Hi!
Lately I have received may comments on my photos asking how do I get my skin to look so smooth/ flawless. The answer, I take very good care of my skin. It took a long time, but I finally figured out my skin type; how it changes and what works well with my skin. On a daily basis, our skin faces factors that can damage or irritate it. Like, repetitive face movements, chemical irritants (laundry detergent, fabric softener, air fresheners)UV exposure, air pollution, etc. While you have little control over many of these, there are many daily changes you can make to reduce harm to your skin, but it starts with identifying your skin’s problems and your activities that can contribute to or worse your skincare concerns.
I have combination skin that is Dry (cheeks and forehead)/ Normal (everywhere else) in the winter and Oil (T-zone)/Normal (cheeks) in the Summer. I experience hormonal acne and acne triggered when I stress eat, and I also have hyperpigmentation around my mouth. .
My dry skin, is actually a combination of dry and dehydrated skin. In the winter, I like to shower with very hot water, and I stay in the shower long because it takes time to build the courage to step out into a less than hot room. Don’t be confused, even though you are submerged in water, you are drying out you skin because of the chlorine in the water, plus your body produces a lot of oils to cool itself down when the surface temperate gets to high but, if you’re in a hot shower, you’re constantly washing away those oils which your skin cells keep producing eventually draining you’re skin’s reserve of nutrients needed for health cell function. I also consume a lot of hot drinks, usually coffee and black tea both of which contains a lot of caffeine which further dehydrates my skin.
How to combat this problem?
*Drink lots of water! If you are a low to no sodium die, add a bit of salt to your diet, this will aid your body in retaining more water (not recommended if you are on a regular diet or already consume a lot of salty foods).
*Mask in the shower. A lot of us like to mask after the shower, but the shower is the best time to mask, don’t use a drying mask or one of those that you peel off. Try a moisturizing mask, there are some which have a cooling sensation which will help your skin from over heating.
*Avoid harsh exfoilators and cleansers. These can strip you skin of the natural oils
Hormonal acne:
Very often we drop monthly acne under this vague category of hormonal and assume there’s nothing we can do about it, after all it’s hormone related and we are not endocrinologist. Well hormones do more that just push up bumps on your skin. A lot of your “hormonal” acne is actually caused by junk consumed during hormone induced cravings, or stress, etc. Personally My acne comes of stress and an excessive amount of chocolates, pizza and french fries. Sugar loaded and oil/ greasy foodies are know to increase acne flares.
What can be done? Once you’ve identified how your time of the month causes acne?
*To combat stress, I use relaxing essential oils or scented candles and I also do zumba work outs. Music, dancing and scents are all things that relax me and keep my stress levels down. You can get beautiful candles created with your favourite scents from FlutterLights. I really love the vanilla.
*Give into cravings in moderation, if you try to resist, you usually wind up craving something far worse. I also know that if I buy a jumbo pack of chocolates, I’m eating all of it regardless of the serving size so just buy the smallest size. I switched from milk to dark chocolate. I bake, then pan sear my french fries rather than deep-frying. And you just don’t mess with pizza but having 2 kids to help you eat it rather than eating a whole pizza helps.
This doesn’t guarantee no acne, but rather than having a full fledge break out, I get 3-5 spots.
I spot treat my acne spot with Noxema anti blemish pads. If you have oily skin you can apply it to your entire face daily but if you have dry skin, it’s best to spot treat areas prone to acne or where you have acne spots.
In my next blog post, I will give you all the details of my personal skincare routine with links to all the products. I will try to find them on websites that ship world wide.
Things to take not of when trying to figure out your ski:
- Diet are you eating a well balance diet to give your skin enough water and nutrients? Are you eat or consuming things that can increase acne like soda. juice, fast foods?
- Environmental factors: Do you live near the beach where the are has high sodium levels, do you live in a city or near a high way with high levels or air pollutions, do temperatures reach extremes where you live? The are skincare line like Pour Moi that designed to protect your skin from environmental factors.
- Lifestyle choices: Do you sleep enough, are you stressed, does your job expose your skin to factors that can take a toll on it (ex swim instructor, any jobs that keeps out in the sun, offices with the AC/Heat set high, etc).
Before you can properly take care of your skin, you must first understand it thoroughly. Holy grail products of your favourite bloggers will not work for you unless you: 1) have the same skin type, 2) have the same skin problem and 3) Those skin problems are caused by the same factors. ONLY you know enough about your lifestyle to decipher what your skin needs.
Stay beautiful,
xoxo
Avi Y.R.
Skincare Unmasked 
Leave a reply to Sara Hoeppner Cancel reply