Face care is so important! Your face is a gateway of sorts to your health. People can tell whether someone is hydrated, dehydrated, tired just by looking at a person’s face. I got into face care when I got into high school, it’s a time where hormones rage and acne was definitely not my friend. I used common products like Neutrogena to treat my ailments.
When I got to college it was an entirely different ballgame. I really dove deep into face care because my sleeping schedule, the types of food I ate, and the types of stresses I experienced all changed. So here’s the facial skincare routine I’ve perfected in the last few months. It’s nothing to elaborate. Very simple because I don’t get huge breakouts of acne often. I’ll break it done within 6 steps.
1. Wipe makeup off
I try to do most of my facial care around nighttime! I’ve recently started doing it in the morning because I keep forgetting to do it at night (quarantine’s getting to me) but if you do it at night make sure you wipe off any makeup on your face with a cleaning serum. I use a 3 in 1 micellar cleansing water by up & up, Target’s brand. I don’t really recommend it if you do medium to heavy makeup (or if you use waterproof mascara) it doesn’t cleanse as well as I’d like; I picked it up in the store when I saw how cheap it was. This is often okay because after wiping the makeup off I get into the next step.
2. Wash face
I’m going to tell you a crazy secret! I don’t wash my face with soap 24/7. Gasp!
When I wash my face, I gauge whether or not I need to use soap or if I just need to use water. I have very dry skin so a lot of soaps, no matter what they say or promise, dry out my skin more than strictly necessary. It’s, also, a good idea to give your face a rest from products and stuff constantly being on it. When I do use soap I use Clinique’s liquid facial soap mild which cost me around 15 bucks at Ulta, it definitely doesn’t cost that anymore. I splurge on Clinique in particular because I’ve had great results with them. I want to get into a more natural face wash in the future though.
3. Wipe face
After washing, I lightly dab my face with a clean cotton cloth. Very simple. Don’t dab so that it’s dry, however, dab so that your face is damp.
4. Treat
This is the part I love! Treatments can be anything and can, also, take the place of the next two steps depending on what you do. My treatments aren’t so elaborate these days, I use two things for the acne: toothpaste and my Neutrogena Light Therapy pen thingy. I also love doing masks which often leave my face moisturized enough that I don’t have to oil or cream. I use Rael’s Tea Tree face masks and BeNatu Green Clay Mask. Another thing you can do while treating are pore strips for your nose, I’ve never used them but will eventually.
5. Oil
I don’t recommend oil if you have an oily face. My face is dry so most times I use oil. The oil I’ve been using lately is Jojoba by Natrave, I picked it up at Marshall’s for around 5 dollars. Don’t use too much! Oils spread easily and a couple of drops will do.
6. Cream
Sometimes I just use oil or cream alone but if my face is super duper dry, I’ll seal the oil with a cream. I use Aveeno Daily Moisturizing lotion. It doesn’t really smell like anything and keeps my face hydrated throughout the day. Some days I’ll use Cetaphil but those days are far and few in between.
There you have it, collegiettes! My facial care routine. Experiment! It’s important to know what works for your face specifically because every face is different. Have fun! Taking care of oneself is probably one of the most fun things to do ever (at least to me).