Since I seem to have this unrelenting need to inform everyone about my life, I decided why not broadcast my new obsession over the internet.
This infatuation of mine stemmed from stumbling across a magical place called reddit. From the beginning, Reddit has been a place where everyone feels as though their opinions are the only correct opinions, and if you (god forbid) have an opinion that goes against the herds consensus then you are wrong, and will be shamed and downvoted* until the only thing that remains of your self worth and happiness is the ever fading shadow of what it once used to be.
I fell in love instantly.
During my adventures throughout this website, I stumbled across many things. Things that made me happy, and things that made me sad. I found community, and understanding in so many places, and I also found frightening hate in many others. One place however, a jem of a place hidden behind many links, was a subreddit known as...
/r/asianbeauty
My insides began to tingle when I read the name on a 'suggested subreddit' section. What was this place? Will it make all my dreams come true? Should I go buy more lube? I didn't know then what would become of me when I clicked the link. I didn't realize how deep I would fall into the rabbit hole. I was confused at first, you see, 'Asian beauty' to me did not seem to be what I thought it would be. My not so inner pervert had risen and I thought I had stumbled across some strange, fetish page. I was both disappointed and pleased when I realized that this subreddit was about skincare items and routines that originated in Asia- generally from Korea and Japan.
I had realized the shame I had bestowed upon my family name by so eagerly thinking that I was entering a crazy, racist, sex ring, but then I forgave myself with some mint chocolate chip ice-cream, went out and bought some new lube, and began probing into the subreddit's branches.Within a couple of hours, I had read nearly everything on the front page, to get a feel the forum and not at all to waste my time at work obviously, and had then began to delve into the beginners guide in order to finally begin my adventure in skin care.
Now I highly suggest that you go and research for yourself more about Asian skin care and eastern products. The links I have provided offer a lot of information, and are the starting points that I myself took to get into the skin care routine I have now. There are thousands of posts and blogs out there though so Google as much as possible. And remember: YMMV (your mileage may vary)** .
I wanted to start reviewing and introducing ways that I take care of my skin (face and body). I will also more than likely talk about hair products since I have a lot of it ('it' as in hair) and I like taking care of it.
I know my other posts have been more about mental health, specifically my mental health, but my motivation to continue to drone on about my strange thoughts and sad days will get (and has probably already gotten) boring. Honestly, I feel way to conceited talking about how sad I am all the time. Plus, taking care of my skin, and upping my hygiene regime, has actually helped my mental state a bit. By having this routine and feeling good and clean with my skin, I have began to (dare I say it) feel good about the rest of myself in general. It's strange actually wanting to get out of bed to wash my face, but it's making me slightly more tolerable to be around. I'm not going to say that I am 'cured'***, but rubbing, patting, and scrubbing my face with things I never thought I would rub, pat, or scrub on my face (I'm looking at you snail juicy goodness) has made waking up in the morning a little more enjoyable.
I think I will go more in depth and review the products I am using now in another post since this getting a little long and I am getting hungry. But let's go over a few things that I have learned to be important in taking care of your skin.
Sunscreen
I used to only use sunscreen on super hot and sunny days when I went to the beach or was hiking or something. And even then I just used it on my body and not on my face because I did not want my sunscreen to break me out. People, let me tell you something. Sunscreen is life. It protects your skin from so medical and cosmetic things. It helps prevent dark spots, signs of ageing, and cancer. Western foundations may claim to have sun protection in them but from what I've read, that is not enough. I could do a whole post about sunscreen but this is all that you get for today.
Double Cleansing
It means exactly what you thing it means. This is the first step in the AB Routine. It involves using an oil cleanser, or any other preferred first cleanser (ex; micellar water if your skin reacts badly to oil cleansing), to take off all makeup and sunscreen off from the day. I am not aware of anyone who double cleanses in the morning time, I only double cleanse at night since I keep gunk on my face all day. Then I use (and you do to) a low pH second cleanser. I repeat, LOW PH second cleanser. I will have to do another post about why low pH is good, or you can research it for yourself. Just trust me, low pH is good since our skin has a slightly acidic (low pH) level. I was using high pH cleansers for ever and could not understand why my skin felt so tight and dry even though I have oily/combo skin. LOW PH CLEANSER PEOPLE.
Moisturizer
This goes after your toner/exfoliant, essences, ampoules, actives, and a whole bunch of other crap I'll rant about later. Even people with oily skin need hydration. Think of it this way- your skin produces it's own oils (sebum) and when you cleanse, you strip your skin of these oils along with the bad stuff. If you leave your skin all oil free it will freak out and start producing more oil (homeostasis my friends). But, if you hydrate your skin and keep it all nice and bouncy then your skin will create its own natural oil levels that it needs. Again, Deserves its own posts.
These four items (sunscreen, oil cleanser, low pH cleanser, and moisturizer) are really the four staples you need to start off your routine. The rest (toner, vitamin C, actives, exfoliants, oils, sheet masks, etc.) are all things you can add depending on what your skin needs!
That's why I love this routine so much! It's not the oversimplified cleanse, tone, moisturize we see in western skin care. You can change it up so much and add or take away what does and does not work for you. Also, the products usually have really awesome packaging which just makes everything so much better.
I'm going to sign off here and go wash my face because writing this post has made my face clitoris all riled up. Hope you all have a lovely Wednesday and become just as addicted to skin care as I am becoming!
XX (Remember to pray to the snail gods)
*Reddit really is a great place, I make fun but there are many entertaining and enlightening things on reddit that make me and so many others happy
** YMMV is commonly used in the Asian Skincare subreddit and should really be taken very seriously. What may work for me may not work for you even if we have twinsie skin types. Something may also take longer to kick in that it does for others so be patient.
***I understand that depression is a touchy subject so when I mention it please don't take offense to anything. I am 100% just making fun of my self and my own issues rather than depression and mental health as a whole. If you are depressed/ in a depressed state then please talk to someone about it. It will help a lot. Even if that someone is vast, unemotional pit that is the internet (more than likely projecting here).
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