Dear Piper
What is a good skin care routine?
-Anonymous
Dear Poor Pores,
At minimum, wash your face once a day with water and put some type of moisturizer on it. This will take away dirt and lock in moisture, which is important not only in the dry, dry winter, but also to keep your face softer than a baby’s butt and preserve your youth.
Now you are probably wondering what type of moisturizer to get. The aisle at Target can be pretty overwhelming with rejuvenation, line erasers, sensitive products and so on. The first time I got moisturizer, I was standing in front of the wrinkle cream wondering if it would keep my skin frozen in time so 70 years later I would appear like I had just emerged from being frozen in ice like Captain America.
After several trips worrying about the state of my youth, I decided to get CeraVe AM Facial Moisturizing Lotion and CeraVe PM Facial Moisturizing Lotion. I also got the CeraVe Normal to Oily Skin Facial Cleanser; it was a ‘Treat yo’self’ type of Target trip. I have been using CeraVe’s lotion for years and I have always loved it so I knew it would be a good fit for me. Plus it’s developed with dermatologists so I felt better about putting it on my face.
My skin care routine starts in the morning when I rinse my face with water and put on my AM Moisturizer. If you are planning on getting a morning moisturizer, I would get one with at least a little SPF in it. You don’t need anything crazy like 80 if you aren’t going to the beach everyday (unless you are in which case I am jealous). However, SPF is important because even a simple fifteen minute drive to campus can damage your skin and create dark spots down the road. Be proactive and get that SPF so you can find yourself down the road with glowing skin. Pro tip: You can mix your morning moisturizer with foundation (if you use it) to help your skin out while you are looking fab.
I also suggest a facial cleanser. You will have to look at whichever one you choose to see how often you can use it. Some you cannot use it everyday as it causes dryness and some you have to work up to using it daily. As you know I am a CeraVe girl (they should be paying me for this advertising) and I use my cleanser everyday. If I don’t use my cleanser everyday, my face is like ‘Nah girl’ and breaks out.
If your skin is breaking out and you need a quick fix use a face mask. My saving grace when my face is breaking out is my homemade face mask. You can go to Lush and get their homemade masks but it is expensive and us college students are broke. So what you are going to do is put honey in a cup or plate and mix it with cinnamon. Before you put it on your face, make sure you tie back your hair. It won’t hurt your hair if you get it in it but trust me your face is going to be sticky and it isn’t fun when a bunch of your hairs are sticking to your face. It is also important to test the mask out on the inside of your wrist to see if you will have any reaction to it. Also if you have a pet they may try to lick your face, just avoid them for the five minutes you have it on. I always rinse it out in the shower. You could try to just do it with a washcloth but it might get everywhere and I wish the best luck to you if you do that.
Finally to tie it all together, I rinse my face with water again at night and put on my night moisturizer. Another pro tip: make sure that you are changing out your pillowcase about once a week otherwise your face will be hanging out in dirt and will break out. I don’t care if you only sleep four hours a night still make sure to wash your pillowcase.
If you are still struggling with break outs, I put a thin layer of Clearasil on any blemishes before I got to bed at night. You can get Clearasil at Target and there is also the generic, Up and Up Brand with benzoyl peroxide, which is cheaper and works just as well. Make sure that you do not put any moisturizer on your blemishes because it can aggravate them and make them worse! Just put the moisturizer around it and go back to put on Clearasil.
You may have to tailor this to work for you because my skin will react different to different products than yours will but use this as a starting point and listen to your skin! Then you will have glowing, blemish free skin that when you come back to campus in ten years for Alumni Weekend everyone will be saying that you haven’t changed.
Sincerely,
Patricia Piper
Send asks to hamline@hercampus.com to get tips, advice, complains, etc. from Patricia Piper.