Is Your Skin Care Routine Helping or Hurting Your Face?

When your skin care regimen is working, everyone will notice your healthy glow. 

If you have a regular skin care routine, you are taking the time each day to take care of your skin in an attempt to improve or maintain the way it looks. Putting time and effort into your skin shows that you are motivated to do good things for your appearance, and your skin will look younger than your age.

You want to be sure that your efforts are paying off, but it's sometimes hard to know if the steps you're taking are helping or hurting your skin. There are some ways to tell the difference, and focus on steps that will be beneficial rather than harmful.

Improvement Over Time

It's important to give any new beauty product at least 8 weeks before deciding that it doesn't work. One definite sign that your skin care routine is helping is whether your skin looks at least a little better after 8 weeks of use.

It's a good idea to take a before picture when you start using a new product, so that you aren't relying on your memory of what it looked like before. After 8 weeks of use, take another photo in conditions that are as similar as possible to the first one -- the same time of day, the same kind of lighting, etc. If you can see any improvement, stick with it. Compare again after another 4 to 6 weeks of use.

If your skin is actually worse after 8 weeks of use, you may want to try a different product or routine. It is normal, though, for skin to adjust to a new product before it begins to get better. Initially, there may be some minor peeling as your skin gets used to a new product. Gradual improvement after the first few weeks is typical.

Healthy skin is worth the effort.

When Other People Notice

When your skin care products are working well, you may begin to get comments from others about how good your skin looks. As dark spots or melasma gradually fade and acne clears up, those around you may comment that your skin is "glowing" or that you look healthier or younger. Those who don't see you every day may notice a dramatic improvement in how your skin looks.

It Just Feels Different

Unhealthy skin may feel tight, irritated, or greasy, depending on your skin type. When your routine is working, you will begin to notice that these sensations go away and your skin just feels normal and healthy. If your skin does continue to feel irritated after the initial adjustment period, you may want to ask your dermatologist or aesthetician about whether you are using the products correctly and how you might adjust your routine to better benefit your skin.

Skin acclimates to products; most especially those products targeting acne and melasma. It is often necessary to increase the potency of the products you use once your skin acclimates in order to achieve continued improvement.

There are many different options for skin care products, and different skin types require products that benefit their particular needs. Vivant Skin Care offers products for every skin type and problem. We also suggest trying our Questionnaire to see which Vivant Skin Care products best suit your skin.