#grandma shan life tips

[mc-dude]

some skincare tips ive learned recently

if your moisturizer doesn’t make you break out but just isn’t quite moisturizing enough, add 2-3 drops of squalane oil and it instantly becomes SUPER hydrating and makes your skin so soft

make sure it’s squalane and not squalene. squalene can contribute to fungal acne breakouts. squalane, however, is perfectly safe for all skin types.

if your acne is hormonal working out helps so much. honestly. it clears up my face so fast (like, after my 7th consecutive workout my face isn’t breaking out like usual. i do once every 3 days or sometimes once ever 2 if i’m not too sore). working out positively effects like, all hormones. cortisol, insulin, thyroid, sexy hormones. all of em. mainly cardiovascular exercises, but resistance training (what I’ve been doing) also is good.

working out is hard and not super rewarding right away so that’s why i usually stop quickly after starting. its hard not getting that instant gratification. the BEST way to work out harder / get more motivated is to take some caffeine 20-30 min before workout. not too much or you’ll feel like ur dying afterwards. just a bit makes me lift so much harder and get so much more hype. listen to some shitty metal music from your youth like me. 

diet affects acne as much as working out, if not more. excess of dairy has been known to lead to hormonal imbalances. refined sugars increase insulin levels which lead to increased sebum (that white gunk inside ur pores) production. try to reduce your refined sugar intake & refined carbs (aka non-whole grain carbs) and you will probably see improvement in this area, as well as increase ur energy throughout the day. taking out refined sugars from my diet took me from like, super sloth to just normal sloth. whack. everything that tastes delicious is evil, basically. in excess.

fungal acne is a thing and it’s not what you think it is from the name (see: me thinking about mushrooms growing on face). it usually occurs as small bumps that never come to a head and are super itchy in small clusters. simpleskincarescience dot com has a good article on how to deal with it if you got it (i don’t personally). oh, and hormonal imbalance can lead to increase production of the shit that causes fungal acne. hurrah. fuck skin

oil cleansing aka OCM really cleans the fuck out of your skin in a very gentle way. the basic premise is that oil binds to other oils and will get the gunk out of your pores better than water. a really nonirritating oil is mineral oil that most people start with. don’t use oils like coconut, lanolin, palm, etc. those will break you tf out. get some mineral oil on yo face (when its dry-- any water and it will not bind to the oils in ur face because water and oil dont mix), massage it gently until you feel the gunk coming out of your pores (if you dont feel it after a while its okay, means ur pores aren’t super gunky!), then wipe off gently with a warm, damp clean towel. then after use your normal cleanser to get the rest of it off. ta da! double cleansing goodness. this really helps prevent breakouts before they start.

if you have a lot of closed comedones aka the super small whiteish bumps on ur skin, use 2% BHA to get rid of them. I use paula’s choice 2% BHA but there are loads of other options. I slather is on my face every other day (it’s pretty drying if you use it too much- any active aka acids are in higher concentrations) and it gets rid of them and smoothes out my face texture so much. actives will thin your skin out slightly for like a day afterwards so make sure to use sunscreen. and don’t wax on the area at all for a few days or you will tear off your skin :^) 

sunscreen prevents your acne marks from becoming darker. sunlight will 100% cause blemishes to appear darker. i didnt care about sunscreen for so long and my acne scars just like, stayed there forever. started using sunscreen before i go outside (even for like, 15 min) and it’s like night and day. it’s whack. the sun is evil. use sunscreen. korean/japanese sunscreens are usually not as greasy and don’t leave a white cast. get a mattifying one and use it as a primer or w/e you gals do for even better results. 

thats it. love u all. take care of your skin.