My Skin Care Routine

My skin is very unpredictable, it changes with season, places I reside and water hardness. It behaves best when I am in my home town, Water there is very soft and probably i have been accustomed to the weather there. We cannot have all the good things all the time :-/ .

My current skin care routine is what I would like to share with you, as I have recently moved back to India and my skin had to face some drastic weather changes. It took me around 2 months to get my skin accustomed to these changes. But now it’s doing pretty well. So here is my Basic routine.

Foreword:

I am living in a very humid climate down south (no winters), my skin had been very dry earlier, i had acne breakouts instantly as we reached here. Oiliness (majorly because of humidity), open pores, white heads and black heads became a regular problem.

I had a talk with my dermatologist before I started with this regime. I suffered from all the dreadful effects of the key ingredients, majorly skin redness, peeling and burning sensation as few ingredients were new to me and for others concentration was increased. I took all the possible precautions and overcame the effects.

I have been using Glycolic acid peel (35%) since last 3 years and my skin loves it. Glycolic acid peels refreshes my skin, exfoliates, removes tan, white heads, blackheads and kept my skin soft and supple over these years. I was particularly impressed by the way it has kept my skin wrinkle free. (Touch wood).My Doc here, asked me to continue with my fortnightly glycolic peel regime along with an additional lower concentration (10%) daily usage.     

I used Salicylic acid 2% as an active ingredient in my face wash every day since last three years. Juggling between two products of major skincare brands. My Doc here asked me to increase the concentration to 12% ointment to be used once a day for 2 weeks.

Benzoyl Peroxide is a new component my dermatologist added to my skincare regime. She asked me to use 10% benzoyl peroxide directly onto the acne as spot treatment. This was to be used once a day for 2 weeks in a row.

Hydroquinone was given to me as an anti-scar solution for the nasty mosquito bite scars I had developed in initial days of my stay. (I guess mosquitoes were lured to a fresh supply of blood and therefore decided to bite me more than anyone else in home). I have been applying this on the scars of my hands and legs with definite improvement, but I have yet to see them gone.

My Routine:

Morning:

Step 1. Face wash (Garnier Pure Anti-Blackheads Deep Pore wash, I bought this one in U.K., but I have found exact product in India too, see here. It’s probably one of the best face washes I have ever used; it contains Salicylic acid and Polyethylene particles.)

Step 2. Toner ( Rose water or Alum, Depends on the weather, if it’s too humid I like using alum for not more than 1 min and it takes away the oiliness for few hours. Otherwise, Rose water)

Step 3. Sunscreen (Lotus 3-in-1 Matte Look Daily Sunblock)

Step 4. Salicylic acid Ointment (Salicylix SF 12*, it’s a 12% concentration ointment, it caused me lot of burning sensation at first, but my skin got use to it, if someone who is new to salicylic acid this high concentration is not advisable. I use it as a spot treatment on my occasional acne, whiteheads and blackheads).

Step 5. Moisturizer ( De Tuinen aloe vera hydraterend Day & Nacht, bought this from Amsterdam, and I love it, its light and moisturizing)

Evening (before bed time):

Step 1. Face wash

Step 2. Toner

Step 3. Glycolic Acid Ointment (Glyco-A*, its glycolic acid 12%, to be used on entire face. I don’t see a lot of difference with this product but other products better in conjugation with this one).

Step 4. Benzoyl Peroxide Ointment (Persol Forte Cream*, this is 10% benzoyl peroxide with added benefits of Sulphur 5%, to be used as spot treatment on acne, I used this over my open pores and whiteheads, this caused me extreme peeling and dryness, but when the dead skin peeled off, it reduced the appearance of open pores by 90%, blackheads too are totally eliminated, but whiteheads still persist but have reduced to an extent. I have stopped using this product after two week exactly and I don’t have any breakouts later. But again it is a very high percentage for new users or one with sensitive skin).

Step 5. Hydroquinone Ointment (Lomela*, this is 2% concentration ointment, it has reduced the mosquito bite scars, but I guess I need a higher percentage to get rid of them. I scrub my hands and feet mildly with a pumice stone while in shower to remove the dead skin. And have used Glycolic Acid peel 35% twice in past one month, I haven’t used it on my face, but I guess it’s good to use on acne scars as well, but u have to be very careful with this, it should not be used on open wounds or sensitive skin. Plus it should not be used along with Benzoyl peroxide as it can cause extreme burning, redness and peeling).

Other Skin care stuff I use:

1.  Lakme Winter care lotion and Botique Morning Nectar Lotion as my body lotion.
2. I have used Elizabeth Arden Ceramide Gold Ultra Restorative Capsules Intensive Treatment and loved it, but can’t afford it usually.
3. I have used H2O Plus Sea Results Overnight Perfecting Peel, it was the first product which introduced me to Glycolic acid, loved it, but it’s kind of mild for me now.
4. I occasionally use Biotique Fruit Face pack and Biotique Milk Protein Face pack.
5. Olay Regenerist Micro-Sculpting Cream (not available in India) is the best cream I have ever used; I have asked a relative returning from US to bring it for me.
6. I don’t use any fairness product and I am strictly against it.
7. I have given up on treating my dark circles as they are hereditary, I still use Biotique Almond undereye cream before makeup if my skin is very dry. 

P.S. Anyone who wants to try the above stated products should try it on their own risk, this post is solely my skincare routine and i don't advice anyone to follow it blindly. 

* marked ointments are prescribed by my Doctor and can be found only in medical stores.

Stay Beautiful :)

Shweta 

What is acne?

Here i want to explain in detail what is acne and how it is caused. This knowledge is particularly helpful for you to pick up a correct treatment for your acne. Did you know that blackhead and whiteheads are acne too ??

The skin has three layers :

• Top most layer, Epidermis
• Middle layer, Dermis
• Fat cells layer, Subcutaneous tissue.

You can identify the hair follicle, Hair shaft in the diagram. The trouble maker is the oil gland near the hair follicle. This is also called the sebaceous gland. That’s where skin makes its oil. When oil gland makes the oil, through a little duct it conducts the oil into the shaft of the hair follicle, it comes up the shaft and onto the skin.

The real problem here is the oil, because if you don’t have the oil, you can never have the acne. But we all do have oil, this oil combined with bacteria will cause inflammatory acne (i.e. pus pimple, red tender pimple and cysts) down in dermis ( place in Dermis marked as circle in diagram). The oil when moves up in the epidermis combined with the dead cells from the hair shaft will cause non- inflammatory acne which is blackheads and whiteheads( place marked in green circle in Epidermis layer).

The bacteria in the dermis split the oil and make a compound called free fatty acid. Free fatty acids are very irritating to the skin and cause an accumulation of pus in the dermis, and this where red tender pimple, pus pimple and cysts come from.

On the other hand, having nothing to do with bacteria, the lining of the hair shaft (mostly in the epidermis) has dead cells which fall off, and as they fall of they are conducted out of the shaft by the oil onto the surface of the skin. What if this mix of oil and dead cells make a mix like cement and gives you a clog?  That clog doesn't knows that more oil is being made in the gland below the clog, and body doesn't knows that there is a clog in the shaft, so it makes more oil below the clog and that’s how we get a blackhead or a white head.

Basic Solution:

• Antibiotics kill bacteria that are acting on the oil; you will not get pus pimples and cysts.
•  Exfoliation will remove the dead cells in clog and allow the oil to flow, this will help treat blackheads and whiteheads.

Now that we understand what are different acne and how they are formed we can opt for correct way to treat them.

Stay Beautiful :)

Shweta

Reasons for Exfoliation

Hi,

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Do you have anyone or more than one of the given problems?

• Skin looks dark and tiered; it has lost its glow and luster
• Doesn't looks smooth
• Uneven coloring
• Spots on face
• Visible Large pores
• Black heads and white heads
• Pimples and blemishes
• Lines & Wrinkles 
• Makeup doesn't goes on evenly
• Makeup makes u look dull instead of making it look smoother

If you have these problems than you must resort to exfoliation. It is the single most effective treatment for all (well most) of the skin problems. 

Try products with Glycolic Acid. Start with lower strength like 10-12%, then move on to higher strengths like 25-30%. Unfortunately, in India, most of us are not aware of Glycolic Acid. Well, to introduce you to this product in short I can say that this is THE gold standard in skin care.  I'll do a detailed post if request.

In India, 10-12% creams are easily available at the pharmacies. Although I would suggest to consult your dermatologist before use.  Glycolic acid is the product which is used for chemical peels by all the dermatologists and skin care institutes world wide.

For any reason if someone doesn't wants to use glycolic acid, they can stick with physical exfoliation.

But the bottom line is, Exfoliation, no matter which product is being used, is the single most important step in skin care.

Stay Beautiful :)

Shweta