My Skincare Saga Pt. 1

We had an icebreaker at bible study that I cannot take credit for. It went: “What are three topics you can talk about for more than 30 minutes?” I’m unsure if my answer of skincare was basic, but I wasn’t going to lie…I mean I was at Bible study…and I am a millennial (definitely a Gen Z at heart). My other two answers were Love on the Spectrum and instagram recipe developers, if you care.

Like most people, I’ve been acutely aware of my skin since middle school. More specifically, I recall a particularly bad breakout during a week long volleyball clinic to prep for tryouts. I was so obsessed that I would look at and mess with my skin in the one-way mirror where I was fully aware the athletic director was sitting on the other side. Even though I knew he could see me, I couldn’t see him and preferred to play dumb. The quintessential out of sight, out of mind moment. Nothing was getting in the way of me and the valley on my forehead and nose.

Looking back it’s so ridiculous, like I knew the breakouts were there, staring at them wasn’t going to make them go away and then you pile on the fact this middle-aged man is involuntarily participating in this journey of you unravelling in your highest state of vulnerability. Middle school was insane.

As you can tell, skin matters to me and it has for a long time. I’d say I lean heavy on the oily side and if you’re a fellow greaseball, take a moment to thank God for blessing you and your bank account. If you don’t believe me now, give it a few years and you will. Oil means “moisture” (it actually doesn’t, but stick with me), and moisture means less wrinkles, and thus less money on Botox. While I still keep the oil-absorbing sheets on deck (you know the ones), it has become a lot less of code red if I leave the house without it as it once was. I embrace the shiny face - some would even go as far to call it a glow.

Lately a lot of people have been commenting on my skin and it has absolutely gone to my head. I mean seriously, what an honor. I’ve been dedicated to the facial routine grind since college so I’m really relieved the years of torture are paying off. I won’t deceive you, my mom has great skin, so it’s likely the products and process I abide by are not fully responsible for the state of my skin today, but they certainly have not hurt.

Below I’ll break it down by product of what I use, and give you the run down on each because who am I to gate keep.

The products below are my ride or dies. Pt. 2 will go over cleansers, masks, and other honorable mentions.

Tazorac

The holy grail, the Mona Lisa, dare I say the Pope, although he’s getting more and more controversial, of my skincare routine. This is the highest grade prescription only retinoid on the market and comes in a gel or cream version at different strengths. I started off STRONG with the gel 0.1% version when I was a junior in college to treat acne. The dermatologist let me know it was also a retinoid and would be the start of a long journey to pretty much perfect skin. And it was unequivocally one of the most disturbing experiences of my life. Sure I have childhood trauma in other forms, but when I talk about trauma growing up, this is what I’m referring to. And it’s fully due to disobeying and disregarding the very strict retinol rules. The absolute no questions asked rules are #1 Do NOT put it on a wet face, #2 Do NOT use it every night when you first start, and #3 Use a PEA SIZED amount all over your face, avoiding nose crevices and mouth area. I broke all the rules and the consequences were intense shedding of my face, crazy purging of the skin, and pain. So much pain. I lived in a sorority house at the time and you can ask anyone that if I was in the house I would have a thick layer of Vaseline on my face. That was also breaking a rule as Vaseline does not provide moisture it just locks in whatever you have on your face and what I had on was basically taking off four layers of my skin. You may wonder why I kept up with it and it’s because I knew the benefits would one day kick in, but it took me much longer to get to where I wanted to be because I thought harder, better, faster, stronger was the way and it wasn’t. If I could do it again I would still start strong with prescription strength but take it very, very slow and work my way up. 1x per week, apply a neutral moisturizer, let it dry for 20-30 minutes, and then apply the Tazorac. Other ways to build up skin strength before presciption is using an over the counter Tretinoin or Retinol such as Neutrogena Rapid Wrinkle Repair 0.3% Concentrated Retinol Face Oil. There are so many other non-prescription recommendations from Abbey Yung and Savannah Boda that you can find on their Instagrams. They are the true experts anyway. It’s been about 8 years since using Tazorac and I now use the cream 0.1% version only 2-3x per week.

Trader Joes Daily Facial Sunscreen SPF 40

This is a much, much cheaper Supergoop! Unseen Sunscreen dupe. I might even go as far to say I like it better? I know it’s not a mineral sunscreen so no one yell at me, but I haven’t found a mineral option with the same silky, primer-like consistency. I’ll be honest I haven’t looked, but if someone has another recommendation that will give me the same feel and look as this I am open. At only $8.99 and a silky, non-oily consistency you really don’t have an excuse to not be wearing a sunscreen in 2024.

Multi-Peptide + Copper Peptides 1% Serum

Another fabulous recommendation from Abbey Yung. I usually use it on nights where I don’t use Tazorac. It brightens my skin and apparently helps with anti-aging. To be honest who knows that the real effects are but time will tell. I do like the way my skin looks right after though so I’ll continue to use it.

Squalane + Omega Repair Biossance Moisturizer

One thing about me is I will justify a sale. I was fed an ad about this moisturizer around the holidays and I couldn’t say no. It is soooooo good. Smells divine and perfectly moisturizing without being greasy. Maybe a touch heavier than some other moisturizers but I don’t mind, especially at night. It also feels kind of cooling? Maybe it’s just me, but it’s a keeper in my routine. Price point is a little high, but trust me it will last a long time.