Introduction
This is me documenting and finally realizing how bad I treated my body. I’m owning up to my horrible habits growing up and learning from it. It’s funny because I didn’t know that I’d be this into skincare if you asked me a couple years ago. I believe that the two most important things when it comes to our bodies and our skin is one, to understand, and two, be patient. The skin is our bodies largest organ. It works really hard to protect us every single day we are alive. So, the least we can do for our bodies is to take care of it and understand why it does what it does.
There are numerous factors when it comes to our skincare and why we breakout. I am no dermatologist, I am not certified, just a skin enthusiast – someone who has taken the time to learn about their body. It is in your best interest to seek a professional to work with you to a better skincare journey.
Let’s take a trip down memory lane. I graduated from high school here in Canada in 2011. During my years of high school every day at lunch I would purchase a Coca-Cola or an Arizona iced tea. During these lunches, it easily become four out of five days that I would buy my lunch which consisted of either greasy Chinese food, pizza or poutine. I had a fair amount of diary as well. Let me also point out that through the years of high school and university I had the what is known as dysmenorrhea, which I self diagnosed because my pain associated with my period was REALLY BAD. I constantly skipped classes because of this. Which, now looking back it all makes sense.
What I Used To Not Do
Honestly, I can’t remember what I did for my skin and what I didn’t even up until my years of university. In high school I can’t remember if I did any skincare. I barely did any from what I remember or was told, and if I did it was from my sister’s skincare stash because we shared a room. In university I dabbled into skincare a bit. This was when I first started to get to know my skin. University I did a lot of DIY masks thinking they were better alternatives because they’re natural. Which is also debatable in the skincare industry now because products are chemically structured and balanced. Don’t come at me okay. I remember doing DIY egg peel masks, using raw organic honey as my “cleanser” and not just as a diy mask.
To be transparent, these were the years in university where skin care wasn’t as evolved as it is now. So, I used a lot of the body shop skin care lines and honestly, they were a great place to start (for those years especially if you didn’t have the funds to purchase Kiehls). They have a lot of different lines even in the present day, but ultimately with the advancements that we’ve had in skin care now I wish we had that back then. Even skin care companies like The Ordinary, it wasn’t launched until 5 years ago. So, you can imagine how far we have come since then.
Keep in mind skincare was not advanced as it is now.
The Body Shop and drugstore skincare were popular then for me. I just didn’t know how to approach skincare. It was a new world. Essentially, I never understood skin care; I was scared?! Ok, I admit it! So to put it into perspective naive Pris would see a product labelled “hydrating” and think oh this must be good. I never took the time to understand the science behind it, I never learned or was taught anything about skin care ingredients and what each does to the skin. Honestly The Body Shop was probably where I started getting intrigued! With their different lines meant for different skin, and you could mix and match! How fun! Another thing was I never learned anything about hormones. So I didn’t know how big of a factor hormone played into skincare. I also never cared what I ate, how much junk, sugar, and dairy. You are what you eat right? It shows! Unfortunately…
Ok let’s dive in. This is a photo of how my skin was in 2014-2015.
This is how it it’s now!
My skin is now healthy! The goal is always to achieve healthy skin. I have texture, blackheads, redness, pigmentation, large pores… but even still my skin is healthy. My last big breakout was back in November. They were huge, and I had multiple all over my face. I was crying at one point because I felt ugly from them. I thought to myself I’m taking care of my skin, I’m not eating the worst all the time, why?! And I just simply felt unattractive.
What I Do Now
-
Turn and learn. Understand your labels! So that means learning basic skincare ingredients and what they do for the skin
-
Learn what works for my skin! What can your skin tolerate? What does it not need? A few of my favourite ingredients now are Retinoic products, Salicylic Acid, Vitamin C, Glycolic Acid and Niacinamide. They all did wonders for my skin over time.
-
Be patient!!!
-
Learn what foods are triggering and eliminate those. It’s difficult. But it gets easier. Cutting out dairy and sugar made a huge difference for me.
-
Learn about my hormones (new education journey for me if you will)
Related Article: How to Prevent Acne and Pimples
Things I wish I was told growing up:
-
Do not follow skincare trends. There’s a lot of those. Learn to spot when it’s a trend and do yourself a favour: don’t do it.
-
Learn what works for your skin!
-
Take a step back and think about all the factors your skin is breaking out from such as diet and hormones
-
Turn and learn! learn the basic skincare ingredients and what they do for the skin
-
Be patient. It takes at least 4 weeks of consistent use to real results.
-
Learn what foods are triggering and eliminate them.
-
Learn basics of hormones to understand how they work in your body
What are some things you were guilty of? Maybe you still are guilty, and if you are, this is your sign to do better for yourself. It starts from the inside out.
If you are also interested in some links I gathered of popular skincare from 2012-2016, check these links below!
https://www.allure.com/gallery/best-of-beauty-skin-care-2014
https://www.bustle.com/articles/137343-10-skin-care-trends-for-2016-that-everyone-should-try-photos
https://people.com/style/beauty-awards-2016-best-skincare/
https://www.allure.com/gallery/best-of-beauty-skin-care
If you made it this far, I hope you enjoyed this. I hope this provided a little insight for you about me. And I hope you follow me on Instagram to check out the apology letter I wrote to myself.
As per usual, you can find me on social media to keep up to date with me.
With love,
Pris Wong xo
lifewithpriswong 