u/Unique-Face-2500

dear me at diagnosis,

u are going to spend the next six months panicking about this and making decisions from that panic that will make things worse before they get better, i cannot stop that completely but i want to try to short circuit some of it.

first, the diagnosis is not the worst thing, having a name for what ur skin has been doing for years is actually useful information even if it does not feel that way right now.

second, please do not buy everything the internet recommends in the first month, i know it is tempting, i know u want to fix this immediately, but ur skin needs rest and simplicity right now not fifteen new products introduced simultaneously.

third, the standard trigger lists are a starting point not a definitive answer, ur specific triggers are individual and finding them will take time and actual tracking, do not spend a year avoiding red wine and spicy food if those genuinley are not ur triggers.

fourth, when u flare ur instinct will be to add something new to fix it, please do not, add nothing, go back to basics, give ur skin time to recover, adding things during a flare is how u end up not knowing what caused it.

fifth, this is genuinley manageable, i know it does not feel like it right now but two years from now ur skin will be the most consistently calm it has ever been in ur adult life and u will have gotten there through patience and simplicity not through finding the right miracle product.

it gets genuinley better, i promise.

what would u tell urself at diagnosis?

I wanted to share this because I think a lot of us forget what our skin looked like even 2–3 weeks ago, especially during the purge / “is this even working” phase.

I started taking one photo of my face every week in the same lighting, same angle, same distance, no makeup, and trying not to analyze it daily. Looking back at them has helped me way more than staring in the mirror every morning.

A few things I noticed from doing this:

• progress was way less linear than I thought
• some weeks looked worse before they looked better
• redness made me think my acne was the same, even when active breakouts were actually decreasing
• dryness/flaking was super obvious in photos even when I didn’t notice it day to day

It also helped me separate “bad skin day” feelings from actual overall progress. I’ve been using SkinPal AI for tracking the day-to-day changes in my selfie photos too, and it’s been helpful for noticing little shifts without obsessing over the mirror. In the moment I’d be convinced nothing had changed, then I’d compare to week 1 and realize there was a real difference.

Obviously not saying this as medical advice or anything, just as a mental coping thing that made the process feel less chaotic.

If you tracked your course somehow, what ended up being most useful for you?

• weekly photos
• symptom notes
• dosage timeline
• just trying not to think about it at all

I’m curious because the mental side of Accutane honestly caught me off guard more than the dry lips did.

myth one: u need rich heavy creams once ur skin gets dry with age what is actually true: heavy occlusive creams on post menopausal skin often just sit on top rather than being absorbed, lightweight hydration layered properly absorbs better and delivers more genuine moisture than one thick cream applied to dry skin

myth two: sensitive skin means avoiding all actives what is actually true: sensitive skin needs gentle actives at appropriate concentrations introduced slowly, avoiding them entirely means missing the genuine structural benefits of retinoids and the protective benefits of consistent vitamin c, my skin was more sensitive bc my barrier was compromised not bc actives were inherently wrong for me

myth three: if it tingles it is working what is actually true: tingling is irritation, not efficacy, the best actives for mature skin should feel genuinley comfortable, the tingly vitamin c that i used throughout my forties was probably causing more inflammation than benefit

myth four: more moisture means more hydration what is actually true: moisture and hydration are different things, applying more and more moisturiser to dehydrated skin is like trying to fill a leaking bucket, fixing the dehydration with humectants like hyaluronic acid applied correctly addresses the underlying issue rather than just compensating for it

myth five: retinol is too harsh for older skin what is actually true: older skin may need to start lower and go slower but the evidence for retinoids improving skin quality specifically in older skin is genuinley robust and avoiding them entirely was one of my biggest skincare mistakes in my forties

started documenting everything properly in skinpalai when i turned 52 bc i wanted actual evidence of what was and was not working rather than just impressions, being able to look back at two years of notes and photos has made it so much clearer which of these myths i had been operating under and what changed when i stopped.

what myth held ur skincare back the most?

myth one: u need rich heavy creams once ur skin gets dry with age what is actually true: heavy occlusive creams on post menopausal skin often just sit on top rather than being absorbed, lightweight hydration layered properly absorbs better and delivers more genuine moisture than one thick cream applied to dry skin

myth two: sensitive skin means avoiding all actives what is actually true: sensitive skin needs gentle actives at appropriate concentrations introduced slowly, avoiding them entirely means missing the genuine structural benefits of retinoids and the protective benefits of consistent vitamin c, my skin was more sensitive bc my barrier was compromised not bc actives were inherently wrong for me

myth three: if it tingles it is working what is actually true: tingling is irritation, not efficacy, the best actives for mature skin should feel genuinley comfortable, the tingly vitamin c that i used throughout my forties was probably causing more inflammation than benefit

myth four: more moisture means more hydration what is actually true: moisture and hydration are different things, applying more and more moisturiser to dehydrated skin is like trying to fill a leaking bucket, fixing the dehydration with humectants like hyaluronic acid applied correctly addresses the underlying issue rather than just compensating for it

myth five: retinol is too harsh for older skin what is actually true: older skin may need to start lower and go slower but the evidence for retinoids improving skin quality specifically in older skin is genuinley robust and avoiding them entirely was one of my biggest skincare mistakes in my forties

what myth held ur skincare back the most?

finished my course four months ago and wanted to share the routine that genuinley kept things manageable bc the dryness was the hardest part and getting this right made a significant difference to my daily experience. the morning routine that worked: skip cleansing entirely in the morning water rinse only, my skin does not need cleansing in the morning when it is not producing any oil and cleansing twice a day was just additional dryness i did not need cerave hydrating hyaluronic acid serum applied immediately on accutane my skin was desperate for hydration and getting this on within sixty seconds of the water rinse while skin was still damp made a genuinley noticeable difference to how the rest of the day felt cerave moisturising cream, generous amount not the thin layer i would use normally, genuinley a proper application, pressed in while skin was still slightly damp from the serum la roche posay anthelios mineral spf 50+ non negotiable on accutane, sun sensitivity is genuinley significantly increased and mineral spf caused less irritation than chemical options for my skin during this period the evening routine: cerave hydrating cleanser very gently, no rubbing same hyaluronic acid serum cerave moisturising cream, again generous aquaphor on my lips before bed, applied multiple times throughout the day as well what i did for the extreme dryness periods: occluded with vaseline over my moisturiser on the driest nights, particularly around my nose and mouth, genuinley life changing for the crack risk around the corners of my mouth my derm asked me to log side effects and skin condition throughout the course bc she wanted to be able to adjust my dose based on how i was tolerating it, been doing it in skinpalai and having those specific notes at each monthly appointment meant the conversations were genuinley useful rather than just me saying its been dry. did u find a routine that genuinley helped with the accutane dryness?

diagnosed fourteen months ago, spent the first six months making every mistake, and now have a routine that genuinley keeps my skin consistently calm, wanted to share the specifics bc i find detailed routine posts genuinley more useful than general advice.

my current routine and the reasoning behind every single decision:

morning: cool water rinse only, no cleanser in the morning, my skin does not need cleansing in the morning and anything more than water is unnecessary disruption for rosacea skin

la roche posay toleriane ultra light fluid, the lightest moisturiser i have found that still provides adequate hydration without any of the heavier ingredients that sit on rosacea skin and trap heat

la roche posay anthelios mineral one spf 50+ pa++++, mineral only bc chemical filters cause a heat reaction on my skin that triggers flushing, tinted bc it provides a small amount of coverage on the redness and i no longer feel like i need foundation every day

evening: la roche posay toleriane hydrating gentle cleanser, one cleanse only, fragrance free, no sodium lauryl sulfate, the only cleanser i have found that does not leave my skin feeling stripped or irritated

la roche posay toleriane ultra night, slightly richer than the daytime moisturiser but still genuinley lightweight for a night cream, no fragrance, no known rosacea irritants

once a week: la roche posay toleriane ultra dermallergo serum when my skin is particularly reactive or stressed, not a daily product but genuinley calming when i need it

why everything is la roche posay: the toleriane range is specifically formulated for reactive rosacea skin and genuinley the most consistently tolerated products i have ever used, i have not had a single reaction to anything in this range in fourteen months

my derm asked me to log flares and routine alongside each other from diagnosis so she could see patterns over time, been doing it in skinpalai and the correlation between any deviation from this simple routine and subsequent flares is genuinley right there in the data every single time.

what is in ur rosacea routine and what was the reasoning behind each choice?

okay so this happened last week and i need to share bc this community genuinley helped me get here and i want to give back.

nine months on tret, almost quit on four separate occasions, the purge was rough, the texture phase was discouraging, month two i looked genuinley worse than before i started and was convinced i had made a mistake.

last week a colleague who i see every day looked at me and said ur skin looks amazing what have u done differently and i just stood there bc nobody has ever said that about my skin ever, not once in my adult life.

the honest journey:

months one to three: genuinley hard, purging, dryness, texture issues, almost quit twice month four: purge slowing down, skin starting to look different in a way i could not fully articulate month five: someone at work said i looked well rested which i was not but was the first external confirmation something was changing months six and seven: texture smoothing, clarity improving, marks from old acne fading faster than they ever had before months eight and nine: the baseline quality of my skin is just genuinley different now, it holds light differently, it has a quality i genuinley cannot describe other than it looks more alive

routine that got me here: cerave hydrating cleanser, ordinary ha 2% b5 on damp skin, cerave moisturising cream, tret on top three nights a week, spf every morning, nothing else at all for the first six months

if ur in months one to three please just get to month five before making any decisions bc the shift genuinley happens and it is worth every difficult week before it.

what was ur external confirmation moment that tret was working?

okay so i went a bit feral on my first olive young online haul about a month and a half ago and now that i have actually tested everything properly i want to give honest rankings bc first impressions are not always accurate.

genuinley loved, will repurchase:

beauty of joseon dynasty cream was not expecting much from this but it is genuinley one of the nicest moisturisers i have ever used, sinks in beautifully, no heaviness, skin looks noticeably plumper the next morning, this has become a permanent part of my routine

cosrx advanced snail 92 all in one cream the texture is genuinley unique and my skin heals so much faster with this, a small spot that would usually take ten days to heal was gone in four, not exaggerating

isntree hyaluronic acid toner applied on damp skin immediately after cleansing this gives me genuinley visible plumpness within minutes, not as refined as the hada labo but a really solid performer at the price

good, probably will repurchase:

some by mi yuja niacin 30 days brightening starter kit genuinley saw some evening of my skin tone but the vitamin c formulation is a bit potent for everyday use on my sensitive skin, will use it a couple of times a week going forward

disappointed, will not repurchase:

tonymoly i am real sheet masks the serum in these is genuinley nice but the mask itself kept sliding off my face and i had to hold it on which somewhat defeats the purpose skin1004 centella toning toner, no visible effect for my skin after four weeks, might not be the right formulation for my skin type specifically

genuinley harmful, never again:

nothing thankfully, i patched tested everything this time after a previous bad experience

what have been ur best and worst haul discoveries?

okay so i want to share this bc i think a lot of people are doing the right things in the wrong order and getting frustrated when nothing seems to work and that was exactly me for three years.

the order of operations that i wish someone had given me from the start:

step one, fix ur barrier first before adding anything i was trying to fade hyperpigmentation on skin that was dehydrated and slightly compromised and nothing was absorbing or working properly, two months of just gentle cleanser, hyaluronic acid, lightweight moisturiser before touching any actives and the subsequent actives worked so much better on skin that was actually in a good state to receive them

step two, sort ur spf before expecting anything to fade this is genuinley not optional, not a nice to have, if ur not wearing spf 50 every single day without exception nothing u put on ur skin to fade pigmentation will work properly bc uv keeps reactivating the melanin production, i had to fully accept this before anything started moving

step three, one active at a time starting with the most evidence backed alpha arbutin is the most reliably effective brightening ingredient i tried, started with that alone for two months before adding anything else, saw more movement in those two months than in two years of using multiple things simultaneously

step four, patience measured in months not weeks this is genuinley a six to twelve month journey at minimum, anything promising faster results for significant pigmentation is not being honest with u

step five, add tranexamic acid as a supporting ingredient once ur seeing results from the above for melasma specifically this combination is genuinley effective but only on prepared skin with consistent spf protection

the order genuinley matters as much as the ingredients.

has anyone else found that changing the order rather than the products made the difference?

okay so i have been trying to describe what tret does to ur skin to my friend who is thinking about starting and i genuinley struggled to explain it properly bc the change is not what i expected it to be.

i thought tret would clear my acne and fade my marks and that would be the result, and yes it did those things, but the thing people dont explain well enough is that it changes the actual quality and structure of ur skin not just the surface stuff.

my skin at month seven looks different in a way that is hard to articulate, like it just looks more like skin, more alive somehow, the texture is different from the inside not just the surface, it holds light differently, foundation sits on it in a way that it never did before, and people who see me keep commenting that i look well rested even when i genuinley am not.

it is not that my skin is perfect, i still get the occasional spot, i still have some marks fading, but the baseline quality of my skin is genuinley different from what it was before tret and that baseline quality change is the thing i could not have predicted before starting.

months one to four were genuinley hard and i almost quit probably six times, the purge was rough, the dryness was rough, looking worse before looking better is not fun especially when u have video calls for work every day, but month seven me is really glad month four me did not actually quit, my derm told me to take weekly photos from the start and i have been keeping them in skinpalai bc she said tret progress is genuinley impossible to see in real time and u need the comparison to understand what has changed, showed my friend the month one versus month seven photos last week and she literally gasped which was genuinley satisfying after all those hard months.

if ur in the hard months please just get to month five and then reassess bc the shift genuinley happens.

what was the unexpected change ur tret made that u could not have predicted before starting?

so i spent about eighteen months switching moisturisers, must have tried twelve different ones, every price point, every texture, gel cream lotion thick thin, and my skin was always still tight and uncomfortable by midday and i kept thinking i just hadnt found the right one yet.

turns out the problem wasnt the moisturiser at all, it was that i was applying it to completely dry skin and my skin literally could not absorb it properly.

i know this sounds so basic and i feel embarrassed typing it out but genuinley nobody had explained to me that moisturiser applied to dry skin mostly just sits on the surface and evaporates, whereas the same moisturiser applied to slightly damp skin gets drawn into the skin properly and actually does something.

switched to applying my cerave moisturising cream within literally sixty seconds of washing my face while my skin is still slightly damp and the difference was immediate, like same product, completely different result, the tightness that had been bothering me for eighteen months just went away.

also stopped patting my face completely dry after washing, now i just pat off the excess water and leave my skin slightly damp before applying everything, and every single product in my routine works better now not just the moisturiser.

my flatmate noticed my skin looked different and asked what i had changed and when i explained she looked at me like i was an idiot lol, she had been doing this for years and thought everyone knew, been logging it in skinpalai bc i wanted to actually document whether the improvement was lasting or just a good skin week, three months later and the tightness genuinley has not come back.

genuinley cannot believe i bought twelve moisturisers when the problem was just timing.

has anyone else fixed a long term skin problem with something this stupidly simple?

okay so this is a long one but i wanted to document this properly bc i went through a genuinley rough year of barrier damage and finding detailed recovery accounts helped me enormously so i want to contribute one.

how i damaged it: daily bha toner for two years, glycolic acid three nights a week, retinol on the off nights, vitamin c every morning, double cleansing with a foaming second cleanse every night, i was doing all of this simultaneously and wondering why my skin was getting worse not better

what damage looked like after two years of this:

• randomly stinging from products that shouldnt sting including plain water occasionally
• redness around nose and cheeks that wouldnt go away
• skin that felt both dry and oily simultaneously
• texture that looked rough and dull in photographs
• foundation that never sat right

recovery timeline:

weeks one to two: stopped everything, just micellar water morning and evening, a plain unfragranced moisturiser, nothing else, skin felt weird and looked worse before it got better, the stinging continued for about ten days before starting to calm

weeks three to four: stinging reduced significantly, redness still present but less angry looking, skin starting to feel less tight

weeks five to eight: genuine improvement visible, texture normalising, products stopped causing irritation, skin started feeling like it belonged to me again

months three to four: barrier genuinley repaired, started introducing one thing at a time with three weeks between each, no reactions to anything so far

month six: current state, using six products, skin is the best it has been in three years, genuinley calmer and more even than during my complicated active heavy routine

tracked every week of the recovery in skinpalai bc i was scared during the early weeks that it wasnt working and my facialist said having documented evidence would help me see the progress that was too gradual to feel day to day, looking back at the week two notes compared to month six is genuinley emotional bc the descriptions of how my skin felt are so different.

the repair took significantly longer than the advice online suggested, most things i read said four to six weeks and mine took genuinley six months before i felt confident enough to call it repaired.

what did ur barrier repair journey look like?

three years, nearly every product in the range tried at some point, here are my honest long term opinions bc i think long term reviews are more useful than first impressions:

products i have used continuously for over a year and would never stop:

hyaluronic acid 2% + b5 the best value product in the entire range in my opinion, applied on damp skin it genuinley plumps and hydrates consistently, nothing else i have tried at any price point does this as reliably

niacinamide 10% + zinc took patience, caused some initial congestion that scared me into stopping twice before i committed to six weeks, genuinley reduced pore appearance and improved skin tone after that

squalane underrated, i use it as an oil cleanser mixed with a balm cleanser, as a face oil in winter, as a hair treatment, as a cuticle treatment, the most versatile product i have ever owned

retinol 0.2% in squalane the best way into retinol for beginners, gentle enough that i never had significant irritation, the texture improvement after three months of consistent use is genuinley significant

products i tried and would not repurchase:

lactic acid 10%, too strong for daily use on my skin, 5% is better and gentler glycolic acid 7% toning solution, genuinley too harsh, disrupted my barrier within three weeks of use vitamin c suspension 23% + ha spheres 2%, the texture is too gritty and it caused sensitivity without visible brightening results

products i am genuinley neutral on:

the buffet, four months of use, neither helped nor hurt marine hyaluronics, nice texture, no obvious results over standard ha azelaic acid suspension 10%, helped a bit with redness, not enough to be a staple

keeping notes in skinpalai has been genuinley useful for forming accurate opinions on products bc memory over three years is not reliable enough, being able to look at what i was using and how my skin was responding at different points has helped me understand which products actually contributed to improvements and which ones i just liked using.

what are ur long term opinions on the ordinary products?

okay so i knew stress was supposed to affect skin, i had read it, my derm had mentioned it, i just kind of dismissed it bc it felt like a cop out answer and i kept thinking there must be a product solution i was missing.

turns out there was not a product solution, stress was genuinley one of my main acne triggers and i spent about three years trying to fix it with skincare when the problem was partly hormonal and cortisol related.

the pattern i eventually noticed:

• big work deadline coming up, skin breaks out two to three days later like clockwork
• argument or difficult situation, same thing, almost predictable
• holiday or low stress period, skin noticeably clearer within about a week

the mechanism is real, cortisol increases sebum production, causes inflammation, and can affect how quickly skin heals, so high stress periods genuinley make acne worse on a physiological level not just bc ur touching ur face more or sleeping less, although those things also happen.

what actually helped me manage it:

i cannot eliminate stress completely but i can manage how my skin handles it, these are the things that made a difference:

• consistent sleep schedule even during stressful periods, sleep deprivation makes cortisol worse
• not changing my skincare routine during flares, stress related acne is temporary and introducing new products during a flare just adds variables
• gentle walking outside daily, something about getting outside genuinley helps even when it feels like there is no time
• accepting that some breakouts are going to happen and not panicking about them, the panic makes the picking worse which makes the marks worse

the correlation between my stress and my breakouts only became undeniable once i started logging both in skinpalai, my derm had suggested keeping notes and when i looked back at three months of entries the pattern was just right there on the page, genuinley changed how i thought about managing my skin.

has anyone else found that addressing stress made more difference to their acne than any product?

okay so i just want to celebrate this for a second bc every winter for the past four years i have had at least one major eczema flare that knocked me out for weeks and this winter i had none and i genuinley cannot believe it.

what was different this year compared to every previous winter:

i got a humidifier and actually used it consistently central heating in uk homes is genuinley brutal for eczema skin, running a humidifier in my bedroom every night from october through march made a bigger difference than i expected, my skin stopped feeling tight and itchy in the mornings which had been my normal every winter for years

i stopped over washing my hands this sounds minor but hand eczema was always my worst winter symptom and switching from hot water with soap multiple times a day to cool water with the vanicream gentle cleanser just twice a day made an enormous difference, the constant washing was stripping my hand barrier repeatedly all day

i sorted my layering properly stopped applying moisturiser to dry skin, started applying it within sixty seconds of washing while skin was still slightly damp, the difference in how well it absorbed was immediate and significant

i got ahead of it in september rather than reacting in december started my winter routine in early autumn before any symptoms appeared, by the time the cold weather arrived my barrier was already in a good place rather than starting from a compromised baseline

been logging daily in skinpalai since september bc my derm said she wanted to compare this winter to previous winters with actual data, looking back at my notes from the past four months compared to the same period last year is genuinley night and day, and having that documentation has helped me understand exactly which changes made the most difference.

none of these things are revolutionary but doing all of them consistently for a full season rather than reactively when things got bad genuinley changed the outcome completely.

what has made the biggest difference to ur eczema in winter specifically?

centella asiatica, that is the answer, and before anyone says yes everyone knows about centella i genuinley mean it changed my skin in a way that nothing else has and i want to talk about why i think it is still underrated relative to how effective it is.

i have redness prone reactive skin that has never responded well to most actives, vitamin c oxidises and irritates me, retinol makes me too sensitive, niacinamide at high concentrations does nothing for my redness specifically, and i spent about two years trying different things that just either did nothing or made my reactivity worse.

switched to centella based products about fourteen months ago, specifically the skin1004 centella ampoule as my main treatment step, and here is what changed:

the baseline redness reduced within about six weeks, not dramatically but noticeably, like i stopped looking flushed all the time for the first time in years

my skin became less reactive to everything else, products that used to cause mild irritation stopped doing that, like centella was calming the underlying inflammation that was making everything else harder to tolerate

the texture on my cheeks which had been uneven for years smoothed out over about four months in a way that no exfoliant had managed without also irritating me

my skin tone became more even without any of the irritation risk that comes with brightening actives

the science behind it makes sense, centella has genuine anti inflammatory and wound healing properties, it calms the skin at a level that allows everything else to work better, and for reactive skin types it might be the most useful ingredient available

been tracking the redness reduction monthly in skinpalai bc the changes were so gradual i kept convincing myself nothing was happening, went back through fourteen months of photos recently and the before and after is genuinley significant even tho it felt invisible while it was happening.

if u have reactive redness prone skin and u havent tried centella properly please do bc it was genuinley the missing piece for me.

what ingredient has made the most unexpected difference to ur skin?

been on a bit of a skincare journey this past year and wanted to share bc i feel like a lot of the advice for older skin is about adding things and not enough about what to stop doing.

things i stopped doing and why:

foaming cleansers twice a day switched to just micellar water in the morning and a gentle cream cleanser at night, the twice daily foaming was stripping whatever moisture my post menopausal skin was managing to hold onto and starting the day already depleted

physical exfoliation my skin at 52 does not tolerate scrubs the way it did at 32, switched to a very low percentage lactic acid once a week and my skin is smoother and less reactive than it was when i was scrubbing it twice a week

skipping spf because it felt heavy found a mineral spf that i genuinley enjoy applying and now i do not skip it, the texture of the spf was the problem not the habit

expecting results in two weeks skin at this age changes slowly and heals slowly and products take longer to show results, i gave myself three month minimums before assessing anything and it genuinley changed my relationship with my routine

layering too many things at once post menopausal skin is sensitised and adding multiple new products at once just overwhelmed it every time, one new thing every six weeks is my rule now

chasing the same results as twenty years ago this sounds obvious but i genuinley had to stop comparing my skin now to photos of myself at 32 and start appreciating what my skin looks like when it is genuinley healthy for its age, different goal but actually achievable

started documenting everything in skinpalai bc my memory is just not reliable enough to track slow changes and my derm kept asking questions at appointments that i could not answer accurately, having twelve months of notes and photos to look back through has genuinley changed how i understand my own skin at this age.

what have u stopped doing that made ur skin better?

okay so i know this is probably really common but im kind of spiralling so bear with me.

turned 33 three months ago and my skin has just started behaving completely differently and i dont know what to do about it, like i feel like i am dealing with a strangers skin and nothing i know applies anymore.

what is happening:

• dry patches on my cheeks that were never there before, i have always had combo to oily skin
• my foundation looks cakey and patchy by midday and it never used to do this
• fine lines around my eyes and mouth that definitely werent there six months ago
• skin just looks tired all the time even when i have slept well
• the products i have used for five years have started feeling wrong, like they sit differently

i have not changed my routine, have not changed my diet, have not changed anything, my skin just decided to change on its own and i am not handling it very gracefully lol.

i know this is probably hormonal or just normal ageing but i genuinley feel lost about what to do, like do i add hyaluronic acid, do i switch moisturiser, do i start retinol, do i see a derm, i have no idea where to start and i dont want to make things worse by doing too much at once.

started taking monthly photos to track whats happening bc i figured if i am going to figure this out i need to actually document it, been keeping them in skinpalai bc they kept getting lost in my camera roll and i wanted to be able to compare properly, at least now i have a record of what my skin looks like at each stage so i can see whether whatever i try is actually making a difference.

has anyone else had this happen around this age and what did u do first that actually helped?

okay so i want to preface this by saying i still believe in cleaner ingredients and i still prefer products without unnecessary chemicals but i had to learn the hard way that natural does not automatically mean gentle or safe for ur skin.

made the switch to all natural about two years ago, felt really good about it, essential oils, botanical extracts, plant based everything, thought i was doing the absolute best thing for my skin.

within about three months my skin was more reactive than it had ever been, randomly stinging, flushing, breaking out in places it never used to, and i kept assuming it was a detox reaction and pushed through for way longer than i should have.

eventually saw a facialist who looked at my routine and said ur using four products with essential oils in them and ur skin is reacting to them, she explained that essential oils are actually really common irritants and sensitisers especially for people who use them every day, they can cause cumulative sensitivity that builds up over time before becoming obvious.

the natural products i trusted completely were the thing causing the problem.

switched to fragrance free and essential oil free formulas, still clean ingredients, just without the botanicals that were triggering me, skin calmed down within about six weeks and has been the most stable its been in years, been logging everything in skinpalai bc i wanted to track the recovery properly and make sure i wasnt adding anything back that was causing a reaction, the pattern of what was aggravating my skin became really clear once i had it written down day by day.

natural is not the same as gentle and fragrance free matters more than organic when ur skin is reactive, i wish i had understood that distinction before i spent two years making things worse.

has anyone else gone through this with natural or organic products?