(This post was written to celebrate & integrate No Makeup Week, though the tips here can apply anytime.)
In my last post, I mentioned how I went through a makeup purge in order to reevaluate & start anew with the preconceived notions I had around making up my face. In that post, I said one thing that I felt should really have its own post.
Instead of using concealers, I concentrated more on taking better care of my skin, so I wouldn’t need to hide blemishes in the first place.
Really… the only way I would have ever been comfortable with walking out of the house sans makeup was if I was confident with my fresh face. & the first step to feeling that confidence relied solely on how I took care of my skin, thus making it easier for me to skip foundation or concealer all together.
It all starts with your skin.
A lot of you commented & said I have gorgeous skin. While I’m grateful for your compliments, I want you to know that my skin is quite temperamental. When I was 19 it was rare that I had breakouts, but as I’ve gotten older, the blemishes have become more frequent & I’m constantly battling with keeping my skin moisturized & crater-free monthly. What you see now is a product of my careful awareness that my facial skin needs to be tended to just as much — & if not more — than the hair on my head. I do my damnedest to keep it as healthy is possible.
You should too.
So for those of you who would like to be less dependent on heavily pigmented cosmetics, but don’t quite know where to start with skincare, I thought I’d share with you some of my own routines & beliefs surrounding skin, most of which I’ve learned through trial & error.
1.) Respect your skin.
I find it interesting that we often take better care of our hair, nails, feet, (our dogs even!), but the skin on our faces is usually forgotten about. Why is this? Our faces are just as important as the many other square inches of our bodies, yet we seldom treat it with care. We sleep with our makeup on, we fail to moisturize, we eat foods & drink beverages that starve our skin, we wear cosmetics that act as stagnant poison, we use products that don’t match our skin types. It’s no wonder we’re slaves to makeup — it’s often used as a band-aid to cover up the unintentional abuse we’ve stricken on our skin!
So the first thing to acquire is utter respect for the skin on your face. Treat your skin with love & meticulousness as you would the highlights in your hair or the clothes in your closet.
Much like you wouldn’t crawl into bed without taking a shower after rolling around in dirt all day, put your skin on the same respective pedestal.
2.) Create a skincare routine that works for you… & stick with it.
One thing that really stuck with me when I was being taught about skincare in beauty school was this idea that your facial skin has its own natural rhythms. It needs to be taken care of, yes, but your lack of consistency will mess with your skin’s own unique routine. If you wash your face once every month, your skin might react to that fickleness by acting out. You might experience more frequent breakouts. Your skin might drift in & out of being dry one minute & super oily the next. Without a steady skincare routine, your skin won’t know how to act when it gets moisturized for the first time in two weeks.
So try to be more conscious of taking care of your skin. Wash your face with a gentle cleanser once in the morning & once at night. Take off your makeup before you go to bed, every single night. Moisturize your skin daily. Exfoliate at least once a week to help along the shedding of your skin’s dead cells. Do this daily, weekly, monthly. Absolutely no excuses.
If you have trouble remembering, create little reminders for yourself. For instance, I sometimes forget to wash my face in the morning, so I keep my cleanser & exfoliant in the shower so that while I’m letting my conditioner sit for a bit, I wash my face to use up that idle time. If that’s not enough for you, put a little post-it on your mirror that says, “Don’t forget to wash/moisturize/exfoliate your face, beautiful.” After a while your skincare routine will become second nature, just like it is for you to brush your teeth before bed.
Make a habit of being consistent in your skincare routine. This is so very important.
3.) Use products for their intended use.
On a good day, I used to “wash” my face with rubbing alcohol. Others are accustomed to using traditional bar soap. Some people moisturize with petroleum jelly; others with scented body lotions. & let’s not forget that Old Wives’ Tale of putting toothpaste on your blemishes to be rid of them.
I will not go on a tirade about how terrible things like rubbing alcohol, bar soap, & Vaseline are for the delicate skin on your face. I also won’t try to scare you into realizing that heavily scented products, like body lotion, are not adequate moisturizers for your facial skin because the fragrances they contain are so harsh that they’re literally burning your face.
But what I will say is this:
If it doesn’t have the words “face” or “facial” in its title, it doesn’t belong on your face. Period.
Which brings me to my next point…
4.) Know what’s in your products.
It’s not enough to find the perfect product that does your skin good; you need to be educated about what it is you’re putting on your face. Really read the back of labels & do some research on the ingredients you cannot pronounce. Find out if the product is tested on animals (because a lot of products are still OK’d by the FDA, in spite of the ingredients causing cancer in rats). Be careful for products that contain phthalates, mineral oils, & parabens. Research the companies that you’re buying from; know their core values. All of these things are so important.
(I highly recommend that you take a gander at this little video & go to this website to test the toxicity of the cosmetics you’re using now.)
Even if you simply cannot steer clear from these ingredients — & it’s understandable, because they’re in about every major facial cleanser & moisturizer product on the shelves today — you still owe it to yourself to at least know what’s going onto your skin &, ultimately, into your body. Having that awareness goes hand-in-hand with respecting your skin.
But by far the easiest way to rid yourself of the dirty thoughts that those crazy ingredients’ lists provoke is to buy products that are 100% natural. LUSH is my go-to place for all that is cruelty-free, 100% natural, 100% vegetarian/vegan, homemade products. Their skincare line is top notch & fits every skin type there is.
Whatever product(s) you choose, always remember that products that claim to have “natural” ingredients aren’t always so. After all, “natural” is just a word & it doesn’t always have credibility behind it.
5.) Pamper & coddle your skin.
The first time I ever got a facial, I was flabbergasted as to why I hadn’t done it sooner. My skin felt amazing & glowed for days afterward. But really, I did know why I hadn’t gotten a facial sooner, which is because they’re terribly expensive. It simply would’ve been impossible for me to keep up.
Then I realized that I could improvise & do my own facial pamperings, often without spending a dime.
Keep in mind: this doesn’t mean devoting 45 minutes of your day to massaging, creaming, & steaming your skin. It can be as simple as exfoliating once a week & following it with a light toner. The key is to do little things to let your facial skin know that you adore it. Just like you sometimes apply deep conditioning treatments to your hair, or soak in a bubble bath with essential oils after a hard day, your face deserves to the same indulgence.
Here are some ways I pamper my skin:
- Apply a LUSH Love Lettuce facial mask twice weekly: $5
- Or… Create my own mask from things in my kitchen: $0
- Exfoliate with St. Ives Apricot Scrub: $5
- Steam my face with a towel over a bowl full of hot water & a few drops of eucalyptus oil: $0
- Spot treat blemishes with tea tree oil: $6
There are also some things you can do during the day that will significantly impact the look & feel of your skin:
- Wash your pillowcases weekly.
- Don’t eat as much dairy products. (The hormones in milk, cheese, & yogurt have been linked to breakouts.)
- Wear sunscreen with an SPF of at least 15.
- Limit your alcohol & caffeine intake (both are culprits in diminishing your skin’s moisture).
- Drink more water.
- Brush your bangs or fringe aside. (Having bangs causes the products & oils in your hair sit on your forehead all day, making it inevitable that your skin will react with breakouts.)
- Get a good night’s sleep. (FYI: Sleeping on your back will help decrease the puffiness you have in your face when you wake up in the morning.)
6.) Take baby steps.
Once you’ve started taking impeccable care of your face, you’ll soon see a difference in the way your skin looks & feels. Your complexion will be more even; your skin tone might have a nice radiant glow about it; your breakouts will lessen, & if not they are likely to start healing nicely. Your skin, in its own way, will be flawless & because of that, you will have confidence to go without — or just dwindle the use of — makeup.
Taking that step to walking around town with makeup-free face can be a daunting, especially if you’ve relied heavily on it like I did in the beginning. If you’re not quite ready to quit cold turkey, I suggest that you start small. Each week, eliminate one cosmetic that you’re currently using; perhaps you’ll start with mascara. After that week is up, take out something else; perhaps that’ll be blush. Keep doing this until you have nothing left to put on. & if at anytime you feel uncomfortable within this transition, take a few steps back.
One thing I did when I was transitioning into loving my natural face was to devote one whole weekend to walking around makeup-free. Say hello to your neighbors as you’re taking out the garbage… sans makeup. Take a quick trip to the store to get butter… sans makeup. Go for a walk with your dog around the block… sans makeup. Invite your lover or friend to come over & watch movies with you… sans makeup. Make it a goal to do some of these things (or all of them!) in one weekend, & you’re bound to have your own little revelation.
Of course, if you’re more of a rebel, go makeup-free without hesitation! The key is to work at your own pace.
& it’s okay to feel a bit apprehensive, but don’t wait until you feel 100% comfortable with walking around facially nude. It’s truly one of those things where you have to feel the fear & do it anyway.