So, some people will hate me for saying this, but I’ve never had trouble with my skin.
A handful of breakouts scattered through my teen years and a particularly memorable one in my 20s that I’m lucky not to have a scar from, but otherwise, my skin has been relatively chill waters.
I had the occasional misstep with a product here and there, but always being a bit of a skincare and makeup junkie I usually was able to quickly chase any skincare mistakes with a reasonable solution with nothing more to show for my oopsie than a few dollars lost that I wouldn’t get back.
Then I entered my mid-30s.
And had a baby.
Suddenly, I had 2 new unwieldy issues to contend with that I didn’t understand at first;
- A very dry head of hair that was formerly so greasy I used to have to wash it religiously every day (this turned out to be a result of medications I was given when I got sick at the end of my pregnancy and bad home dyeing decisions and was remedied by simply cutting of something like 6 inches of hair), and,
2. Skin that was low maintenance and now was sensitive, extremely combination with the dry parts being painfully so and a tendency to burst into red patches when I would exfoliate.
Clearly, I needed to change things up.
So I went on the hunt.
It took almost a year of trial and error before I got a handle on my skin, but I finally got a skincare arsenal of go to products that work well for me and I love.
The first thing I went in search of was an effective 2 step cleansing system (I figured this may help me eliminate the need to exfoliate altogether- more on how that worked out for me in just a minute); I had gotten a catalog in the mail for a company called DHC and decided to try their deep cleansing oil as a first step, chased with Say Yes to Carrots Cream Face Wash. It alleviated the dryness some, and I LOVED the cleansing oil- but it’s pricey, at almost 30 dollars a bottle. Luckily, there are plenty of new formulas being introduced all the time at various price points (Burt’s Bees, Eclos (a subsidiary of Freeman), Neutrogena and Garnier all have a version) but my best formula so far has been the one from Palmers. A delicious smelling mix of Rosehip, Jojoba and Grapeseed oils with a big dose of Vitamin C, this oil has been a wonderful addition to my skincare routine that settles my sometimes moody skin right down and makes it less dull (ah, 30s you are fun. And mean.) Followed by the soap-free, soy enriched goodness that is Aveeno’s Positively Radiant cleanser, this was the first development that got my skin back on the road to happiness. As an extra boost you can get both on drugstore.com for under 20 bucks! Such a steal.
For a toner I was on the quest for something a little more on the gentle side; I actually was so oily for so many years that I used Sea Breeze much longer than most people are able to, only stopping when redness and flakiness became a huge issue. I have always loved witch hazel as a more natural alternative, but if you go this route read your label carefully; quite a few formulas of witch hazel contain alcohol which countermands all the efforts I’m making to get my skin to mellow out and can cause your skin to grease up when it overreacts to being stripped of it’s natural oils. Luckily, Thayers makes a few different formulas that are alcohol free, enriched with aloe and either smell like rose petals or lavender. I have the rose petal right now and it tones and preps my skin for moisturizer without any redness or resulting greasiness from swiping alcohol across your face (and smells soooo good). I think when I reorder (also on drugstore.com) I will grab the lavender and see how I like it.
At night, when I want a little extra dewiness (and needing an SPF isn’t an issue) I love to cap my skin routine off with Simple Replenishing Rich Moisturizer; it’s thick so a little bit goes a long way, and it absorbs quickly. It also has no fragrance and is nice and gentle. For daytime I like my Aveeno Ultra-Calming Moisturizer as it is formulated specifically to ease any redness; the miracle in this formula that aids this is something called fever few, which is in the same family as chamomile. It’s been my go to since 2005, I love it!
I was on my way, and things were looking up on the skin care front!
My skin was dewier and less red, BUT here’s the thing; when I would go to apply my makeup it wasn’t going on as smoothly as I knew it could.
It was flaky in spots or clumpy in others.
There was no avoiding it.
I had to crack the code on what kind of exfoliant would work on skin as touchy as mine, since the traditional scrub type wasn’t working anymore.
Then a friend of mine (you know who you are, woman) told me about this amazing product from Japan that she thought would be perfect for me.
It was a chemical exfoliant, very gentle, that should work great for me since scrubs left me red-faced and unhappy, and even if it was pricier than I would have liked I needed to give it a shot.
I scoured online and quickly found that you can buy this on amazon.com for about 28 dollars, so I went for it.
Oh.
My.
GOODNESS.
It begins to work immediately when you apply it to dry skin and instead of having to scrub at dead, dry skin it just kind of . . . rolls OFF when you rinse it, like a really cool (and slightly icky) science experiment.
No scrubbing.
No redness.
Just soft, miraculously exfoliated skin that is a smooth canvas on which to paint how you like.
What are some of your skincare go-tos?
Let me know in the comments here or on our FB page!
Until next time, all!
Love,
The Chick and her Chickadee