For most of my adult life, I’ve been suffering from acne and general skin redness. I have been so focused on getting rid of my acne that I completely ignored the redness hoping it would go away once the acne was gone. I couldn’t be more wrong. So, today I’m bringing you my tips on treating your skin when multiple things are going on at once and setting up your skincare routine.
Where to start?
Ideally, you should start by getting familiar with your skin. Look at it, inspect it and understand it. You need to understand that there are two distinguishing factors: skin type and skin condition.
Skin types can be:
- dry
- normal
- sensitive
- combination
- oily
And skin conditions can be a lot of different things. Some of them are:
- acne
- dehydration
- eczema
- dermatitis
- hyperpigmentation
I have a post explaining finding out your skin type: How to find out your skin type
Once you know your skin type, look at the conditions you want to treat. There can be multiple conditions on one skin at any time. My skin type is sensitive, and my conditions were acne and dehydration. But you can have dehydrated oily skin with hormonal breakouts and the first signs of ageing. There are no rules.
Next steps
Once you figured out your skin type and condition, it’s time to come up with a skincare routine.
You need to treat in order of potential pain or long-term issues your conditions may cause. In most cases, it means treating sensitivity first.
That’s what I should’ve done. I should’ve treated my sensitivity and worked on calming my skin. Instead, I picked harsh drying products in the hope to get rid of my acne. That only made my sensitivity worse, and it was bringing in more acne and more redness.
Next is dehydration. If your skin is dehydrated, it works harder to produce more oil to counterbalance dehydration. More oil production can bring on more acne and make you think you need products for oily skin.
If you’re unsure whether you have dry skin type or dehydrated skin conditions, check this blog post: Dry skin vs. dehydrated – how to tell the difference.
After you have addressed the first two conditions, you can focus on the rest of the problems. In my case, it would’ve been focusing on acne last. But I was so desperate to get rid of them that I wasn’t thinking clearly. And the only thing I did, made my problem last longer and harder to fix.
So, the last steps would be treating acne, oiliness, signs of ageing or other conditions.
My skincare routine
The following is what should’ve been my skincare routine and what would help me heal my skin faster and more efficiently.
As I said, my skin was a sensitive skin type with conditions acne and dehydration.
The first thing I should’ve done was change my products to those suitable for sensitive skin. Those would be the Toleriane range in La Roche-Posay, the Tolerance range in Avene and Sensibio in Bioderma.
After that would be treating dehydration. I have skincare ranges that I know suit my skin, and now I need to find hydrating products that can help with dehydration.
Products that can help with that are thermal sprays, serums, fluids and moisturisers.
These are the ones I used and/or still using:
And the last step I should’ve addressed was my acne. Once my skin sensitivity and dehydration were under control, less acne would appear, and it would be easier to treat as my skin would be stronger. I would’ve added some acids to my routine or retinol.
Your skincare routine
I wrote out my game plan above to make it easier to understand how to set one for yourself.
If you don’t have sensitivity, you can start with the next appropriate step for yourself.
Even if there is no dehydration, I would pick gentle products to keep the hydration in the skin up. As I said, they would be products that say hydrating on them. They can be a hydrating toner, hydrating serum, fluid or hydrating moisturiser.
If your concern is acne or blackheads, include acid in your routine. BHA toners are usually good for blackheads, and AHAs would be good for preventing acne.
I wrote a handy guide about acids in more detail here: 7 types of acids in skincare and how to choose the correct one?
To treat ageing skin, you can choose products targeted for anti-ageing, such as retinol or peptide serums.
For oily skin, you can go for oil-free moisturisers and acid toners but be careful to include a good level of hydration and not overuse drying products.
Lastly, hyperpigmentation can be treated with retinol and could benefit from vitamin C serum or toner. The most important step is to always wear your SPF. That will prevent future hyperpigmentation.
General rules
Every skincare routine should consist of a few basic products. They are a gentle cleanser for morning, oil/balm cleanser and gel cleanser for evening, moisturiser and SPF. Those can be simple, gentle products.
And then, to treat your skin condition, you can pick targeted products. You can adjust your toner and serum for your needs.
I hope this post has helped you understand how to set up your skincare routine. Unfortunately, it’s not that straightforward, and it can take you some time to pick products that will suit your needs. But it will be worth it in the end.
Do you already have a skincare routine? Which are your favourite products?
