Transcription
Hello angels. Today I'm going over the complete evidence-based skincare routine for clear glass skin. I was not born looking like this. In fact, I spent decades dealing with almost every single possible kind of skin issue you can imagine. Some of them I still deal with today, but I work so hard to get here. And no, I'm not wearing makeup at all. This is me and my skin, literally.
I'm going over the science behind getting clear skin, specifically glass skin. The types of ingredients that will get you that clear glass skin. My morning and evening routines, how to deal with different types of skin as well as their approaches, things that you can do at the dermatologist, at the med spa, what's worth it and what's not worth it.
If you're new here, my name is May. I am sort of like a beauty philosopher. I'm working on it, guys, but some of you are not really quite getting my brand. So, I need to like work on the branding. I talk about leveling up physically, mentally, and spiritually because the glow up is only the beginning. We have to work on ourselves on the inside as well as our spiritual selves. But you know what? I am the beauty philosopher. I am a spiritual bimbo, but I'm also smart. So, pretty much all of my videos have chapters on them and timestamps. So, if there's anything that you're specifically interested in, you can skip around. I also have a free PDF guide that's sort of like a companion guide to this video on achieving clear glass skin that's also evidence-backed.
So let's start first with the science of clear glass skin and what you're actually building. So glass skin, it's not like a filter that you use, okay? It's real. It's not genetics, but the visible results of a healthy functioning skin barrier with consistent cellular turnover. These are the two major things that you need to remember. Cellular turnover and a healthy strong skin barrier. This means when your barrier is intact, your cells are turning over properly and the light reflects evenly off of the surface of your skin and you look glowy and dewy. That's the glass skin effect. It's not about piling on all kinds of products. In fact, all I have on right now is moisturizer and I put a bit of toner. It's really all about what your skin needs on a biological level according to the condition of your skin and your skin type.
So let's start first with the skin barrier. Your stratum corneum is the outermost layer. So think about your skin like a brick wall for example. Your skin cells are like the bricks. The lipids which are the ceramides, the cholesterols, the fatty acids are the mortar. It keeps everything together. So when the barrier is damaged, moisture escapes and irritants start to get in. This can be all kinds of different things, right? Like the environment, it could be your diet, all kinds of things. But the irritants come in, the skin becomes more reactive, red, flaky, inflamed or overproduces sebum or oil to compensate and to try and fix this barrier.
So what are the signs of a damaged barrier? One, when you apply products, it hurts and it stings you. No products should be stinging you like that. And if they do, or if they're saying that, oh, it intentionally hurts for a reason, run, girl. Unless you're doing some kind of procedure at the med spa, then you know, some of it hurts. If your skin feels very tight or overly oily all the time, or if you're having like random chronic breakouts and it feels really sensitive and it feels like it's coming out of nowhere, these are all the signs that your barrier is damaged.
So, how do you heal that? When I was dealing with really horrible acne, the first thing that my dermatologist told me is stop using whatever products you're using. So, whoever sold you a 10 to 12-step skin routine is selling you a lie, which is not right. Okay? Stop overloading your skin with 20 different skincare products, especially if they're actives, and simplify your routine a lot, and focus on rebuilding it on a cellular level, depending on the level of damage. Barrier repair can take about 2 to 8 weeks. There are a few key ingredients that repair the skin barrier, and I'm going to go over this in detail, but right now, I'm just going to share with you: ceramides, niacinamide, panthenol, B5, squalane, cholesterol, and centella asiatica or cica.
And now let's talk about cellular turnover. Your skin naturally sheds dead skin cells and replaces them with new ones. This is a very natural process. This cycle takes roughly about 28 days in your 20s. But as you begin to age into your 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s and beyond, it starts to slow down. So the result of a slow turnover is your skin also produces collagen not as quickly. You deal with more signs of dull skin, clogged pores, uneven texture, and hyperpigmentation that lingers a little bit longer. So the goal is to support and accelerate that turnover without destroying your skin barrier in the process.
What are some of these ingredients that affect cellular turnover? Number one, my favorite, retinoids. These are vitamin A derivatives. In fact, any type of vitamin derivative or acid is an active. So, you don't want to use more than one active in any one particular skincare routine. Unless they're super gentle, then I guess it's fine. But for the most part, if you have very sensitive skin, be careful. So, retinoids, vitamin A, is the gold standard. Tretinoin, which usually in the states you can only get by prescription. But if you go to Mexico or any other country, you can just buy over the counter at the pharmacy. Tretinoin is the most studied and most effective out of all of the retinoids. It is also the most intense. Retinaldehyde, which is retinaldehyde, is also one conversion step away from tretinoin. So, it's stronger than a typical retinol. I love using retinaldehyde in my skin routine, especially when I want a break from the tretinoin. And I have products that also moisturize the skin with the retinaldehyde to give it a more like holistic effect. And so I get to use less skincare products in my routine, which is always a win. So all of these things increase cell turnover and boost collagen production, reduces fine lines, clears up your acne, and fades pigmentation. In fact, at that point on acne, tretinoin is also known as isotretinoin, which is Accutane. If you've ever had chronic acne and a dermatologist prescribed you these oral pills that ruin your life, low-key ruin your life because it ruined mine, tretinoin is the cream version of that. And so much easier on your system. Like so much. I literally have a 6-month supply of isotretinoin in my closet right now that I'm not even touching because I am scared.
And then you have AHAs, alpha hydroxy acids. These are glycolic acid, lactic acid, mandelic acid. They all work on the surface to dissolve the bonds that are holding the dead cells together. These acids are basically telling the dead skin cells you need to go. Glycolic is the strongest. I use this in my routine. It has the smallest molecule and the deepest penetration. Lactic acid is more gentle but also more hydrating. And then mandelic acid is the gentlest one. It's good for sensitive skin and also darker skin tones because there's less risk of PIH.
And then there's BHAs, beta hydroxy acids. Salicylic acid is one and it's oil-soluble so it penetrates into the pore. It's excellent for acne-prone skin and oily skin. I used this a lot especially when I was a teenager. All of my cleansers have salicylic acid in it because I was so acne-ridden.
And then there's enzymes like papain, papaya, bromelain, pineapple. These are very gentle surface exfoliation without the pH acid concerns. So if you find this in the skincare product, great. You can also take it as a supplement as well, which I will also get into.
These skincare ingredients are absolutely essential in every skincare routine. Number one is SPF sunscreen, which is the single most important factor for anti-aging, anti-pigmentation, anti-damage that you can possibly use. If you can only choose one product today to use out of everything else, choose a sunscreen. UV radiation breaks down your collagen. It causes all kinds of problems for you, including hyperpigmentation. It worsens your scars. It accelerates aging, damages your skin barrier. Worst of all is it can even trigger skin cancer. Every other product that you can use is basically undermined if you don't use SPF.
So there are two types of sunscreens. Okay? One is the chemical sunscreen and the other one is a physical mineral sunscreen or we call them a sunblock. The difference between the two is chemical sunscreens are first of all, they're not reef-safe. They will wash off. They're not water-resistant and they usually sound like like an oxybenzone or like a something something zone, something something zen, and they take about half an hour to take effect. So if you're going outside and you're putting on chemical sunscreen, make sure to put it on about half an hour before you leave the house. Whereas mineral sunblock with zinc oxide, titanium oxide, they're reef-safe, much friendlier with ocean life. They're also more waterproof and they're the ones that leave a bit of a white cast on your skin. There are a few formulations that have invisible zinc. It works immediately as soon as you put it on. And it is so much better for you in general and also especially if you have sensitive skin to be using physical sunblock because it doesn't irritate your skin like chemical sunscreens do. The way chemical sunscreens work is basically the UV light enters your skin and it gets into your skin, but then the chemicals and it actually convert the UV into something else. Whereas sunblocks just straight up block UV rays from even entering your skin in the first place. So, choose your fighter according to your skin sensitivity levels and preference.
And then, like I mentioned, retinol is truly the most evidence-backed ingredient for anti-aging, acne, texture, tone, cellular turnover. If you're very sensitive to retinoids, start as low as possible. The cream that I first started with is called adapalene. It's like a very, very weak form of retinol. So you can start there and then slowly build tolerance. It took me honestly about 6 months to a year to build tolerance all the way to tretinoin from the lowest adapalene.
And then there's vitamin C, L-ascorbic acid. It's my other favorite vitamin. It's an antioxidant that neutralizes free radical damage from UV damage, pollution. It also really brightens up your skin and supports collagen synthesis. It fades hyperpigmentation and PIH. So, it's super effective if you're dealing with any of those kinds of issues, and it's most effective when it's at 10 to 20% concentration with a low pH. It's supposed to be acidic.
Then, my other favorite is niacinamide, vitamin B3. I used to be very sensitive to this ingredient for some reason, but now I'm not anymore, which is awesome because I love it. It strengthens your skin barrier, regulates your sebum, reduces redness, fades pigmentation, improves pore appearance. It really does wonders, especially if you have oily skin because I used to have oily skin. Now I have a normal skin type and I think it's because I've been using niacinamide. It's insane.
Another essential product is hyaluronic acid. It's barely even an acid, but it is a humectant that holds up to a thousand times its weight in water. It really hydrates you and holds in all of the other products that you're going to be using on your skin. So I use hyaluronic acid very, very early on in my skincare routines, as early as possible. Some of my toners even have hyaluronic acid in it. It works best at high and low molecular weight for both surface and deeper hydration.
And then ceramides, which I mentioned before, is one of the building blocks of your skin barrier. So using ceramides in your skin routine restores and maintains barrier integrity. It is essential for anyone that has a compromised skin barrier and sensitive skin, dry skin, reactive skin.
And lastly, Centella Asiatica, cica, is anti-inflammatory, wound healing, barrier repair. It is one of the most studied botanical ingredients. I believe they find it in a plant in Indonesia. It is one of the most incredible things that I use. It's super gentle on your skin. That and panthenol, which is also a vitamin B derivative, vitamin B5.
So, this is what the hierarchy looks like. If you do nothing else, just cleanser, moisturizer, and SPF. Okay? This is the bare minimum. If you want to add one active to your routine, try using a retinol in the evening. I'm going to get into why later. And if you want to add two actives, I would do a retinol in the evening and vitamin C in the morning, in the AM. And you want to add three actives to your routine: retinol in the PM, vitamin C in the AM, plus niacinamide whenever. And everything else is just you optimizing based on what you want on top of all these fundamentals.
But also, real quick, I want to set some expectations as well because a lot of us do not have realistic expectations. I hate to break it to you, but it is true. Everyone has skin texture. Whatever you're seeing on social media is a lot of great lighting, camera lenses, filters, and camera blur. That I get filter accusations all the time until people see me in person. Mhm. Everyone has pores. Everyone has texture. Your skin is not made of porcelain. It is an organ. So if you see a little bit of here and there, it's normal. But what is a normal texture beyond all of that can come from all kinds of things. One, acne scarring. Whether that's an ice pick scar, box scar, rolling scars, all of these things. Each of them responds to different treatments. There's also skin damage and photoaging that really causes texture, collagen breakdown. It creates rough surfaces, dehydration when you're not drinking enough water. And I drink drink water every day, like literally liters and liters of water. And I will do it right now. Okay. When you're dehydrated, your skin will look dry and crepey and rough because your skin barrier is compromised. Like there's not enough material to send to your skin. Sometimes people tell me like, "I don't need that much water. Like, I am just fine." Wow. Girly, your skin is just barely surviving. Your body is on survival mode. You need to give it water. There's also dead skin buildup from not exfoliating or over-moisturizing without enough turnover. This is what you need to be careful of because of product buildup. It's a serious thing. Like less is more. And then lastly, there's keratosis pilaris, KP, which are rough bumps on arms, thighs, sometimes cheeks. This can be genetics but it can be managed and not really cured, but it can be managed. For those, you can use ingredients like urea, lactic acid, and gentle exfoliation.
And then let's get into the pores. Okay, pore size is largely genetic. You cannot just shrink pores permanently. I know I have said something like shrink pores before, but I really meant reduce the visible appearance of pores. But what you can do is to keep them clean so they appear smaller and build collagen around them so that your skin looks tighter because the collagen fills it in. Like you can see right now my skin, I had a lot of pores, but I recently did a CO2 laser which literally wiped away the pores, but you can't technically remove pores. Niacinamide as an ingredient can regulate that sebum production which typically reduces the appearance of pores. Tretinoin can also do the same thing as well as collagen which helps long-term. It increases cellular turnover. And then there's procedures that I mentioned, the laser and also microneedling. They are the most effective things you can do for pore refinement. But what makes pores worse is picking your skin, squeezing your pimples and squeezing the little whiteheads out of your pores, sun damage which breaks down collagen around pore walls so that they stretch out and none of these things are good.
So what are the different skin types as well as the approaches? Because this really matters. Your skin type directly changes how ingredients behave on your skin. This is just physiology and we will work with it. Different things like oil production, barrier integrity, nerve reactivity, water retention, all of these things alter the levels of absorption of the skincare ingredients, irritation, how well these products work. So using the wrong ingredients can actually create false negatives. For example, heavy occlusives on oily skin is just going to create acne or strong acids on very sensitive skin is only going to further damage your skin barrier.
So let's talk about different types of skin. The first is oily skin, which are overactive in its sebaceous glands. Excess sebum, it creates a lot of oil and a thicker lipid layer. So thicker skin is generally associated with oily skin and it also creates a more acne-causing environment unfortunately. So some of the ingredients that work best here are the different kinds of acids. Salicylic acid, BHA, because it's oil-soluble and it penetrates into your pores. Niacinamide is really great to reduce the sebum output. I mentioned earlier how it cured my oily skin so to speak. And also retinols to normalize the rate of cellular turnover and reduce the oil over time. And then lastly, you can also use bentonite or clay to absorb oil. There are some upsides to having oily skin. And it's my favorite thing about having oily skin. You age slower because the sebum, the oil is literally like a preservative for your skin. It protects you against transepidermal water loss. So, you're less likely to lose water through your skin and it also creates for a more resilient barrier and environment for your skin in the long run. But the cons is obviously acne. You deal with more blackheads, whiteheads, enlarged pores, and possibly more inflammation if the oil like lingers around your face, which you shouldn't be letting it linger.
And then dry skin, so there's much lower sebum production and more likely for your skin barrier to be impaired because your barrier is constantly losing water. So there's high water loss. It's sort of like micro cracks in the stratum corneum if it continues to lose water at such a rapid rate like that. So you constantly have to moisturize. So what works best here? Ceramides are amazing for rebuilding your barrier lipids. Hyaluronic acid will help you basically keep all of that water into your skin as a humectant as well as occlusives like shea butter, petrolatum, like Aquaphor or what's the other one, Vaseline to seal in the hydration. So, if I were you as a dry skin girly, I would literally be loading up on all of the moisturizers, healing my skin with ceramide lotions and hyaluronic acid, and then at night before you go to sleep, just top everything off with a very thin layer of shea butter or Aquaphor or something like that to keep all of the moisture in. The pros for the dry skin girlies and lucky you are smaller pores and less acne. You don't really deal with that stuff very much. But the cons are faster visible aging. The fine lines will show up faster and earlier, more likely for your skin to be irritated and flaking and more likely to be sensitive. So you basically want to protect your skin from irritants and generate as much collagen as you can.
And then we have combination skin, which are a regional variation in sebaceous activity. That means your T-zone generally is oilier than your cheeks where it's more dry. So what works best here is a zone-based treatment. You may need to consider different ingredients for different zones. So maybe the T-zone gets the BHA and the niacinamide and the drier areas get more ceramides, moisturizing ingredients and hyaluronic acid. So lighter weight lotions and moisturizers are best here without getting too heavy. The pros are you age really nicely. You have a very balanced aging profile. You're very flexible in the kind of products that you use because it works for different kinds of concerns that you have. But the cons are sometimes if you know if your T-zone is super active for example, you may need to have a bit of precision in the way that you protect your skin and also the way that you go through your skin routine because the wrong products for you can worsen that state of imbalance and it's also very easy to overtreat one zone compared to the other.
Lastly is sensitive skin. So you may have hyperreactive nerve endings, a more weakened barrier as well as an exaggerated inflammatory response. Meaning whenever you have a flare-up or something happens, you feel like your skin overreacts to it. So what works best here? Panthenol B5 reduces irritation as well as Centella Asiatica for anti-inflammatory. And honestly, I would just focus on those two. I don't even have sensitive skin and I still use a panthenol and cica moisturizer because it's really that effective and it works and it's just so good. If I were you as a sensitive skin girly, I would avoid fragrance, essential oils, anything that is too high percentage in the acids, anything too harsh. I would not be physically exfoliating the skin at all.
So, let's break this down real quick. If you have oily skin, regulating the oil production, decongesting your skin. If you have dry skin, repairing your skin and sealing in moisture. If you have combination skin, you may need to look at separate strategies for the zones that you're dealing with. And then you have sensitive skin, reducing as much harsh chemicals, as much like, you know, routines as you can and really just focus on stabilizing your barrier. What's going on, little one? And I really mean this. If you go against the grain, against your skin type, you're just basically asking for trouble.
So now, let's go over my routines. I'm going to be starting with the morning routine. My rules, hard and fast rules for my morning skincare is no retinols in the morning because it's photosensitive. I always apply sunscreen, always before I even see the sun, like a vampire. And if I have a flare-up in the morning, it's pretty likely caused by a cortisol spike and it will pass.
I get almost all of my skincare products from YesStyle and they're sponsoring this video. YesStyle is the biggest online beauty retailer for anything related to Asian beauty products. K-beauty skincare, Japanese hair products, Chinese makeup. That to me is like the holy grail of Asian beauty glow-up. Okay, Korean for skin, Japanese for hair, Chinese for makeup, especially if you're into the douyin xiaohongshu look. I love that. And pretty much 80% of my skincare products are K-beauty. Anyway, you guys know how I feel about buying skincare on Amazon or any other kind of shady websites like eBay and stuff. Okay, don't do that. Literally, don't do it because there's so many fakes circulating around that it's scary because you can't tell the difference. But YesStyle gets their products directly from the manufacturers and they have sales all the time. So, you can get it considerably cheaper from other places and it's always authentic products and they recently actually sent me a K-beauty festival glow-up box that featured some of their bestselling beauty essentials. Turns out a lot of these products are also the ones I already have and actively use a lot. So, I feel like I literally manifested this box and I will show you what I do with the products that they have here.
So, the first thing I do is a face and body wipe. I wipe off all the product from the night before, especially if I'm applying retinol on my face. And I will go in with a foam cleanser. I just got this cleanser. I love it. It is like a mochi texture and it smells amazing. And I will be cleaning my face and cleaning off all of the oils and all of the sebum from the night. And this is especially important for me to keep my face clean in the morning. I don't always do it, but I do it when I'm feeling very sensitive around my eyes because I have chronic dry eyes and all of the oil that accumulates around my eyelids gets into my eyes and it causes red eyes. And then next, I will gently pat my face with a clean towel. Very gently. I do not scrub or, you know, do anything crazy to my face. I only pat.
The next step is I pat my face with a toner. I will put it directly onto my palm and then pat all the product onto my face because I don't want to be again rubbing all the product on my face and I want to use all of the product that's available and I don't want to have it go to waste by putting it on the cotton pad. So everything gets on my face and if we consider toner as step one, the second step that I use is a serum. So, usually I alternate between using a vitamin C serum or a hyaluronic acid serum or azelaic acid 10%. These are the products I use. One of them is the Eunyul Vitamin Serum. I love this serum. And I also use a hyaluronic acid or this is the other one I use, the Cosrx BHA Blackhead Power Liquid. And lastly, I will finish it off with a cica day cream, a moisturizer with Centella Asiatica in it. Or if my sunscreen that I'm using that day also has one of these ingredients, whether it's Centella Asiatica or hyaluronic acid. The one that I use is called Purito Centella Unscented Sunscreen. If I'm using a sunscreen with any one of these ingredients that I'm planning to use, I will skip that ingredient for my morning routine.
And then in the evening, I usually focus on the "Tret sandwich" with a serum. So, what is a Tret sandwich? First, I start with a cleanser. I will cleanse my face usually in the shower or if not, I will cleanse it at the sink and then follow it up with my rice toner and add either a PDRN serum or hyaluronic acid serum depending on what I'm doing that day and what I've been using. So growth factors, stem cells, that's what it has. Always be using hyaluronic acid or humectants earlier in the routine so that it can basically help your skin absorb everything else a lot better. And then I will add in the tretinoin or the retinol or the Reto Shot that I use. I sometimes like to use this product called the Reto Shot. It's sort of like a microneedling in a bottle. So instead of doing my microneedling that week, I will just kind of rub that into my skin to trigger these like micro injuries. Again, if you have sensitive skin, do not use this product. And because of my age, I need to generate more collagen. I'm not like in my 20s, guys. Like I don't know why everybody thinks I'm in my 20s because I have really good skincare. Anyways, I am militant about the retinol. Either tretinoin or retinol. Every day I'm using some form of retinol. But with the tretinoin, I alternate it every other day. I also use it on my blemishes on my legs. By the way, my body, whether it's the retinol or the tretinoin, it goes on my legs, it goes on my elbows, wherever has blemishes, it goes there. And then I'll wrap it all up in the cica moisturizer. Either a panthenol cica cream or like a heavier set moisturizer or night cream, something like that, occlusive.
So if you're interested in YesStyle products, by the way, they're having a sale right now where you can get up to 50% off on their skincare brands, some of their bestselling brands, and I'm going to write the brand names on here somewhere so that you can take a note, but also like fashion and lifestyle as well. I've linked all of the products in my video description, but you can also use my code in the description for an extra 15% off on any products on your bestselling brands.
Guys, let me tell you real quick about my skin story. Okay, what actually caused my acne was mainly hormonal. That was the main cause. But a lot of people are saying to me like, "Oh my god, there's no hope for me because I have hormonal acne. You don't understand." I do understand because I had the same thing. Okay, I had the same thing. So to the girlies who are like, "I have no hope." Well, let me ask you something. What causes a hormonal imbalance? And then you can go from there. So, there's also some age-related narrative where people are like, "Oh, all your skin's going to clear up by the time you're in your late 20s or your 30s." Not always true. A lot of women do have hormonal acne throughout their lives. And again, this is caused by hormonal imbalance. And what is hormonal imbalance caused by? All kinds of things: environmental factors, your diet, your lifestyle habits, your microbiome, you know, the amount of fungus and bacteria that's on your skin that's affecting your hormones, endocrine disruptors. There are so many different reasons for why someone may have hormonal imbalance. And it's not just genetics or it's not just something that people are born with. But your hormones can be balanced holistically through other things depending on what it's caused by. But I cannot give you specific advice on that as well as, you know, I also cannot give you advice on PCOS because I'm not a doctor. Everyone deals with bacteria and fungus and whatever else has you, okay? As well as cortisol spikes can cause flare-ups, but they will pass. Like they will pass. All you have to do is to manage all of these things carefully. So what finally cured my acne is tretinoin mixed with clindamycin, which is a topical antibiotic. But largely my hormonal acne was cured by rebalancing my gut microbiome because that's what my hormonal imbalance is caused by. So there you have it. It can also be caused by puberty. Puberty can also cause hormonal imbalance, which is why a lot of teenagers start dealing with chronic acne around that age.
Let's go through real quick all these various skin concerns that may be blocking you from having clear glass skin. Let's first start with blackheads, whiteheads, and congestion. So what are blackheads? They are oxidized sebum in open pores. They are not dirt. And whiteheads are the same thing, but the pore is basically closed over it. Salicylic acid, BHA, is basically the gold standard in clearing that stuff out because it's oil-soluble. It gets inside the pores. I also like to use rice water-based toners like the one that I showed you. I'm also going to drop a few more in the product description because it really helps with clearing out these whiteheads and blackheads and sebum. The oil cleansing method also dissolves the sebum plugs. So, like using an oil-based cleanser to get all of the oil out. I know it sounds counterintuitive, but I promise you it's not. It works so well. Microdermabrasion is also another thing that I am a fan of. I have a machine that I use at home that's kind of like a DIY microdermabrasion machine. It physically resurfaces and sucks out the congestion. So, I do it occasionally. I don't do it so much anymore because I don't really need it. Like my skincare routine is literally enough for me and I barely see blackheads anymore. But it worked for me when I had more active sebum. You can also get this done in a med spa. A lot of them offer that as part of a facial package or as an add-on that you can use microdermabrasion.
On the topic of facials, a lot of facials often include extractions because the results feel very immediate and it's very satisfying to like squeeze everything out. But ultimately, this is so not good for your skin long-term. The upside of getting this done at a facial place though, rather than doing it yourself, is that they do it more safely using the proper tools and a more sterile technique. But if you're going to extract, like let a professional do it. But the better long-term play for you is honestly just keeping your pores clean as clean as possible with chemical exfoliation and proper cleansing so that you don't even have to even think about extractions. I don't think about extractions. Don't be squeezing the, you know, pimples on your own. Do not do that. You will only damage your skin even more and cause scarring. Literally, if you have ADD like me or OCD or something like, find something else to fidget with. I used to fidget with my skin all the time and I used to pick at my skin a lot and I used to deal with like years and years of chronic scarring. I had so many scars. Maybe I will talk about scarring in a different video, but it truly deserves its own video.
The other concern is hyperpigmentation. Post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation, PIH, are the dark marks that are left after a pimple heals or like a wound heals. So, it's not just scars, but also pigment deposits on your skin. There are certain skin types as well as skin tones that are more susceptible to PIH, like Asian skin or any kind of skin that is rich in melanin is particularly susceptible to PIH. And there's also melasma. It's hormonally driven. It's more deeper pigment and it is notoriously stubborn and the sun makes it even worse, like exponentially worse. And then there's sunspots and photoaging spots. I have some sunspots right here around my eyes because I don't really apply sunscreen around my eyes and it shows. So, I've been starting to do that. But this is what happens. Um, I am very prone to hyperpigmentation unfortunately. So, there are treatments for this and it basically varies by severity. So if it's not very severe, you can use vitamin C and sunscreen for mild cases. Azelaic acid or tranexamic acid is great for moderate cases. And if you have severe or very stubborn pigmentation, I would have to recommend laser, specifically IPL or BBL Moxi. Those are the ones that are recommended to me consistently by dermatologists and med spa estheticians. But the number one, number one thing that makes all hyperpigmentation worse as well as scarring is sun exposure without protection. Okay, sunscreen is the number one treatment and prevention for PIH. And if you're dealing with erythema or redness, you better not let it get into PIH or let it brown. So protect that as much as you can because it is still healing.
If you're looking for a more DIY anti-redness solution, I would look into a cooling phase. So constantly cooling your body down, vasoconstriction. So maybe looking at a refrigerated thermal water or saline compress for about a few minutes on your face or wherever is looking very red. And then looking into a barrier and hydration layer like hyaluronic acid, glycerin or panthenol, green tea extract, colloidal oatmeal, which is clinically proven for irritation. I sometimes use an oatmeal or an oat lotion for my skin, but if I'm looking at an oat bath, if I'm having a flare-up all over my body, for example, I will literally take an oatmeal, like a cup of oatmeal, soak it in water, and then drain it and use that water and pour it into my bath.
Now, let's talk about acne scarring real quick. Beyond just the texture, right? You have ice pick scars, which are narrow, deep, and puncture-like. They look like very deep, huge pores, but they're really not. They're the hardest to treat. So, there are a couple ways that dermatologists would recommend to treat them: TCA cross chemical peels and microneedling as well as laser. And then there are boxcar scars, which are wide, shallow with sharper edges. They respond pretty well to laser resurfacing. So, mainly lasers, microneedling, as well as fillers. And then there are rolling scars, broad wavelike depressions which can only be cured by a few things like microneedling, RF microneedling, and also subcision and filler. And then there's hypertrophic or keloid scars, raised scars from overproduction of collagen. Steroid injections are effective for this, but you want to deal with this as early on as possible. Okay? As well as silicone sheets, silicone gel, and laser works for this as well. So it's really important because the different types of scars need different treatments, even different lasers.
Then there's aging and fine lines. Collagen production decreases roughly about 1% a year after your mid-20s. So it is a good time after the age of 25 to start thinking about collagen. And one of the biggest accelerators of aging because you can't stop aging. Okay. But one of the biggest things that ages you even further is UV damage and exposure. Photoaging accounts for up to 80% of visible aging. And there's other things as well: smoking, drinking, poor sleep, chronic stress, sugar, processed food. All these things can contribute to faster aging. So if you want to prevent it with ingredients as well: SPF is number one, retinoids, vitamin C, and peptides. Focusing on your neck and your chest because your neck has really thin skin and your chest as well as your hands. Extend your routine beyond just the face. I always use whatever product is left over on my neck, on my chest as well as my hands. I rub all the leftover product on my hands.
Now let's talk about uneven skin tone. This is generally caused by sun damage, hormonal changes, inflammation, and friction. This is a bit different from hyperpigmentation in that overall, like your skin might be just looking dull or kind of patchy rather than having like specific dark spots. So, how do you create more even skin texture? Using vitamin C, niacinamide, arbutin, kojic acid, and azelaic acid. All of these ingredients can address uneven skin tone as well as consistent exfoliation, chemical exfoliation with retinoids or AHAs by preventing the dead cells from building up on your skin and creating even more damage.
And then you have dark circles and under eyes. So dark circles are often genetic or vascular. Okay, mine are genetic. I'm pretty much like resigned to it. Somebody was like trying to insult me for my dark circles and I'm like, listen, there's only so much you can do there. Okay? And also thin skin showing up blood vessels. That's another thing. It's vascular. It's not always fixable with skincare. But with puffiness on your face, you can basically drain that through your lymphatic system. Lymphatic drainage. Face massage. Your sleep position as well. How you sleep. I always sleep like a freaking corpse. Okay? Like face straight up. I do not sleep on the side. I try not to sleep on my sides because, you know, my products are expensive, you guys. Like in my treatments as well. So, I need to like have a good return on investment by sleeping upwards like this. But you know what? If you're dealing with sleep apnea and all these other things, like you do you, okay? I also watch salt intake, allergies. These things can also cause puffiness or dark circles, make it worse. But for the most part, less is more because this area is very thin and very delicate, and you want to do everything that you can to protect the area.
Really quickly, let's talk about skin sensitivity and specifically rosacea. Rosacea is a chronic condition. It's not just sensitive skin. It is a type of condition, but there are certain things that trigger it like alcohol, spicy food, temperature extremes. If your skin is too hot, you can trigger rosacea or any kind of skin flare-ups. And also certain types of skincare ingredients that's too harsh for your skin can also trigger that. Azelaic acid is truly one of the best treatments for rosacea. It ties into the whole like vascular and anti-redness protocol and the laser stuff. Like it's basically related to that. But I will also get into the specific vascular laser later on in the procedures chapter.
And then there's also fungal acne, you guys. Like Malassezia folliculitis. It looks like acne, but it's not. It's like tiny uniform bumps. Often times it's kind of itchy. It's usually on your forehead, on your chest, or on your back. This is caused by yeast overgrowth. It is not bacteria, and it's not traditional acne. In fact, traditional acne treatments will make it even worse. But it does respond to antifungals like ketoconazole, Nizoral shampoo, and it is also like zinc, pyrithione, sulfur, which is why a lot of people say that dandruff shampoo can be used as a face mask which can clear that stuff. Well, it's not really real acne. It's actually fungal acne, Malassezia, folliculitis. So avoid feeding this acne. Okay, a lot of common skincare ingredients like fatty acids and oils do feed the Malassezia. So, you have to be very careful. And if you're not sure what you have, please see a dermatologist because I can't tell you what you have. This is a YouTube video. There's a few other kinds of specific skincare conditions that's just like too much for me to put into this one video. So, I'm going to list the rest of it in that PDF that I talked about. It is completely free for you to download. So, I recommend downloading it.
Now, a lot of skincare products will feel like a total scam to you if you don't consider your diet, your lifestyle habits, and your environmental factors. For example, your gut health is like the through line connecting a lot of things: your skin, your hair, your body odor, as well as your inflammation management through diet and your weight as well. A lot of these skin conditions and issues can be triggered by inflammation and gut health alone. So, if you know that there are certain foods out there that you're allergic to, I would suggest avoid your trigger foods as much as you can and look out for other so-called bad habits as well, like smoking or alcohol. It's just a net negative on your glow-up to be honest and I have done both. Like I used to be a chronic smoker and I can tell you like I used to think that my skin was fine. It was not fine. So try to clean up your diet as much as you can. Eat whole foods. Eat healthy foods. Stay away from overly processed foods as much as possible.
And then there's also hygiene and cleanliness. Try and stay clean and wipe away your sweat as soon as you start to sweat. Don't let that stuff hang around on your body for ages and ages because that will only exacerbate your, you know, whatever you're dealing with, right? Again, microbiome. Your skin is an organ. Preventing as much friction and irritation as possible on your skin helps as well. I know I wear a lot of skin-tight clothing because it makes me feel good, but it's not so good for the skin. So, I only do that when I'm in temperature-controlled environments, like my house, for example. Another thing that can be a huge factor is stress and cortisol. These things can really flare up your skin, especially with cortisol spikes. So, make sure to manage your stress and your cortisol levels as much as you can.
In chapter one, we talked about enzymes like papain, bromelain, and all of these things for topical exfoliation, but you can also take these things internally through food or through supplements to support your skin from the inside out. I always love to say the best kind of skincare is the kind that you eat. And I don't mean literally like you're eating your skincare products. Foods high in these specific enzymes are papaya, pineapples, and any kind of fermented foods. So already you see so much benefits coming from just eating foods that's good for your gut health. And that includes digestive enzymes and supplements like bromelain, nattokinase, serrapeptase. These are proteolytic enzymes. Did I say that right? Meaning they break down proteins, reduce inflammation in your body. It supports more circulation and helps your skin repair tissue. But there's a specific way to take these enzymes correctly. So you do that ideally on an empty stomach, not with food and not within a couple of hours of eating. Ideally, the first thing in the morning. If you take them with food, the enzymes will basically get used up to digest your meal instead of actually doing its actual job within your system. So if you take that on an empty stomach, it means that they're entering your bloodstream directly and works directly on inflammation, on circulation, and your tissue repair, including and especially on your skin, which ties you back to the whole point, right? What you put in your body shows up on your body.
Lastly, let's talk about procedures. And there's a certain type of procedure that you should just skip altogether, and that's facials. Traditional facials, it's just not worth doing. In fact, most of it causes more irritation than it does any good. So, I look towards alternative forms of facials like microneedling. I do that DIY about once a month. I do that with a Derma stamp product, you know, maybe a lower power laser once every 6 months to a year. And that's a good way to look at it as maintenance. It is not cheap. So, I literally have a savings fund for my skincare for, you know, these more intense procedures. So, it is an investment. But the return on investment is like chef's kiss. It's so good. And then there's also hyperpigmentation through targeted laser treatments, IPL, BBL, Moxi, or finding, you know, finding a technician with decades of experience. So, I found my technician in Miami through a doctor's recommendation. And before that, I had one specific dermatologist I went to in New York. And I was like, I had no idea who else I was going to go to if it weren't for him because he's just like one of the best. Like celebrities. All the celebrities seem to go to this one guy. And this current laser technician that I found through my doctor in Miami literally has
At least over a decade of experience with that specific laser that I was using. As for what laser procedure I did lately, it is CO2 laser full-on ablative on my face and my neck. Let me tell you, like the healing was not pretty, okay? It was one of the most like intense, insane things I've ever done in the med spa. Like I haven't really done like injectables and stuff, but like, oh my god, like the pain from laser treatments is like horrible. Especially after the fact, like for the first couple of days, I could not sleep very well. I was just like, my face was just constantly weeping. It was really bad.
But then day by day, it got better and better noticeably. So, you know what? And now look at my skin. It's like amazing. So, it is so worth it. And I will do this once every couple of years if I can manage to do that and take some time off.
There's also PRP facials, which is what I did the last time as well on top of the CO2 lasers. This was something that I negotiated with my providers as an add-on to the lasers because some of you guys asked me like, "How do you approach these conversations with, um, with these providers, right? How do you ask for more things? How do you ask for add-ons?" A lot of these things at the med spa, like red light therapy and all of that, it costs nothing for them to throw it in as like an add-on to sweeten the deal. Especially if you're spending a lot of money there, tell them, you know, like, "I'm looking at other med spas too. I'm comparing prices. The provider's experience level with these lasers or whatever procedure you're doing, and I'm still thinking about it, like, can you sweeten the deal?" So, that's how I would do that.
And better yet, if they're starting to offer you these add-ons for free on top of the laser or the micro needling or the packages that you're buying, don't say anything yet, just give them a blank look like this. Like, literally just give them a blank look for like 7 seconds, okay? And wait for them to continue to add on the, you know, pile on the add-ons until you're like, "Okay, that sounds good. All right, let's go for it." And that's how you do it. You can always ask for more. Always.
So that's what my typical regular rotation looks like. I also do red light therapy at least 15 minutes daily on any specific areas of my body. Non-negotiable. I do this almost every day. And when I'm traveling, I take like a travel-size version of my red light therapy machine with me and it does wonders for my skin as well.
So there is a post-laser healing protocol that I followed. It takes about 10 days to heal, like, you know, mostly, like I would say 80% healing, and then the other 20% is probably any kind of like inflammation or redness that you're dealing with. So what I do is I only use thermal spring water in the fridge, as well as the Cicaplast balm that my dermatologist gave me from La Roche-Posay. And instead of using regular sunscreen because my skin could not, if you saw what my skin looked like, it could not tolerate any kind of chemicals, okay? Or even regular sunscreen. So I had to use diaper rash cream, zinc oxide.
For any kind of persistent redness, you want to look into vascular lasers like V-beam, IPL, BBL, Moxy, which targets the hemoglobin directly, like the redness on your skin. Because there's so many lasers out there that do different things that you want to be very sure what does what for you for your specific concerns. There's also oxygen facials that can help persistent redness quite a lot because oxygen itself is very anti-inflammatory.
So, another thing that I was thinking of as an add-on for my next laser treatment session because I have a multi-art, um, CO2 laser thing for my scars. What I'm thinking of next time is I will go back to the provider and I will say, "I'm going to keep coming back to your med spa. Can you throw in an oxygen facial? My skin isn't healing well enough. It's not healing fast enough. What can you do for me?" And I would approach it that way.
So, that's everything that I can suggest to you. No matter what kind of skin conditions that you're dealing with in order to get to that path towards clear glass skin. I hope this was helpful. You guys, don't forget to download that PDF document in the description if you're looking for even more tips or very specific skin concerns. I have more information in there for you. And like I mentioned, if you subscribe to my channel, you will glow up and join the Stoic Angels community. Why not? We're all family over here. We're all just a bunch of angels looking to glow up. Thank you all for watching. Make sure to check out all the products in my description box. And I will see you in the next video.