As much as I love blushes and lippies and the latest perfume, the one thing that appeals to me the most is good and proper skincare. It’s funny but now that I’m in my mid 30s, my skin is faring is so much better than when I was in my mid-20s. Back then, my skin was all kinds of messed up and I had no idea what the heck I was doing. I used products from brands that Mum said were good but little did I know that while the brands were good, the products I was using weren’t. With experience and education, I discovered what I needed to keep my skin in as tip-top shape as possible.

This hasn’t always been the way for me. I’ve made many, many skincare mistakes over the years that messed my skin up and it took me a long time to realise that I was doing things wrongly that contributed to skin problems like dehydration, over-production of sebum (hence making my nose especially oily), breakouts, rashes and more. I thought I’d share some of those mistakes with you today and how I managed to sort them out.

Using harsh scrubs almost daily

The mistake:
I remembered rejoicing the day I discovered St Ives’ Apricot Scrub. This was many years ago and my local pharmacy had just started stocking St Ives products, ones I’d only been able to see in magazines so far. I’d only used Biore facial scrubs back then, and while I thought they were all right, I fell head over heels in love with the Apricot Scrub. Little did I know that they contained sharp kernels that were abrasive on the skin rather than just exfoliating it a little too well. And I was even using them on an almost daily basis! A few years later, I stumbled upon new facial scrubs that felt like fine sand and thought “what the heck was I thinking, using such harsh scrubs??”

How I nipped it in the bud:
I stopped using apricot scrubs on my face but I must say, they’re bloody fantastic for the elbows, knees and especially dry and cracked heels. I have no problems using apricot scrubs on the rest of my body either as they exfoliate so well. But I draw the line at using them on my face, neck and decolletage. For the past few years, I’ve even reduced my use of scrubs to just once a week or even bi-weekly as I favour chemical exfoliants now. If you’re still using apricot scrubs on your face, please reconsider and use them on your body instead. There are plenty of gentle facial scrubs these days that don’t feel as though you’re rubbing gritty sandpaper on your skin.

Not using enough sunscreen

The mistake:
When I first started using sunscreen regularly and announced proudly on the blog many years ago that one must use sunscreen regularly too, what I didn’t mention back then was actually how little of it I use on my face and body. It was lack of education on my part that while I know I have to apply sunscreen daily, at that time I didn’t actually know I had to apply a lot of it on my face and body. I remembered squeezing just the tiniest amount to apply all over my face AND neck. I used so little on my arms and legs that in hindsight, I might as well not even bother.

How I nipped it in the bud:
Thanks to moving to Australia (it’s imperative to use even more sunscreen here) and learning from Dermalogica of the actual amount I needed to use, I’ve increased the “dosage” significantly. Back then if you’d told me I needed at least 1 teaspoon of sunscreen on my face, I’d think you were joking. These days, I go through a bottle of sunscreen quickly and during the summer months, I actually need multiple tubes of it instead of just one to tide me over half a year.

Rushing the skincare application process

The mistake:
It wasn’t till just a few years ago that I don’t actually take my time to apply my skincare. Back then my skincare routine consists of toner, serum, moisturiser and sunscreen, and it would take me a maximum of 3 minutes to slap all of those on. That’s exactly how I’d do it; I’d literally slap it on and move on to the next step as quickly as possible. Slap slap slap. I didn’t bother waiting for each step to properly absorb before I moved on to the next item. In retrospect, I could have just mixed all toner, serum, moisturiser and sunscreen in a bowl and slap that on instead because everything was mixing together when I was applying each item so quickly. *facepalm*

How I nipped it in the bud:
Skincare application should be a relaxing and enjoyable process and what I did was make it into an inconvenience that I had to go through before I could move on with my day. So I slowed it down, way down. I made sure to give myself ample time to apply my skincare, giving each product time to sink in before I moved on to the next product. Believe it or not, by not rushing the skincare application process, I saw the improvement on my skin. I thoroughly enjoy my skincare process now as it’s a time for me to relax and not drive my blood pressure through the roof with all that rushing.

Not drinking enough water

The mistake:
I used to have a very bad habit of not drinking enough water a day. There were many times when I’ve gone all day with just one glass of water. While this didn’t wreak obvious havoc on my skin, what I developed were many painful mouth ulcers. My terrible lack-of-water-drinking habit sometimes also dried my lips out so much that hard skin developed on the outline of my lips, making it look as though I’ve been wearing a lip liner all day and night. The mouth ulcers and the painfully chapped lips were warning signs that I hadn’t been drinking enough water.

How I nipped it in the bud:
Keeping a glass of water on my desk doesn’t work because once I’m done, I usually forget to replenish the water. What helped tremendously was a big bottle of water on my desk. It contains 3 glasses of water and I make sure I replenish that bottle at least once a day so that I’ve made my quota of 8 glasses of water a day. If you have problems forgetting to drink water, keep a water bottle on your desk at work or at home, preferably right in front of you. Make sure it’s a large water bottle and not just one of those tiny 350ml ones.

What I love about skincare is that it changes as we age. Our skin changes and what we use changes. It’s a journey of getting to know our skin and how to love it better.

In many cases, it’s not too late to undo what has been done.

What about you? Have you made any skincare mistakes over the years? How did you nip those mistakes in the bud?