The Skincare Routine That Changed My Skin

Key word here is ‘Routine’… and also ‘Differin'

Starting with a little skin history... I have struggled with acne for a few years now. I’ve always had breakouts here and there during adolescents, but nothing as bad as the period during my 20s. I can pin it down to the start of the rise of K-Beauty, when I started using Missha’s Time Revolution Essence. I slowlym slowly realized that my skin does not agree with Sacharromyces Ferment and my skin broke out like it's never broken out before. 

A stint with Curology cleared my acne for the most part, but left me with weird texture issues due to closed comedones that would never go away or come to a head (no matter how many acids I used). I pared down my products to the minimum, trying to figure out what was causing my CCs, and eventually stopping Curology all together. It was then that I realized it was the Curology to begin with that was causing them! Turns out it was the sweet almond seed oil that they use in their base. After that, no new CCs popped up. Now it was a matter of getting rid of them. This is a before and after of my skin as a result of Curology, after 7 months of consistent use.

What you can’t see here is the flesh colored closed comedones. In a different light, you’d see the bumpy texture. I think at the height of it, I must have had at least 10 on each cheek. I tried AHAs and BHAs to exfoliate them away, but the biggest thing that made a difference in my skin was Differin. With its new OTC status and accompanying OTC prices, I picked up a tube of Differin at Walgreens on a whim. I read about the differin purge, the differin dryness, the differin depression...considered long and hard about whether or not I wanted to go through another stint of bad skin or not, and then gave into my routine-flightiness and slapped it on my face. After about two weeks, I was convinced I was immune to the Differin purge. I felt like my skin was getting better.

Then the purge hit.

I considered just quitting all together. Through it all, I developed a routine that I stuck to, where the products didn’t break me out and accomplished what I needed them to. I decided to stick with the Differin until the tube was through (as I had so read on reddit). My skin slowly got better. One thing that was getting me through it was looking back at my progress pics and seeing the improvement. Another was the niacinamide  that I had been using through it all. I’m convinced this, as well as the consistent use of my acid exfoliators, were helping reduce some of the scarring I had after the purge. 

Here’s a before and after with my skin today. It’s still not where I want to be - I’d love if my skin were scar-free and I didn’t have to wear concealer. But it’s at a point where it looks great with makeup on, smooth texture, etc. So I’ll take the wins where I can. 

Start of Differin Purge (left), today (right)

Here's the full routine: 

Cleanser: 

Kose Softymo Speedy Cleansing Oil

Drunk Elephant JuJu Bar

Actives: 

Pixi Glow Tonic (AM Only)

Stridex in the Red Box (Every other day)

The Ordinary Lactic Acid 10% (Once a week)

The Ordinary AHA 30% + BHA 2% Peeling Solution (Twice a month)

Differin

Sun Protection:

La Roche-Posay Anthelios (I have the European version)

Other: 

The Ordinary Niacinamide 10% & Zinc 1%

Hada Labo Gokujun Hyaluronic Lotion Moist

Moisturizers: 

Embryolisse Lait Crème Concentre

The Ordinary Rose Hip Oil

And if anyone has any secrets to helping fade acne scars, let me know in the comments!