My Skin Journey + My Morning & Nighttime Skincare Routine

Since starting The Real Klass, y’all have truly become my community and come to me for anything fashion-related, like my first authenticate bag, sneakers, and relationship-related. But out of all of the questions I have ever received my skincare routine has been the most highly requested! Honestly, this post is long overdue and has been sitting in my drafts for MONTHS, but to be completely transparent I have been on a crazy journey with my skin since October of 2021 and have felt ashamed to share the real truth when it came to my skin. While I appreciate all of the more recent love and compliments on ALL of my posts and stories about my skin and the glow I have been able to finally achieve, please know my skin is by no means perfect and I hope to convey my entire truth in this blog post to help someone that may be on the same journey I was once on and lowkey still am dealing with.

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So let’s jump right on in!

THE BACK STORY

Immediately after my 10th birthday my Mom and Nana started to teach me the importance of skincare. This apparently is a family tradition to start preparing the young ladies in my family for puberty since no one ever knows when Mother Nature decides to make her appearance. At that point in time I never even had a pimple before, but I’m grateful that they made the conscious decision to go for it anyway due to me starting to wear a lot of make-up since I was a competitive dancer & cheerleader.

I started off by using Mary Kay and stuck with their products for pretty much my entire teenage years. Once I got to about my sophomore or junior year of high school my skin started getting used to Mary Kay’s products and ultimately stopped being effective for me. My cousin recommended that I give Clean & Clear a try to help combat my small pimples and so I stopped at my local Walmart and picked it up. After only 1 use, I experienced a TERRIBLE chemical burn and had scabs all over my face as if I scraped it against concrete! Being a high schooler, I was completely distraught (but thankful we were on summer vacation and I could hide in the house) and I wasn’t sure how my skin would recover from this. Someone recommended Proactiv to my Mom and I’m so grateful to this very day that she took the recommendation! My mom rushed me to the mall to pick up their 3 step product routine and it immediately started to repair the trauma. Before I knew it my skin was back and the pimples were gone!

From about 2013-2019, I used Mary Kay and Proactiv interchangeably so that my skin wouldn’t get used to one brand and prevent potential breakouts from happening. While this tactic worked for many years, I started noticing several issues in the moment and even more now when I look back at pictures from this time – 1) while using Proactiv I started experiencing pealing in my eyebrows and other parts of my face and 2) I was NOT using any form of sunscreen which was completely stupid simply because of how much walking I was doing around campus (so basically I became like 2-3 shades darker during my college years). So even being aware of all of this I still kept going with Proactiv. Then in 2019 on a regular trip to Ulta, one of the workers watched me walk over to the Proactiv and literally stopped me in my tracks from making yet another purchase. She told me all about the brand Clarins and educated me on the products she felt would be right for me and my skin type. I decided to give it a shot because what did I have to lose at this point? I immediately fell in love with the products and noticed a complete 180º in my skin and used it for 2 years straight until my skin got too used to the product (y’all seeing a pattern here?!).

MY RECENT SKINCARE TRIALS & TRIBULATIONS

Now if you all have been following me for a minute you know that 2020 & 2021 were HUGE years for me! In 2020, I started grad school, David and I got engaged, we started wedding planning and building our home, and with all of these amazing blessings going on my skin started taking a downward spiral. I now know that I began to experience what is called hormonal acne which gave me huge and at times very painful cystic pimples. I had never experienced anything like this before and decided to visit an esthetician I had seen on Instagram. Dineka (@skinbydi) has been a HUGE help in educating me on my skin and products that could help me on my journey (if you’re in the Houston area check her out, but leave an appointment slot for ya girl lol). She even informed me that women can go through puberty 2-3 times in their lifetime and that 25-27 years old is a popular age for women to deal with skin issues (who knew I would be dealing with puberty worse the 2nd time around than the 1st time!).

But like I said I experienced cystic pimples and with that, I started getting dark spots once the pimples cleared up. To help with the hyperpigmentation, she recommended that I try a PCA Skin product and I made the terrible mistake of buying this product from Amazon. PLEASE! If you don’t learn anything from this blog post please DO NOT purchase skincare products from Amazon! The skincare products on there can typically be fake so it’s better to just spend the extra money by going straight to the source. So not only was the product ultimately fake, but I also mixed it with another acid that is not compatible – Vitamin C. Due to this I completely burned my face in several spots (pictures below) and this caused me to go into a deeper spiral with my already existing skincare issues. I tried using an aloe vera plant + different natural concoctions that my Nana and I mixed up/researched to help with the burn among so many other things recommended to me. Ultimately, the best decision I made was to go to a dermatologist.

I decided to see a black dermatologist here in Houston, Isabella Gyening, because I truly wanted to get down to the bottom of all of my skin issues, especially since I was now months away from my wedding! She was amazing and took the time to not only give me product recommendations as well as prescription medication (a pill and creams) but also explained to me what may have happened to cause the cystic breakouts in the first place. Her main theory, was something that she apparently saw with a lot of people, was that there may have been a bacteria inside of me that she believed was causing all of my random breakouts. After months of using the medication, creams, and doing the recommended skin routine with the CeraVe Products I started to notice major progress in my skin just in time to walk down the aisle as she promised me. But my journey did not end here.

After David and I got married, I was off the creams and medications, but I still had breakouts from time to time and I knew I had to start really paying attention to what my skin liked and what it didn’t like. I learned to do what works for me and not what I saw everyone else using. I essentially learned to treat my skin with love and care while listening to what it truly needed. So with all of that being said I of course had to include some tips I have learned along the way if you are in this stage of your skincare journey:

SKINCARE TIPS

1. Find the products that work for you and build your OWN routine!
   • I know this may be contradicting, but don’t get caught up in all the skincare content that you see. Learn from me and save all your coins on all the products people tell you to try.
   • If you are itching to try a new product pay close attention to your skin. For example, I learned that my skin does not like oily products but more so heavy serums (oily-based products tend to break me out).
   • Don’t change a lot of things up with your routine at one time! Space things out and give a product about a month before you introduce something new.
2. Only use Vitamin C in the morning!
   • I have experienced breakouts from using it way too much! Vitamin C also CAN NOT and should NOT be mixed with a lot of other acids as I said before.
3. Find an SPF that works for you!
   • My all-time favorite is Black Girl Sunscreen which can be found in your local Target or Ulta. It has been the secret behind the glowy dewy look that you guys love so much! It also helps relieve dark spots and hyperpigmentation as well.
4. Don’t Use Brushes If You Have Sensitive Skin
   • I learned that a lot of skincare brushes were entirely too harsh for my skin so I decided to cut this out of my routines and just use my hands (which is 100% free lol)
5. Find an esthetician and a dermatologist (if needed).
   • Like I said my esthetician, Dineka (@skinbydi), has been AMAZING at helping me through such a difficult time with my skin from recommending certain treatments to doing extractions when needed.
   • My decision to see a dermatologist for my acne, chemical burns, and hyperpigmentation was honestly the best decision I ever made! If you want to truly solve your skin issues, please find a local dermatologist to prescribe the right routine/products for you.

Alright! I’ve talked to you guys enough about my skincare journey and now it’s time for what you all really came for! *DRUM ROLL PLEASE* After months and months of waiting here are my everyday morning and night skincare routines:

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MORNING SKINCARE ROUTINE

1. Put lukewarm water all over your face.
2. Place a dime size amount of cleanser in the palm of your hand with water. Then gently rub the product and water together with both hands.
3. Gently rub the product on your wet face for about 1 minute.
4. Rinse with lukewarm water and dry with a towelette (learned that regular hand towels, especially colored ones, can contribute to breakouts and noticed a SIGNIFICANT difference when I started using the towelettes linked below).
5. If you deal with hyperpigmentation, I would try the Good Molecule Niacinamide Brightening Toner. I put this on a cotton pad and apply it all over my face and neck.
6. Then I use the Good Molecule Discoloration Correcting Serum. I only apply to my major dark spots instead of my entire face (the product can be used morning and night).
7. Once the serum dries up, place a dime size amount (a little seriously goes a long way for real lol) of Black Girl Sunscreen into the palm of your hand. Then gently rub together with both hands to warm. Lastly, gently rub all over your face.
8. Lastly, repeat step 5, but this time with the CeraVe Moisturizer (or your moisturizer of choice). Sometimes I do use Mario Badescu’s Facial Spray for a little more moisture throughout the day, especially for all the Houston humidity.

NIGHTTIME SKINCARE ROUTINE

1. Now, this cleanser and toner have been sold out forever and are truly THE GOAT! They help not only with breakouts but with also the texture of your skin (if you’ve been waiting on the true secret here it is lol). A little goes a long way with this cleanser so I typically follow the same steps as my morning routine but with a small amount of this cleanser.
2. Grab a towelette and dry your face off.
3. Get a cotton pad of your choice and put a nice amount of toner on it. Then apply all over your face and neck.
4. Due to these being very strong products, I typically do not use anything else except my CeraVe Moisturizing Lotion to end my nighttime skincare routine.

Alternative Routine: Exact same steps as the Morning Skincare Routine minus the sunscreen! (tend to do this routine a lot especially when I do not workout or spend a lot of time inside since I work from home)

EXTRA GOODIES: OTHER PRODUCT RECOMMENDATIONS

Below links include other products that I use from time to time and products I loved but my skin just got used to after a while along with body skincare favs:

I hope this was helpful! Please make sure to check out my reels of my morning & night skincare routines on Instagram. I would love to hear everyone else’s skincare journey and reviews of my favorite products!

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