Bad Skincare Habits that I Fixed

I freak out when my skin is behaving badly. I worry about them constantly if a pimple started forming on the side of my cheeks. It's not because I am a crazy princess like person who worries about my appearance way too much. It's because I have a long history of bad cystic acne plus acne scarring that does not erase easily. From these panic attacks (plus wrong information on the internet), I have developed many habits that ruined my skin... Here are some:

1. Exfoliating too much

Many magazines and skincare specialists would say that exfoliating would get rid of dead skin cells and excess oil which would prevent you from breaking out further.

Well... I really took this to heart and exfoliated every single day vigorously. I used a very gritty and abrasive exfoliators like St. Ives Apricot scrubs as well as toothbrush look-a-like scrubbing tool. Of course, my pimples did not stop or diminish. I ended up having broken capillaries and spidery veins after it also. Apparently, if you exfoliate acne, it has the potential of opening up those pimples spreading the bacteria to other parts of your face. Now, I don't know if this is true, but for sure I realized that my pimples and my skin got more and more irritated.

So I stopped and moved on to using gentle cleansers which are recommended for people who have sensitive skin (obviously).

2. Not really knowing my own skin

Ever since grade school, I thought that I had oily skin because my mom told me I am a grease ball compared to her. Therefore I used products for combination to oily skin until I graduated college. But it turns out that I actually have dry but acne prone skin, determined by a dermatologist when I went to South Korea earlier this year.

Now that I have switched my whole skincare regime to fit dry skin type, my skin has never looked and felt better.

3. Depending way too much on salicylic acid or benzoyl peroxide for my acne problem

These things never worked for me. Like ever. And yet I continued using them every single day (because I had a spastic problem). I have tried so many pimple creams and cleansers that promised to get rid of your pimples in seconds...but in actuality, they just irritated my skin more than anything.

Now instead of using these pimple cream products, I just leave them alone and wait for it to die slowly.

4. Using too much of everything

I used too much product during my skincare. I used two pumps, five drops, quarter size for everything. You don't even have to apply science to this matter (I was obviously an idiot). Because I gave my skin more than it needed, I feel like the product didn't really absorb that well into my skin.

I reduced my the amount by 40-50% and I feel like I have maximized the products' effect. Also, skincare items can be quite expensive...I think it's a good idea to be not wasteful with them.

5. Not washing my hair everyday

I have very oily scalp. From reading and watching hair advice columns, they have always pressed on not washing your hair every single day because that could create damage to your scalp and hair. I tried okay? Well the excess oil from my scalp would travel down south and form pimples on my face. Trust me, this is the most disgusting feeling ever.

6. Not taking my time in the shower to exfoliate my body

I am so lazy in the shower. I try to be fast as I can by getting in and and out in less than 15 minutes. However this means that I have to forgo careful exfoliation on my body, especially my bag since it is not the easiest place to exfoliate. Because of this, I started having acne, enlarged pores, and clumps of dead skin on my back. For the longest time, I didn't know why my back was like this...but it just needed little bit more TLC.

Although I have fixed many bad habits, there are some that I am still struggling to fix:

1. Picking my pimples

I just can't seem to stop... I want to know if it's there or not by touching it... constantly

2. Not washing my face

I just get lazy sometimes...and I always regret this.

3. Still freaking out when I see a pimple

This is my biggest problem. I also get little depressed after getting a pimple, so I try to remedy the situation by doing everything at once. I exfoliate, then put a purifying mask over, then a calming sheet mask afterwards. This seems great right? Actually... it just further irritated my skin and broke me out even more.


In conclusion,

I think the moral of the story is really know what your skin likes best and not listening to what Cosmopolitan and what other people have to say about "fixing" your acne problem, because whatever they say might not be right for your skin. Looking back, all my mistakes have been made by listening to what other people did to fix their problem. I think the common way of fixing your acne problem is to be gentle and simple as possible with your skincare regime as well as using non-comedogenic (and non-parabens, sulfates, phthalates...blah blah blah) products. This means that you have to spend little bit more on your skincare products, but I guarantee you it will be worth it.

But before all this, you have to really know your own skin type first!

Best,