#bar soap hair cleaser

[themessybunmafia]

Clarifying Your Curls - How To & What to Use

Clarifying Your Curls – How To & What to Use

A dear friend asked me to share some hair care strategies in her Facebook Group this month (you’re welcome to join us!). That forced me into teacher mode, and, in turn, forced me into learning mode… The good news is that I had this post drafted, but hadn’t posted yet…because I learned a new trick that I think you’re just going to LOVE! Today, we’re going to talk about clarifying your hair: the…

[genandherramblings]

Rosacea + Acne (what works for me)

Backstory: I’ve had rosacea in my family for a while, it’s sometimes hereditary and in my case, I also had to take hardcore medication for my Crohn’s (chemotherapy) and it flared up my initial tiny-2-3-dots of rosacea to a REAL problem and burned my skin.

What I’ll write here is my own skincare routine, which was slightly adjusted by my own dermatologist (FINALLY got to see one, jesus).

Take this with a grain of salt y’all. 

I did go to my newly-acquired (adopted) Dermatologist, and she’s super nice and yeah, so here we go.

SHOWER

Here’s my skincare routine. Helped A LOT with acne and a big plus with chemo-induced-Rosacea. Feel free to adjust to your OWN skin, that’s what matters most!

1) Use no scrubs or loofas! Only your hands/fingers/soft clean materials. They irritate the skin and accentuate the redness in it. Plus, I feel it doesn’t help with sensitive skin, since scrubbing with rough materials, even lightly, cause micro-tears in your skin resulting in more scars.

2) NO scalding hot showers! Go for warm instead. It dries out your skin and no bueno, you don’t want that. 

3) I personally start with foam soaps - my go to is this bad boi, Aveno Clear Complexion FOAM Cleanser. The “clear-thing” helped my angry red-skin tbh and the foam is sooooo nice + my dermatologist recommended me foam-stuff (if you can’t afford medical cleasers / appointments to dermato, go foamy). It’s softer on your skin! TRY FOAM, AVENO OR NOT, I SWEAR

(Fuck me, that picture is BIG. I don’t know what I’m doing, might remove later, idk.)

#4) Wash your face g e n t l y with this and rinse off. Like, remove your makeup with it and go on with your shower, as usual.

#5) When washing your hair, try to do it before you wash your skin. Since you often have oils and others in your shampoo/conditioner, ya don’t want your pores all opened up and getting the oil at the end of your shower. Instead, do the following: 

Wash your face quick and nice first time to remove makeup.

Wash your hair and add the conditioner.

While letting the conditioner sit, wash your body, shave, etc.

Last thing last, re-wash your face more thoroughly with the foam, again. 

Now, step 4 is where my dermatologist would whoop my ass; she suggested to wash my face at the end, and in the beginning of my shower, simply rinse makeup off with water + soft soap. Washing your face too much is no good, BUT THAT’S HOW I ROLL MMMMKAY. I feel dirty otherwise ): 

Last but not least, when out of that hot shower, if you’re too cheap like me to buy a “night” toner or something, rinse your face with cold water. I usually get out of the shower, wrap myself and rinse my face 2-3 times with a splash of cold water to close my pores, but don’t over-do it! You still want open pores to put your night-cream!

AFTER SHOWERING (Acne stuff)

That’s when, depending on break-out or not,  I’ll do the following:

Acne Breakout ™ : Apply your anti-acne gels and lotions. Let it sit while brushing your teeth or something. Once it’s all in, apply your night-cream or just a simple hydrating cream. 

I-have-the-face-of-God™-and-don’t-have-acne: I hate you, but also, simply add a bit of hydrating cream / lotion. Let it get in your skin as well.

SLEEP WITH CLEAN PILLOWCASE!!! Your skin is still warm for the shower, even if you rinsed it with cold water + added your night creams, the dead skin and other bacteria from your day + nights end up there. CHANGE IT, I never did before and my dermatologist was like “Bruh.” Yeah, do it. 

DURING THE DAY 

Here’s what I do in the morning :D

Wash face with Dove scent-free soap bar and cold-warm water.

Pat (NEVER RUB YOU POTATO!) to dry - rubbing is like scrubbing and can cause tears in the skin!

Apply tout-de-suite your hydrating cream. I like Cetaphil and if you feel fancy, Neutrogena Hydro-Boost. Again, please take whatever your skin likes! No need to be these two!

Brush ya teeth while it sets in. I hate having something on my skin but yeah, I have to do this now!

Dermatologist tip for summer : Also add a layer of sun lotion made for your face. 

Start with your eye / lips / brow makeup and do your hair. The more time you let your products settle in, the better it is!

Apply your usual skin makeup. Ideally, in the perfect world, we wouldn’t feel pressure to hide our flaws BUT I do and maybe you too, so add it last!

WHAT DO YOU USE? (Found in Walmart + Pharmacy) 

Until very recently, I had no help from dermatologists whatsoever (took me a year to get one) and here’s what I use (also approved by my Brand-New Dermatologist™ : 

To clean : Aveno Clear Complexion Foam Cleanser  but also, my mother uses this one for her rosacea  (also from Aveno) and Dove’s basic, unscented soap bar. Think simple and gentle! Does not need to be those brands, but they are my go-to.

To scrub : Once in a while, it doesn’t hurt to scrub - go green or homemade. Scrubs with plastic beads in it are BAD for the environment and your skin! >:(

To hydrate : As mentioned above, I like scent-free stuff like Cetaphil and although Neutrogena Hydro-Boost has a slight smell to it, it’s not “perfume-ish” and is faint. I like it personally. 

Makeup : THIS BITCH. If you have ACNE, I 200% recommend it. I’ve been using it for a while now and if you have botchy skin that’s bumpy with pimples and scars or just heavy red skin, that’s my absolute FAVE. For me at least, it’d fill the “cracks” of my skin and even it out. It is a bit thicker, but it’s also light and fluffy. It is:

Sweat-resistant

Noice finish

I just love it tbh

If you can tho, try liquid foundations that have FPS protection or some form of sunscreen in it. Liquid foundations tend to have hydrating stuff in them and are easier. HOWEVER, with acne, I find versus mousse, they do get into your thirsty skin, that mistakes it for water and drinks it up = drinking makeup = more breakouts. 

Ultimately, it’s what your skin feels best in!

Hope this helped someone out there lmao, thanks for coming to my TED talk. 

PS: ALWAYS FOLLOW YOUR HEART SKIN - This is what I use, and am no professional but felt like sharing it. 

I’ll also post another freakin’ digital TED Talk on skin products that my dermatologist prescribed me, see how they work and maybe you can ask your doctor for them too! Prolly a review of some sort! :)

- Gen