Acne has been an annoying part of my life since I was a teenager. While my breakouts are A LOT more manageable now; I’m still very self-conscious about my skin after years of unevenness, acne scarring, cystic breakouts, etc. These days, most of my breakouts are hormonal breakouts that pop up before my period, make me feel ugly for a week or two and then slowly heal afterwards. Last month, I decided to change my skincare routine to see if using a few different products could help my skin.
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Here’s What Happened When I Changed My Skincare Routine | My Acne Journey
During my teenage years, my acne was awful. Once a little girl stopped me to ask how bad it was having chicken pox on my face — yep the scarring was THAT bad. It really impacted my self confidence and it was incredibly frustrating trying tons of different products and skincare lines just to have them not work. When I tell you that I tried everything: Differin, antibiotics, birth control to level my hormones, different over the counter creams and washes, ProActiv, you name it.
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Sometime during my freshman year at UK, my skin seemed to naturally calm down a bit and breakouts were mainly reserved for that time of month. Not long after that, I stopped taking birth control because it wasn’t helping level any of my hormones and made me not feel great.
Fast forward to 2019 and I’d been using the same skincare regimen for a few years now. While I love experimenting with makeup, I’m a lot more hesitant when it comes to skincare products because of how my skin’s been in the past.
Here’s What Happened When I Changed My Skincare Routine | What I Was Using
Full transparency, I can be inconsistent with my routine when I’m stressed or have a lot going on, but this is what my routine looked like.
In the morning:
- Using the Murad Clarifying Cleaner on a Vitagoods Facial Spin Brush
- After going around my face, rinse.
- Put on makeup if I’m going out
At night:
- Makeup remover wipe
- Clarifying Cleanser + Spin Brush
- Moisturizer or face mist
About once a week:
- Face mask OR facial scrub to exfoliate
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Very simple and no frills. I loved a good sheet mask but had somewhat resigned myself to occasional breakouts and acne scarring. {I’m AWFUL about not picking at my face; it’s one of my anxious ticks and while I sometimes can get myself to resist, it’s tough.}
Here’s What Happened When I Changed My Skincare Routine | Why I Decided to Change
Here’s where it gets comical…late in April, Kylie Jenner announced she was launching a skincare line. I follow a few different makeup accounts on Twitter and almost immediately there was an uproar over the walnut exfoliating scrub in her line. Skincare gurus and estheticians warned against it as exfoliating scrubs can cause tiny tears in the skin inevitably leading to infections and more breakouts.
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Y’all. I was raised pretty much using the St. Ives & Queen Helene exfoliating scrubs. As I started reading about facial scrubs, I was worried. Was my LUSH Cup of Coffee mask actually making my skin worse?! Even worse while I was looking all of this up, I started to see some estheticians warn against using Clairsonics and other facial spin brushes for the same reasons.
Here’s What Happened When I Changed My Skincare Routine | What I Researched
This pretty much led to me doing a deep dive on exfoliating acids, oils, serums, and the like. Since I’m truly in my late twenties now, I knew that refining my skincare routine was something I should do but again I was so intimidated by the number of products out there and inadvertently causing my skin to break out.
Ultimately, I decided to try giving up my facial spin brush and exfoliating scrubs for at least a month and seeing how my skin looked at the end. I really wasn’t sure what to expect and took makeup-free selfies mainly for my own reference. {Today sharing them in all their glory so you can see the progress!}
Here’s What Happened When I Changed My Skincare Routine | How I Wash My Face Now
In the mornings I start by washing my face with my hands and the same Clarifying Cleanser for at least 60 seconds. Making sure to wash for this long allows the active ingredients in the acne face wash to actually get into the skin and work their magic versus just the top layer. After washing, I pat my face dry with a washcloth; I make sure to swap out my washcloths every 1-2 washes. Just being ~real, I was bad about this before.
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After I dry my face, I use a cotton pad with the toning serum. I started the month out by using the Pixi Glow Tonic, which I loved! After going through the bottle, I ordered the Glycolic Acid Toning Serum from The Ordinary. The glycolic acid percentage is 2% more in The Ordinary’s version and is unscented, but it is cheaper than the Pixi Glow Tonic and a larger size too. I’ve found it to be about the same as far as effectiveness so I will probably stick to using The Ordinary. I will say that the size of the Pixi Glow Tonic is better for traveling! Both of these are alpha hydroxy acids (AHAs) which help soothe inflamed skin, reduce acne scars, and help increase skin cell turnover.
Here’s What Happened When I Changed My Skincare Routine | Pixi Glow Tonic Serum
Pixi Beauty sent me some items from their skincare collection a couple months back which is why I initially started using the Glow Tonic. It’s very popular and since I hadn’t been using a toner, it seemed to be perfect to try out. After using it for a few weeks before my skincare routine revamp and seeing that it wasn’t causing breakouts, I added in the Glow Tonic Serum at night. After I’ve applied toner, I put two drops of the serum on my face and gently tap it into the skin. It also helps with the exfoliation process and adds back in some of the hydration that my skin needs at night.
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Here’s What Happened When I Changed My Skincare Routine | Moisturizers
Moisturizers scared me. There — I said it. I have combination oily skin and so I loathed adding moisturizer in the mornings. Going through this process, I accepted that I’d have to accept some oiliness while I trained my skin. I was all out of my Patchology Aquaflash Gel Moisturizer so I started the month by using the La Roche-Posay moisturizer. When I did some reading this moisturizer was recommended for oily skin types; I still use this one at night. I gently pat it into the skin after I’ve given the glow tonic serum a couple minutes to absorb into the skin.
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In the mornings, I use the gel moisturizer right after toning my skin. I first got this moisturizer as a PR sample and ended up loving it so much that I reordered. Gel moisturizers quickly absorb into the skin and feel incredibly lightweight which is great if you have oily or combination skin. In the mornings, this is the last step of my skincare routine.
Here’s What Happened When I Changed My Skincare Routine | A Night Oil
At night, I let my moisturizer sink in and then round out the routine by adding two to three drops of the 100% Organic Cold-Pressed Rose Hip Seed Oil. So what does it do? Rosehip seed oil has lots of Vitamin A & C which helps with exfoliation, moisturizing, and dull skin. Vitamin A, or retinol, helps with skin turnover while Vitamin C helps with cell regrowth. Both are needed to produce collagen. ALL of the good things!
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Personally, I’ve noticed a huge difference in dark spots from acne. The oil helps my skin feel more supple in the mornings and I’ve really seen it help with acne scarring and unevenness.
Here’s What Happened When I Changed My Skincare Routine | How I Remove Makeup & Routine Steps
On days when I wear makeup, I double cleanse. I prefer to use the Farmacy Green Clean which is a makeup cleansing balm. It’s a minty scented balm that you rub into the skin and melts off makeup. When I’m lazy, I’ll pull out a makeup remover wipe to take off my makeup.
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I’ve put together a quick graphic listing out each step that I take in my skincare routine. Pin it now to reference later.
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