Skin Care
This is super off topic for my business website, but seeing as how I work with humans that have skin, I figured you might enjoy this and learn something in the process.
Tons of people have been asking me what products I use since posting about this topic a while back on social media, so I wanted to share what's been working for me.
I have oily and sensitive skin, and I burn easily because I take a medication that makes me photosensitive.
I must credit the amazing skincare experts James Welsh, Susan Yara, and Hyram for teaching me everything I know about skincare with their excellent YouTube videos. These three people make content that is informed, researched, and honest. Definitely subscribe to their channels if you REALLY want to learn.
NIGHT ROUTINE
Step 1 - Cleanser A
CeraVe Foaming Facial Cleanser
3 pumps on my face in the shower, and then I also use this as a body wash because its cleansing but doesn’t strip my skin, and I couldn’t find a body wash that has niacinamide, hyaluronic acid, and ceramides. I figured if this works so well on my face, it would do well on my body, and I was right! Yes, I wash my face in the shower because I don’t have time or patience to clean up my sink and mirror every night - shower is just easier and less messy.
Step 2 - Cleanser B
Naturium Niacinamide Cleansing Gelée
5 to 6 pumps of this for face, neck, beard, throat, and ears (too many of you need to hear this: wash your ears - we can tell when you don’t!). I wear a TON of sunscreen all over my body everyday - anywhere from 3-6 layers depending on how much sun I’m getting/type of activities, so yeah I use two cleansers for what's known as a “double cleanse.” (Side note: if you wear makeup, please STOP using makeup wipes, rags, clothes, etc. to cleanse your skin. Instead, you should be using a cleansing balm that emulsifies your makeup - think chemistry here. If your makeup is oil-based, then your makeup removal should be some sort of oil soluble thing, like a proper cleansing balm. No, coconut oil does not belong on your skin, regardless of whatever stupid social media “trend” you’ve been brainwashed into believing). After I wash off my two cleansers in the shower, I finish my shower, and go straight into my toner (step 3) - within seconds of getting out. The point is to keep your skin as wet/damp as possible - keep reading and I’ll tell you why.
Step 3 - Toner
COSRX AHA BHA Vitamin C Daily Toner
As much as will fit in the palm of my hand without falling through my fingers. Toner is NOT a cleanser, and you should stop thinking that it is. Toners are a HYDRATION step - as per the laws of thermodynamics and physics, your other heavier skincare products will penetrate the skin better and deeper if they are applied to wet skin. Toners are designed to wet your skin. Yes, like this one, toners can have active ingredients in them for issues you want to treat. For me, this toner is fabulous because it's super light and feels just like water, but gives me a very mild chemical exfoliation (AHA and BHA stands for Alpha and Beta Hydroxy Acids, otherwise known as chemical exfoliators). I apply this leave-on product with clean hands - no cotton pads because even the softest cotton pad is environmentally wasteful and abrades your skin.
Step 4 - Chemical Exfoliator
COSRX BHA Blackhead Power Liquid
3-4 pumps on my face, 2 pumps on my neck and throat. Don’t let the label fool you, this is just a chemical exfoliator that uses a super gentle, low concentration Beta Hydroxy Acid suspended in a bunch of skin-calming watery ingredients and stabilizers. Will it clear blackheads? Over time with regular use, yes it will. But that's because it's a gentle chemical exfoliator that sinks into pores - which is great for me. It's super gentle and feels like thick water. Again, I have extremely oily skin, so I use another/this watery chemical exfoliator at this point in my night routine because it not only hydrates my skin more, but BHA’s really help regulate/control oil production. I stopped using physical exfoliation over a year ago and my skin is super happy. Physical exfoliation, like scrubs, clays, or abrasive tools, just tear your skin and compromise your skin barrier, and any dermatologist or esthetician will tell you to use a chemical exfoliator instead. I apply this leave-on product with clean hands - no cotton pads because even the softest cotton pad is environmentally wasteful and abrades your skin.
Step 5 - Serum A
Naturium Niacinamide & Zinc Serum
3 pumps for my face, 2 pumps for my neck and throat. Serums are something between a toner and a moisturizer in texture and consistency. They're a step to add more hydration to the skin, but also a great way to deliver active ingredients and treatments to the skin to correct skin issues. I naturally have very oily skin that can appear dull and patchy with red areas for no reason. Niacinamide, a shelf stable form of Vitamin B3 that has a lot of clinical R&D behind it, has TRANSFORMED my skin - it reduces redness, reduces hyperpigmentation (melasma), calms the skin, and helps to control oil (sebum) production. In that sense, it helped my skin heal from these issues. It made my skin somehow brighter, more even in tone and texture, and gave me what I can only explain as a transparent, glassy glow to my skin. Because it helped my pores make less oil, my pores look smaller now because they're doing less, so you could say that it “reduced the appearance of my pores.” I apply this leave-on product with clean hands - no cotton pads because even the softest cotton pad is environmentally wasteful and abrades your skin.
Step 6 - Serum B
Naturium Retinol Complex Serum
4 pumps for my face, 3 pumps for my neck and throat. I’m 37 years old on the outside, but going on 80 on the inside, so I want to fight wrinkles and uneven texture on my skin. I also noticed my skin was full of fine lines, especially around the eyes and nose. This stuff has done what feels like a miracle for me - my skin is so freaking smooth, I can’t believe it. My forehead wrinkles are dramatically less noticeable. Yes, my skin will wrinkle if I raise my eyebrows or smile, but this stuff made it so that when I relax those muscles, the skin bounces back into place faster, and the wrinkles appear much less deep. I think this product is also responsible for flattening two small raised scars on my face that I had from childhood chicken pox. Next time you see me in person, I’ll show you. This is the only retinol I’ve found that doesn’t burn my skin - retinol can give you basically what feels like a chemical burn because of tons of factors that I won’t go into, but let's just say that this is my miracle retinol. No burn, no rash, just amazing skin every day if I put this on before bed. Side note - do not wear retinol during the day because it makes your skin sunburn. I apply this leave-on product only at night with clean hands - no cotton pads because even the softest cotton pad is environmentally wasteful and abrades your skin.
Step 7 - Moisturizer
COSRX Advanced Snail 92 All in one Cream
4 dabs spread out across my forehead, cheeks and nose, 3 dabs for my neck and throat. YES, this has 92% Snail Mucin in it - yes it is actual snail mucus secretions. Snails. It's ethically and humanely harvested. No, they do not kill the snails. The snails are fed organic vegetables and tons of other good food, and they spend their little lives crawling/slithering across what looks like a big mosquito net all day, and their slime falls through the mesh net into big buckets. That slime is then pasteurized several times to remove micro-organisms (like parasitic nematodes!) and then blended with niacinamide, hyaluronic acid, panthenol, and some other wonderful ingredients and stabilizers, and it makes for the most wonderful and luxurious skin moisturizer. No, this product does not have a scent or odor to it because its pasteurized. There is a ton of R&D in Korea and Japan over the years to back up snail mucin in skin care, and I trust it all because of the mega huge social emphasis placed on healthy skincare in Korea and Japan - where you are seen as something filthy and sub-human if you do not have at least a 5-step skin routine. Also, unlike our FDA, the Korean FDA has stricter regulations and testing processes, and exists more independently from their politics and lobbying interests. Snail mucin heals your skin super fast - it’s been used for hundreds of years in Korea and Japan as a skin moisturizer because it WORKS. Best part for me is that it's oil-free but feels heavy and occlusive. I apply this leave-on product with clean hands - no cotton pads because even the softest cotton pad is environmentally wasteful and abrades your skin.
Step 8 - Face oil
Naturium Plant Squalane
3-4 drops in my hands, then pressed on the skin gently - face oils are not supposed to be “rubbed in” or smeared across the skin. I love Squalane Oil because it is biomimetic, meaning the molecular structure and weight is the most similar to actual human skin oils - so similar that skin doesn’t know the difference! Other oils like Marula and Argan are also considered biomimetic, but I find them to be a little heavier on my skin, but perfect in my hair! If I'm feeling the need for locking in moisture, I will use a face oil, but this is usually only something I do in cold and dry weather. OK people - please stop using face oil instead of/calling it/thinking that it's a “moisturizer.” Oil on its own is not a moisturizer - think chemistry. Oils are not water soluble. Our bodies are 65% water, not oil. Our skin cells need water to look plump and healthy, not oil. One main reason skin gets dry is because of a process known as “TransEpidermal Water Loss” (TEWL) - Google it. When pressed on top of fully prepped, hydrated, and moisturized skin, oil simply prevents the water you’ve already put on your skin from escaping your skin cells. Yes, oil makes your skin shine with a super nice glow that fools people into thinking they’re “hydrated/moisturized” but in all actuality, the words “hydration” and “moisture” are referring to WATER - not oil, because of the chemistry behind what water and oil do. It's simple...to keep the water inside you, put oil on top. Oil is occlusive - it occludes your skin from losing water to TEWL. I apply this leave-on product with clean hands - no cotton pads because even the softest cotton pad is environmentally wasteful and abrades your skin.
DAY ROUTINE
Step 1 - wake up
8 hours of unbroken sleep is an accomplishment. I think Miss Evelyn would agree.
Step 2 - splash water
On my eyes, but NOT my face. NO - I do not wash/cleanse my face in the morning. When I sleep, nothing dirty is touching my face because I am immaculately clean when I get in bed, I change my sheets every 2-3 sleeps, and I never use a towel on my face that isn’t absolutely clean - I change my face towel daily, and yes, I NEVER use the same towel I would use for drying my hands or for dying my body because I am not a disgusting savage. I do a lot of laundry, but if I don’t use immaculately clean things on my skin, my skin gets bumpy and congested.
Step 3 - Toner
COSRX AHA BHA Vitamin C Daily Toner
To add some hydration in the morning, I apply this leave-on product with clean hands - no cotton pads because even the softest cotton pad is environmentally wasteful and abrades your skin.
Step 4…through 10? - Sunscreen
Neogen Day Light SPF 50 PA+++
I apply a ton of sunscreen multiple times a day. I LOVE Korean sunscreens because they look/feel like you’re wearing nothing on the skin - they’re super elegant and absorb beautifully. No white cast. No oily residue. It just feels like a moisturizing lotion. This product has a slight fragrance, which is something I avoid in all other products, but I use this product because I have not been able to find a Korean sunscreen that has everything I’m looking for:
must be approved by both the Korean and American FDA’s
must be a combination of chemical and physical filters for the best protection possible
is spf 50 / PA+++
feels light and moisturizing because I wanna look pretty and feel pretty
doesn’t leave a white cast
So I’m willing to suspend my dislike of fragrance just this once because the fragrance is at the bottom of the ingredients list - meaning its the least abundant thing in the product, and because the elegant formulation of this product makes it feel like I’m not wearing anything. The fragrance also goes away after about an hour. This particular sunscreen is a hybrid of chemical and mineral sunscreens - if you don’t know the difference between these two types of sunscreens, Google it, but do not be brainwashed into thinking that mineral sunscreens are the only acceptable form of sunscreen because of the alleged damage chemical sunscreens do to coral reefs, etc. That is a fear-based marketing tactic rooted in cancel-culture that tons of brands use to push their products. There is almost no data to support reefs being bleached by chemical sunscreens in the quantities that humans consume said chemical sunscreens. Also, a chemical sunscreen absorbs UV light and dissipates it across the skin as heat, so it begins to break down the moment it is applied and comes in contact with the skin and UV light, and that's why you have to reapply it every two hours when you’re in constant sun exposure, because otherwise its rendered inert by its very nature. So if you lay in the sun for two hours and then jump into the ocean, your chemical sunscreen has chemically been rendered inert by UV light - UV light breaks the molecular bonds of chemical sunscreens, and the byproduct of that is heat - that process of converting UV light into heat is what prevents you from getting a sunburn. After that happens, the chemicals that once made up your sunscreen are now coming off your body (remember, you just jumped into the ocean) in an inert form that doesn’t have proven negative effects on coral in the ways that would cause massive environmental collapse like we are seeing in coral reefs right now. Only huge amounts of fresh sunscreen that have not been applied to your skin/have not been exposed to UV light can create the damage these marketing tactics are describing, and last time I checked, literally no one is just buying sunscreens and then immediately dumping them into the ocean en masse before using them on their body. There are something like 200 other far more important factors to ocean health than your chemical sunscreen - like Global climate change and warming ocean temperatures. You can Google studies that list over 200 other more important factors that are destroying our oceans. Stop buying into fear-based marketing designed to appeal to your sense of “doing good” for issues that can only be solved through massive changes in legislation around the world. This is one of those situations where the “everyone doing their part” logic has been hijacked by a greedy capitalist-driven industry because it enforces the existing power structures in our society. And you thought sunscreen WASN’T a political issue!!! hahahahah Remember, the best sunscreen on the market is the one you wear everyday. I apply this leave-on product with clean hands - no cotton pads because even the softest cotton pad is environmentally wasteful and abrades your skin.
Things to remember for any Skincare routine: Skin care is self care. Skin is unique, and what works for some, may not work for you. Skincare takes time to see results. It took about 3 months for me to see results. Wash your hands. Use completely clean towels. Wash your sheets often, especially your pillow case. You might consider using a silk pillowcase instead - that's a great option for people with long and/or curly hair, and people with sensitive skin. Wear sunscreen (minimum of spf 30) like your life depends on it. I recently had a friend die at 34 from skin cancer. Stop tanning. Do you really want to look like a dirty boot when you’re older? Drink tons of water, and go to bed. Sleep and water make your skin look better. Maybe I should go be an esthetician.
