Current Skin Care Routine: Acne Control

Okay, so I'm going to talk about my skin care routine for acne control. I used to only have one routine. I stick to it (like glue) until it fails me and I try other stuff or go back to previously tried routines. Basically, I have tried a lot of stuff for acne control over the years. Sometimes, I'd hit jackpot and 'discover' an effective regimen but the thing is, if I stick to it for a long time, I'd develop tolerance and it would probably not work as good as before.

Thus, I have decided to have two different skin care routines as to avoid this 'tolerance' I'm talking about. For now, I'll be talking about my routine when I get noticeable breakouts (red, big and swollen). For my other routine (when I don't have much zits to worry about), I'll probably talk about it in my future posts.

Here's a list of the things I need/use at this moment:

1. Ice
2. Tomato (Yes, I am talking about the fruit.)
3. Kojie-san Soap/ Defensil Soap
4. Ponds Clear Solutions Facial Wash
5. Ponds Acne Expert Toner
6. AHA + Antioxidant
7. Ponds Flawless White Day and Night Cream
8. Katialis

Okay, so I will be explaining the items above one by one.

1. Ice

- I get an ice pack/ wrap an ice cube with a towel and lightly dab the ice pack over the red swollen area. I do this after cleaning my face. This is good to lessen the redness and swelling. Thanks to the coldness, vasoconstriction occurs. I use this once or twice a day. Usually, I do this for two consecutive days. Once the swelling has tamed a bit, I stop doing it. Oh, and be careful not to burn yourself. Just dab it on for a few seconds, release for a few seconds and repeat.

2. Tomato

- I basically get a tomato from the fridge. I like it a bit cold because vasoconstriction helps with the redness and swelling. I slice like 2mm of the tomato and just gently rub it (juice) all over my face, leave it for like 10-15 minutes and it works as a mask. I use this maybe once or twice (max) a week.

3. Kojie-san Soap/ Defensil Soap

- This is the soap I'm using for my face and body during bath or night showers. I just recently found out Kojie-san is also responsible for Defensil. :D

4. Ponds Clear Solutions Facial Wash

- This is the wash I use when I wake up and before going to sleep. Using lukewarm water is nice to open the pores for through cleaning. I don't get to use lukewarm water all the time though. I usually just use tap water.

5. Ponds Acne Expert Toner

- It has salicylic acid and tea tree oil that helps with pimple control. If I'm not mistaken, since the toner is of room temperature, it will help close back the pores (from washing with lukewarm water). I use this after taking a bath and before going to sleep, after cleansing.

6. AHA + Antioxidant
- Once the toner has dried, I apply my AHA + Antioxidant lotion that I got from my dermatologist. I buy it from her but I think there are commercially available products with AHA. Google is your friend so you can most probably just search for products similar to this. Out of all the products I get from her, this is the only one that was not scratched from my skin care routine. This helps with pimple control as well as helping me remove dead skin cells. This results to younger looking skin. Hurrah! I only use it once, after toner (usually during the day).

7. Ponds Flawless White Day and Night Cream

- For the day cream, I wait a bit until the AHA + Antioxidant has been fully absorbed by my skin. Since it's in lotion form, it takes a while so I usually put on body lotion at this time to conserve time. Anyway, this would act as my moisturizer and sunscreen. It also has whitening properties so I believe this helps with erradicating some pimple marks.
- For the night cream, I use it after toner and apply it over my face. And yes, you guess it right. I use it at night, before going to sleep. This acts as my moisturizer and again has whitening properties to help with my pimples marks.

8. Katialis

- This is a very cheap product we commonly know as something that helps with insect bites and stuff like itch or something. I use it on areas with pimples. It has salicylic acid and antibacterial properties so it works really well in drying up pimples fast. I lightly dab it on the affected area after the moisturizer. I usually use this at night because this product has an awful (tolerable) smell.

That's it! This skin care routine works well for me but I cannot gurantee it would work as well for you.

Watch out for more acne control routines I've tried. I will be talking about it one by one in the future so you may have options to choose from, if you wish to do the same for yourself.

For my other skin care routine, click here.

**All photos in this post were taken over the internet. Credits to uploaders. Thanks!