1.16.2014

4 Things I Wish My Dermatologist Told Me about Skincare

I've posted before on this blog about my struggle with acne & break outs.  Now that I'm in my twenties (correction: late twenties!) my skin is changing.  Coupled with the dry weather up here, I'm now noticing it's possible to have both oily & dry skin. Before I would have never classified my skin as dry.  It was always super oily & full of breakouts.  When I was younger I went to the dermatologist who prescribed me a bunch of different combos of pills & topical things to fight it.  Now that I'm older I've been able to discover a few things about skin care on my own and none of these were things the dermatologist told me:
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There is a proper way to wash your face

Now this may seem like an obvious thing but honestly it's more than wetting your face, creating a lather, & rinsing.  You have no idea what residues can be on your face from your make up and such.  I wore a lot of make up in high school trying to cover up my acne/redness so since I didn't properly wash my face I'm sure it left my pores clogged.  Where did I learn to properly wash my face?  After college when I got a job as an office manager at a school that trained aestheticians.  Now I feel I wash my face in a way that really gets it clean & use other products to refresh the PH & moisturize.  Before, during my oily days, I would skip on the moisture since I had such an oil slick.  But now, at least for me, I've noticed if I keep my skin hydrated & have less oil.  This is really prevalent when I use coconut oil as my cleanser.  I usually remove my make up with a wipe before cleansing so that my cleanser can do it's job.  Then use my spot treatment (tea tree oil!), witch hazel as a toner, and then a moisturizer.


There's something called Tea Tree Oil & it's amazing

Instead of all these ridiculous topical ointments that cost a million dollars, there's something natural called Tea Tree Oil & it works amazing to combat breakouts.  Seriously dries them up quite quickly!  I'd say it usually takes 3 days for the Tea Tree oil to dry a blemish up completely but I see results after 1 day.  I bought this on a whim not believing what others said about it and am so glad I did.  There are also a TON of other skin loving essential oils like Frankincense, Lavender, & Cedarwood that are perfect for rejuvenating skin & clearing breakouts! Read more about using Essential Oils here.

Consistency is better than any drug

If someone had just told me that washing my face everyday, properly, would help I might have stuck with it.  Usually I'd give up because whatever course of action I was prescribed didn't work and be stuck with inflamed, red skin.  But now that I'm older & have a preferred skin regimen I see results no mater what I use.  Which is why I get bored with my cleansers/routine easily.  So keeping consistent with a gentle cleanser, some exfoliation, a toner, & moisturizer keeps my skin happy.

You get zits all your life

Jennifer Lawrence is the one that told me this, actually.  I remember wanting so badly to have clear skin just like other people that I knew.  Going to the dermatologist meant hope for a cure - dramatic, I know.  No one told me I'd be battling my skin all my life. And at one point it really was a battle.  I didn't care what I did to my face, my skin needed to be punished & pumped full of things that would dry out my zits.  Things that would exfoliate & leave my skin red.  Spot treatments that would inflame my face (oh yes, that has happened).  Anything & everything no matter how much it stung, was there to punish my face into submission.  That didn't work, in fact I was left with a very angry face not a face that I'd conquered.  So I decided just to deal with it in college - it was always going to be this way might as well just accept it.  After working at the school mentioned above, I learned I could be friends with my skin.  If I treated it well, it would treat me well.  I still get breakouts but I know my break out areas & try to treat them before I get a break out.  The gentler I am with my skin the more it appreciates it.  But it's true - you have breakouts your whole life.  You have to be consistent in your skin care to have even a little bit of control over them.


I always felt sort of out of place with acne.  But we all have to grow to love the things about us that we don't particularly like.  Now I love taking care of my skin because, like I said, if I treat it well - it treats me well.

Have you ever felt like you've battled your skin?  How do you nurture yourself now?

xoxo, Moe

3 comments:

  1. You get zits all your life is so true, sadly. I'm in my mid-40's and still have zits + now have wrinkles! I use the Murad line of cleansers + moisturizers, but also add in their wrinkle and acne reducer... it's crazy that this product even exists but I thank my lucky stars it does :)

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  2. I've had acne all my life, too. It actually wasn't that bad in high school... it's only recently that it's gotten realllly bad (I'm 23). I feel like I've learned to get it under control a little more, but I still get upset when the breakouts happen because my face seems to scar so easily. I have freckles, red spots, bumps, and pimples and sometimes it's overwhelming. I'm so jealous of people with perfect skin. My husband literally NEVER washes his face with anything or even thinks twice about acne because he only gets a pimple, like, twice a year. So unfair. But in the grand scheme of things, I'd rather have acne than cancer, so I should stop complaining.

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