Skin Care Regimen

After 6 years of being pregnant and or nursing.  I realized I’ve gone from my late twenties to my mid thirties without ever focusing on my skin.  Partly related to a lack of options related to protecting my babies and lack of time.  But now that I’m moving to the next phase of life, I’m ready to focus on me and take better care of my mind, body and soul.  One of the first steps, is taking care of my skin.

My first step was contacting a dermatologist but their recommendation was a year long course of antibiotics.  Before going that route, I wanted to try something less invasive, seeing if topical product would work for me. The next step, was contacting Aesthetic Nurse Practitioners. I ended up contacting three wonderful women in this field and luckily they all said something very similar, recommending products with similar ingredients.

However, all of the products they recommended were medical grade quality, which means medical grade prices and unfortunately, starting from scratch would mean a $600-900 investment, with products that would last around 3 months.  This is not in my budget, and if you’re new here, one thing you must know about me is that I’m budget conscious. So I started to look around to find products that had similar ingredients but fit in my budget.

I spent a ridiculous amount of time researching products on the internet, comparing products, ingredients and shopping every corner of the internet. Here’s what I found, a well known drug store brand topped the beauty lists, Olay. So I decided I would give their products a try.  I am not associate with or sponsored by Olay.  Truly trying to find a product that works and lands within my budget.Head here to find out more about their products//shop here.

Here’s my new routine

Morning

Cleansing and Exfoliating

My morning routine starts with facial cleansing and exfoliating. I choose to continue my current product which is Cetaphil Daily Cleanser and the Extra Gentle Daily Scrub

Moisturize

An important part of skin care is to moisturize and during the day, protecting your skin from new sun damage. Therefore, a moisturizer with an SPF of 25 or higher. This product also has hyaluronic acid which was an ingredient in the medical grade product recommended to me.   Here’s what I’m trying out//shop here

Eye Cream

An eye cream was recommended to reduce puffiness and reduce fine lines and wrinkles. I’m trying this one//shop here 

 

Hydrating Serum 

A hydrating serum with hyaluronic acid and peptides was recommended for further skin hydration. I’m trying this product from Olay//Shop here

 

 

Night Time 

Cleansing

I am trying out the Olay recommended cleansing cloths//Shop here 

Moisturize

I’m using this moisturizer//Shop here

 

I’m also using the eye cream and hydrating serum from above. 

The next products are facial pads (potent ingredients azeloyl trichloroacetamide and salicylic acid) recommended for skin brightening, skin smoothing and pore reducing but with price tag of around $100/60 pads (about a 90 day supply so ~$30/month) .  The other facial pads are Koji pads (potent ingredigents include kojic acid, arbutin, ascorbic acid and salicylic acid) with a price tag of $185 for a 2-3 month supply.  While these products get FANTASTIC reviews, I don’t have around $300 to spend on this with my budget as is, so I knew I needed to find something else. 

For the glow pads, it appears the potent ingredients are azeloyl trichloroacetamide (TCA) and salicylic acid but I couldn’t find any products made with those ingredietns.  The best I could find are products with potent ingredients being salicyclic acid and glycolic acid. I obviously know nothing about these ingredients but my research lead me to a published article comparing the use of TCA and salicylic acid to treat melsema. This study found “statistically insignificant difference in the efficacy between the two groups” when using TCA peel vs glycolic acid peel (Puri, N 2012, p. 13). With this information, I decided it may be worth it to try a product that combines glycolic acid and salicylic acid in order to fit my budget.  I found this product QRx Labs Glycolic Acid/Salcylic Acid Pads and with a price tag of $25/50 pads and gets great reviews, so I added it to my cart to try!

The koji pads were a little easier to find but remained pricey even in the “generic” version.  The best I could find, that had good reviews, is this product, Enhance Skin Brightening Pads which are still $65/60 pads (but over a 50% savings).  The dermspa/medical grade koji pads and the Enhance Skin Brightening Pads have nearly identical ingredients.  

This is my current skincare routine.  Follow me on Instagram and Facebook to see my 30 day transformation @evieluathome on IG and Facebook. 

References

Puri, N. (2012 May-Aug). Comparative study of 15% TCA peel versus 35% glycolic acid peel for the treatment of melasma. Indian Dermatology Online Journal, 3(2). Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3481880/#sec1-5title 

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