What beauty advice would you give your younger self?
Wear sunscreen! Always remove your makeup thoroughly! Don’t pluck your brows so thin!
— Christine
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You are three for three for me.
Read the ingredients not marketing claims. Avoid fragrance and SD Alcohol. Always wear sunscreen. Face masks is not skincare. Makeup wipes is not proper makeup renewal
*removal*
Stop caking on so much foundation and just deal with your skin care!
Christine, I answered the exact same things before I clicked to see your answer! Stay out of the tanning beds (wear SPF everyday). Wash your face every night. Oh, and moisturize. I was always so oily so I never put moisturizer on. Turns out I was severely dehydrated. Now, at 40 (in a month) my skin is probably close to the best it’s ever been.
But I would say that if you use a well formulated cleanser, you may not need to moisturize if you’re oily. A lot of that “dehydration” comes from using products that strip the skin bc it has SD Alcohol/alcohol denat. And moisturizer doesn’t have to be of the cream and lotion variety. A moisturizer can be a gel, a serum or toner (liquid). I’m oily, acne free and often get complimented for looking younger than I am. I can’t wear most lotion type “moisturizers” bc they clog my pores, give me texture. I suck it up during daytime bc I need SPF but at night I wear a toner or serum. Yes oily skin can produce more oil but the cure all isn’t wearing moisturizer. I’d look at the other products you’re using too. I’ve balanced my skin by just looking at my cleanser. Js
Yes! I hate the prevailing idea that oily skin is actually normal skin that’s been abused to the point of overproducing oil. Why do some people refuse to believe that it’s possible to just have oilier skin?
The new Glossier balancing moisturizer gel is really nice and effective.
In my post I said that once I started moisturizing properly my oily skin vanished. I was oily and peeling at the same time. As a teenager/ early 20’s my skin was flaking and an oil slick all at once. I thought it did not need moisture because it was oily. I now also do a proper double cleanse with a non-drying cleaner which has also helped repair my barrier. My point….I wish my younger self knew that skincare like non-drying cleaner and moisturizer (whatever type works for you) is necessary.
Skip the old Laszlo advice about “water as hot as you can stand”. I’m prone to broken capillaries and that advice, which I followed in the 80’s, was probably the start of it.
Wear moisturizer. It will make your skin less oily.
And avoid products with SD alcohol.
1.) Stop it with the skinny brows, Girl! Or else when you get older, they will grow in crooked and sparse with bald spots, and you’ll be so sorry.
2.) Don’t even THINK about starting smoking! Do you really want a permanently puckered upper lip?
3.) Unless you want spots like a leopard later on, quit baking yourself out in sun! Just because you tan very nicely and don’t burn doesn’t mean you should.
4.) Please; take that makeup off before bed, m’kay? You may not believe this, but you do look perfectly fine without it. ?
5.) Get those braces while you can!
1. Start retinol as early as you can, at least twice a week
2. SPF 50 without exception, on all exposed skin
3. Avoid Fragrance and alcohol (in makeup and skincare)
4. Find a nice hat and crew neck shirts when outdoors and wear them .
5. Get tested for that gluten allergy making a mess of your face
6. Get a good doctor, lawyer, accountant and dermatologist….You will need these lifelong relationships.
Teenage me — 1) Don’t wash and tone your face so much. It’s only making the oily skin worse. Ignore current beauty advice that advocates using so many strong products to constantly strip your skin. (My God, what the experts used to tell us to do to oily skin!) 2) Wash your makeup off every single night.
Adult me — 1) Be more consistent with skincare! Invest in skin care. Research more about skin care and don’t wait till you’re middle-aged. 2) Wash your makeup off every single night. 3) Dye your hair with the Magenta shade sooner. You’ll love it!
It depends if my younger self is the teenager or the young twenties. 😆
To my teenage self I would have tons of advices… wear sunscreen… use as moisturizer even if you have oily skin… use a makeup remover when you wear makeup, cleanser is not enough… but don’t use those harsh cleansers, they only make your skin worse… skincare is hygiene, not a superficial fad for self-centered people.
Don’t sunbathe. Wear sunscreen always. Never sleep in your makeup no matter how tired you are. And for the inner beauty, eat well, you are what you eat, and stay away from the negative. Be kind and generous.
And…Wear sunglasses when outside.
-Don’t buy makeup just because it looks pretty in the pan. It should be a color you like actually using. There is a lot of pretty makeup (and stuff in general) in the world, but you can appreciate it without owning it.
-Spend less time researching for the “perfect” products and spend more time working on technique. The search for perfect products is a bit of a fool’s errand imo. And all this time in quarantine has shown me how many good looks I can get if I’m a little creative and work on my skill.
I’m tempted to also say that I should have skipped the super dark lip phase I went through, but I feel like I needed to experience that firsthand lol
The advice I would give to my younger self would be:
1. Like you Christine, wear sunscreen. There are so many brands that sell affordable face and body sunscreens these days that are easy to apply, non greasy and moisturising to the skin, that there is no excuse for not wearing them. Back in the day, when I was younger, they simply were not around and a lot of people my age are now experiencing skin cancers. No sunbeds, no sunbaking – it’s just a cancer waiting to happen.
2. Find out your correct foundation shade and undertone. It took me decades to find my correct undertone and for years I consistently purchased the wrong foundation and wondered why it never looked good on me by the end of the day. Some of the brands I purchased were really expensive too.
3. Take off your makeup every single night by using a gentle, non foaming cleanser. Don’t use makeup wipes because they contain ingredients that can irritate your skin. Read the ingredients list and avoid alcohol in products.
4. Treat your skin concerns by seeking out professional advice from a dermatoligist. My twin sister has bad acne scars from using products from over the counter. I went to a doctor and followed their advice.
5. Make sure you use a hydrating moisturiser suitable for your skin and again, seek advice for the best one to use. It doesn’t have to be expensive. A lot of products available at the DS or pharmacy will be fine. Expensive doesn’t mean successful or better ingredients. Avoid fragrances in these products.
6. Use an oil – argon, chia seed, rosehip etc of a night time to really moisturise your skin, unless advised not to do so. If you have oily skin, it’s best to avoid these products.
7. Leave your eye brows alone and consult a beauty professional about them.
8. Go easy on the makeup – subtle blushes, neutral eyeshadows till you find your way.
9. Invest in good quality makeup brushes: Eco tools, Real Techniques etc. are great value and don’t forget to wash them regularly.
10. Go very easy on the exfoliating scrubs – once a week or once a fortnight is enough, otherwise you are stripping your face of natural oils. Buy a very gentle one with no little beads that clog the oceans.
Wear sunblock – DAILY.
You do not have oily skin, you have teenage acne being aggravated by all the products you’ve been wrongly advised to use that strip your skin & degrade your skin barrier making the acne worse along with redness & peeling!
Eat well, skip the junk & cut out sugar in all forms.
Exercise at least 30 minutes a day.
Do laser hair removal as soon as it was affordable! Then I wouldn’t still be paying to wax for the rest of my life, and in my elderly years , when my eyes and tweezers are not so sharp, I won’t be embarrassed by the errant whisker that may unknowingly be on my chin. It might be vain to worry about facial hair in my dotage, but I do.
“SUNSCREEN. I know you’re not gonna wear it every day, because it’s terrible and you can’t even wake up early enough to get to school on time, but I got some terrible burns that were totally preventable. Just put it on, even when Mom can’t make you anymore. Also, Stridex. Buy those useful products instead of that bottle of self-tanner or those awful eyeshadows and lip glosses I’m never gonna wear. And the Dream Matte Mousse isn’t necessary. Brands we can access aren’t going to make our foundation shade for YEARS, so just don’t waste the money and time.”
For the love of all things holy, wear sunscreen everyday! Start a skincare routine in your 20’s, including taking off your makeup before bed! Ugghh, I cringe at my old ways!
Get tested for allergies sooner with a legit allergist who does a full spectrum skin prick test and RAST testing. Turns out I was allergic to several ingredients in both my skincare and makeup and didn’t know it. Anything from the birch family (Betula alba is a common ingredient….anything starting with Betula really) will make my skin puffy and my eyes water. Same with hazelnut oil, which is more common in ‘natural’ skincare and makeup. Turns out I was having severe allergic reactions to ‘natural’ ingredients and my face wasn’t plumping up, it was swelling up. Due to cross-reactivity it means other ‘natural’ ingredients related to birch and hazelnuts will cause issues too.
After scaling WAY back to products like Uriage and Avene, my skin finally calmed down.
I would also add educate myself earlier on what the ingredients really are and pay attention in Chemistry class. Everything is a chemical and sometimes companies use the full form name or the latin name for an ingredient. Natural does not mean better. Snail extract will cause hives….just stay away from it.