Irritated Skin or is it Your Skincare?

I used to have red, irritated skin all year round.  It didn’t necessarily hurt, but it embarrassed me and I couldn’t find foundation to cover it because they don’t make a color called ‘Constant Blush’ in any line I’ve seen.  I also thought it was oily and was used skincare products from the drugstore to “control my oil”.

Now I know I was doing it all wrong.

During my very first week of esthetics school, I learned that the skincare products I was using were way, way, way too harsh for my skin.  Why?  Because I have dry and sensitive skin.  The skincare products were actually making my skin worse.

Thank God for esthetics school.  It literally changed everything I thought I knew about my skin, or skin in general really.  When one of my instructors told me that I was born with my skin type (sensitive and dry), it changed everything.  She said that the harsh skincare products I was using before were actually making my oil glands go into over-active mode, therefore making me appear oily.

I was really screwing with my skin.

From then on, I chose gentle, calming cleansers and moisturizers.  My favorite line became Dermalogica’s UltraCalming line that has awesome botanicals to soothe and calm skin paired with their amazing science to keep redness at bay.  It was life-changing.  Then, I was so excited to help other women get to the root of their skin problems and knew this was just the beginning.

And now I’m licensed to help people with their skin.

When people ask me about their skin now, it’s usually at a party or a weird setting where I can’t see past their makeup.  If I could see, I would be looking for the size of their pores, feeling for the temperature and doing some other simple tests looking through a magnification lamp to properly diagnose their skin type and skin condition – which are two separate things, believe it or not.  And I seriously love doing skin analysis –  I just can’t in awkward social settings.

Moral of the story: we all need a good esthetician.

Have you ever suffered from annoying skin problems?  If so, your best bet on getting a skin analysis is to see an esthetician.  Yes, go get a facial and see what’s going on with your skin.  More importantly, listen to what they tell you when they recommend skincare products to use.  Just like doctors and lawyers went to school, so did estheticians.  And most of them actually have to get continuous training and education on the skincare lines they sell.  It’s a good place to start and might just save your skin too.  It definitely saved mine.
Cheers!