Why Skincare Is Healthcare and Not Just Beauty

Not taking care of your skin can be detrimental to your health and even cause death. People don’t understand this. Here’s a simple guide to basic skincare and why it should be a part of your lifestyle.

I was once video chatting with this really stupid guy. He’s really stupid. Like flunked in classes where you simply had to show up stupid. And wastes his time taking the wrong classes stupid. He’s stupid. He’s also lazy. Why am I telling you this? It’s to understand the kind of person I was talking to when I said this. You’ll see in the dialogue lol. Avoid these types of people at all costs.

It was a really nice way of saying, “You have a fucked up pizza face”, when I offered to give him a facial. A genuine, sit down and scrub the fuck out of your skin, pop your blackhead facial. People charge $200+ for this, and I was willing to do it free, because he was handsome but had the worst yet fixable skin. Trust me, I asked him in a really gentle way that he didn’t get the point, because people can be fucking stupid lol.

He was extremely fucking lazy and didn’t wash his hands or face at the end of the day was my theory. 

He answered to my offer with: “My mom doesn’t put makeup or does facials.” 

IDGAF. Makeup has nothing to do with facials. Getting a facial is like getting your teeth cleaned.

Your teeth are a whole other story as teeth issues always lead to heart problems, among other nasty general hygiene complications.

Like anything else, the longer you wait the worse your problem will be. You can’t turn back time as it is and want to do everything you can to prevent as much as possible.

Not taking care of your skin can lead to melanoma. Thousands of people die from skin cancer every year and it starts with basic skin hygiene. 

I’m not saying go out of your way to buy hundred-dollar skin creams, but understand your skin better to see if you are normal, dry, combination, or oily skin. This is basic shit. If you don’t understand by now–Google it. This is the information age and if you’re having trouble figuring shit out you’re not resourceful enough AKA fucking stupid. If you search hard enough, every piece of knowledge is free. 

If your parents didn’t teach you this, I’m glad you’re here. My parents definitely did it and I had to turn 21 to figure it all out. Thank you Sephora reviews and Byrdie Beauty for teaching me what to not do that I’ve been doing for years. 

The basics: 

1. Wash your face. 

This could simply be a gentle face wash in the morning. Different skin types vary. Personally, I have normal skin. I’m said to have combination skin by my dermatologist, but she always sees me after a long, tiresome day when my skin is exposed and oily. At home on the regular, it’s normal to dry. 

If your skin is like mine, you can use a very gentle cleanser in the morning. If you have a special event, exfoliate first thing so you feel bright before piling on the war paint.

2. Use toner.

The use of toner is different for everyone–as it is with everything including diet and skincare, etc. For me, I use toner to make my skin look even. I have hyperpigmentation and it not only brightens, but cleans my skin after washing my face. I’ll get a cotton pad and rub my face and neck only to find it brown with dirt even if I’m indoors in my office. We accumulate a lot of dirt on our skin no matter how hard we try.

3. Apply serum and/or moisturizer.

For my skin type, I don’t use a bunch of product every day. Especially for my daily routine. I’m not an expert on skincare as I’ve been to a ton of aestheticians, and dermatologists who all say different shit every time. And I’m talking as someone who stayed with them for at least a year and tried out what they had to offer. 

As your skin changes, so will your routine. This could mean every season, every week, or every day just to mix things up and keep your skin excited. But try a routine that you realize helps you and find a product you can trust. For me, Tata Harper’s Resurfacing AHA + BHA Serum is a gold mine. I do not get paid to say this. It’s in case you have similar skin to mine and need something that might help. 

I also love the strong Ordinary Glycolic toner. My latest aesthetician says it’s strong, but the other shit she suggests to me doesn’t do anywhere near the same job that I have tried and tested it to do. 

Since I’m not a skin expert, this is only me saying the basics of what I know for my skin but spilling the truth on what you should by the least be doing for your skin 100%. I know that part is true.

It’s a lot of trial and error seeing what works for you. I simply try to use less items and test them out for at least 3 weeks to see them do their work. It takes months to see if a product works, so I try to do that but have so much experience with what works for my skin, I can see results and change faster–even when I record it on my camera phone. 

The reason I use less product, is because as a person who’s not an expert, I don’t know what ingredients are cancelling each other out. So I want to get my money’s worth and test what truly works for my skin by using things either one at a time, and then later try products together if I see any difference. This is basic experimentation and what scientists use to test anything out lol. 

My stepmom deliberately fucked me over when it came to skincare and only bought facial cleanser for my stepbrother. However, my dad saw weird spots in my face and noticed I had pigmentation problems 5ever. I had deadly sunburns as a kid to the point where my blankets stuck to my face from the crystallized puss. 

It took me 21 years to realize I don’t have sensitive skin. Just need to take care of it. Seek the truth for your skin type. Visit experts. Ask everyone with similar skin and google as much as possible. Read reviews on Ulta and Sephora and any place with skincare. You will never know until you ask.

For more reviews on skincare products visit The Guide.

Have you had skin issues you didn’t realize after a long time? What has worked for you? I’d love to know your thoughts in the comments, because this is such a difficult issue to solve.