The Problem
`For as long as I can remember I have had spots. I purchased various cleansers, would use them once or twice, toss them aside and then it was on to the next one. At that I wasn’t into the whole skin routine thing:cleanse, tone, mask etc. I thought that if I washed my face with something that said ‘helps fights spots’ then that would be enough. I was so consumed with the pimples that I was constantly getting that I completely ignored the fact that my skin would appear and feel really rough to the touch. In fact I put all of that down to the fact that I had ‘bad’ skin. When I could not solve the problem with cleansing and treatment gels I would make myself feel better by caking my face with foundation and powder to temporarily hide my problem, until I removed my make-up at night and it was still there. My GP even prescribed a course of anti-biotics but that did not help at all. After several years of telling myself ‘unfortunately I wasn’t born with good skin’ I learnt to live with it by convincing myself that the problem would go away on its own… with age or whatever.
The Change
It wasn’t until that I started this job and I met this friend who was very much into her appearance. Her bathroom would be stocked with every product imaginable: eye cream, eye make-up remover, toner, night cream, day cream, anti-shine cream, sauna mask and every other product conceivable. Slowly I began taking interest in what she was doing, and then eventually I got into the whole skin thing. I started using the internet to read up about skin care and and bought really expensive cosmetics. From then on I began to realize what I was doing wrong for a start:
What I did Wrong
- I would cleanse my skin ‘whenever I was in the mood’. After a late night out I would not cleanse at all. Simply jump into bed with whatever make-up was left on it.
- When I did cleanse I would not be committed to the routine. Toner? Moisturizer? Keeping my pores clear?
No way, back then that wasn’t for me. In fact I never gave them a second thought, let alone scrubs and masks or night cream. - I never consulted on my skin and therefore I didn’t even know what caused spots in the first place. I also realize now that maybe my anti-biotics and treatment gels would have worked if I had used them in conjunction with daily facial cleansing.
