Throw Away Your Expensive Skin Care, NOW.

Months of research, and a lifetime of curiosity, has led me to throw away, yes, totally dispose of, my expensive lotions, creams, serums, and oils. The only products not included are facial peels and masks. Here’s why…

My mother has always called me “a product girl”. I buy, test, and horde products, and in particular, skin care. Anti-aging has been on my mind since I was 14, and yes, that’s very unhealthy. However, it’s the truth. I’ve been full on obsessed since I was 17.

I’ve always read up on reviews, details, and consumer reports on different skin care products. I religiously follow the steps, cleanse, then serum, then oil, then moisturize, and SPF. But as I age, (and speaking as a woman in her 30s), the same products and the same application just doesn’t work anymore.

I’ve been seeing more and more fine lines, redness, melasma, dark spots and sallowness in my skin, and now pilling of my products once on my skin.

I try moisturizing more, and then less. Less products in general, and then more products in general. Exfoliating, masking, etc., and well, nothing seems to make things any better.

I’ll spend upwards of $80 to $150 on a bottle of great serum if it’s “supposed to work”, and frankly, this is all getting too expensive to maintain for a lifetime.

That’s when I chose to dive into the extensive lists of ingredients in my products.

I’d like to start with K-Beauty:

The king of the beauty industry right now, K-Beauty is said to be the savior of skin. Known for using things like “snail ooz” and mushroom proteins in its products, Korean Beauty hit the top charts in the USA, and world, a few years ago. Because the products contain “all natural ingredients”, they were said to do more than any other type of beauty product.

I looked into some of the best sellers, including, but not limited to, Laneige, Sulwahsoo and Innisfree. Turns out, most, if not (probably) all of the top Korean Beauty brands are now owned by Amore Pacific. Since becoming part of the larger conglomerate, all of these specialty brands have now changed their products. Usually to help save the companies some manufacturing money. Which means, you get up charged, and pay for, well, mostly chemicals.

Take Laneige’s top selling Water Sleeping Mask… I tried it… I thought, “Oh yes, this is definitely doing something good for my skin!” But after several nights (not consecutive as you are only supposed to use this product one to two nights a week), I felt like my skin was becoming sensitive, and I had a burning sensation when applying other products the next day. Some easy research showed me that some of the top ingredients in this product are Ethylhexylglycerin, Methylglucose Distearate, Phenoxyethanol, and a multitude of other ingredients no one can pronounce. These three ingredients above are parabens, which can lead to hormone inbalance and phenoxyethanol has been linked to reactions ranging from eczema to severe, life-threatening allergic skin reactions.

Laneige isn’t the only one with a problem…

Take U.S. Skin Care Brands…

What used to be my favorite, Kiehl’s, has now been purchased by the giant L’Oréal. Since the merge, they have also changed their ingredients to be cheaper, and based more in chemicals. Causing breakouts, and even more severe damage.

For example, what used to be one of my favorite Kiehl’s products, the Calendula, Alchohol Free, Face Toner… The second ingredient on this toner’s label is Propylene Glycol. This oil attractant penetrates skin quickly and can weaken the protein and natural cellular structure of the skin.

Here’s a fairly comprehensive list of some of the most used chemicals in your skin care and beauty products that are probably leading to your skin aging faster, and slowly killing your cells: The Dirty Dozen.

All of this means, skin care purchased over the counter is filled with chemicals and preservatives to give the products you buy a nicer viscosity, and a long shelf life. But no matter what the reason, I personally have no desire to continue to pollute my skin with lab made, cell stripping, chemicals.

OK, so clearly this isn’t working…

That’s when some digging sent me down the rabbit hole of making my own skin care. It’s cheaper, it’s reliable, refillable, and all natural. But, does it work? Yes, of course it works! In fact, it works better, faster and is way more potent than anything on the shelves.

I’ve now made myself my own Vitamin C Serum, Toner, and Hydrating Mist.

It was fairly easy, actually. Took some tweaking, but I knew what I wanted in each product from the get go.

I knew I wanted a jam-packed Vitamin C serum, and a redness reducing hydrating mist, and a dirt and makeup removing toner that also was safe for sensitive skin. So after (a lot) of research, I purchased only organic, plant based ingredients and began the process of making my own skin care!

Left: Before - Right: After 1 week.

The results of usage kind of speak for themselves. In the picture on the left, my melasma is very prevalent. I have a lot of natural redness, and my skin is constantly dry, causing me to have more pronounced fine lines. The image on the right, is after only 4 days of use of my homemade skin care, plus 1 prior week of use of my at home micro-needling tool with my old skin care. you can see that the majority of my redness has calmed down. My melasma is already lightening, my fine lines are softer, and the overall radiance of my skin is improved.

It’s not rocketscience, and it’s no joke either. The make-it-yourself skin care is better. AND safer. So give it a try! Remember to take some before and afters too! Be sure to check out my next article where I’ll be laying out each ingredient I used in the skin care I made, so that you can make your own at home as well!

I can’t wait to see the results!