First of all, I want to share my night 6-step skincare routines:
- Step: Muji Mild Scrubbing Face Soap – I have been using this for years and years, and it is the BEST skincare product I love.
- Step: The Ordinary Glycolic Acid 7% Toning Solution A good toner supposes to help you with balancing your skin PH level , and that’s what this toner does! Simple.
- Step: The Ordinary Buffet peptides serum. It is still not scientifically proved that topical peptides will amazingly help with collagen reproduction except the studies funded by these peptides companies, well, but, it is said (so far) that it “works”. More details here.
- Step: The Ordinary 0.2% Retinol in Squalane, only at night.
- Step: VitaminC cream or Vitamin C powder. I also mix the powder with my body cream for anywhere else on my body. Safer to use at night as may accelerate sun damage during the day.
- Last: Moisturizers: Aesop – they make me feel expensive; CeraVe, cheap, honest and working ingredients, affordable. Avéne: great for sensitive and dry skin.
- *Avoid using Retinol products in the morning or when your skin is damp. Your skin becomes very sensitive after retinol treatment. Use sunscreen every morning! 80% of UV lights still go through during a cloudy day, and yes, they also go through your windows!
What I learned abt Skincare in 2020.
I used to naively think all the “big” brands out there are my skin’s haven, whatever they promised me will definitely work (more or less), and nobody will ever know what actually inside a bottle and neither will we know if they will work or not. After seeing these complicated named little bottles on friends’ shelves, I decided to check them out. During my research, I learned 1. so much about what our skin actually needs ingredients-wise and what ingredient is for what purpose. 2. Anti-aging is simple (but not easy), you follow the rules, use the few ingredients, you are done. 3. The Ordinary cover most of the common skincare concerns from anti-aging to Acne treatment to dark circles etc. 4. Spend some time reading the ingredients, understand the science behind will only do a person good – that’s myself.
Some Points Helped Me Understand Skincare.
- Know my ingredients. I have listed some most popular and “working” ingredients in the chart below.
- What % of these ingredients does this product actually have? “This magical product contents anti-aging Retinol” Yeah but how much? If the content of the retinol is less than 1%, it doesn’t do anything with anti-aging! The Percentage of the ingredients is the key!
- Learn to judge before I buy it. Think about if the related information is true or false. When I tell you the jeans I just bought are sexy as fxxk, you may think… hmm… on who? And how do I define sexy? Same thing with skincare. It works on me, doesn’t necessarily mean it will definitely work on your skin type.
Studies and References:
Sun induced aging + cancer risk: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti…
Sunscreen and Prevention of Skin Aging: http://annals.org/aim/fullarticle/169…
Sunscreen Use Among Americans: https://www.aad.org/media/news-releas…
More than five sunburns in a lifetime doubles risk for melanoma: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti…
World Health Organization: http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/dr-manis…
Sunscreen Ingredient Chart: http://www.skinacea.com/sunscreen/uv-…
