How To Choose Your Own Skin Care Products

This isn’t my article on skin care but I thought it so good I wanted you to read it here. The complete references are below this article.

Hey! I'm gonna talk about something that I deem to be really important.  And I haven't seen anybody address it on YouTube. As fun as it is to kind of recommend products and talk about what we like, that kind of information will only benefit you. . . as long as those products are on the shelf but if I teach you how to find a good product, then it won't really matter what shelf you're staring at, you'll be able to just read the ingredients and find something that really benefits your skin.

This article is about something really important. I’m writing it because I haven’t seen anybody else address it directly. No doubt there are, but I haven’t seen them.

Recommending products to use is fun, especially if they’re what you like, but what about the products that you need, not me. And believe me, our skins are all different. What works for me will not necessarily work for you.

But, if I teach you how to choose a skin care product for your skin and not just say what worls for me then that’s a good thing isn’t it?

Skin care is something that should be really simple, yet every day millions of bottles fly off the shelves and there's still no universal conclusion to the problems of our skin and the reason why I think that is it's because skin care is kind of like a chemistry experiment.  What works for me might not work for you and we all know that but there are principles that we all can follow to kind of find the perfect skin care for our particular skin-type. 

A lot of us hear about a good product and we go out and buy it and if we aren't paying attention to the basics, then we're essentially just shooting in the dark and hoping that we find a good solution to our problems But, if you pay attention to the basics, then you're going to be paying attention to your skin's protective barrier, your skin's health and your skin's vulnerability to aging. 

I used to have really bad acne and blackheads.  The reason for this is a thing called the "Acid Mantle". Have you ever heard of that? So, the acid mantle is a protective layer on the skin that has a ph of four-point-five to six-point-two, did you know that?  So it's slightly on the acidic side, seven being neutral.  And the acid mantle acts as a protective barrier as well as an antioxidant.  When the mantle is thrown off by alkaline soaps or harsh cleansers, our skin is left pretty much defenseless and that's when bacteria can get in and blackheads happen and acne happens, there are other factors than that, but learning this was probably the main thing that cleared up my skin. 

So you shouldn't be using products that throw off your skin's ph.  Alkaline soaps are one of the main things that contribute to screwing up your acid mantle.  Your skin feels good for the moment, but that's because it's missing everything.  It's missing the natural oils, it's missing the protective barrier and it's missing just this acidity that it needs to be healthy.  So if you try to find a cleanser that is a bit more on the acidic side, you're going to be a lot better off.  Everybody has a different skin ph to begin with.  Everybody's skin is slightly different on the scale, so I can recommend to you this Juice Beauty cleanser, but it might be a little too acidic for you or a little too basic. 

It's really an experimenting game.  This really really works for me, but it's slightly too acidic for my sister, so she uses the one that's a little bit more milky.  If you use a product that you can read the ingredients of and understand the ingredients of, you can really look up how acidic all of the products are and you can find something that really works for you. These work for me and my sister, my skin is combination oily, and her skin is very dry and susceptible to eczema. Sorry if you didn't want me mentioning that.

I can't even keep track of how many steps people add to their skincare routines but I just use a gentle cleanser and then I load my face up with low-alkaline oils.  This seems counter-intuitive to a lot of people, because we're indoctrinated by the media and everyone to avoid oils like the plague, but extra virgin fresh pressed avocado oil is a low-alkaline oil.  If you follow me, you probably know that I'm obsessed with this stuff.  I actually have three oils in my line-up.  Just to mix it up and last night I washed my face in the shower, I put  this on, I barely washed it off, so my skin was quite moisturized. I went to bed and I woke up and. . .  Damn! Nice Skin! I like to mix it up with coconut oil as well as, olive oil and some other oils are very basic. 

Olive oil is very low-alkaline, so these are a little… little… little… bit on the acidic side.  A lot of moisturizers are actually quite alkaline.  A lot of moisturizers can be throwing everything off and if you're using an alkaline cleanser, then putting a moisturizer on it is just gonna make it worse, especially if it's a conventional moisturizer, with a lot of chemicals and irritants in it.  Different oils have different phs, so you probably have to match oils to your skin's ph. 

My sister has the really dry, eczema-prone skin and she exclusively uses the avocado oil.  She doesn't use a moisturizer.  She puts this on her body, and her face and her skin is Very Nice!

So I'm not stripping the crap out of my skin anymore and that's one of the reasons my skin's better.  By using this coconut oil (this actually has antibacterial and antimicrobial properties so if you have any problems that might be happening) if it matches the acidity, it's just going to help everything out instead of make things worse or take things away. 

So I knew a guy for all of three years and the whole time I knew him he didn't have any acne whatsoever - like none. And he said that he used to have acne until he stopped using conditioner and he stopped washing his face. So he didn't wash his face the entire time I knew him and his face was pristine.  He's a little luckier, because he doesn’t wear makeup and his natural oil balances are really good. 

So basically your cleanser and your moisturizer and your toner (if you use that), they should help your skin do its job.  Your skincare line should be there to assist your skin in helping itself. I feel like the best skincare is getting as close as you can to letting your skin naturally maintain itself.  If your skin can maintain itself alone then don't bother it with all these products. 

These products are just built to make us think that we can be even better but the more we go back to the natural products, the better everything is gonna be.  So, again, my cleanser is slightly on the acidic side.  And I use it at night because some of these citrusy components can react to the sun and the sun is another thing that throws off your skin's acid mantle and that's why everyone says that sunscreen is one of the number one anti-aging. . . ?. . . golden. . . ?. . Holy Grail! That's what it is!

Sunscreen protects you from all that.  If you don't like sunscreen then wear a hat, but the sun is a cause of aging, because it throws off your skin's acid mantle.  Do your cleansers that throw off your acid mantle age you too? Yes. They do! I know a lot of you are gonna be discouraged because your acne is hormonal and my acne was in fact hormonal.  It got a lot worse during certain times than others times and my skin is basically perfect most of the month and sometimes it gets a little bit bad, but nothing out of control.  Like the worst that happen to it is like a pimple here and there, whereas, before I started treating my skin right, it was a mountainous range. 

So despite the fact that I have hormonal acne, I don't have any problems anymore, so. . . just don't lose hope with that.  Your diet is definitely a missing piece to the puzzle, because your diet can throw off your acid mantle as well. . . Just remember that manufacturers are going to make whatever you're going to buy, so these manufacturers aren't necessarily focusing on what is going to benefit you. 

That is why there are razor sharp exfoliates and really harsh chemicals and horrible fragrances, because people are going to buy it. So, I guess if you're going to take anything from this, just try to be a conscious consumer. Try to read the label and try to only put your money towards things that are worthy of your money.  Your money's important, you work hard for it, so put it towards causes that you believe in.  And put it towards things that you actually think will benefit yourself and other women too!

 Just to recap: --

• Get a gentle cleanser,
• Don't be afraid to dabble in the oils,
• Wear sunscreen,
• Eat better
• Read the ingredients.

I hope that this article helped. I'm sorry that I can't prescribe the be-all-and-end-all of skincare products.  We're all different - but there are guidelines we can all follow. 

If there's anything you need to stay away from this it's

• Remember alkaline cleansers. 
• Remember your skin's acid mantle. 
• Remember that your skin is slightly acidic. 

And if you're ever unsure, read the ingredients.  Use your iPhone and look up what the ingredients are on the ph scale.  And, just make sure there's nothing too alkaline in there, because alkaline stuff screws up your skin.  

This article is taken from a good Youtube video concerning skin care. I’ve transcribed it and changed it a little to allow for this different format. The original is by CloudyApples and you can find it here if you want to see the original. However, I have added it here to keep everything in one place.