Wednesday 2 July 2014

My Skincare Routine


Picture gotten from JenniferShelton.com 

Hey!

So, some people have commented on my skin and that made me decide to share with you all my routine. Well....basically with my face.

Okay! So, about a year or two ago, I ditched my Nivea body lotions because I started reacting to them and I also ditched my shower gels for the same reason (it was a weird time). I switched over to a certain brand of liquid black soap, but not long after, ditched it.

There was a time about 2 or so years ago when I used a certain product on my face and for the first time, I had a face full of zits/pimples. This made me so uncomfortable because I wasn't used to having zits and also because some people couldn't keep their mouths shut and made comments like, "what happened to your face?" "I always admired how smooth and clear your face was," and other stuff. Note that most of those people were older than I was, some were female, some male, and people talk amongst themselves. Oh! and two people who made comments like that were teachers at the school I went to back then.

Anyways, so, I had had skin discolouration for some time which was really annoying. It started with really dark bulb shapes coming from the corners of my eyes to my lower-cheek area like speech bubbles. Not fun. I rubbed honey into those parts for a few minutes then rinsed it off to try and lighten them up. I also started using fresh aloe vera gel and/or coconut oil as a skin moisturised. After some months, I started having areas of my right cheek that were WAY fairer than the rest of my face and that bothered me so much. You see, many people want to be "light-skinned" and as a toddler, I wanted to be fairer (thanks to people referring to my mum as beautiful and asking why I wasn't fair skinned/"white" like my mum), but I've grown to love how I look and that fairness on those parts of my face totally freaked me out. So, I saw a GP who gave me a product and since then, I guess this is how my skincare routine has been:

MY ROUTINE

Morning:
  • On most days, I wash my face using my shower gel which is now Sanex 0% (used to be Original Source Mint&Tea Tree (stopped using it because I felt like going with something with less ingredients)). *I always use the pads of my fingers when washing my face and just move them in circles.
  • After getting out of the shower, I pat dry my face with a terry cloth towel and then, as usual, my face looks so dry and starts to peel (and so do my lips). This is because I have STUPIDLY DRY skin.
  • So, I gently running the nail of my index finger over my lower lip to take off the peeling skin (please note, this is not the dry lip people get from the weather or whatever), rinsing my lip and patting it dry.
  • Afterwards, I walk over to a mirror with my jar of extra virgin raw coconut oil and the product the GP gave to me which happens to be ASDA's Aqueous Cream BP (the ingredients in it don't particularly thrill me, but it's what the doctor ordered).
  • I get a cotton bud and roll it round in my jar of coconut oil (which is usually solid) then I move the cotton bud down the length of my eye lashes like it's a mascara wand then I gently rub it on my eyelids and blend it in by smoothing/tapping it out with my finger and getting it on the skin at the corner of my eye too.
  • Next, I get some coconut oil on a cotton bud again and smooth it over my lips. If I don't use a cotton bud for this, I use my index finger (same with the above), but I prefer to use a  cotton bud.
  • Okay! then I open up my jar of BP Cream, touch the surface of it with a cotton ball and smooth the cream out on it by making circular motions on the cotton ball using my index finger. Next, I make a stout line my forehead, cheeks and chin, and a dot on the outer side of my eyes and on the corners of my lips then in circular motions, starting from my forehead down, I work it in still using the cotton ball. This helps blend the product in and aids in an even distribution. I prefer to use a cotton ball and not my fingers also because sometimes, I end up with parts of my face like my forehead looking shiny and I don't like parts of my face looking like I put more product on them than others.

Night:
  • My night routine is simple. I either get a disposable cup and brew some of my pure, organic green tea (in an unbleached tea bag) or I dilute some apple cider vinegar with some water, dip a cotton ball in whichever I made, squeeze out a bit of the liquid and work the cotton ball around my face cleansing and toning it at the same time.
  • If I have a zit, I get a cotton bud, get straight apple cider vinegar onto it and in a circular motion, get it over the zit. This zaps the zit right out. Sometimes, before it even reaches the surface.

So, that's basically it!

*However, on some days, once or twice I month, in a bowl, disposable cup or something, I mix up some sugar and oil. I used to use coconut oil for this, but I noticed that I break out on my cheeks and forehead when coconut oil goes on there so, I prefer to use a mixture of sunflower and olive oil and sometimes, I add a dash of salt or apple cider vinegar to the sugar and oil mix. I work this all over my face. It sloughs away dead skin cells, cleans out the pores and lets my face breathe. After this, depending on how much time I have, I clean off the sugar and oil with a hot towel (dipped in hot water and wrung out) or I wash my face regularly (if I don't have much time). After the sugar scrub (note that I scrub my lips too), I don't really require the BP Cream or coconut oil for that day (or most of the day).*



And this is basically what I do to maintain clean, clear skin! :)

Please note that I do get 1 zit towards that womanly week of the month. So I basically have about 1 zit or so a month.


Hope this helps somebody!
~Sammy

p.s I don't wear makeup (unless I'm dressing up in a costume kinda thing and that's rather rare). Also, coconut oil, or any oil like that, enhances parts of the skin that it's placed around so, using it around my eyes brings out my eyes and it actually looks like I have a light, slightly shimmering eyeshadow that makes eye are glow :) Makeup can tend to clog pores and also, I have pretty sensitive skin so, I prefer to avoid makeup (also, I think I look pretty good without makeup on 😊)

No comments:

Post a Comment