I wrote about my history of skincare, challenges with moisturizers, etc., back in March, here. At the time I said I would give an update on my Curology trial in a few weeks (but #coronavirus) and a reader recently asked about my skincare. So while I am really no skincare expert, I’m happy to share what I do do.

First, as I said in the March post, I am not a producty person. I don’t buy jars and pots and tubes of lotions, creams, or oils. I find them SO expensive, and rarely do they keep their promises. In my experience.

For the vast majority of my life, since high school, my face “regimen,” was washing it in the shower with whatever bar soap was in there and a BufPuf, one of those abrasive sponges. And the more abrasive the better! No “gentle sponge” for me, oh no. I wanted the sandpaperiest sponge I could find to buff my face smooth.

And my face was always smooth, and I’ve had very little acne in my life, but my face was so DRY. Of course it was! I was scraping the outer layer off every time I showered. So I’ve used three different moisturizers in my life (I’ve USED others, in-between when my favorites changed formulas, but for the most part it’s been these three): Oil of Olay: the ACTUAL original formula back in the 70s and 80s, Avalon Organics CoQ10 night cream, and Trader Joe’s Nourish Oil-Free Antioxidant Facial Moisturizer.  And moisturizer must go on while skin is still damp. Maybe that’s common knowledge, but just in case.

The worst thing for me is feeling like my pores are clogged, and that is how most moisturizers/sunscreens affect me. None of the above moisturizers made me feel like that, and that’s why I was brand loyal until the brands changed the formulas. 

Note: I am not recommending skipping sunscreen. I’m just sharing my experience.

I’ve always been bad about taking off eye makeup at night before bed. For a while I used cleansing wipes and those were easy but so wasteful, paper product-wise. I still always have a pack around but I don’t use them regularly like I did for a while.

For a very brief time in the 90s I used Martha Stewart’s face cleansing regimen, which if I remember correctly was first removing makeup and grime with baby oil, then washing with a mild cleanser, then “steaming” face with the hottest washcloth you could stand for as long as you could stand it (a couple minutes), then a cool water rinse, then moisturize. I may have that in the wrong order but that was almost 30 years ago! But really, that was too much effort and too time-consuming for me to do Every Day Ugh.

More recently I’ve seen the skincare folks being all about the 10-Step Korean Skin Care Regimen, which sounds nice, but again, too many steps, too much time, too many products to buy!

I think my skin’s saving grace has been that I very, very rarely wear anything clogging on my face, like foundation, primer, concealer, blush, or sunscreen. I follow several beauty bloggers and I’m always amazed at their skin when they take their make-up off. It is Not Good. I can’t stand the feel of foundation (or most makeup) on my face. If I DO wear it, I take it off the minute I’m able to. But I don’t wear it on an average day, I don’t wear it to work. Sometimes I put it on for photoshoots or especially videos, but it gets washed off right after.

So for most of my life my face has been pretty okay. The occasional spot. More so after I was pregnant with Katie almost 30 years ago. Oh. Maybe that’s when I went looking for the Martha system. I do have quite a bit of melasma on my face, around my jawline mostly. Also brought on by pregnancy. That’s what I sometimes cover up with foundation for pictures.

I had very bad breakouts the last month of chemo, three years ago…and it took almost another month afterwards to clear up. And then I was fine again.

Until Now. If you read the Curology review, you know that I started breaking out quite a bit about three weeks into the trial month (March). THEY said that was normal, it was the medicine drawing the toxins out. Okay, whatever. After I finished the trial month, I went back to my old ways of bar soap, BufPuf, and TJ moisturizer for a couple weeks. My skin breakouts leveled off. BUT, I still had another box of Curology cleanser, moisturizer, and medicine, so I figured while I was quarantined I could spend a little more time and effort on my skin, and I went back to that regimen. I had missed the cleanser and moisturizer.

And a couple weeks in BAM my face started erupting all over again. Now – is this still “toxin release” related? Is the medicine just out and out not good for my skin? Is it coronavirus stress? Is it the fact that I stayed indoors for a solid two months and got no sun or air? Is it “maskne” (mask-related acne)? No Way of Knowing. But I tried to power through, thinking eventually all the toxins would have been released (!) and my face would clear up.

Nope. Breakout after breakout. I think it was definitely exacerbated by mask-wearing (like putting a hot compress on a pimple or boil to bring it to a head), but I just kinda feel like the Curology medicine was what kept bringing the pimples to the yard.

So I’m currently off the “medicine” for almost two weeks, still using the cleanser and moisturizer, and my face has definitely calmed down a bit. I’m not washing my face twice a day, just once, and before bed I just sort of splash cool water on my face and rub off with a towel, just to get any grime or sweat off.

I don’t know that my face needs all that activity! I wonder if the constant washing, rinsing, moisturizing, brings more oils to the surface. Don’t they say that about hair? More washing/brushing causes your hair to get oily/greasy faster?

SO: the Curology review. I did not have success with the medicine. Was the formula wrong? Who knows. Would it work better for someone else’s skin? Maybe. I see people raving about it. I have one bottle left of each of the cleanser and moisturizer. I will use them up then return to my old ways. Maybe I’ll see if Trader’s has a face cleanser that goes with the moisturizer. I would try that.

I did buy ONE new product. Micellar water. I kept hearing such good things about it as a makeup remover. It’s pretty inexpensive, it’s readily found. It’s one more step. And I’m lazy. So sometimes I take mascara off with it…and sometimes I just go straight to the cleanser. Oh, and I’ve been meaning to get witch hazel cuz that’s supposed to be a nice toner and astringent to use between cleanser and moisturizer. It’s supposed to “calm down” irritated skin, and that would be nice. And it’s cheap.

I originally thought I was going to include make-up with this skincare post but this has gotten so long already…I’ll save that for another day…and include pictures. Spoiler alert: I don’t wear much makeup.

Oh: I had told someone last time that I would share the drugstore brands of cleaners and moisturizers that Curology recommends (if you’re not going to use their products, which I think is mighty nice of them).

Cleansers

CeraVe Foaming Facial Cleanser

Neutrogena Ultra Gentle Hydrating Cleanser

Moisturizers

Formula 10.0.6 Thirst No More Moisturizer

Neutrogena® Hydro Boost Gel-Cream with Hyaluronic Acid for Extra-Dry Skin

Note: I have not tried these, they were recommended by Curology.

So that’s my deal. Not much of a deal. Simple routine, inexpensive products…only issues have been when other elements were involved – pregnancy, chemo, Curology medicine and/or coronavirus/quarantine-related.

I do think everyone’s skin and environment are so different, it’s difficult to recommend any product and say THIS WORKS. All you can ever really say is This Works for ME. So I don’t know if this is a help to anyone…but who knows. Oh, I have combination skin, I guess. Dry forehead, chin, area between nose and upper lip…nose gets oily. I try to avoid my nose when putting on moisturizer, but that unevenness makes me mentally uncomfortable so I usually do it anyway.

Let us know if you’ve found products that you really love and why!

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