r/skincarehobbyists

Anyone else notice this? When I knew nothing about skincare and used a basic face wash and whatever moisturizer was on sale my skin was honestly fine. Then I fell down the rabbit hole, learned about actives, acids, layering, pH levels, the whole thing. Built this elaborate routine and my skin has never been worse

I think theres a point where knowing too much makes you overcorrect. You learn about niacinamide so you add it. You learn about retinol so you add it. Before you know it you're using 8 products that all seem important individually but together they're just too much for your face to handle

I stripped everything back to 3 products last month and my skin is already calmer than its been in a year. I'm 30 and was getting into the whole anti aging prevention thing which made me add even more stuff. Anyone else had to unlearn what this hobby taught them?

I love skincare. I also love buying skincare, which has cost me more money than I'd like to admit on products where I was mostly paying for the jar. I've become a bit more wise about it though. For hyaluronic acid serum, which doesn't really need complex conditions to stay stabilized, I keep it around $10-15, either good molecules ($6) or grace & stella HA serum ($10), both are great.

For low-dose retinol, which still needs decent packaging but has much lower formulation demands than retinal, I've been using CeraVe resurfacing retinol serum ($22), also solid.

Niacinamide I think has gotten cheaper over time after the boom, and it's relatively easy to formulate from what I understand, grabbed the ordinary niacinamide + zinc for $6.

Where I feel like I have to spend more is vitamin C, retinal, resveratrol, and the peptides that are getting pushed hard right now. Though I'm not totally sure I'm right to, it might just be the same boom cycle we've seen play out with a hundred other ingredients.

So how do you decide? What do you actually pay more for and what's the reasoning behind it?

Some trends disappear fast, but some stick.

ive been to a couple already and both immediately pushed expensive treatments. has anyone found a dermatologist that actually takes time to understand the problem first?