My Skincare Regimen

My Daily Skincare

Today, I would like to talk about my skin and what my daily routine is to keep it nice and healthy.  All through my teenage years and into my twenty's I suffered with severe acne.  I am not talking about the occasional pimple during Aunt Flow's visit, I am talking about serious cystic acne.  There were times at which, I needed to get shots in my face just to ease the pain.  Thankfully, the acne is finally gone but if I do not take care of my skin properly, I may get an occasional pimple or two.

• Cleanse your face twice a day.  Once in the morning and once at night.  Do not overdue the washing as you may end up drying out your skin. Exfoliation is a must at least once a week. I highly recommended using a Clarisonic brush to cleanse your face as it exfoliates as well.  This will help you take care of your skin without any added time for exfoliation.  I am not affiliated with the Clarisonic brand, I am just an avid user and it made a tremendous difference in my skin.  I use it at night before I go to sleep to remove all traces of makeup.  When I rinse my face I see how dirty the water is, you can see the makeup residue in your sink.  Below is a link at which you can find the Clarisonic Mia for $99 plus take 20% off.  This product normally ranges from $125-$195

          Clarisonic System and Brush head

• Use a Toner to correct the PH balance.  For those of you that want an all natural toner, I highly recommend rose water, it smells nice and is simply the best.  You can find rose water at any vitamin or supplement stores.  If you do not have time to leave the house, Amazon is not a bad choice.
  

• Moisturize your skin.  Even if you have oily skin, you need to moisturize your skin.  You would just use a lite moisturizer versus a thick creamy one.  Aveeno, Neutrogena, La Roche, and Olay are all nice brands and affordable for all budgets.  There is always at least 1 Pharmacy that has them on sale and you can find coupons in the Sunday paper as well as online.  

• Protect from the sun.  You must use sunscreen on a daily basis.  No matter what season,  the presence of sun and its harmful rays can cause your skin to age significantly. I use SPF 35 at a minimum and have use SPF 50 as well.  You may feel like you look like a ghost with SPF50 at first but over 5-10  minutes the ghostly look diminishes.  I absolutely love La Roche products as well as SkinMedica.  They are a bit more expensive but deliver great protection.
  

This is a very basic routine and anyone can follow this.  We have to make it a priority to take care of ourselves.  I know its hard to make time for ourselves when we have dependents to take care of and/or work full time.  The steps mentioned above should not take more than 5 minutes @ max.  For anyone who would rather have 1 system for their skincare, a few brands to consider would be:

Clinique- Their products are allergy tested and are safe and effective for all skin types.
Clinique 3 Step System

Lancome- Lancome has several systems to which you can be matched.  You have to have a Lancome associate to assist you with the selection.  This way you will be matched to the correct system for your skin type and concerns.
Lancome Skincare Finder

Obagi- I use the Obagi system and would not recommend using this product line unless you have visited a skin care specialist and received proper usage instructions.  This system is great for anyone that has acne, scars, wrinkles, discoloration and for anyone that wants to prevent these conditions.  However, this system is pricey, the estimate cost is around $500 for the entire system.  
Obagi NuDerm

If you have any specifics questions, feel free to reach out.