Quarantine Skincare

Since there’s not much to report on the Technical Librarian front – training doesn’t start until one more person finishes the onboarding process – I might as well get in to my new skincare situation.

My job shutdown in March like most places and sometime in May is when I caught the skincare bug. I’m going to blame Instagram. I read this article by Roxane Gay about how the Instagram algorithm figured out that she likes technology and tiny things and that she became susceptible to buying things she didn’t need due to her pandemic dread.

I must have liked one too many skincare products, which lead to friend suggestions of skin influencers, dermatologists, and estheticians. And they, of course, had YouTube content that I needed to watch too. So many morning routines, ingredients to avoid, brand reviews, etc., and I watched them all (and subscribed and hit that like button). The dread of the pandemic definitely encouraged me to join this community. Building a skincare routine provided some comfort and a thing to do every day that I could control.

I started out with buying products from The Ordinary because they were affordable and so many people spoke highly of the brand and it’s quality ingredients. And then I discovered Soko Glam, which is like Sephora except all the products are sourced from Korea. That opened me up to K-Beauty and the ten step routine. My brain exploded and now I can’t imagine not using toners & essences daily. At some point I read an article about decolonizing your beauty routine and found some Black-owned beauty brands to support.

I wish I could say that my skin has improved drastically in the six months that I’ve been taking care of my skin, but it hasn’t. My skin is smoother or maybe softer is a better word. It’s way more hydrated than it was before and I think that has made some of my fine lines less noticeable. My skin also seems brighter and even toned, but I still get the occasional pimple. However, the dark mark that usually follows the pimple, fades away faster. Older marks, along with the sun spots/freckles I’ve developed since I’ve aged, haven’t budged. I’m not discouraged though, I know these things take time and if I want to see better results I’m going to have to see an esthetician. It probably would help too if I could nail down the products that worked best on my skin instead of changing things up each time I finish a product. It’s fun to try new stuff, but my goal is to find the “holy grail” products that I’ll use consistently. So far, the only product I can’t imaging living without is the Neogen Real Ferment Micro Essence.

That was probably more than you wanted to know. 🤓 I’m on the hunt for the perfect mineral sunscreen that won’t leave a white cast and feels lightweight on the skin, so if you have suggestions, I’m all ears. Side note: If you prefer podcasts over blogs, I’ll talked about my skincare journey here.

Is there anything that you’ve started doing after Covid-19 showed up and changed everything?

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