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Speaker 1: I love skin cycling so much again because it just removes all the noise and it just makes me be like, okay, I'm being intentional with my skincare. I don't have to go out and spend all of this money. Honestly, guys, I bet you you could start your routine with what you already own at home right now. We all own so many things that we don't actually need. And honestly, my skin is always so much happier when I'm using less. Hello, guys, and welcome back to Steffing Up. I am really excited for today's episode. I, as you guys know, I've been talking a little bit more about like skincare and my skin. And I didn't realize like after that first episode I did on acne, how much more information you guys needed. And obviously you don't have to be suffering from acne to, you know, be needing to learn more about skincare. It's I wanted to deep dive further. And as I promised, I am going to be taking you guys through my four night skincare routine. And this is the routine that literally made me half my skincare. Like I use half the amount of my products, probably less than what I actually own because like everybody else, I do succumb to the TikTok viral products and I get excited by that, which also makes me completely wreck my skin. So I won't go through my backstory with my skin too much because I have covered that in my acne episode. And if you haven't listened to that, please do. If you're suffering from acne, even if it goes away and comes back, that is definitely an episode for you to listen to. Even if it's for your kids, a friend that's struggling, please send that to somebody because there's so much more to acne than people realize. But a little bit of a backstory about me. I've had acne my whole adult life. And it's weird because in high school, I had your typical teenage pimples, which is mostly the little bumps on my forehead. But basically for me, years later in my twenties, I competed in bodybuilding. So I lost a lot of weight. I lost my period. That's a whole other story. And when my period came back, my acne came back with a vengeance. I had the deep cystic acne and it was so, so bad. And I had tried everything under the sun. I'm a very oily skin kind of girl. I've got oily skin. I get texture. I have large pores, which apparently the oily skin actually is great for aging. So I love that. But if I could just stop breaking out, it would be great because now, look, I'm 35 and there's so many women. It's on the rise. There's so many more women now who are struggling with acne in their 30s. And now we have to deal with acne and aging. So this is where this routine also comes in. But this full night routine, guys, is for everyone. But anyway, I was getting married that year and I had this really bad cystic acne and I had tried everything. I spent thousands of dollars at clinics. I spent and went on all these antibiotics, which would help it not be as bad. But as soon as I came off the antibiotic, it would come back and it actually ruined my gut. Anyway, so then I discovered something called skin cycling. And this routine single-handedly helped my skin so, so much along with looking into poor clogging ingredients. But this routine... is just so needed right now. And you might see skin cycling circulating on TikTok and you'll see that, you know, skin barrier is also a word that's thrown around a lot. So I'm going to be explaining all these things to you in a really easy to understand way and also taking you through my very own skincare routine in detail. So make sure you stay to the end because I'm going to be like not only giving you the knowledge as to why, you know, what we need to do for what skin concerns and like the order of your skincare. But it's also going to make you realize that all these products you see out there are just a lot of noise and it's so overwhelming as well. But I'm going to be completely honest with you. As you guys know from that acne episode a few weeks ago, I started breaking out again. And the reason for that was a few reasons, but I was doing skin cycling for years and it worked. But then of course I as I said, I got on TikTok and I wanted to try all these new products and I absolutely ruined my skin barrier, which again, I'll tell you what that is soon. But basically, it took me quite a long time and a lot of stripping back my products, deep diving into each product and just really going back to basics and back to this simple four-night routine and it actually just changed my skin. And now I'm able to target my acne because if you guys didn't realize, if you have acne, sadly, it's not curable. And I know that sounds horrible, but Usually it's your genetics. And for me, my acne comes from, you know, when my pores get clogged because I'm oily. So that is something that's just always going to be there for me, which you can manage. And this is the routine that helps me with that. And once you kind of learn that it's something you manage, then I feel like you take the pressure off yourself a little bit more, you know, and I spent years just, you know, when I'd buy a new product, I would just follow the directions on the packet. And I've learned that skincare is probably the one product that you don't want to follow the directions for because I'm sure you guys have seen you pick up a new exfoliator or some type of like retinol and it tells you to use it every single day. And your skin is not even used to this ingredient yet. And then you're going in and using it every day and you're absolutely smashing your skin. And that's why a lot of people think, okay, I can't use retinol because it makes me break out or it makes my skin hurt. And it's actually not that, it's just the fact that you haven't introduced it slowly and you don't have it on a schedule. So this is like your skin cycling schedule 101. So this episode is for you if you have skin, you want to maybe target acne and anti-aging or one or the other, or you just want to have really nice skin. This is literally for you. This is also for you if you don't know how to structure your skincare routine. You don't know what does what, like why am I exfoliating? Am I using a retinol? When do I use them? And also if you're just so overwhelmed by all the options out there for skincare. So this is really just going to simplify it for you. Now, I know you guys know this. I'm not a dermatologist. I haven't got any certificates or anything or qualifications in dermatology or skincare. I'm just... a 35-year-old girl who's really struggled with her skin for a long time. And I've done an insane amount of research and I've tried every product under the sun. And I want to share that knowledge with you. Like even last night, I was at the hotel writing these episodes up and this lovely guy from my gym, he's a younger guy and he's been struggling with acne for a long time. And he messaged me and he was asking me, like he said, he listened to the Acne episode. And then I started sending him pictures of the products I use and things like that. And it was just so lovely to like, I just love helping people with this stuff. It just really is so disheartening when, even if it's acne or not, if you're not feeling comfortable in your own skin, it's such a horrible feeling because it's your face. And I don't think that's a superficial thing or a negative thing that you can just kind of brush off. It's your face. And the more that you can learn and really understand how the skin works, like your skin barrier, and why that word is suddenly everywhere and being thrown around. I just want to help. I want to help so much. So last night when I was helping him with his product choices and things like that, and just, yeah, because it sucks. He had just come off Roaccutane, which I went on years ago, and it's rough, especially being a young person who's struggling with that type of stuff. So Yes, I'm here and let's get into it. So before I really cover anything, let's talk about your skin barrier and why suddenly it's all we hear about. And apparently it's the thing we've all damaged and wrecked. Now, your skin barrier is the outermost layer of your skin. It protects your skin from irritants and pollutants in the world, but it also helps you keep water and moisture in your skin. Now, when this gets damaged, it is not fun. And it can take time to repair it. So for me, I didn't realize I had damaged my skin barrier. I thought my skin just sucked. I just thought my skin, like my texture suddenly was worse. Everything I put on my face was stinging. It was so red. And that was actually because my skin barrier was damaged because I was using too many actives. And it's something that we've all kind of, you know, if you've got oily skin like myself, you naturally think, okay, I need to like strip my skin. I need to get rid of the oil. But when you do that, your skin is going to overcompensate and then make more oil. So you really need to focus on like hydration. There's two reasons why I believe that skin barrier has suddenly became like this big hype. And number one is because we have so much access to actives. So when I say actives, I mean things like exfoliants, you know, you say your AHA, your BHAs, all of these different active ingredients that basically remove the dead layer of skin on the top. And then you've also got like your retinol and there's lots of other actives out there. But basically these are really powerful ingredients and they are amazing, but you need to use them correctly. So suddenly we have all these videos out there and a lot of us are sadly just following the directions on the packet because a lot of us can't afford to go see a dermatologist or someone. And then we're wrecking our skin barrier. So that's number one. That's why one reason I think it's become this big thing. The second reason is Korean skincare, which I also love. I use quite a bit of Korean skincare now, not just because it's a hype, but because this actual reason is Korean skincare heavily focuses on the skin barrier. Now, I believe that those two reasons alone is why now it's everywhere, but it is a really good thing to be hyping up because suddenly people are more conscious of what they're putting on their skin. They're not layering all these actives and actually smashing their skin barrier. They're starting to learn more about your actual, you know, the layers of the skin and how this affects everything. So as I said, some signs that your skin barrier is damaged is tingling. Some people get really dry, like rough texture. It could be tightness, which mine does get tight, sensitivity and stinging. And there is, you know, once you become aware of this, you can actually kind of stop it from progressing, which I'll talk about a bit later as well. And this is where it leads me on to skin cycling, which all those years ago when I discovered it, I, again, had no idea what the skin barrier was and things like that. And then once I learnt how having a bit of a schedule for your skin and having more of an intentional skincare routine can stop your barrier from being cooked, but you also can still use the actives that you need and you want. And you can do them together. Because basically skin cycling is the idea that you stop throwing every single active you own at your skin and and every single night and actually allocate different products to different nights for different purposes. And that means you're able to give your skin a break, but you're able to actually get the benefits of using the actives long-term without constantly going in too hard, ruining your barrier, having to start again. Because guys, I don't know if you realize this, but when you wreck your skin barrier, you have to go back to zero, like ground zero. So I was using all this random shit, like I was using niacinamide, I was using acylic acid, which are great ingredients, by the way, which I'll definitely get like a dermatologist on the show because we can dive into it further. But then I had to go back to just a cleanser and like a serum and a moisturizer and my SPF. And for someone who like, I love this shit, I love new products. And I have obviously, I actually do have a quite a big passion for this because again, it's like something that I just, I had to live with for so long and I've looked into so much of skincare, but It's painful when you want to use all the things and you can't. So it is all about just resisting the urge to go in hard. Okay, so basically skin cycling is something that was discovered or I guess named by a dermatologist named Dr. Whitney Bow or Bow. Sorry if I say her last name wrong. Now, the basics of skin cycling is it's four nights, which is night one is exfoliate, night two is a retinoid, night three and night four are recovery nights. And this kind of framework is basically the starting point. It's not that this is for every single person. Some people will do more nights of retinoids. Some people will do more recovery, which I'll get into it a bit more. And again, before you start thinking, oh my God, this is so overwhelming, I'm going to be taking you through this quite slowly and also very much encouraging that you follow the starting point for like a couple of months and don't be like me because as soon as I try to skip a recovery night, my skin barrier starts tingling, which it did last night. I got excited the other week and I was like, I'm going to just skip a recovery night. And then yeah, last night my skin was tingling, but I use the products I know that help with my barrier and it feels good again today. So with things like retinols and things, dermatologists always recommend introducing them slowly. You need to give your skin time to adjust to this. But You know, the four-night cycle, again, it isn't a copy-paste for every single person. And it depends on, you could have, you know, a three-night cycle if you have more oily skin or you've been using retinol for a long time. Or if you're more sensitive, you'd have a longer period with a lot more recovery, which I'm going to, like, break down as well. Now, let's go into night one, which is exfoliation. So exfoliation is basically removing the dead skin cells that are sitting on the outermost layer of your skin. So your skin does naturally shed them anyway. But if you're someone like me that's acne prone, we are a bit slower at this. And because we're oily, that's where you get clogged pores. So we need some help with that. But chemical exfoliants are really great because they loosen up the dead skin cells, but you're not physically scrubbing a physical exfoliant into your skin, which can actually aggravate your skin as well. So I'm sure you've heard of AHA, BHAs. which is also chemical exfoliants. So your AHA include things like glycolic acid, lactic acid, and they're used for usually dullness, uneven texture and pigmentation. So that's kind of what they're for. Again, if they're not your main concerns, you can still use them, but I'll kind of explain what ones you should focus on a bit later. Now you've got your BHA, which is my holy grail for someone that has oily skin, which is your salicylic acid. which is oil soluble. So that means it can actually get into my oily pores, sorry to be graphic, and it can clear them out. So oil helps clear out oil. But in saying that, I've tried to use like your oil cleansers and that is a bit too of a risky area for me. So I use something like micellar water, which I'll talk about later. So the idea of doing the exfoliation on night one is basically that you're loosening up that outer layer and those dead skin cells. So the next night when you use a retinol, that can help penetrate deeper. So that's where your skin cycling has a bigger benefit because you're using your exfoliant and your retinol on different nights and they work in different ways and it does reduce the chance that you're going to aggravate your skin. So I want you to think of night one as like you're clearing the surface buildup, you're having a clean slate. And then night two is You're using the retinol and it gives it a chance to actually work and changes how the skin cells behave over time, which is why you see retinols as an anti-aging product. But it's also useful for other things as well. So let me tell you what my exfoliating night sounds like. So for me, at night, at the end of every day, I will double cleanse, as I mentioned in the skin mistakes episode. Double cleansing is so important because if you don't double cleanse, you've got your sunscreen, hopefully. hinted, makeup and things like that. The first cleanse is removing that and the second cleanse is actually cleansing the skin. So if you're only doing it once, it's not helpful. But for someone like me, I actually use, and this is because my skin can tolerate this, I will use a micellar water. But with micellar water, like I said, you have to wash that off. Don't leave that on. I know they market it as you can leave it on and maybe yes, some people you could, but it is generally better just to wash that off, especially if you're acne prone. So I use a micellar water and then I double cleanse with my gentle cleanser. I will leave the products I use in the description and things like that for you guys. And again, I do sometimes change things up, but for me, I've been using these products for a while now and they're really good and they're good for me. Not saying they're going to be suitable for you. And if you can obviously go see a dermatologist, like 100% do that. So I do my double cleansing and And then I use my one exfoliating product. So I use salicylic acid. I use the Paula's Choice one. The best way to use it is not to actually put it on a cotton pad. It's just to pop it in clean hands and then just press it onto your skin. And that's what I do. And I leave that for 15 minutes. Because when you think about it, if you're putting the exfoliator on and then you're putting something else over the top of it, the exfoliator is supposed to be eating up the dead skin cells. And instead, it's going to end up eating the product you're putting on top of it. And that's actually something I learned about in another podcast. Again, I'm not a dermatologist, but it makes sense. So put your exfoliator on and then leave it. Like go do something, do your hair, go to the toilet, go have a margarita and then come back. And then after this, I will then use my moisturizer. Now, sometimes before my moisturizer, I will use like a skin barrier serum, which I tend to do most of the time just because I really don't want to ruin my skin barrier. And it doesn't affect the results. So I'll use my skin barrier serum, which is the Avene one. And it's called Avene Cicophate Plus. And it's the serum because all those creams tend to be poor clogging for me. So I found a shortcut. And then I'll use my moisturizer. And that's it. That's all I do. I don't do anything else. It's just those things. As you guys know, I have an LED mask as well, which I love. This is not like an essential step. And it is a bit of an investment. But I've had this Dr. Dennis Gross LED mask for like four or five years and I use it every single day. And again, it helps you with acne, texture, pigmentation, all that type of stuff. So I'll use that before I exfoliate. Some people say they use it after. So whatever you want to do, if that's if you have an LED mask. Now, this is where in terms of your exfoliator and like what you want to use, this is dependent on your skin. So again, if you are more oily, acne prone, go your BHA. They're really good. everyone else in terms of like your dullness, pigmentation, go your AHA. Now, if you have very sensitive skin, which I'm going to like touch on the sensitive skin very soon and just really hone in on that, but you can actually, instead of using a dedicated exfoliator, you can use like a cleanser. So like a wash off product that you're not leaving on the skin. So it's not going to be as intense for you. You can use a toner instead. So there's so many different things you can try. There's ones that are like 2% salicylic acid. And they're a really good place to start too if you just generally, like you're like, I just don't know. And just start off with that. Now, night two is your retinol. I know, like, I feel like a lot of people are scared of retinol because in the past they've bought it and they've probably smashed their skin with it. And it's important to know there's different types of retinoids as well. And it's definitely something not to be scared of. It's just that you need to decide what one is best for you and you start slow. So retinoid is actually a derivative of vitamin A. And you probably hear a few variations and you've heard words like retinol, retinal, retinoid all thrown around. So retinoid is like the category of what it is. And then under it is retinal or retinoid and things like that. So to quickly run you through them, there's retinol, which is more of a moderate strength version of it. And you can get this over the counter. There's retinol, which is stronger and faster acting than retinol. So just remember, if you're starting out, it is important to kind of know also what you're paying for. And there's also retinol esters. So they're more so very gentle and weak. With all of these things, you could be going out to buy $ 150 bottle of retinol and it's actually just got the esters in it, which is the gentle form, which is fine. And they a hundred percent are great and effective and they're good for people who are starting out and like, you know, sensitive skin, but you don't want to be dropping all this money on something and you're not actually getting what you're paying for is what I'm saying. And then, you know, I'm sure if you've been on TikTok, you've heard of tretinoin and things like that. And they're like, you know, the gold standard. They're something that you can work towards. And then, so for me, I use Adapalene, which is called Differin. I'm sure you guys have heard of Differin before. And this is also a type of retinol, but it's really good for people like me with acne, oily prone skin. So have a bit of a research, look into all of these things. I know there's like all these different names, but to recap, anything with retinol esters is the most gentle, weak one. Retinol is moderate strength. retinol is stronger and it works faster. And then there's adapalene, which is also strong, but it's mainly used for acne, but it's also good for anti-aging. Because at the end of the day, guys, this is all speeding up our skin cell turnover, which is making our skin look smoother, more like that glass skin look. And then also you've got eutretinoin, which is something you have to go to the doctors for to get a script. But That has so many decades of science-backed research in how it can really help with pigmentation, anti-aging, and acne as well. But it's all about just starting from the basics and then working up slowly. So on my retinol night, this is done a little bit differently. I do what's called the sandwich method. So I'll do my double cleanse, and then I apply a thin layer of moisturizer. I let that dry, and then I apply literally a pea-sized amount of my different Now, and then I just like spot it all over my face and then I rub it in. I also use something called a barrier cream around my nose and the edges of my mouth because they're the areas that can get quite sensitive and that just protects it. After that has, you know, maybe I've given it like 10, 15 minutes, then I'll apply another layer of moisturizer. Now this is called the sandwich method because the first layer of moisturizer is creating like a bit of a barrier. So it's not just straight retinol or retinol, whatever onto your skin. it's got a bit of like something to soften it a little bit. Now, I can use it without the sandwich method, but I feel like especially when I'm stressed and I'm not sleeping well, your skin barrier does get affected by that too. So I just use it as like a safety method, a little bit of like a security blanket. And I do recommend this for people starting with retinol, like dermatologists recommend it, and people with sensitive skin. And even if you're just going through a bit of a shitty time and you're not sleeping well, just do the sandwich method. Now, this is where it leads me to nights three and four. And these are your recovery nights, which means don't touch your face. Don't put actives on your face. Just don't do it. So these are the nights that you do... These are just as important as the other nights. And I know they're a bit boring, but these are the nights where your skin gets a chance to breathe and recover. So then you're able to then continue these actives in a cycle. Now, I... Do two recovery nights because as I said, the other week I tried to skip it and my skin was not happy with me. But now I'm just so much more aware and I just know when something's not right and I'll pair it back and do... Even like the other week, I felt like my skin just wasn't really ready to go back into the exfoliating and retinol again. So I had an extra recovery night. And that's the thing is, guys, just remember your skin doesn't know the routine. So... If you're doing this and you are feeling tight, a bit tingly, keep your recovery nights until your skin feels good again. And then, you know, if you've been doing this for a couple of months and you're a bit more oily or your skin is just not really sensitive, you can drop a recovery night. But just be really aware of how your skin is feeling. So on these nights, you can do, it's all about hydration. It's all about your barrier support these nights. So I'll do my double cleanse, which I used to always use like, cleansers for oily skin, which they were great. But then I found soon as I was kind of playing with the actives too much, like it was just too much of a tipping point for me. So as much as I felt like certain cleansers made my skin look really nice, it was just a bit too much of a dangerous territory. So now I use the gentle cleansers, but they work good for me. So I'll do my double cleanse and then I will do my, I like wet my face. with some water or like a spray, as long as it's just like water, because you can literally buy water in a spray and it costs like $ 20. And yes, I've bought it and I use it, but it is what it is. I'm a girl. I'm just a girl. So I spray my face with some water or put some water on my face. And then I use my hyaluronic acid and beta-glucan serum. And the idea behind applying this to a damp face is hyaluronic acid actually can hold, I think it's like 10 times or 100 times or something times amount of its own weight in water. So that's going to draw moisture into the skin, which is something that is so, so important. And it also makes your skin look plump and lovely. And we want that. So I do that. And then I use my barrier serum because again, it's all about barrier support. And then I use my moisturizer and then I don't touch my face. And I do that for two nights. So again, this four night cycle is your starting framework. And if you are really, really sensitive, which I'll run you guys through it now, you want to change this. So it's not going to be for everybody. Take what I'm sharing today with a grain of salt and also knowing that I'm not a dermatologist. I'm not your dermatologist. You might have rosacea. You might have some different issues. So do your own research. And if you can, go see a dermatologist or even your doctor to talk about this. So if you're someone who's really sensitive with your skincare... you can start like a six to eight night cycle. So night one is your exfoliation night, which again, you don't have to use a straight up exfoliator. You can use a cleanser that washes off. You can use a toner. You can use anything like that. And I would recommend that if you have sensitive skin. And then the next two nights, so night two and night three is your recovery nights. And then night four is your retinol night or alternative. You can do like the retinol esters instead. You know, you don't have to go straight into retinol or retinol. You can do the esters. So make sure you're reading like the ingredients and just, you know, jump on AI, chat GPT and ask it like, what is this? And then nights five and six are your recovery. So just to recap again, night one is exfoliate, night two and three is recovery, night four is your retinol or alternative, and then nights five and six are your recovery. And when it comes to like exfoliating for sensitive skin, you want to kind of go into a large molecule chemical exfoliator. It makes me sound like I'm a scientist. But basically, in skincare chemistry, the larger the molecule size, it acts like a built-in safety brake for your skin. So kind of like the sandwich method, but in terms of exfoliating. So to understand this, pretend your skin is like a microscopic mesh screen, like a flywire door. Now, when the molecules are small, like glycolic acid, it penetrates through the mesh very, very fast and hard, and it does its thing, which, as we know, can irritate your skin. But if it has a larger molecule size, it's more like a slow release. And that's why there's literally slow release. I think there's like slow release retinols and things like that. So it works slowly and it doesn't come all at once. So that's a really good little tip as well. Now, let's just say you start doing this tonight and in a week, your skin starts to feel tingly or a bit red. That's your skin barrier talking to you saying, hey, we need some more recovery nights. So just really pay attention to your skin. Please, honestly, in your notes app or in your planner, write these things down because we forget. A key example of this is lately I've been at the gym and I've been kind of tweaking exercises because my glutes are so lazy and I can't feel them because I'm tall, I'm hypermobile, so I have to do things a little bit differently. But I keep everything in my notes app and in my health journal of all my technique changes because even though I go to the gym a fair bit, I forget. So it's the same with your skincare. Keep a skincare log. And be like, okay, I use this cleanser. My skin felt a bit funny. I might try this. And just keep a log of everything. So then you can make more educated guesses as well if you can't afford a dermatologist. That's the thing, guys. This is very much so not a cookie-cutter routine. I love skin cycling so much again because it just removes all the noise and it just makes me be like, okay, I'm being intentional with my skincare. I don't have to go out and spend all of this money. Honestly, guys, I bet you you could start your routine today what you already own at home right now. We all own so many things that we don't actually need and you can reduce that right back. And honestly, my skin is always so much happier when I'm using less. And there's more things that you can add in along the way. Like for me in the morning, I use azelaic acid. Sorry, azelaic acid. I can't even say it. Azelaic acid. And that is a really gentle active, but it's also really good for your bacteria with your acne and things like that. So you guys are probably wondering, okay, what about your morning routine? And again, it's so very simple. I literally will, you know, some people cleanse, some people don't in the morning. I do because I'm oily. And then I just use my serum and my moisturizer and a sunscreen. Like it's so, so simple, but my skin, my texture, my pores, everything looks so, so much better because I'm being intentional and I'm not letting all the noise of TikTok just take over. Anyways, guys, if you'd like me to have a dermatologist come in or if you want me to focus on any other areas, please let me know and I hope you enjoyed. Hopefully, I didn't overwhelm you. As you can tell, I'm so passionate about this because there's nothing worse than not feeling comfortable in your own skin and I don't think that's a bad thing to admit that you want to look and feel good and that's okay. Anyways, I'll be back in your ear on Monday. Please don't forget to subscribe and leave a review and please tag me and let me know on Instagram if this helped. I actually received so many DMs saying how much the acne one helped and the skin mistakes one helped. So wherever I can jump in and just be like, hey, I hyperfixated for three months. I can help you. I will do that. Anyways, I'll talk to you guys later. Bye.
Speaker 1: I love skin cycling so much again because it just removes all the noise and it just makes me be like, okay, I'm being intentional with my skincare. I don't have to go out and spend all of this money. Honestly, guys, I bet you you could start your routine with what you already own at home right now. We all own so many things that we don't actually need. And honestly, my skin is always so much happier when I'm using less. Hello, guys, and welcome back to Steffing Up. I am really excited for today's episode. I, as you guys know, I've been talking a little bit more about like skincare and my skin. And I didn't realize like after that first episode I did on acne, how much more information you guys needed. And obviously you don't have to be suffering from acne to, you know, be needing to learn more about skincare. It's I wanted to deep dive further. And as I promised, I am going to be taking you guys through my four night skincare routine. And this is the routine that literally made me half my skincare. Like I use half the amount of my products, probably less than what I actually own because like everybody else, I do succumb to the TikTok viral products and I get excited by that, which also makes me completely wreck my skin. So I won't go through my backstory with my skin too much because I have covered that in my acne episode. And if you haven't listened to that, please do. If you're suffering from acne, even if it goes away and comes back, that is definitely an episode for you to listen to. Even if it's for your kids, a friend that's struggling, please send that to somebody because there's so much more to acne than people realize. But a little bit of a backstory about me. I've had acne my whole adult life. And it's weird because in high school, I had your typical teenage pimples, which is mostly the little bumps on my forehead. But basically for me, years later in my twenties, I competed in bodybuilding. So I lost a lot of weight. I lost my period. That's a whole other story. And when my period came back, my acne came back with a vengeance. I had the deep cystic acne and it was so, so bad. And I had tried everything under the sun. I'm a very oily skin kind of girl. I've got oily skin. I get texture. I have large pores, which apparently the oily skin actually is great for aging. So I love that. But if I could just stop breaking out, it would be great because now, look, I'm 35 and there's so many women. It's on the rise. There's so many more women now who are struggling with acne in their 30s. And now we have to deal with acne and aging. So this is where this routine also comes in. But this full night routine, guys, is for everyone. But anyway, I was getting married that year and I had this really bad cystic acne and I had tried everything. I spent thousands of dollars at clinics. I spent and went on all these antibiotics, which would help it not be as bad. But as soon as I came off the antibiotic, it would come back and it actually ruined my gut. Anyway, so then I discovered something called skin cycling. And this routine single-handedly helped my skin so, so much along with looking into poor clogging ingredients. But this routine... is just so needed right now. And you might see skin cycling circulating on TikTok and you'll see that, you know, skin barrier is also a word that's thrown around a lot. So I'm going to be explaining all these things to you in a really easy to understand way and also taking you through my very own skincare routine in detail. So make sure you stay to the end because I'm going to be like not only giving you the knowledge as to why, you know, what we need to do for what skin concerns and like the order of your skincare. But it's also going to make you realize that all these products you see out there are just a lot of noise and it's so overwhelming as well. But I'm going to be completely honest with you. As you guys know from that acne episode a few weeks ago, I started breaking out again. And the reason for that was a few reasons, but I was doing skin cycling for years and it worked. But then of course I as I said, I got on TikTok and I wanted to try all these new products and I absolutely ruined my skin barrier, which again, I'll tell you what that is soon. But basically, it took me quite a long time and a lot of stripping back my products, deep diving into each product and just really going back to basics and back to this simple four-night routine and it actually just changed my skin. And now I'm able to target my acne because if you guys didn't realize, if you have acne, sadly, it's not curable. And I know that sounds horrible, but Usually it's your genetics. And for me, my acne comes from, you know, when my pores get clogged because I'm oily. So that is something that's just always going to be there for me, which you can manage. And this is the routine that helps me with that. And once you kind of learn that it's something you manage, then I feel like you take the pressure off yourself a little bit more, you know, and I spent years just, you know, when I'd buy a new product, I would just follow the directions on the packet. And I've learned that skincare is probably the one product that you don't want to follow the directions for because I'm sure you guys have seen you pick up a new exfoliator or some type of like retinol and it tells you to use it every single day. And your skin is not even used to this ingredient yet. And then you're going in and using it every day and you're absolutely smashing your skin. And that's why a lot of people think, okay, I can't use retinol because it makes me break out or it makes my skin hurt. And it's actually not that, it's just the fact that you haven't introduced it slowly and you don't have it on a schedule. So this is like your skin cycling schedule 101. So this episode is for you if you have skin, you want to maybe target acne and anti-aging or one or the other, or you just want to have really nice skin. This is literally for you. This is also for you if you don't know how to structure your skincare routine. You don't know what does what, like why am I exfoliating? Am I using a retinol? When do I use them? And also if you're just so overwhelmed by all the options out there for skincare. So this is really just going to simplify it for you. Now, I know you guys know this. I'm not a dermatologist. I haven't got any certificates or anything or qualifications in dermatology or skincare. I'm just... a 35-year-old girl who's really struggled with her skin for a long time. And I've done an insane amount of research and I've tried every product under the sun. And I want to share that knowledge with you. Like even last night, I was at the hotel writing these episodes up and this lovely guy from my gym, he's a younger guy and he's been struggling with acne for a long time. And he messaged me and he was asking me, like he said, he listened to the Acne episode. And then I started sending him pictures of the products I use and things like that. And it was just so lovely to like, I just love helping people with this stuff. It just really is so disheartening when, even if it's acne or not, if you're not feeling comfortable in your own skin, it's such a horrible feeling because it's your face. And I don't think that's a superficial thing or a negative thing that you can just kind of brush off. It's your face. And the more that you can learn and really understand how the skin works, like your skin barrier, and why that word is suddenly everywhere and being thrown around. I just want to help. I want to help so much. So last night when I was helping him with his product choices and things like that, and just, yeah, because it sucks. He had just come off Roaccutane, which I went on years ago, and it's rough, especially being a young person who's struggling with that type of stuff. So Yes, I'm here and let's get into it. So before I really cover anything, let's talk about your skin barrier and why suddenly it's all we hear about. And apparently it's the thing we've all damaged and wrecked. Now, your skin barrier is the outermost layer of your skin. It protects your skin from irritants and pollutants in the world, but it also helps you keep water and moisture in your skin. Now, when this gets damaged, it is not fun. And it can take time to repair it. So for me, I didn't realize I had damaged my skin barrier. I thought my skin just sucked. I just thought my skin, like my texture suddenly was worse. Everything I put on my face was stinging. It was so red. And that was actually because my skin barrier was damaged because I was using too many actives. And it's something that we've all kind of, you know, if you've got oily skin like myself, you naturally think, okay, I need to like strip my skin. I need to get rid of the oil. But when you do that, your skin is going to overcompensate and then make more oil. So you really need to focus on like hydration. There's two reasons why I believe that skin barrier has suddenly became like this big hype. And number one is because we have so much access to actives. So when I say actives, I mean things like exfoliants, you know, you say your AHA, your BHAs, all of these different active ingredients that basically remove the dead layer of skin on the top. And then you've also got like your retinol and there's lots of other actives out there. But basically these are really powerful ingredients and they are amazing, but you need to use them correctly. So suddenly we have all these videos out there and a lot of us are sadly just following the directions on the packet because a lot of us can't afford to go see a dermatologist or someone. And then we're wrecking our skin barrier. So that's number one. That's why one reason I think it's become this big thing. The second reason is Korean skincare, which I also love. I use quite a bit of Korean skincare now, not just because it's a hype, but because this actual reason is Korean skincare heavily focuses on the skin barrier. Now, I believe that those two reasons alone is why now it's everywhere, but it is a really good thing to be hyping up because suddenly people are more conscious of what they're putting on their skin. They're not layering all these actives and actually smashing their skin barrier. They're starting to learn more about your actual, you know, the layers of the skin and how this affects everything. So as I said, some signs that your skin barrier is damaged is tingling. Some people get really dry, like rough texture. It could be tightness, which mine does get tight, sensitivity and stinging. And there is, you know, once you become aware of this, you can actually kind of stop it from progressing, which I'll talk about a bit later as well. And this is where it leads me on to skin cycling, which all those years ago when I discovered it, I, again, had no idea what the skin barrier was and things like that. And then once I learnt how having a bit of a schedule for your skin and having more of an intentional skincare routine can stop your barrier from being cooked, but you also can still use the actives that you need and you want. And you can do them together. Because basically skin cycling is the idea that you stop throwing every single active you own at your skin and and every single night and actually allocate different products to different nights for different purposes. And that means you're able to give your skin a break, but you're able to actually get the benefits of using the actives long-term without constantly going in too hard, ruining your barrier, having to start again. Because guys, I don't know if you realize this, but when you wreck your skin barrier, you have to go back to zero, like ground zero. So I was using all this random shit, like I was using niacinamide, I was using acylic acid, which are great ingredients, by the way, which I'll definitely get like a dermatologist on the show because we can dive into it further. But then I had to go back to just a cleanser and like a serum and a moisturizer and my SPF. And for someone who like, I love this shit, I love new products. And I have obviously, I actually do have a quite a big passion for this because again, it's like something that I just, I had to live with for so long and I've looked into so much of skincare, but It's painful when you want to use all the things and you can't. So it is all about just resisting the urge to go in hard. Okay, so basically skin cycling is something that was discovered or I guess named by a dermatologist named Dr. Whitney Bow or Bow. Sorry if I say her last name wrong. Now, the basics of skin cycling is it's four nights, which is night one is exfoliate, night two is a retinoid, night three and night four are recovery nights. And this kind of framework is basically the starting point. It's not that this is for every single person. Some people will do more nights of retinoids. Some people will do more recovery, which I'll get into it a bit more. And again, before you start thinking, oh my God, this is so overwhelming, I'm going to be taking you through this quite slowly and also very much encouraging that you follow the starting point for like a couple of months and don't be like me because as soon as I try to skip a recovery night, my skin barrier starts tingling, which it did last night. I got excited the other week and I was like, I'm going to just skip a recovery night. And then yeah, last night my skin was tingling, but I use the products I know that help with my barrier and it feels good again today. So with things like retinols and things, dermatologists always recommend introducing them slowly. You need to give your skin time to adjust to this. But You know, the four-night cycle, again, it isn't a copy-paste for every single person. And it depends on, you could have, you know, a three-night cycle if you have more oily skin or you've been using retinol for a long time. Or if you're more sensitive, you'd have a longer period with a lot more recovery, which I'm going to, like, break down as well. Now, let's go into night one, which is exfoliation. So exfoliation is basically removing the dead skin cells that are sitting on the outermost layer of your skin. So your skin does naturally shed them anyway. But if you're someone like me that's acne prone, we are a bit slower at this. And because we're oily, that's where you get clogged pores. So we need some help with that. But chemical exfoliants are really great because they loosen up the dead skin cells, but you're not physically scrubbing a physical exfoliant into your skin, which can actually aggravate your skin as well. So I'm sure you've heard of AHA, BHAs. which is also chemical exfoliants. So your AHA include things like glycolic acid, lactic acid, and they're used for usually dullness, uneven texture and pigmentation. So that's kind of what they're for. Again, if they're not your main concerns, you can still use them, but I'll kind of explain what ones you should focus on a bit later. Now you've got your BHA, which is my holy grail for someone that has oily skin, which is your salicylic acid. which is oil soluble. So that means it can actually get into my oily pores, sorry to be graphic, and it can clear them out. So oil helps clear out oil. But in saying that, I've tried to use like your oil cleansers and that is a bit too of a risky area for me. So I use something like micellar water, which I'll talk about later. So the idea of doing the exfoliation on night one is basically that you're loosening up that outer layer and those dead skin cells. So the next night when you use a retinol, that can help penetrate deeper. So that's where your skin cycling has a bigger benefit because you're using your exfoliant and your retinol on different nights and they work in different ways and it does reduce the chance that you're going to aggravate your skin. So I want you to think of night one as like you're clearing the surface buildup, you're having a clean slate. And then night two is You're using the retinol and it gives it a chance to actually work and changes how the skin cells behave over time, which is why you see retinols as an anti-aging product. But it's also useful for other things as well. So let me tell you what my exfoliating night sounds like. So for me, at night, at the end of every day, I will double cleanse, as I mentioned in the skin mistakes episode. Double cleansing is so important because if you don't double cleanse, you've got your sunscreen, hopefully. hinted, makeup and things like that. The first cleanse is removing that and the second cleanse is actually cleansing the skin. So if you're only doing it once, it's not helpful. But for someone like me, I actually use, and this is because my skin can tolerate this, I will use a micellar water. But with micellar water, like I said, you have to wash that off. Don't leave that on. I know they market it as you can leave it on and maybe yes, some people you could, but it is generally better just to wash that off, especially if you're acne prone. So I use a micellar water and then I double cleanse with my gentle cleanser. I will leave the products I use in the description and things like that for you guys. And again, I do sometimes change things up, but for me, I've been using these products for a while now and they're really good and they're good for me. Not saying they're going to be suitable for you. And if you can obviously go see a dermatologist, like 100% do that. So I do my double cleansing and And then I use my one exfoliating product. So I use salicylic acid. I use the Paula's Choice one. The best way to use it is not to actually put it on a cotton pad. It's just to pop it in clean hands and then just press it onto your skin. And that's what I do. And I leave that for 15 minutes. Because when you think about it, if you're putting the exfoliator on and then you're putting something else over the top of it, the exfoliator is supposed to be eating up the dead skin cells. And instead, it's going to end up eating the product you're putting on top of it. And that's actually something I learned about in another podcast. Again, I'm not a dermatologist, but it makes sense. So put your exfoliator on and then leave it. Like go do something, do your hair, go to the toilet, go have a margarita and then come back. And then after this, I will then use my moisturizer. Now, sometimes before my moisturizer, I will use like a skin barrier serum, which I tend to do most of the time just because I really don't want to ruin my skin barrier. And it doesn't affect the results. So I'll use my skin barrier serum, which is the Avene one. And it's called Avene Cicophate Plus. And it's the serum because all those creams tend to be poor clogging for me. So I found a shortcut. And then I'll use my moisturizer. And that's it. That's all I do. I don't do anything else. It's just those things. As you guys know, I have an LED mask as well, which I love. This is not like an essential step. And it is a bit of an investment. But I've had this Dr. Dennis Gross LED mask for like four or five years and I use it every single day. And again, it helps you with acne, texture, pigmentation, all that type of stuff. So I'll use that before I exfoliate. Some people say they use it after. So whatever you want to do, if that's if you have an LED mask. Now, this is where in terms of your exfoliator and like what you want to use, this is dependent on your skin. So again, if you are more oily, acne prone, go your BHA. They're really good. everyone else in terms of like your dullness, pigmentation, go your AHA. Now, if you have very sensitive skin, which I'm going to like touch on the sensitive skin very soon and just really hone in on that, but you can actually, instead of using a dedicated exfoliator, you can use like a cleanser. So like a wash off product that you're not leaving on the skin. So it's not going to be as intense for you. You can use a toner instead. So there's so many different things you can try. There's ones that are like 2% salicylic acid. And they're a really good place to start too if you just generally, like you're like, I just don't know. And just start off with that. Now, night two is your retinol. I know, like, I feel like a lot of people are scared of retinol because in the past they've bought it and they've probably smashed their skin with it. And it's important to know there's different types of retinoids as well. And it's definitely something not to be scared of. It's just that you need to decide what one is best for you and you start slow. So retinoid is actually a derivative of vitamin A. And you probably hear a few variations and you've heard words like retinol, retinal, retinoid all thrown around. So retinoid is like the category of what it is. And then under it is retinal or retinoid and things like that. So to quickly run you through them, there's retinol, which is more of a moderate strength version of it. And you can get this over the counter. There's retinol, which is stronger and faster acting than retinol. So just remember, if you're starting out, it is important to kind of know also what you're paying for. And there's also retinol esters. So they're more so very gentle and weak. With all of these things, you could be going out to buy $ 150 bottle of retinol and it's actually just got the esters in it, which is the gentle form, which is fine. And they a hundred percent are great and effective and they're good for people who are starting out and like, you know, sensitive skin, but you don't want to be dropping all this money on something and you're not actually getting what you're paying for is what I'm saying. And then, you know, I'm sure if you've been on TikTok, you've heard of tretinoin and things like that. And they're like, you know, the gold standard. They're something that you can work towards. And then, so for me, I use Adapalene, which is called Differin. I'm sure you guys have heard of Differin before. And this is also a type of retinol, but it's really good for people like me with acne, oily prone skin. So have a bit of a research, look into all of these things. I know there's like all these different names, but to recap, anything with retinol esters is the most gentle, weak one. Retinol is moderate strength. retinol is stronger and it works faster. And then there's adapalene, which is also strong, but it's mainly used for acne, but it's also good for anti-aging. Because at the end of the day, guys, this is all speeding up our skin cell turnover, which is making our skin look smoother, more like that glass skin look. And then also you've got eutretinoin, which is something you have to go to the doctors for to get a script. But That has so many decades of science-backed research in how it can really help with pigmentation, anti-aging, and acne as well. But it's all about just starting from the basics and then working up slowly. So on my retinol night, this is done a little bit differently. I do what's called the sandwich method. So I'll do my double cleanse, and then I apply a thin layer of moisturizer. I let that dry, and then I apply literally a pea-sized amount of my different Now, and then I just like spot it all over my face and then I rub it in. I also use something called a barrier cream around my nose and the edges of my mouth because they're the areas that can get quite sensitive and that just protects it. After that has, you know, maybe I've given it like 10, 15 minutes, then I'll apply another layer of moisturizer. Now this is called the sandwich method because the first layer of moisturizer is creating like a bit of a barrier. So it's not just straight retinol or retinol, whatever onto your skin. it's got a bit of like something to soften it a little bit. Now, I can use it without the sandwich method, but I feel like especially when I'm stressed and I'm not sleeping well, your skin barrier does get affected by that too. So I just use it as like a safety method, a little bit of like a security blanket. And I do recommend this for people starting with retinol, like dermatologists recommend it, and people with sensitive skin. And even if you're just going through a bit of a shitty time and you're not sleeping well, just do the sandwich method. Now, this is where it leads me to nights three and four. And these are your recovery nights, which means don't touch your face. Don't put actives on your face. Just don't do it. So these are the nights that you do... These are just as important as the other nights. And I know they're a bit boring, but these are the nights where your skin gets a chance to breathe and recover. So then you're able to then continue these actives in a cycle. Now, I... Do two recovery nights because as I said, the other week I tried to skip it and my skin was not happy with me. But now I'm just so much more aware and I just know when something's not right and I'll pair it back and do... Even like the other week, I felt like my skin just wasn't really ready to go back into the exfoliating and retinol again. So I had an extra recovery night. And that's the thing is, guys, just remember your skin doesn't know the routine. So... If you're doing this and you are feeling tight, a bit tingly, keep your recovery nights until your skin feels good again. And then, you know, if you've been doing this for a couple of months and you're a bit more oily or your skin is just not really sensitive, you can drop a recovery night. But just be really aware of how your skin is feeling. So on these nights, you can do, it's all about hydration. It's all about your barrier support these nights. So I'll do my double cleanse, which I used to always use like, cleansers for oily skin, which they were great. But then I found soon as I was kind of playing with the actives too much, like it was just too much of a tipping point for me. So as much as I felt like certain cleansers made my skin look really nice, it was just a bit too much of a dangerous territory. So now I use the gentle cleansers, but they work good for me. So I'll do my double cleanse and then I will do my, I like wet my face. with some water or like a spray, as long as it's just like water, because you can literally buy water in a spray and it costs like $ 20. And yes, I've bought it and I use it, but it is what it is. I'm a girl. I'm just a girl. So I spray my face with some water or put some water on my face. And then I use my hyaluronic acid and beta-glucan serum. And the idea behind applying this to a damp face is hyaluronic acid actually can hold, I think it's like 10 times or 100 times or something times amount of its own weight in water. So that's going to draw moisture into the skin, which is something that is so, so important. And it also makes your skin look plump and lovely. And we want that. So I do that. And then I use my barrier serum because again, it's all about barrier support. And then I use my moisturizer and then I don't touch my face. And I do that for two nights. So again, this four night cycle is your starting framework. And if you are really, really sensitive, which I'll run you guys through it now, you want to change this. So it's not going to be for everybody. Take what I'm sharing today with a grain of salt and also knowing that I'm not a dermatologist. I'm not your dermatologist. You might have rosacea. You might have some different issues. So do your own research. And if you can, go see a dermatologist or even your doctor to talk about this. So if you're someone who's really sensitive with your skincare... you can start like a six to eight night cycle. So night one is your exfoliation night, which again, you don't have to use a straight up exfoliator. You can use a cleanser that washes off. You can use a toner. You can use anything like that. And I would recommend that if you have sensitive skin. And then the next two nights, so night two and night three is your recovery nights. And then night four is your retinol night or alternative. You can do like the retinol esters instead. You know, you don't have to go straight into retinol or retinol. You can do the esters. So make sure you're reading like the ingredients and just, you know, jump on AI, chat GPT and ask it like, what is this? And then nights five and six are your recovery. So just to recap again, night one is exfoliate, night two and three is recovery, night four is your retinol or alternative, and then nights five and six are your recovery. And when it comes to like exfoliating for sensitive skin, you want to kind of go into a large molecule chemical exfoliator. It makes me sound like I'm a scientist. But basically, in skincare chemistry, the larger the molecule size, it acts like a built-in safety brake for your skin. So kind of like the sandwich method, but in terms of exfoliating. So to understand this, pretend your skin is like a microscopic mesh screen, like a flywire door. Now, when the molecules are small, like glycolic acid, it penetrates through the mesh very, very fast and hard, and it does its thing, which, as we know, can irritate your skin. But if it has a larger molecule size, it's more like a slow release. And that's why there's literally slow release. I think there's like slow release retinols and things like that. So it works slowly and it doesn't come all at once. So that's a really good little tip as well. Now, let's just say you start doing this tonight and in a week, your skin starts to feel tingly or a bit red. That's your skin barrier talking to you saying, hey, we need some more recovery nights. So just really pay attention to your skin. Please, honestly, in your notes app or in your planner, write these things down because we forget. A key example of this is lately I've been at the gym and I've been kind of tweaking exercises because my glutes are so lazy and I can't feel them because I'm tall, I'm hypermobile, so I have to do things a little bit differently. But I keep everything in my notes app and in my health journal of all my technique changes because even though I go to the gym a fair bit, I forget. So it's the same with your skincare. Keep a skincare log. And be like, okay, I use this cleanser. My skin felt a bit funny. I might try this. And just keep a log of everything. So then you can make more educated guesses as well if you can't afford a dermatologist. That's the thing, guys. This is very much so not a cookie-cutter routine. I love skin cycling so much again because it just removes all the noise and it just makes me be like, okay, I'm being intentional with my skincare. I don't have to go out and spend all of this money. Honestly, guys, I bet you you could start your routine today what you already own at home right now. We all own so many things that we don't actually need and you can reduce that right back. And honestly, my skin is always so much happier when I'm using less. And there's more things that you can add in along the way. Like for me in the morning, I use azelaic acid. Sorry, azelaic acid. I can't even say it. Azelaic acid. And that is a really gentle active, but it's also really good for your bacteria with your acne and things like that. So you guys are probably wondering, okay, what about your morning routine? And again, it's so very simple. I literally will, you know, some people cleanse, some people don't in the morning. I do because I'm oily. And then I just use my serum and my moisturizer and a sunscreen. Like it's so, so simple, but my skin, my texture, my pores, everything looks so, so much better because I'm being intentional and I'm not letting all the noise of TikTok just take over. Anyways, guys, if you'd like me to have a dermatologist come in or if you want me to focus on any other areas, please let me know and I hope you enjoyed. Hopefully, I didn't overwhelm you. As you can tell, I'm so passionate about this because there's nothing worse than not feeling comfortable in your own skin and I don't think that's a bad thing to admit that you want to look and feel good and that's okay. Anyways, I'll be back in your ear on Monday. Please don't forget to subscribe and leave a review and please tag me and let me know on Instagram if this helped. I actually received so many DMs saying how much the acne one helped and the skin mistakes one helped. So wherever I can jump in and just be like, hey, I hyperfixated for three months. I can help you. I will do that. Anyways, I'll talk to you guys later. Bye.
