Things I wish I knew earlier about skincare

That part right there. I always thought my melanin = protection from the sun. 🤦🏾‍♀️ Well, when you know better, you do better, I guess? 😅

So, if I could tell my younger self (or my 15 yo daughter, with whom I have told) things about skincare, of course using an SPF!!!!!! NO BABY OIL OR TANNING BEDS! Also those infamous physical scrubs (from most notably St. Ives, but MANY others had a version as well) that supposedly helped create "minor tears" (more like MAJOR tears) on the skin, which, in theory, would cause the skin to stimulate itself to heal....they saturated the market with mashed up nut shells in skincare & called it genuis, said it did everything from get rid of dead skin(or a few IMPORTANT layers of healthy skin) unclogged pores, helped with wrinkles, removal of makeup, etc etc etc...This stuff are what skin has nightmares about...our skin cells probably have PTSD ...I would say stay away!!!! The cleanser part was still terrible & loaded with sulfates (what gives your skin the squeaky clean feeling), basically stripping your skin of ALL oils, not just the "extra sebum buildup" that "clogged our pores & caused acne" (another not so true statement). Your skin, especially at certain ages,, NEEDS those natural oils...a gentle gel cleanser with some good nutrients, Acids & NO sulfates would have been miraculous for me! Remember also being told that you start your skincare with warm water to open your pores & end it with cold water to close them? yeah, NOT TRUE, NOTHING IS TRUE ABOUT THIS!.Warm or hot water or even steam doesn't "OPEN" a pore, there's no such thing. Same with cold water closing a pore. The best is to start and end with cool water....the tempature of the water can inhibit ingredients from penetrating the skin as well as normal (like with goosebumps, sweating,etc your pores are less likely to "receive" added topicals bc its in a state of protection) but yeah, pores don't magically open & close (& they don't get bigger &/or shrink with a serum)....genetics determines majority of how pores look. The APPEARANCE of pores can be helped by smoothing the skin with use of topical skincare, but that's it.... Man, where were all the actual Dermatologist u til around 2008-2010? Were they misguided in school? alot of lies were told & people frantically bought anything that scrubbed, burned, or attacked our skins natural oils (aka being greasy, again, not a thing...oily skin is an overproduction of these oils and a good, nutshell free cleanser massaged into skin for at least 30 seconds will help wash away those extra oils that overload the skin, they can trap in anything that got on your skin while oils were produced that day/night, but can easily be washed away along with any environmental build up, makeup, etc. sorry for the NOVELLA, just had a few things to get off my chest 😅😬

same here

same!!

me too! 😭😭😭