Written by Alexandra Gautier
Many student come into college thinking that their problems with acne and skincare would vanish as soon as they moved in. They are usually sadly mistaken. Instead of cursing your DNA for giving you acne, get informed on how to take care of your skin. Not only does doing so take care of you in the now, but also for years down the road.
Much like brushing your teeth, skincare is another routine that occurs twice a day: morning and night. To begin the morning regimen, use a cleanser that is best for your skin type (whether that be oily, dry, or combination skin). Pat dry with a towel and follow up with a toner that is, yet again, compatible for your skin type to deliver needed vitamins and antioxidants to your pores. Allow the product to mostly dry before moving onto the next step: oils.
Oils such as Argan, Avocado, Coconut and Jojoba are some great choices to defrizz and add shine to hair. Though this is great for those with dry skin, people with oily skin should not shy away from this product; often the reason for oily skin is that the skin is deprived of necessary moisture and nutrients, so it overproduces sebum (natural oils of the skin) in an attempt to solve these issues.
An optional step, after you’ve allowed the oils to work the magic, is a spot treatment. Only use a spot treatment on active spots, as just placing it all over the face can lead to unnecessary drying out of uncongested pores.
Finally, moisturizer. As said with oils, even if you have oily skin, you still need moisturizer to prevent the overproduction of sebum (which leads to the blockage of pores).
The night routine is fairly similar to that of the morning, with a focus on overnight treatment products.
Before using a soap cleanser, a water based cleanser is effective to remove grime and makeup from the course of the day, allowing for the cleanser to properly clean the pores. You will also want to use an exfoliator prior to the cleanser as to rid your pores of dry and dead skin, allowing the cleanser to be fully effective. Using an exfoliator daily, however, can be harmful to your skin, causing it to be stripped and irritated, which is why this step should only be followed between one to three times a week.
Follow the cleanser up with the same toner you used in the morning. Allow the toner to dry a little and add eye cream. This step is where aging prevention comes in: the skin under the eyes is very delicate, which is why dark circles and wrinkles occur. Not only will you look more awake in the morning, you will prevent those future wrinkles.
Much like in the morning, the final step is the night moisturizer. For this, you may use the same moisturizer from the morning, but a specified night moisturizing cream is more effective because during sleep is when your skin repairs itself. Give it the best chance by using a thicker, more nutrient rich cream. The best time to apply this? Right before bed. Allowing you skin time between steps allows for each step to be more effective in eradicating acne.
