An Entirely too Long and Conceited Post About my Skincare Journey

     Why should you take any of my skincare advice? I mean, it's a logical question. I'm not a licensed aesthetician, I've never been to cosmetology school, sometimes my skin is in poor condition, and most days I can't be bothered to apply makeup in the morning. To be honest, I probably sound like just another unqualified voice on the internets, trying to act like my opinion matters. Valid point. I'm lacking in those credentials. But what I do have is a storied past of fighting my skin, combined with an actual scientific background. And while it's true that I'm not a dermatologist and I don't have a background in cosmetic chemistry, I am a trained biologist, geneticist to be exact, and I currently work full time doing hands-on gene therapy research for a well-known private university (if you're from Atlanta, I'll give you one guess). I think it gives me a leg up on most of my internet competition because I come at everything from a scientific point of view. I don't care what the glossy ads in Elle magazine say about a product, I don't care what celebrity endorses the product, I don't even care that this product is very expensive and sold at fancy department stores. I've learned to stop falling for marketing ploys and start looking at the science behind skincare ingredients. And to quote a poet, "it has made all the difference."
     I remember struggling so badly with my skin when I was in college. Through middle school and high school my skin was fairly clear, but very oily. I don't remember worrying about it too much and just using whatever cleanser from the drug store. But in college, man, things changed. I'm sure it was a combo of stress, poor diet, and bad water, but it set me into a full fledged acne/oil tailspin. I remember at one point during freshman year where I was washing my face three (!) times a day with orignal Noxema. Yikes! I remember standing in front of the mirror crying because my face was tight, shiny, red, still had acne, and I knew in thirty minutes it was going to be covered in oil.
     By the time I was 20 I had found Proactiv and my skin got a bit clearer. I hated the way the products would bleach my washcloths and pillowcases, but it seemed worth it to have clearer skin. I still had massive pores, extremely oily skin, and dry flaky patches from the products. After a few years I ended up going off the products because my skin texture was just so bad. Grad school found me finally seeking a dermatologist to try and sort out my acne. Which wasn't horrible, but I was still struggling with whiteheads/blackheads/acne and, per usual. really oily skin. The doc prescribed a topical retinoid cream and some benzoyl peroxide cleansing wipes. I used the products for about a year and half before I finally gave up. No matter how I staggered the products they ended up leaving me with red, dry, itchy skin that still somehow managed to produce copious amount of oil.
     Things started to finally make sense when I stumbled across a very out of date book at the used book store called "Don't go to the Cosmetic Counter Without Me" by Paula Begoun. The book was pretty beat up, but I slowly started reading through it. A lot of what she said was counter everything I'd been taught about skincare, but it seemed to make sense. I looked her up online and found that she now had her own line of skincare and makeup (Paula's Choice) and was selling online. She had also started a website called beautypedia where she had all the product reviews from her book listed. I started reading and researching. I ended up ordering some products from her skincare line and started stumbling my way back to better skin. I owe my skin to Paula and I'll never forget that.
     These days I'm not brand loyal to Paula's Choice products anymore, but they still make up more than half my arsenal. I very much appreciate the research that she lays out for you on her website. Each of her products has listed a full ingredient list, definitions for what each ingredient does, and peer reviewed journal articles about what an active ingredient actually does. No more mystery claims and "proprietary data"! Amazing! I think her product reviews are pretty biased lately, now that she has her own products to push, but it's always my first stop when I start checking out a new product.
     It still ended up taking a few years to work out the kinks in my skincare. I finally figured out the my skin is very sensitive to silicones, which is a nightmare in today's market, and that I have to quit being lazy and actually work on my skin twice a day; no excuses! You'd think I'd have figured that one out a lot earlier, but whatevs, that's life. I've also been soaking up any and all advice from the amazing Caroline Hirons, and that has definitely helped me establish a morning and evening routine. Today, I'm happy to report that my skin is looking wonderful (boy that sounds conceited). I have a routine morning and evening that rotates products around depending on my skin and it works. I no longer fight my skin, trying to beat it into submission. I have accepted the fact that I will ALWAYS have an oily T-zone and I will ALWAYS have to work diligently to keep blocked pores to a minimum. I have learned that my skin hates having oil stripped from it and will retaliate by producing oil in massive excess. On the flipside, I see nearly zero signs of aging and my complexion is surprisingly even. I don't wear foundation often because I just don't think I need to. Most importantly, I no longer spend time upset and worrying about the state of my skin.
     So, that was entirely too long of a post but I hope that sharing my journey might give you hope that 1.) you can change your skin and 2.) that I might actually have a clue about skincare. Hopefully you'll stay tuned to this space for lots of advice on ingredients, routines, products, and general makeup/skincare talk!