A more accurate title for this post would be something along the lines of My June Skincare Routine because I change it up seemingly every month trying to get it right. Blah blah blah, I have acne, blah blah blah. We all know the story by now about my problematic skin and how it likes to clear up for two seconds before it gets worse and I have to move on to another product in hopes that it'll treat it once and for all. Yeah, never gonna happen apparently.
Whatever I'm doing right now though seems to be–knock on wood–kind of working. I mean, I still have to figure out a way to treat my redness and fade my acne scars, but it seems that the cystic acne days are behind me. Now I'm just fighting the occasional whiteheads and the enlarged pores, but honestly, one battle at a time!
In a haul a few weeks ago, I talked about the Murad Complete Acne Control 30-Day Kit. It's just a set with five different smaller sizes of some of their acne treating products. There's a cleanser, an acne clearing solution (a gel texture), two moisturizers (one for day, one for night), and a spot treatment. I've been using it day and night for...three weeks now? Maybe? Really should've kept count by this point, but I've definitely been using it for more than two weeks.
I feel like this would have been so much more effective with before and after photos but you know me, always dropping the ball on these important aspects of a skincare post. To sum up the change, before I started using this, you couldn't touch my cheeks (think the area where my contour would be down to my jawline) without feeling bumps from the cystic acne beneath my skin. This was on both sides of my face. It wasn't massive areas, but there were three or four gathered together in a couple of spots on my face. Right now, I have no cystic acne. I have a couple of small whiteheads along my jaw and as far as I know, that's it. The rest is redness and scarring, which really should be the next step in my skincare journey.
When it comes to masks, I've been using the Glamglow Supermud mask on days where I really want to pull the impurities from my face. I use the Peter Thomas Roth Pumpkin Enzyme mask still, though I'm careful not to over exfoliate so I don't irritate or inflame my skin. I also really like the Kate Somerville EradiKate™ Mask Foam-Activated Acne Treatment for a more gentle mask to unclog my pores.
I also know one factor for this peak in my skin is probably the fact that I've been wearing less makeup. I have multiple-day long spans where I don't put a speck of makeup on, something I haven't been able to do in years. Now, even when I do wear makeup, I can wear significantly less foundation and concealer because I don't need the insanely heavy coverage to hide all of my imperfections. I'm really, really hoping this keeps up because not having to use sixteen million pumps of foundation and entire tube of concealer to further cover the zits is a really, really nice feeling.
I also think my diet hopefully is playing a part. I try to eat mostly fruits and vegetables with my necessary protein for the day. I've been really trying to up my water intake (some days I drink more than others) because my skin always feels the best when my I'm staying hydrated. My entire body feels better when I'm staying hydrated, to be honest. And I'm also not super stressed every single hour of the day. I know stress did terrible things to my skin. I mean, it really showed because for pretty much the last year or so, the worst of my acne was hormonal acne around my mouth and chin AKA stress acne. Like, if that wasn't a warning sign that I was trying to do The Most, then I don't know what is.
Is my skin perfect? Heck no, but I don't expect it to be. I have a dermatologist appointment at the end of this week that I scheduled out of desperation when my acne was the worst it had been in months a few weeks ago. This happens every single time I go see the dermatologist, my skin clears up right before my appointment and I have to assure them that I did have acne and it was really bad and try to describe it well enough so that they could treat it properly. We shall see what Friday brings! For now, this is what I'm doing to my skin and it doesn't hate it!
Whatever I'm doing right now though seems to be–knock on wood–kind of working. I mean, I still have to figure out a way to treat my redness and fade my acne scars, but it seems that the cystic acne days are behind me. Now I'm just fighting the occasional whiteheads and the enlarged pores, but honestly, one battle at a time!
In a haul a few weeks ago, I talked about the Murad Complete Acne Control 30-Day Kit. It's just a set with five different smaller sizes of some of their acne treating products. There's a cleanser, an acne clearing solution (a gel texture), two moisturizers (one for day, one for night), and a spot treatment. I've been using it day and night for...three weeks now? Maybe? Really should've kept count by this point, but I've definitely been using it for more than two weeks.
I feel like this would have been so much more effective with before and after photos but you know me, always dropping the ball on these important aspects of a skincare post. To sum up the change, before I started using this, you couldn't touch my cheeks (think the area where my contour would be down to my jawline) without feeling bumps from the cystic acne beneath my skin. This was on both sides of my face. It wasn't massive areas, but there were three or four gathered together in a couple of spots on my face. Right now, I have no cystic acne. I have a couple of small whiteheads along my jaw and as far as I know, that's it. The rest is redness and scarring, which really should be the next step in my skincare journey.
When it comes to masks, I've been using the Glamglow Supermud mask on days where I really want to pull the impurities from my face. I use the Peter Thomas Roth Pumpkin Enzyme mask still, though I'm careful not to over exfoliate so I don't irritate or inflame my skin. I also really like the Kate Somerville EradiKate™ Mask Foam-Activated Acne Treatment for a more gentle mask to unclog my pores.
I also know one factor for this peak in my skin is probably the fact that I've been wearing less makeup. I have multiple-day long spans where I don't put a speck of makeup on, something I haven't been able to do in years. Now, even when I do wear makeup, I can wear significantly less foundation and concealer because I don't need the insanely heavy coverage to hide all of my imperfections. I'm really, really hoping this keeps up because not having to use sixteen million pumps of foundation and entire tube of concealer to further cover the zits is a really, really nice feeling.
I also think my diet hopefully is playing a part. I try to eat mostly fruits and vegetables with my necessary protein for the day. I've been really trying to up my water intake (some days I drink more than others) because my skin always feels the best when my I'm staying hydrated. My entire body feels better when I'm staying hydrated, to be honest. And I'm also not super stressed every single hour of the day. I know stress did terrible things to my skin. I mean, it really showed because for pretty much the last year or so, the worst of my acne was hormonal acne around my mouth and chin AKA stress acne. Like, if that wasn't a warning sign that I was trying to do The Most, then I don't know what is.
Is my skin perfect? Heck no, but I don't expect it to be. I have a dermatologist appointment at the end of this week that I scheduled out of desperation when my acne was the worst it had been in months a few weeks ago. This happens every single time I go see the dermatologist, my skin clears up right before my appointment and I have to assure them that I did have acne and it was really bad and try to describe it well enough so that they could treat it properly. We shall see what Friday brings! For now, this is what I'm doing to my skin and it doesn't hate it!
Seems to be great products. Surly gonna try these. Right now i am facing signs of aging and When it comes to aging well, most of us already know what we need to do: Exercise, eat right, get a good night’s sleep or use products like Lifecell anti aging cream. Don't smoke or drink heavily.
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