u/heartstarspiral

**edit - sorry I think I was unclear - I’m collecting pokemon cards it’s just these specific ones I am not really interested in in terms of the art and the pokemons!!

so I pulled the mega greninja ex twice, as well as froakie. I’m fairly new to collecting, just not sure what to do with these cards. Do they hold their value? I’m not super interested in keeping them, as they’re not really my style.

Would grading them be worth it? Would they actually sell? It seems like there are a fair few ebay listings and they don’t seem to be shifting. The cards are mint, although one of them is maybe slightly off centre.

WWYD? Any advice greatly appreciated!

tldr; I’ve been using tret and it hasnt been working, but had no irritation or peeling. im on epiduo with niacinamide now, what can I expect regarding purging, irritation, results?

—

I have had acne since I was 13 years old. I’m 26 now and super insecure about my skin. I never had acne that would leave ice pick scars or spots that were joined up together. But definitely had painful, under the skin, pastular, cystic acne.

I used to never leave the house without makeup, I would wear makeup to school every day, I would obsess over finding the most full coverage makeup to hide everything (dermacol was my shit back in the day).

I have tried probably just about every single acne medication, bar Accutane. I don’t even remember the ones I have tried, but do recall going back and forth to the doctors when I was younger, desperately trying to get things under control.

Over the years I obsessed. Learning all about different ingredients and acne triggers. I would wash my pillowcase every night, study the acne location on my face to pinpoint if it was coming from my diet, hormones or whatever (still don’t know if this is a myth actually).

Nothing worked though. My acne had periods of getting better, worse, better, slightly worse. I was trying to accept that this was just my life. When I was younger, the thing that would keep me going was that adults didn’t have acne - so I would be saved soon! How wrong I was, obviously.

I would always feel so frustrated about routines and I would change things up all the time - which is obviously begging for irritation. But I would find that people would say swap the products that were irritating you one by one - but I would never have any idea what was making my skin bad. It was all irritating.

In recent years I have revisited some of the acne treatments I tried when I was younger. I can acknowledge I didn’t know a lot back then and probably didn’t give them the best shot. With the rise in knowledge and information around skincare, I think I have been able to make more informed, better decisions for my skin.

I mean, to be fair, when I was younger I thought I was making good decisions but I suppose slathering your spotty face in coconut oil because it’s natural and hydrating was definitely not a good choice. But aside from that, I would always think there are people out there that don’t care for their skin and do any old thing - and they don’t break out! Why me! Anyway.

When dermatica and skin&me started getting popular I tried those too. I got prescribed duac from the doctor when these didn’t work, which also did not work. I went back to skin and me fairly recently and asked for tret, which is actually something I never tried before. Bit of a disaster, I really wanted it to work but nothing was improving.

And now to today. I am trying a formula by dermatica, which is essentially epiduo + niacinamide. I stopped tret just before I went on holiday a week ago, and my skin has been at its best it has been for a long while.

I’m talking smoothed out, very little acne, it seems stable. I have been really focusing on barrier health in the last two years, so it’s encouraging to see this. The tret also never stung, peeled or burned, which I think was a good indicator or barrier health even if the tret did nothing for my acne.

I’m nervous about starting the dermatica treatment, mostly because of the benzoyl peroxide I think. My skin is ok at the moment, but I’ve obviously got a lot of concerns about texture and pigmentation from my acne. I also have the fight or flight mindset of - I know this good skin won’t last forever so I can’t be complacent. I don’t know if that’s wrong or not, but I’m used to it.

I suppose all that’s left for me to say is here’s my current routine:

AM

- I don’t wash my face
- Skin and Me SPF50 suncream*

* I used this religiously on holiday and I think the hydration contributed to the skin I have rn

PM

- Haruharu Wonder Black Rice Moisture Deep Cleansing Oil*
- Byoma Creamy Jelly Cleanser
- Cetaphil Daily Hydrating Moisturiser**

* Only on sunscreen/makeup days
** I have been using this for about a week after switching from my trusty Byoma Moisturising Gel Cream as I didn’t feel like I was getting the hydration I needed, especially after finding out my skin loved the moisture that came with my spf on holiday.

I don’t know really why I felt compelled to share my journey. It’s not over yet. I feel like I still have a way to go but I can acknowledge I have come a long way too. I’ve had good skin periods like this before, and I can accept that things may get bad again.

Any advice on starting my new dermatica treatment would be greatly appreciated. I’m going to do the sandwich method and start really slowly, and I’m prepared to ask them for a formula without BP as well.

I wish everyone the best of luck on their skin journeys 🩷

show me your unhinged russian blue pics. goose likes to sit on top of the door, no matter how wobbly he gets and how close he is to falling off.