Just Me Being Me: What Happens When You Forget Your Skincare Routine?
I guess no one’s too old to experience a skin breakout. My face is kicking, screaming, and begging for better skincare—it turns out sunscreen is not enough.
Just Me Being Me is literally just me being me, living my life outside my comfort zone when it happens as it happens. Since I’m a dedicated introvert, this doesn’t happen much, which makes it doubly interesting when it does.
I guess no one’s too old to experience a skin breakout. My face is kicking, screaming, and begging for better skincare—it turns out sunscreen is not enough.
I grew up with women who didn’t have regular skincare routines. Or, if they did, they attended to their skin when I wasn’t around. Yes, I wore sunscreen at the beach. But I didn’t wear it daily in the Philippines, where the sun blazes down on you for half the year. I bought Eskinol products because I saw the commercials on TV, but the alcohol-heavy formulas never really worked on my pimple-ridden teenage skin. I think there was a period in my teens when I went to a dermatologist for my pimples. Still, I don’t remember much beyond salicylic acid and the occasional pimple-popping session.
How Do You Start Taking Care of Your Skin?
For years, I washed my face with whatever soap was in the shower and used lotion only when my skin felt dry. When we moved to Vegas in 2019, I still didn’t have a regular skincare routine—and I was still getting pimples. But slowly, things started to change.
Stop Drinking Dairy Milk
We stopped drinking dairy milk about a year and a half after we moved here. It wasn’t part of our usual routine, anyway—just something we got used to while we lived with our Vegas friends, who kindly took us in. We switched to oat milk, and immediately my skin got better. Pimples still appeared occasionally but were very easy to manage. Now, we’re drinking almond milk because it’s better for me as a person with diabetes.
Start Drinking More Water and Eating Healthier
Switching to oat milk happened when we moved to an apartment by ourselves. This is when we started drinking much more water and eating healthier food—it’s just more encouraging to do so when you’re not sharing a fridge.
Build Your Routine Bit by Bit
I was also suffering from extreme hair loss, which I couldn’t control, so I focused on skincare to distract myself. I bought silk pillowcases to use every night and a set of white face towels that I use once and then throw in the laundry basket for washing.
Mara, the friend I lived with for over a year when we moved, always used to say that skincare was easy: cleanse, tone, and moisturize. So, I started with that. I think I bought Burt’s Bees and CeraVe products—the former’s cleanser and toner and the latter’s moisturizer with SPF protection. Of course, I also bought sunscreen for the rest of my body.
Slowly, I added more elements to my skincare routine—face oil and face scrubs from Burt’s Bees, undereye cream from CeraVe, and serums from TruSkin. The serums are simple, plain formulas—just vitamin C, niacinamide, and retinol in separate products. I don’t like using complicated formulas because I can’t tell which ingredient helps or harms my skin.
My routine expanded to include morning and evening “face time,” which is how I think of this self-care process. I also have a very long and involved process of moisturizing after my weekly Long Bath that uses Aquaphor healing ointment and body lotion from Bath and Body Works.
Don’t Be Afraid to Try New Products
My sister-in-law gave me a Supergoop! sunscreen sampler as a present—probably because I complained about CeraVe’s SPF 50 facial sunscreen, which left a ghostly white cast on my brown skin. I bought it because I trusted the brand and because it was less expensive than La Roche-Posay’s SPF 60 version. Recently, I switched cleansers from Burt’s Bees to CeraVe. I also use Bio-Oil now instead of Burt’s Bees face oil because I think they probably changed the formula—my last bottle smelled different.
So, What Happens When You Forget Your Skincare Routine?
Nothing—in the beginning. But when you forget to do your skincare routine on consecutive days or weeks, it adds up. I’m so bad at maintaining this routine. It’s the first thing I skip when I have an early morning work meeting or when I want to go to bed early.
Skin Breakouts Become More Frequent
When you neglect your skincare routine regularly, you might notice an uptick in breakouts. Excess oil, dirt, and impurities can accumulate without consistent cleansing, potentially leading to clogged pores and acne. I’m currently stuck in a depressive rut, which has me skipping my skincare almost every day—thankfully, I don’t skip my Long Baths. But yes, my skin right now is very irritable and prone to blemishes, so much so that I’m running out of my Hero pimple patches. Maybe I’ll try those Starface patches next.
Your Skin Becomes Uneven and Sensitive
Skipping your routine often can result in dry, flaky, or uneven skin texture. When your skincare regimen is repeatedly forgotten, your skin can also become more sensitive. Thankfully, I moisturize regularly—even when I skip skincare, I still use moisturizer with SPF protection. And I never skip my weekly moisturizing after my Long Bath. Regular moisturizing helps maintain your skin’s natural barrier, which retains moisture and keeps your skin hydrated. Without it, skin can become rough, leading to an uneven complexion and dull appearance. My skin is also more sensitive to environmental elements like pollution, weather changes, and other irritants.
Signs of Aging May Accelerate
I’m also starting menopause early—a topic for another Sunday—so I’m feeling very old these days. My hair loss has also accelerated, along with consistent night sweats. It may just be my brain overthinking everything, but I notice that fine lines, wrinkles, and loss of elasticity are more pronounced on my face.
Your Overall Self-Care Routine May Suffer
A regularly neglected skincare routine might also affect your confidence and how you take care of yourself overall. Because my mental health is not at its best right now, I don’t know if this point is truly the result of forgetting my skincare routine again and again. Maybe it’s ALSO menopause that has me not caring for myself like I should. Who knows?
How Do You Get Back to Taking Care of Yourself?
If you’ve fallen off the wagon and neglected your skincare routine, don’t worry—there’s no time like the present to get back on track. I try to at least put on sunscreen before I go outside, on top of maintaining my moisturizing habits. And I still use my silk pillowcases.
If there’s any advice you can take away from this, it’s not to be afraid to start all over again. Who will get mad at you for stopping and then starting again? No one. That’s true for skincare, regular exercise, your favorite hobbies, watching TV series, and probably everything else that takes time and effort but is not your job. There’s also no one punishing you for stopping something good for you—that’s likely why you stopped doing it.
Building good habits takes time, and very few people are good at it. It’s okay to stop and start again and again. I’m talking to myself now—I desperately want to go back to “the usual,” which is me doing my morning and night skincare routines daily. But I also want to sleep longer hours and be a good employee. I will eventually find a way to balance everything—until then, I have to look in the mirror and like what I see despite my habits.
Photo by Content Pixie on Unsplash
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