Search & Rescue: Dehydrated, Acne-prone skin

Quick Intro:

I want to start by saying my skin type has been all over the map since I was a teen. I used to have insanely oily, acne-prone skin. That slowly drifted away as I went into my college years. Then, when I had my first baby, adult acne quickly picked up. I had hard, painful, large, cystic acne bumps all over my skin. I entered the realm of Sephora, was immediately put onto Sunday Riley Good Genes, and ran with that. I quickly grew skincare obsessed (just in the world of Sunday Riley) but not long after, their products had my skin sensitized and angry. I knew then I needed to start reading ingredient labels.

I begun the hunt for "clean ingredient" skincare products and stumbled upon Drunk Elephant. Sure they have the most adorable, air-tight, packaging but look at that price! After blowing all of my money and testing all of their products, I fell in love. Hands down, in my opinion, the cleanest yet most effective skincare that is on the market. After going on a strict DE skincare "diet" I had finally gotten my hormonal acne under control and my skin "type" was now classified as "normal." HOORAY! I had completely cut out "double cleansing", makeup, and silicones.. this was mid July.

I was moving happily along with my DE regiment when the cool winter air swallowed up any trace of moisture in my skin. I had been in the comfy cycle of using my baby facial treatment TWICE a week without taking the CHANGE IN CLIMANT into account. --This is where I need to say, BE AWARE of your environment (&diet), they have an impact on your skin!!!! Me, always having oily skin, took a long time to realize HEY your skin is dehydrated, SOS! At this point I am struggling to ramp up my B Hydra + Virgin Marula oil + Lala + protini usage (looking like a mad scientist while doing so) and not realizing I have wrecked my moisture barrier and these are essentially helpless.

**Wrecking your moisture barrier not only makes your skin super red, dry, angry, irritated, & sensitive (to what feels like everything), but you have now LOST THE ABILITY TO RETAIN MOISTURE. You can layer on the hydrating DE cocktails as many times as you want but nothing will lock it IN.

When you wreck your precious moisture barrier, the best thing you should do is simplify your routine. This means pushing your actives to the side TEMPORARILY. Yes, your beloved Vit C and BHA/AHA serums. This is the best fix!! After you have gotten that painful part out of the way, you need to a good low pH cleanser and a trusty moisturizer in use until your skin calms. This brings me to the genuis "double OIL cleansing" method that I have learned from Kate at @the.skincare.diary

NOTE: My dehydrated angry skin is (at the time) breaking out, I stopped using any acids to exfoliate, and what I believe to be "black heads" everywhere, are building up by the second.

**This is where I come to tell you all the huge reality check that I got from Kate's new book. These "black heads" are called sebaceous filaments. They basically are the grime from dirt, oil, dead skin, a hair follicle, you name it it's probably contributing. You need to get them the hell out of your skin (at least once a week)! This oil + dirt that makes up the SF is only going to respond to oil soluble products (hence oil cleanser) because a water soluble product will not be able to penetrate and get them out of your pores. Ok? SCIENCE. So here is a run down of her method:

Cleanse your face (with gentle low ph cleanser), apply a BHA serum (I use TLC Framboos) and let it work its magic for 15mins. Overtop of that you are going to apply a gentle clay mask (I use the one Kate suggests, "Milky piggy carbonated bubble clay mask" you can find on amazon for very inexpensive). Follow the wait-time instructions for said clay mask and rinse off. Those steps should do most of the hard work of loosening the SF from your pores. Now is key: apply your oil cleanser (containing surfactant) I use her HG super gentle K beauty cleansing oil, also found on her IG and amazon) and leave it on for 10 mins. Give yourself a facial massage with the oil on and you should start to feel little "seeds" coming out of your pores! Rinse and cleanse your skin again.

Here is where i'm going to talk to you about what I like to do after all of this deep cleaning. Now your pores are in a clean, workable, state. I wanted to pack in as much moisture as possible to be able to let my skin recover + repair. Kate had also recommended, in her book, these intensely soothing and hydrating sheet masks that are great for acne-prone skin! They were the perfect price point with great ingredients and accessibility, so sure why not! I found a 10-pack on amazon for less than $20. They are the "Dr. Troubex sparkling mask" by Tosowoong, a k beauty brand. After one, 20 minute application, my skin felt incredibly soothed and nourished. My skin drank up all of the essence and had that rich "Kbeauty GLOW" everyone talks about, I was very impressed.

SO back to happy, clean, balanced skin to finish your night routine. Since my skin had been so dehydrated I was excited to try her other recommendations. I went back to amazon and picked up a few more K beauty products. First, the Kose SOFTYMO speedy cleansing oil, a tea tree essence, 2 first essences, and some more of the soothing + hydrating sheet masks. These all have GREAT ingredient lists and prices.

That's what begins my journey into K beauty and the art of in-cooperating essences into my routine!

Follow along with my IG posts this week as I do my mini series and dive into each of these Kbeauty products!

Thank you so much for all the love & support I hope you liked reading!