The pandemic has made wearing a mask mandatory!
Did I tell you how terrible this is? As a nurse, I have to wear my mask for 12 hours for the shift, and another 4 between travelling and leisure.
On average, that’s about 16-18 hours wearing a mask.
Before wearing a mask became mandatory, my facial game was on fleek. My 5 step skincare routine is tried and true, I have used this routine to clear my skin.
Wearing a mask, in the beginning, was a bit of an adjustment but I got used to it, however, what changed was my skin.
Let’s talk about it:
I wasn’t one with the best skin or just didn’t care about a routine. Over the past year, I started to pay attention and learn more about my skin. I experimented and spent some money finding what works for me and eventually mastered my skincare routine.
After three months of lockdown, I was able to go out and shop. I spent close to $200 on skincare- you read that right $200.
With that I noticed that my skin was starting to break out, originally, I attribute it to the new skincare products. I will be doing a review of said products on a later post.
I tried to find a common factor between using the products and my skin breaking out, eventually I drew the conclusion that the products were indeed causing the breakout.
I decided to stop using the products and go back to what I used before. Even though this took some time, the results were inevitable.
Without further ado, let’s head straight into this skincare routine for MASK WEARERS!
Step 1: Complexion pads
The first step is to exfoliate. I have come to love doing this as it helps to remove dirt and debris from the day. I have grown accustomed to using complexion pads.
This has always been apart of my skincare routine before and had worked tremendously. I decided to re-add them and I was impressed as to the amount of dirt that was removed from my face.
I normally do this before washing my face as the pads will removed somethings soap won’t.
Step 2: Wash
The next step is to wash. This is one of the most important steps as the soap will not only cleanse the skin but will add nutrients.
Depending on your needs and time of day will determine the type of cleanser to use. Personally, as I start the day, I will use foam wash as I find that they dry out the skin and reduce the formation of acne.
This might not be the case if you have dry skin and should use a cleanser accordingly.
Then at the end of the day when I come home, I will use a gentler wash as there is no mask and can give your face time to revitalize.
During the day while wearing the mask, your skin is prone to form oils and build-up, therefore using a wash accordingly does help.
Step 3: Toner
This is another favorite part of my routine. Adding a toner is really important as it helps to balance the PH in the skin but also remove any build up left by the soap and complexion pad.
This might sound extreme, trust me it’s not. If anything else, a toner should be a part of your daily routine and this will eliminate most of your problems.
Choosing the right toner is extremely, important for the problem you have.
Step 4: Vitamin C serum
I have grown to love my vitamin C, not only is Vitamin C good for the immune system but for your face.
Adding vitamin C serum to your routine, brighten the face but reduce dark spots. I cannot go without adding the serum to my routine.
I will do a more thorough review of Vitamin C serum and ones to try and how effective they are.
Step 4: Moisturize
The last step is a moisturiser.
Honestly depending on how you feel and when you are doing your routine, you may or may not add moisturizer.
Hear me out: one thing I found out when wearing a mask for prolonged periods of time is the fact that, the mask does cause a buildup of oil on the skin. Doing so causes intense breakout and if using a moisturizer can make it worst.
While I do believe you can minimize this throughout the day by periodically refreshing, depending on your job, this can be tough.
In this case, I prefer to moisture at night because I find that my face is too oily after work.
I know how horrible it is, to be wearing a mask for most of the day, and how bad it affects your skin. This quick and easy skincare routine seems long but can be done in less than 10 minutes, I do it twice a day and have seem amazing results.
Below I made some recommendations as to products you can use as this is what I have used/ is still using.
Complexion pad:
Peter Thomas Roth: Max Complexion Salicylic Acid Pore Refining Pads
Cleanse:
Cetaphil: DermaControl- Oil removing Foam wash
CeraVe: Foaming Fcaial Cleanser
Toner:
Olehenriksen: Glow2OH Dark spot Toner
Caudalie: Vinopure Natural Salicylic Acid Pore Minimizing Toner
Vitamin C serum:
Dr Jart+: V7 Antioxidant serum
Moisturizer:
La Mer