My Daily Skincare Routine. Mornings.

 

I’ve already mentioned that my budget is very limited and I can’t even think about scraping any finances on getting a facial… Well… visiting a good salon might help my skin look even better and I can’t deny some of the proven benefits of getting a professionally done facial in a right place (where they don’t hurt you! – I don’t believe in painful treatments no matter what). I guess one day I’ll start my research on facials and other salon procedures, although I will never RELY on someone’s “magic” to beautify me and I’ll always keep in mind that a wrong person in a wrong place may actually damage my skin. …Just like Rhett Butler said once, I only believe in my own efforts to get where I want to be. Especially when it comes to my beautiful skin… And so far I believe that I’ve been doing a fine job on my own considering that so many people who OFTEN go to the salons have been asking me what to do to get their skin look like mine…

The amounts of time and energy that I currently have to invest in my skincare routine every day are also very limited. Besides, I should admit that I am kind of lazy when it comes to spending hours every day in front of the mirror. Or maybe I shouldn’t call myself names and say that I indeed get tired from my days filled with taking care of my two kids and cramming some time on following my own aspirations to spend an hour putting on and taking off all the products that a Korean (just as the Kardashians’ and alike) skincare requires. (But once again, will it help or hurt our skins? Only the time will tell. But I know that it’s a big trend now…) So, I make sure to keep my routine as simple and as affordable as possible.

OK, so here is what I do for my skin each day and although it looks simple, I believe that this is pretty much all my skin needs to keep it wrinkle-free, youthful and glowing (without damaging it by turning myself into a Korean skincare lab-rat (sorry, guys, but I’m just not into trends)).

MORNING:

• When I wake up my skin is very dry. I can feel it. It feels as dry as a dry piece of paper. So I like that feeling when I’m letting my skin “drink”: I rinse my face a few times with just cool water (sometimes when it’s chilly in the house I let myself indulge on warmer water and I think that it’s actually better for my skin because when my muscles are already crunched from the chilly weather, I want my facial muscles to relax which is important to keep my complexion smooth and line-free). Generally though I think that staying on the cooler side when rinsing your face is better because it “shrinks” your pores and helps your skin hold on to its natural oils if it’s dry like mine. (I don’t think that my already very dry skin needs any kind of a cleanser at this point – it will only irritate it, strip its much-needed natural oils off of it and thin it out).

Note: For an oily skin I would probably recommend first rinsing it with warm water or maybe even a light cleanser to take the excess oils off (In that case when you wake up you’ll be already feeling like your pores are uncomfortably clogged and you have an oily film on your face). But when you’re done with the cleansing, I would definitely recommend finishing this process by rinsing your face well with the cool water to close those pores.

• Now my skin feels nice and plump! But I want to keep it this way and here is one of my little secrets. I’ve already mentioned my very “important discovery”: water evaporates and it’s exactly what we don’t want it to do now. We need it to stay with our skin to keep it moist and youthful. What can stop that water from evaporating? Oil! Try to spill some oil on the water surface and it will seal it right there – the water won’t evaporate at all! I’ve been using facial oils that I’ve been buying for cheap from the pharmacies long before they’ve become so popular. Oil creates a barrier locking the moisture underneath it.

• The problem with using just oil instead of a moisturizer though is that not only it will leave you looking way too shiny, it also rubs off and may even irritate your skin since it clogs your pores. I believe that during the day our skin needs to “breathe” and we don’t want those clogged pores to turn into pimples and “blackheads” (happened to me a few times when I was still searching for a right routine). Everything is good in moderation.

• But a cream that contains even a little bit of oil does the same thing as the oil: it creates that barrier. My cream is very rich since my skin is very dry which means that it doesn’t produce enough oils to naturally help lock that moisture in. If you have oilier skin your moisturizer needs to be much lighter than mine, although I think that if you did a good job cleansing your skin, you still needs a little bit of oil in your cream to lock in the moisture underneath it.

• And here is another one of my little “secrets”: after rinsing I NEVER wipe that water off my face with a towel (I may just catch some drips off the tip of the nose and the chin, but that’s it!). Instead I make sure to apply my cream right away, BEFORE that water evaporates.

• On most days I spend at least some time outside running my errands. I like to be outside, breathing fresh air, seeing people and doing things! On those days I ALWAYS put on a sunscreen. I like to buy my sunscreen separately because this way I can manage how much of it I need to use or if I need to reapply it after being in the sun for a while. Only on rainy days I give myself a break since then I basically spend all my time in-doors. I like taking a break from the sunscreen: my skin breathes and the white powdery elements in the sunscreen don’t dry my skin out. But I know and I believe 100% that I must wear a sunscreen to go out. And here is why: what will happens to a painting if you leave it under the sun for a while? The paper will crunch, turn yellowish and the paint will fade. What will happen to an apple if you leave it under the burning sun? It will become wrinkly and dry in less than an hour, right? I think that the same thing applies to our skin: it burns and it roughens. Rough skin plus the proven data on early skin aging? No, thanks!