Blotchiness! Complexion dotted with tiny little pimples all over. You can see how every single of your pores is congested, but no mask will help to remove that stubborn sebum from your pores.
One day your skin can be picture perfect, and next day you’ll wake up with a red face as if you had a wired allergic reaction to a product. I’ve been there too. Today you can learn how to get rid of congestion.
Get back your flawless complexion.
Here is my skin about a year ago! Sorry, not a pretty face to look at, but serves the purpose.
It took me a long time to determine what was the cause and how to go about it to treat it. Now my skin is clear, more balanced than ever and I have trusted skincare system in place to help me sustain it. We shouldn’t be stressing over one spot, but when my skin feels and looks good, it boosts my confidence. Don’t you feel the same way?
If you look at this pictures and shout – This is my skin! – Then you’re in the right place. I’ll give you some crucial steps to keep in mind and to follow if you’d like to get rid of congestion. Bare in mind; these are rough guidelines, based on my personal experience and some feedback from my clients. I’ll also share my journey with you because you never know, maybe it’ll work for you too.
Three key points to keep in mind!
- Get to know the reason behind your skin congestion.
- Put a skincare system in place.
- Be patient and consistent.
Identify the cause.
Try to figure out why your skin is congesting or producing so much oil so that you can eliminate the reason. Otherwise, you’re treating the symptoms, not problem. Jut remember it might take some time before you find the cause. It took me months to work it out. But once I knew it was my contraception to blame, I was able to eliminate it in a jiffy.
After consulting my GP, who has confirmed that this type of contraception used over an extended period, may affect the appearance of the skin. I stop taking it. My skin problem wasn’t escalating anymore. However, it hasn’t got rid of it either. At that point, my pores were severely congested. With sebum stuck deep down in the pores, even facials or extraction wouldn’t work.
At that point I know it’ll take the time to get my skin under control and stop it from flaring out. It took roughly six months to see significant improvement.
What could cause your skin to contest?
Ther’s so many reasons and often it could be a build up of factors too.
Here are a few, which I find are often to blame.
- You might have an oily skin type, which means your skin is producing a lot of sebum, a natural oil. Oiliness alone might not be an issue, but if you don’t cleanse well, over time, you may notice congestion.
- You might be working in an air conditioning environment, which contributes to skin’s dehydration. Dehydrated skin will produce more oil.
- Your moisturiser might be too rich for your skin type.
- You might be stressing over things too much.
Set up trusted skincare system.
I’d recommend to visit a trusted skincare brand, speak to the consultant and see what products they will recommend you. It’s always best to see a specialist if you find it difficult to get your skin under control.
If you never tried to have a ‘skincare routine’ this is where you might want to start.
- Cleanse
- Moisturise
- Exfoliate occasionally.
Clean your skin well.
After working 15 years in the beauty industry, I still feel most of us underestimates how important it is to clean our skin well from makeup, dirt and pollution. The right cleanser can sometimes turn your skin around in no time at all. I know when it’s good for my skin when it leaves my skin feeling fresh but not too tight.
Don’t skip your moisturiser.
I know a lot of my clients in the past were guilty of that. Especially those with oily skin, as they thought it was making their makeup slid off. Sorry to break it to you, but skipping your moisturiser makes your skin even oilier. Oil and water are what makes your skin, so when you don’t apply your moisturiser, your skin may be lacking moisture. Loss of water could lead to sensitization; your complexion gets a little red. Finally, the only way skin naturally can compensate for that lost moisture is to produce oil. This oil will come out of pores and lubricate your skin, create a protective layer, so it’s not losing any more moisture. See, vicious circle. This oil will also make your foundation slide off. So nex time try the light textured moisturiser, plump your skin with moisture and see the difference it’ll make.
Exfoliate regularly using enzyme peels.
Exfoliate twice or three times a week, just make sure it’s gentle. I don’t like using on a sensitised and inflamed skin any exfoliators (scrubs) which contain bids. You know the scratchy type. I think gentle exfoliation is much better. Invest in an enzyme peel. Here are a few I used and like. REN one minute facial was amazing, and I found it extremely efficient but gentle even on the skin at it’s worst and very sensitive.
Daily Microfoliant from Dermalogica is just a holy grail for me, and I alway have it on my bathroom shelf. Liquid God from Alpha H is also fantastic and good value for many. It’ll last you forever.
What worked for me – My skin story.
I started with discovering SENSAI; this expensive brand has some of the most delightful textures. Smooth and silky moisturiser, which just lightly glides over the skin. Their products contain SPF protection yet are light as a feather. I used this moisturiser for moths and noticed significant improvement. Even though SENSAI is expensive, I’d happily pay the price for their products. I love that even moisturisers with high SPF protection don’t have that oily or sticky feel. To top it all up, it also has anti-ageing benefits.
My next saviour was Dermalogica. This brand took my skin to anther level, and it’s not the first time Dermalogica helped to turn my skin around. Microfoliant is my holy grail of a product, and I can’t tell you how much I adore it. It’s a gentle exfoliating powder, which you mix with a tad of water to create a light foam. Next, you wash your face with that mixture. It cleanses and lightly exfoliates your skin, which helps to deep clean your pores and prevents further build up. Using Daily Microfoliante helped me reduce congestion over time, by elimination build up oil deeper in the pores.
When my skin was at it worst, I was also using Dermatologica Overnight Clearing Gel as a moisturiser. Initially, I thought it might not be nourishing enough, but surprisingly this is just what my skin needed at that time. Slowly as I noticed improvement, I switched to Sensai moisturiser in the morning a DHC in the evening. Occasionally going back to the Overnight Clearing Gel when my skin had its grumpy moments.
My everyday routine was too deep cleanse, follow with treatment and light moisturiser.
In addition to this, I was also using two different masks to help my skin out. One from SENSAI and one from Dermalogica.
SENSAI mask is deeply nourishing and helped to balance moisture in my skin. Silk protein is and an active ingredient in this range, and it has anti-ageing benefits. I liked using it to bring the supple feel and smoothness to my complexion.
From Dermalogica I used the Active Charcol mask, which helps to purify, brighten and exfoliates. I used it only one a week at most as this was quite an intense treatment. When I used this mask regularly, I noticed I kept my breakouts under control.
After months of being persistent and listening to my skin, I finally gained control over it. Remember our skin is always changing so make sure to visit beauticians or specialists on counters for advice. Recently I had new “face mapping” experience with Dermaoginga and was prescribed slightly different products. Now my skincare is focusing more on hydration and less on deep cleanse. Fingers crossed it’s going to get even better.