We’re still in January, but if you’re anything like me you’ve already failed at least one resolution. (Resolution was to not order delivery food in January … at least we’re only doing it once a week. Husband’s a better cook, anyway.) But if one of your resolutions has been to start a skincare routine and you’ve been struggling to make that happen, read on.
⏳ The TL;DR — Hot Tips for Getting Started
Starting a skincare routine tends to be an exercise in impatience, so for the impatient among you here are some hot tips:
- Don’t buy anything till you determine your skin type
- Don’t buy anything until you determine your skin concerns
- Start simple
- Be patient
- Consistency, in skincare as in most things, is key
- Cost and quality aren’t always correlated
- Don’t open everything and start using it all at once
- The best skincare is the skincare that you’ll use and will make you feel good about your skin
- Pores, blemishes, fine lines, wrinkles, etc., are all natural and not to be feared, though they can be minimized
🎰 How to Figure Out Your Skin Type
As a kid of the 90s and teenager of the 00s, I grew up stripping the heck out of my skin. But your skincare can work so much harder for you if you’re catering to your skin type. That said, figuring out your skin type isn’t always easy.
What is a Skin Type?
Skin type refers to the relative dryness or oiliness of your facial skin. There are generally considered to be four types:
- Dry: skin feels tight and, well, dry, all over the face
- Oily: skin feels greasy and may have a sheen to it
- Combination: skin is a combination of the above at the same time — usually this is an oily T-zone (forehead, noes, mouth, chin) and dry U-zone (jaw and cheeks), though not always
- Normal: skin is none of the above — neither tight nor greasy, generally balanced
Determining Skin Type
Figuring out which one you are is trickier. My preferred method is the bare-faced method:
- Cleanse with a mild (non-foaming) water-based (not an oil cleanser) cleanser.
- Pat dry.
- Leave skin bare (no moisturizer, etc).
- Wait 30 minutes.
- Check for shine.
- Wait another 30 minutes.
- Check for tightness.
- Type yourself: Tight means probably dry. Shiny all over means probably oily. Shiny on your T-zone but tight on your cheeks or jaw means probably combination. None of the above? “Normal” it is for you.
- Gut check. Does this seem true? The manifestation of our skin type can change over time and based on a variety of environmental factors, so this might not be the result you expected.
🧐 How to Figure Out Your Skin Concerns
Skin concerns are simultaneously both more and less complicated than skin typing. In some cases, your type may be your concern — after all, if your skin’s tightness or shininess is causing you consternation, it’s going to be something you’ll want to address.
What are Skin Concerns?
Common concerns include:
- Acne and its various varieties — whiteheads, cystic acne, fungal acne, etc.
- Lines — fine lines, wrinkles, expression lines, smile lines
- Pigmentation — post-inflammatory marks (after acne), melasma (blotchiness)
- Redness — rosacea, inflamed skin from acne, dermatitis
- Texture — enlarged pores, closed comedones, sebaceous hyperplasia
- Sensitive or reactive skin
Many skin concerns can and should be dealt with by a dermatologist or esthetician, but many can be handled with over-the-counter skincare.
Determining Skin Concerns
Skin concerns, for most of us, are the visible concerns that got us interested in starting a routine in the first place. For me, it was my seborrheic dermatitis that drove me to skincare, because it was uncomfortable and causing me self-esteem issues. You can certainly have more than one skin concern simultaneously — in this age of photo filters and incessant video calls, it’s not uncommon to feel like EVERYTHING is wrong with your face — but it’s best to target one at first, handle that, and then build up.
My recommendation is to take a look at yourself in the mirror, and see what catches your attention (negatively) about your skin first. That’s probably what you want to start with. As your skin improves you’ll move the goalposts on yourself, wanting to get your skin even better and target even more. But you can’t tackle everything at once, so prioritizing based on what’s irking you the most works well.
⏯ How to Start a Routine
Once you have a handle on your skin type and skin concerns, you can start selecting and adding products!
Get the Basics
Cleanser, moisturizer and sunscreen are the cornerstones of any skincare routine. You have to cleanse your face to get off the grime of the day, moisturize to restore the hydration and lipid balance of your skin, and sunscreen to keep your skin protected.
Cleansers are very personal, but there are rules of thumb for different skin types. Oily skin types tend to prefer foaming cleansers, while particularly dry skin types tend to prefer gel or cream cleansers. I recommend starting out with a small size to make sure you and your skin will like it before going all in.
Moisturizers are beloved of dry skin types everywhere, but normal and oily folks need them too. Particularly oily skin types will generally prefer gel or water cream textures. You don’t have to use the same moisturizer AM and PM, though starting out it can be nice to use the same for both, just from a financial perspective.
A good sunscreen can be hard to find, and what’s available really varies based on budget and geography. I personally swear by k-beauty sunscreens, which are becoming increasingly available around the globe, because they’re very easy to wear on a daily basis (though you may want something else for water resistance).
Pick a Treatment
Beyond the basics, you’ll want some sort of a treatment to target whatever your principal skin concern is. For many folks, this is some sort of exfoliant. For others, it’s a retinoid. For others, it’s a vitamin C or niacinamide serum. The important thing is to pick one and not try to tackle everything all at once.
Introduce Products
It can be tempting to just throw everything on your face all at once, and for some people that’s just fine. But it’s not always fine, and it can be a mega bummer to immediately have your new routine backfire on you.
- Patch test before use, particularly if you have allergies or sensitive skin. I recommend the inside of the forearm, or on the neck behind the ear.
- Begin one product at a time. If you have a reaction or a breakout, you want to immediately target the cause. I generally recommend waiting at least a week between introducing products.
- Start your actives slowly, particularly exfoliants and retinoids. I generally recommend starting once a week, then increasing use from there. For many skin types and most exfoliants or retinoids, you will probably never want to use them more than four times a week.
- Be consistent. The best skincare is the stuff you’ll use, that will make you feel good in your skin. If you’re finding you’re not using your skincare, examine why — too long a routine? Makes you dry? Make you oily? Breaks you out? Consider yourself and your skin and make tweaks accordingly. And if you’re just frustrated by not seeing results yet, remember that progress takes time.
Still need help? I plan on doing a series of Skincare How Tos and example routines per skin type and concern, so let me know.
Pictured is my husband’s minimal but effective routine of holy grails: Farmacy Clean Bee Cleanser, Paula’s Choice Azelaic Acid 10% Booster, Stratia Liquid Gold and Isntree Hyaluronic Acid Watery Sun Gel.
Lisa Loves Skincare 