I wondered very long about what to write as my first post and I got my inspiration today! Generally this post is about my skin so that you can determine if I’m your skin twin! I’ve been to many facials before and beauticians loved to make many many comments about your skin so that they can up-sell you more and more packages and their products, but I guess what they said about your skin must be true to some extent for them to recommend you products and treatments that worked.

I used to have acne on my cheeks, and now and then I still have acne mostly on my jaw. I do experience clogs very easily, even with products that claimed to be comedogenic. I also didn’t really care about my skin that much. I went to see a doctor before about the acne. The topical cream the doctor gave me caused my skin to peel really badly. When you stop applying the creams, the acne just came back. What saved my skin from acne was facials! I went through very very painful extractions. The beauticians loved to tell me, oh your acne are all trapped inside your skin and it’s very difficult to extract them. I wish I knew about BHA and AHA then and maybe my facials wouldn’t be so painful!

Picture in 2009 with acne on left cheek.

Through numerous extractions and painful squeezings (ok, maybe not all of you agree with this method, albeit done professionally) and IPL, the acne slowly just stopped. Maybe, maybe, it could be age. I’m really not sure. Anyway the scar marks are still there, as commented by beauticians some time last year.

Picture of me in 2010, showing acne on right cheek.

I have milia seeds around my eyes too, and dark eye circles. I’ve tried to apply products on my neck too, having read some advice to apply whatever you apply on your skin to your neck and this resulted in milia seeds on my neck too. The lines on my neck are very pronounced though. My skin also seems to be sagging. Pores on my cheeks are larger as compared to the rest of my face. I have a lot of blackheads on my nose. They also mentioned my skin is thin. They claimed my skin is sensitive because my skin will turn red really easily when it is touched. I do notice my skin do looked kind of patchy and red sometimes, even my arms, and it happens when I’m cold or hot. My skin is also oily and dehydrated. I did see some improvement in their comments after I started on BHA in probably end of 2016. I still did extractions but the extractions are no longer so long and painful.

Well, now I’m 35 grand years old, I’m starting to notice lines on my face (lucky me with oily face!). Lines below my eyes and the lines around my mouth and nose are more pronounces. There are also patches of dryness and flaky skin around my mouth and nose sometimes. I really try not to raise my forehead too often, I guess I don’t have that many obvious lines there. I think I also have water retention on my face and probably some lymphatic blockages on my face, I probably need to do some gentle massage on my face. The beauticians never wanted to do any on my face as they are afraid that the massage will over-stimulate my skin.

Just a side note on my hair – Thank God I also do not experience white hair much, haha, maybe I experience one strand once every 10 years. I hope that doesn’t change!

Thank you if you’ve read to this far, I shall just perhaps do a summary of what my skin is prone to here.

Grand summary: Oily, dehydrated, prone to clogs, hormonal acne, lines and pigmentation due to acne scarring. 

I really hope to update this blog regularly to document my journey on my skincare. Better late than never I guess!