse with an oil based cleanser followed by a water based one and/or use reusable, washable makeup pads.
Invest in yourself, your health and well being by stepping up your skincare game. If it can benefit your largest organ, it can benefit them all. Taking care of yourself is an essential, not a luxury.Your health, especially during these challenging times, should be a top priority. It is our time to reap the benefits of beautiful, healthy skin.
