My Recent Skincare Routine

I used to follow dutifully the ever so popular trend of skincare regimen: wash, tone, moisturize. Now, I'm becoming less convinced of this trend's necessity. For the past several months, I've been trying to revamp my skincare routine into a much less complicated regimen. During some periods, my skin repaid my modifications with a lot of breakouts. But as I adjusted slowly, my skin eventually improved. I learned that I need not use a lot of products in order to have a healthy skin.

For now, my recent skincare routine is only consisted of two steps: wash and moisturize. I like this simplicity very much. It's much easier to squeeze this routine into my daily schedule. Not only that, my wallet is much happier as well. Less products means less expenses. I need not worry about the effects of combining a lot of different product ingredients anymore. In addition, having only two types of products to use makes it easier for me to point out which product triggers my breakouts.

To be more specific, my morning routine is like this: wash with a mild cleanser (Happy Tea Time Cleansing Foam), apply benzoyl peroxide (Panoxyl, 4% cream), and apply sunscreen (Alba Botanica Hawaiian Sunscreen SPF 45). To my oily skin, a sunscreen is enough to act as a moisturizer to my skin. At night, I wash my face with a cleanser (Clean & Clear Essentials) effective to remove my water-resistant sunscreen, apply benzoyl peroxide once again, and apply my nighttime moisturizer (Jason Soothing 98% Aloe Vera).

In a list form, here is my regimen:

Daytime

- wash (Happy Tea Time Cleansing Foam)

- acne treatment (Panoxyl)

- moisturize (Alba Botanica Hawaiian Sunscreen SPF 45)

Nighttime

- wash (Clean & Clear Essentials)

- acne treatment (Panoxyl)

- moisturize (Jason Soothing 98% Aloe Vera)

I realized that my topical skincare products are not everything to my skin's health. There had been a time when I was so obsessed with finding the perfect products, sometimes even poring a big hole in my wallet, just to achieve a flawless skin. But this is a fact that every woman should admit: a healthy lifestyle and diet is all it takes to have good skin. 

Yes, topical products are great, in fact, I am dependent on them to control my acne. I am also very dependent on them to protect my skin from harsh conditions. However, even with those, their effect can only go to a certain point. Bad skin will still appear to reflect the health's condition. So now, I have another reason to eat more healthily. I also take fish oil capsules everyday to ensure I have enough good fats needed for a healthy skin. I make sure that I am always hydrated throughout the day by drinking plenty of water, and I sleep earlier too, never past 12 midnight, so as not to trigger my hormonal acne. I'm proud that most nights, I am already sound asleep at 11pm, quite a feat for a night-owl blogger like me!

How about you? What is your skincare routine?