My Skin!

Sooooooo...I recently went for my first facial and massage and it was HEAVEN!!! I woke up the morning after my facial and my skin felt softer and healthier and it inspired me to do this here post. Anyways I learned alot about my skin from my facial. I found I was doing absolutely everything wrong with my skin,well except for a few things (bummer). I have oily skin, which makes me prone to breakouts, which then leads to scaring :-(. The Esthetician, Alexis, taught me how to treat my skin, what I was doing wrong, and what should be my next steps. I will share what I was doing wrong now and in another post I will explain my new regime. Hopefully I help others with a similar skin types. This is what my skin looks like. No makeup 0_0!


Mistake 1. I use a scrub everyday. Scrubs "traumatize" (Alexis's words) my skin, which leads to more scaring. I should exfoliate twice a week instead of everyday.

Mistake 2. I use products for acne. To my surprise I found out that I do not have Acne. If I had acne it would be huge and all over. I have oily skin, so I get breakouts. Instead of using products for acne, which is too strong for my skin, I should use oil free products.

Mistake 3. I washed my face with soap. So I have used tura soap (medicated soap, popular in Nigeria) on my face since forever to treat the acne I do not have. Soap is to harsh for the face. I should use a moisturizing cleaner instead. Something oil-free and has benzyl peroxide (not sure need to check if its benzyl peroxide).

Mistake 4. I use Ambi fading cream on my face to treat my scarring. Big mistake. Ambi has a bleaching agent which will affect my melanin production and skin pigment. I should use a natural lighting agent on my dark spots so my skin tone evens out without damaging my skin.



Mistake 5. I should not be treating my scarring until I have controlled my breakouts. As long as I am still getting breakouts, I will continue to get scarring. I should concentrate on oil control and clearing my skin, then I can work on evening out my skin tone.

Mistake 6. My lovely MAC is not good for my skin :-(. MAC makes me more prone to breakouts. MAC allows for more growth of bacteria. Acne is caused by bacteria. Alexis said that I should try a more natural makeup (?????) She suggested MakeUp Forever which you can find at sephora or a mineralized makeup, "bareMinerals is better than MAC but not great". Minerals come from rock, so it is much harder for bacteria to grow. (I have no intention of throwing away my MAC makeup, I will just finish it and explore my options. We want clear skin, but we dont wanna waste money!!!)
Anywhooo...there were some things that I was doing right...yay me!!!! I will continue to...

1. Wash my face morning and night.
2. Wash all of my makeup off.
3. I use milk of magnesia (random) on my face sort of like a primer. What is does is it controls my oil. I simply use a cotton pad and put a layer of milk of magnesia on my face before I apply my makeup. If I am not wearing makeup I just wash my face as usual, moisturize and then apply a layer of milk of magnesia. It works like magic yall!!!!! I found this trick from a makeup artist on youtube and after asking around I decided to try it. Since I have started using it I no longer need to blot oil on my face. I traveled to Nigeria this past December and with the ridiculous heat still no greasy oily skin. I love this stuff. I know it sounds weird but it works.



3. I use aveeno's moisturizing face lotion for oily skin after washing my face.The Spa I went to was Spa Sidney Beauty Lounge in Longbeach. The esthetician was Alexis, Like her on facebook @https://www.facebook.com/AlexisSkincare. She is welcome to answer any and all questions. I am in no way a professional, I am just regurgitating what I learned from her :-)