Last September, I began noticing small changes in both the texture and overall appearance of my skin which I put down to stress and ignored completely. However, as I chose to ignore it the situation worsened and eventually spread across my T-Zone and cheek area - which if I'm honest was my own fault for not acting on it. Soon, as the images show, the spots became aggressive in that they were red and highly inflamed - which on my complexion sent MAJOR red lights to me. As I'd never experienced any 'acne' as such prior to this my initial response was to keep up my then skin routine, pop them if I felt the need to and finally hide it all with make up - I'm talking full foundation routine DAILY. Again, I'm including the things I did for you to avoid doing.
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| The beginning. |
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| Mid - began fading but came back in full force: |
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| This has to be the worst of the images I took, which obviously I never intended anyone to see as I hated it - but it helps illustrate just how bad my skin had become. This had spread too to my cheeks but more red. |
Once things started to reach its peak I knew I had to adapt and change everything I was doing to 'tackle' the problem. Before I get into the routine that helped change my skin, I must reiterate what many others say my routine worked for me and may not work for you.
I scrapped EVERYTHING SIS. My water in take has always been ridiculous on a good day I used to drink 3 glasses - now my current minimum is about 1L with a 2L max. Our skin is over 60% water, so if you imagine it like a date when dehydrated and a grape when hydrated you get the gist of just how important and influential water is. First and foremost water intake is vital in ensuring your skin can be at its prime in combination with a good skin routine.
The approach I decided to take is ensuring all the products I use are as bare minimum in the ingredients they have and are natural in fragrance - or entirely fragrance free if possible. Below I've gone through my in depth daily routine in addition to what masks or treatments I use:
CLEANSE
On the days I wear make up the first thing I use is a baby wipe - doesn't matter what brand just has to be fragrance free or 'sensitive'. These I found to be the most gentle and got most of the actual make up off my face.
This was followed by a face wash - I use African Black Soap which at first dried my skin immensely, as I do have combination skin, so at first it was only used once a week. On the days I wasn't using it I used Simple face wash - both with a pore cleansing brush which is not the same as the ones I've seen a lot of Youtubers promote. Personally, I didn't find them effective enough for my skin and sometimes they were extremely harsh.
TONE
Right at the beginning of my skin journey, I used apple cider vinegar as a toner - after a while the smell of it got too much so I only use it at night now. My favourite toner has to be distilled pure witch hazel - the benefits of it being a natural astringent are endless. Witch hazel is what I used day and night for the period after I started fazing out apple cider vinegar, it has proven to be my favourite toner out of all the ones I have tried purely because it had the fastest results. Currently, I literally use any Simple toner as they don't have tons of rubbish in the ingredients - but I do have to emphasise that I use alcohol free for all my toner options.
MOISTURISE
On the days I wear make up the first thing I use is a baby wipe - doesn't matter what brand just has to be fragrance free or 'sensitive'. These I found to be the most gentle and got most of the actual make up off my face.
This was followed by a face wash - I use African Black Soap which at first dried my skin immensely, as I do have combination skin, so at first it was only used once a week. On the days I wasn't using it I used Simple face wash - both with a pore cleansing brush which is not the same as the ones I've seen a lot of Youtubers promote. Personally, I didn't find them effective enough for my skin and sometimes they were extremely harsh.
TONE
Right at the beginning of my skin journey, I used apple cider vinegar as a toner - after a while the smell of it got too much so I only use it at night now. My favourite toner has to be distilled pure witch hazel - the benefits of it being a natural astringent are endless. Witch hazel is what I used day and night for the period after I started fazing out apple cider vinegar, it has proven to be my favourite toner out of all the ones I have tried purely because it had the fastest results. Currently, I literally use any Simple toner as they don't have tons of rubbish in the ingredients - but I do have to emphasise that I use alcohol free for all my toner options.
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| No make up. |
I LIVE for that feeling after you've moisturised your face. Honestly, if anything this is my favourite step of them all purely because I've noticed that this is what contributes to gaining the best glo' possible. Shea butter and coconut oil can be used as makeup removers as the oil base of them allows for the breaking down of the actual product - to be honest vaseline works just as well. I've been making my moisturiser now - using a combination of shea butter, tea tree oil, lemon essential oil among other ingredients (Post coming soon).
Face masks are another huge part of my skincare regime - from clay masks to self heat masks to hydro maks - they are vital in ensuring my pores remain clean and free from oil build up. Essential oils are amazing at acting as spot treatments and helping assist hyper pigmentation as well as clear dark spots. Tea tree oil acts as an antiseptic making it a perfect spot treatment - one drop over a spot is what I've been using as an overnight treatment and has proven effective. Lemon essential oil when diluted with another oil e.g. olive oil works well in treating dark areas of the face - start small and increase the number of drops. I grew my own aloe vera plant - which you can get form Ikea - to help with irritations that I began to develop on my cheeks.
