brutalmog
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high educated guide for newbies
How to patch test: try on a small patch of skin, on forehead, or the skin on cheek near your ear. leave it on for 24 hours and see if you developed any redness, swelling, itch, flaking, red bumps, skin colored bumps. if not, proceed to use it on your entire face. if you notice any of those things happen after a few days of use, discontinue use
Introduction protocol order of operations:
What if I wanted to add an exfoliant?? you may be thinking. well exfoliants can push out any breakouts you have and speed up cell turnover to start a purge so I don't want you to start those then introduce other stuff and then not know if you're purging or reacting to stuff because that's a nightmare to figure out.
Purge severity depends on how much acne you have. If you have no acne it's very unlikely that you would break out from adding an exfoliant.
Guidelines for using low to moderate strength actives: you can start off with it twice a week (aka every third day) for two weeks then every other day for a month, then try daily (if not
experiencing dryness, flaking, stinging, irritation, redness)
So your more complex routine all together would look like this: (courtesy of Kerodon and Salamander)
Morning:
How to patch test: try on a small patch of skin, on forehead, or the skin on cheek near your ear. leave it on for 24 hours and see if you developed any redness, swelling, itch, flaking, red bumps, skin colored bumps. if not, proceed to use it on your entire face. if you notice any of those things happen after a few days of use, discontinue use
Introduction protocol order of operations:
- start off with a new water based cleanser, use it a couple days, see how your skin does.
- try a new moisturizer, patch test on a small area; then try on the entire face. give that a few days; if you have combination skin and got two, try the other moisturizer, do the same thing.
- give your skin a few days of those together and see how you do. now to try sunscreen, do a patch test then use it for 4 days and watch for any issues. start using the oil cleanser at this time, to remove that gently.
- patch test and add a toner, give a couple days
- patch test and add serum.
What if I wanted to add an exfoliant?? you may be thinking. well exfoliants can push out any breakouts you have and speed up cell turnover to start a purge so I don't want you to start those then introduce other stuff and then not know if you're purging or reacting to stuff because that's a nightmare to figure out.
Purge severity depends on how much acne you have. If you have no acne it's very unlikely that you would break out from adding an exfoliant.
Guidelines for using low to moderate strength actives: you can start off with it twice a week (aka every third day) for two weeks then every other day for a month, then try daily (if not
experiencing dryness, flaking, stinging, irritation, redness)
So your more complex routine all together would look like this: (courtesy of Kerodon and Salamander)
Morning:
- Cleanse with just water / skip cleanse if you are dry; if not, cleanse with water based cleanser
- If you have toner, drip out a dime size amount of toner into the palm of your hand, rub your hands together, then swipe on to your face, then pat in.
- Apply a few drops of serum if any
- (if dry, apply moisturizer; if combination leaning oily, skip it under sunscreen for comfort, or only apply to any drier areas)
- Apply two finger lengths of sunscreen for face + neck; if out in the sun, apply every 2 hours, it indoors, every 3-5, depending on UV index and proximity to windows. Dr Dray has a good video
UV index
- Dispense 1-2 pumps of cleansing oil / a edamame size of balm cleanser onto dry hands then apply to dry face. Gently massage into entire face for 30 seconds. Then wet hands and continue massaging for another 30s. Then rinse off, and follow right up and cleanse on wet skin with your usual water based cleanser.
- - Dry your skin it applying a chemical extoliant, it not, re-dampen your face after having blotted dry to allow the humectants in your following products to be more hydrating——
- (if it's an exfoliation night) apply a few drops / drip out a dime size amount of exfoliant into the palm of your hand, rub your hands together, then swipe on to your face, then pat in. avoid eye area and lips.
- Apply toner / serum
- While your skin is damp from previous steps, apply moisturizer to entire face and neck. No need to let things dry down, unless they take a lil time to absorb; in that case give it 30 seconds max between layers.
- if you have a retinoid apply per instructions on retinoid sheet. Do not use exfoliants under a retinoid to avoid irritation.
