I feel rather sheepish writing this. Just a few months after celebrating my skincare gamechangers, things have kind of gone to pot. I’m just going to go straight to the point. I overdid the acid use. Yep, go ahead and troll me. Say I told you so. Whatever! While I do stand by all the points I mentioned in that post (I SAID WHAT I SAID!), that old adage “too much of a good thing is bad for you” has never been so true for me and my skin. When I saw the beautiful glow my acid regime was giving my skin, I upped my acid use and went from 2-3 times a week to practically everyday. My skin started breaking out, flaking, became inflamed and also extremely dry. After a while, putting any acid product on my skin would not just tingle, but sting majorly. I read up on my symptoms and realised I had compromised my skin barrier.
After wailing about the injustice of it all, I read up some more and discovered all was not lost, provided I put a pause on the acid use and focused on getting some much need hydration back into my skin. So here’s my moisture rescue regimen that I will be implementing for the next month at least!
- After cleansing my face, I will apply a couple of drops of the The Body Shop Drops of Youth Essence Lotion.
- I follow up with The Body Shop Vitamin E Moisture Cream for Normal Combination Skin.
- In the evenings, I will apply the Laneige Water Sleeping Mask and then finish up with a drop of the Afro Hair & Skin Co “Flow” facial oil to seal in the the moisture.
- In the mornings, after the Vitamin E cream, I will apply SPF and then get on with makeup (if I’m wearing it!).
- For the fancy selfcare evenings, I skip the sleeping mask and use the Tony Moly Hyaluronic Hydrating Sheet Mask before sealing in the moisture with the Flow oil.
So far, my skin appears to be coming back to me. The inflammation and breaking out have died down (thank God!) and the flaking and dryness are definitely not as bad as before. But we’re not out of the woods. Every time I want to reach for my Biologique Recherche toner, I take a breath, close the fridge and drink water.
