At a recent dinner with friends, the topic came up of our various skin care rituals. Many of us have stepped up our skin care regimes as a result of aging, the current political climate (skin care is self care, I guess), and recent changes in our various skin types. One friend requested that we all send her details of our various skin care dances, and I thought this may be helpful for a wider audience. Also, I didn’t want to put something this long in a Facebook message, and it’s easier to put links and pictures into a blog, so here we are.

Cleansing

My cleanser of choice is Paula’s Choice Moisture Boost One Step Facial Cleanser. Paula’s Choice avoids fragrances, colors, and any other unnecessary stuff that can irritate skin, so it’s s good choice for people with sensitive skin or redness. Also, Paula’s Choice has a very forgiving return policy; as long as you haven’t used the entirety of a product, you can send it back for store credit, but you’ll have to pay the return shipping. I have only ever returned one thing (a serum that ended up giving me little zits), but they were super cool about it and refunded my account despite my having used the product for a month or so before figuring out the culprit of the breakouts. Also, Paula’s Choice always has something on sale, so you’ll almost never pay full price for anything if you sign up for email alerts. Just so you know: I am not getting paid to say nice things about Paula’s Choice, I just really like their stuff.

I generally don’t use enough makeup to warrant the use of a makeup remover. I usually just wash my face in the shower and wash my eyes with a wet washcloth and then shampoo if there’s any mascara/eyeliner to remove. I also do not have a special cleansing apparatus, like a Clarisonic or something. I get Compac Body Scrubbers, cut them into 6 pieces and use each piece for about 2 weeks or so. Exfoliation!

Moisturizing: Mornings

After a shower, the process goes in this order: Paula’s Choice Toner, Murad Nutrient-Charged Water Gel, Paula’s Choice SPF 50 Moisturizer, Clearasil, then makeup stuff. What’s the point? The idea behind toner (according to a lady at a Dior counter who really wanted to sell me some toner) is that your skin is super thirsty after a shower and is going to quickly suck up whatever you put on it. The toner is there to be a thing for your skin to suck up so that other stuff (like your real moisturizer and your makeup) can go on better. Is that BS? I don’t know, but the toner I use isn’t super expensive and I like how it makes my skin feel, so don’t judge me. Also in the “don’t judge me” category is the Murad water gel. I got a sample of this in a Sephora Play box, and I don’t know what this is made of, but it is magical and makes my skin look healthy and glowy. A tiny sample was enough to convince me to buy the full size, which is pricy but will probably last me a year or so. The point of a high-spf moisturizer should be pretty clear to us all by now, but I use this particular moisturizer because it’s runny enough to feel light on my face and not exacerbate my insane level of greasiness. Paula’s Choice has all manner of moisturizers for all manner of natural grease levels, so feel free to poke around on their site to find one that’s right for you. The Clearasil is used because I can sometimes get a little zit here and there, and it also helps control the aforementioned grease situation. Hello, I am almost 41 and I still use Clearasil twice a day. Come at me.

Moisturizing: Nights

Pretty much the same thing as mornings, but instead of the SPF 50 moisturizer, I use Paula’s Choice 8% AHA Lotion.

Body Stuff

Most of my body routine is more about sensitive skin rather than aging skin. I have a deep and abiding love for hippy soap from the flea market because it comes in scents like Dragon’s Blood and Sandalwood, but sometimes I try a new brand and I can’t use it on “pits and bits” because something in it irritates me. In those cases, I switch to using the hippy soap for arms and legs and use Dove Unscented Sensitive formula on pits & bits. In times when stress combines with mom’s eczema genes and I start breaking out in “patches,” I put the hippy soap aside completely and only use Dove (and then put steroid cream on the patches afterward). For exfoliation, I use Nylon dish scrubbers (maybe try this at home, but start slowly and DO NOT use green/yellow O-Cel-O sponges. Or a palm sander.)

After the shower, I use either Gold Bold lotion or coconut oil, depending on mood, but always use the Gold Bold on my feet because coconut oil on feet doesn’t soak in fast enough for me to try and walk on my hardwoods without ending up in the ER for breaking my tail bone. Again. Oh, and if it’s day time, I use Lubriderm SPF 15 lotion and put Neutrogena Beach Defense SPF 70 (the stuff in the yellow packaging that smells like chemical bananas) on my tattoo.

Other Stuff

There are a few other things I do that don’t consist of lotions/potions/slather magic, so this is the spot for those. Every 4-6 months, I have the spot between my brows injected with Botox so I can’t do my “angry looking at a screen” face anymore. The minimum dose is still effective for me, so this isn’t crazy expensive, and doesn’t make me look like Nicole Kidman. Does this make me a tool of the patriarchy? I don’t know, but I know that I tried it once and was super stoked that I couldn’t look mad when I wasn’t mad. I am not being secretive about this because I feel like keeping it a secret is just like keeping anything else a secret: it implies that we should feel shame for what we do. I am completely shameless about my Botox, tool of the patriarchy or no. Also, I put collagen powder in my coffee. Is this BS? Maybe! There have been actual, scientific studies that say taking collagen can help fight aging, but the main reason I started taking it was to try and help with some bursitis (or whatever) in my hips. Has it helped? I think so! Has it made my hair better? Who knows, my hair has always sucked! Has it helped my skin? Maybe? But it’s not super expensive and a container of it lasts a decent amount of time, so I’m cool with continuing the experiment. It took a couple of months to start to see improvement, but I know I generally don’t have to groan when I get out of bed anymore, so there’s that. Also, I get boxes from Sephora Play, and I think there’s an option when you sign up that lets you tell them you’re more interested in skin care than makeup. I usually get 3 skin care things, one hair thing, and one makeup thing, and it’s almost always something I will use (they ask you questions about skin tone when you sign up so they send you the right color of foundation, for example). For $10 a month, it’s a great way to get a sample big enough for you to tell if the product is doing anything worthwhile. They sent me a sample of some foundation by Makeup Forever that will probably last me at least a year.

This is the paragraph where I am going to be preachy! Drink enough water! Eat some freaking vegetables! Don’t smoke! Maybe try to drink less (looking at myself here). Do whatever form of exercise you can stand to do! Lift some weights! Weight-bearing exercise will help you avoid osteoporosis, and having some muscle mass on your helps burn calories when you’re just sitting around (if you’re into that sort of thing). Meditate (again, giving myself the side-eye)! Try to have healthy ways to deal with stress! Wear sunblock! Because all of the stuff in this preachy paragraph full of crap you already know will do more for your than anything listed above.

And do things you enjoy! Nothing looks better on any of us than happiness, I’m just saying.