The Resolution
Unlike some people, my 2021 started off with me introducing a potential recipe for disaster into my life. Skin Care. It may seem like the most normal of resolutions, but one week into it I would go onto realize that skin care like most relationships, requires patience.
The reason for me introducing a routine skin care ritual was to enhance my sense of self care and relaxation amid these testing times and also mainly to lay base to my guilty pleasure: make-up. By attempting to study one make-up tutorial after another, followed by a series of failed caked experimentation, I realized that taking care of my dry, unevenly textured skin would be the only way forward to realize my dream of finally attaining “that dewy look”.
As per mixing guidelines from different You-tube videos and adding a pinch of my own creativity based on availability, this is what followed:
- Clean your hands with soap
- Cleanser-Cetaphil
- Exfoliate once or twice a week- mask (coffee powder +honey+ mint leaves)
- Hydrating Toner-Rose water+ Glycerin spray(1:1)(get them separately and fix the nozzle)
- Rub in ice on Wednesdays
- Moisturizer-Cetaphil
- Rice Mask (Grind brown rice grains and add lemon extract) once a week, or Papaya mask or any other mask of your choice.
The Cetaphil cleanser is my all time favorite having been prescribed to me by my dermatologist. All other face washes I have used tend to strip my skin of its natural oil, or so I feel, condemning me to the fate of my skin turning oilier during daytime, till I use the same face wash again. So until recently, before I decided I wanted an aesthetic routine in my life, I was the simple cold water everyday morning kind of person, which was enough to keep my skin looking fresh every morning. After a week into using my self mixed toner, I decided to reduce the frequency of toner which was dampening my skin further in an already humid and hot atmosphere, (climatic conditions matter). The moisturizer too felt heavy and sticky which led to the reduction of amount of product used.
Overall, after a week of stringently following the routine, I have come the to understanding that , yes, doing this before bed time will have your skin looking plump in the morning, but its an uncomfortable price to pay for . During mornings, the routine may not be so apt as it tends to be sticky and uncomfortable. I have decided to continue with it once everyday at night, instead of twice, reducing the amount of product too. After a week of close introspection I have also finally come to terms with my common sense, that this would be a long process and my quick fix attitude would have to done away with, if I would like to inculcate peace of mind into my routine as well.
As for smoothening of skin texture, I don’t think we are getting anywhere with this, but rather my kitchen product masks are doing wonders. The rice mask did wonders in cleaning up the skin and brightening it. The Papaya mask is something close to my heart and both for a whole other blog. Until then !
~Let the experiments continue.
