[fearlessly]

Hi, all! New here (first post), I'm really interested in getting great-looking and healthy skin and was wondering if there are any products and/or daily/weekly/etc. routines that you guys could offer to me. Here's a bit about me/my skin.

I'm a 19 year-old male with overall okay skin (on my face, anyways). I'd get occasional pimples when I was younger, but nothing horrible.
-I have a very olive-y, Portuguese complexion. A lot of the people in my family as they get older tend to get skin issues - spotting, leathery, very wrinkle-y, etc.
-I shower daily, but don't really wash my face outside of the shower and don't use a facial scrub.
-I use a three-blade (Mach 3) razor and normal Gilette shaving cream.
-I tend to get breakouts when I wear makeup (I do theatre! haha, not cross-dressing...). These usually include a pimple or two and little bumps. Most often, this happens either on a cheek or close to my hairline on either side of my forehead.
-I drink a lot of water and diet well.
-My nose is weird... I put those cleansing strips on it every once in a while (wet your nose, apply strip, peel when it hardens), and it's always loaded with nasty stuff... like if I were to squeeze my noze and scrape at it (the surface) with a fingernail, there would be gunk that would come off... not sure what to do about this, but it looks a little strange when I look closely.
-I have very deepset eyes, and have always had "dark circles" underneath them.

I only really get one real (decent-sized) pimple a month, so that's not my issue.. it's just that there's usually lots of very small red or white bumps that alter the look of my face a little, and I really want clean, healthy skin. I went from living in a small town for a while to NYC, and the men here may be 40, but they look so young because they take really good care of their skin. I'm still young, but I want to invest the time in taking care of my skin now so that I'm not screwed when I'm older. I'm willing to invest time, like I said, but really can't go too crazy with money - I'm of course not opposed to purchasing some things, but not sure that having a drawerful of skin products would be possible at this point.

So with all that information, what sort of advice and tips can you guys offer me?

Thanks in advance!

 

[mony]

Hi and welcome to the site! Well it's nice to see young men trying to take better care of their skin. First think that I noticed is that you don't take the time to wash your face, day and night- Bad boy! Go to a dollar store and invest in a facial cleansing brush, or even one of those electric spin toothbrushes- they are a great way to scrub all the debris out of your pores(like on your nose- up into hairline!) Get yourself a good facial cleanser (mild one) I like the foaming ones! then you should invest in a good moisturizer, and these range in price from 10-100$.( the best way is to go to the beauty counter and ask for some samples- then you can find one that you like without breaking the bank for something that will leave your skin feeling greasy) then the easiest part to remember is a good quality Sunblock- That doesn't have to break the ban either- I get the vichy SPF 60, it works great none greasy(I ask for 4 sample tubes then I have enough for a full year!) Sunblock is issential if you want to stay young looking, nothing ages your skin like the sun does. My rule of thumb- whenever I need to step out the door I put it on. (PS I hope you are using a good makeup remover to remove that pan-cake makeup!)
Good Luck and I hope this helps you out!

 

[fearlessly]

Thanks so much for the advice - I took a lot of it and have more questions for anyone who's willing to help (please!). I'm really trying to take a vested interest in my face and skin while I'm still young! haha

Anyways, I went out and purchased a toner, moisturizer, and facial scrub. The facial scrub is from St. Ives and is an apricot scrub - marked oil free and for all skin types. The Toner I got is L'oreal Hydrafresh - it's 99% alcohol-free and marked as mild. The other item is an Oil-Free Moisturizer from Neutrogena, which is non-comedogenic and has SPF 15 ("UVA/UVB sun protection").

What else should I get? Are any of these product/brands bad? I read all the labels pretty thoroughly and they all seemed pretty appropriate.

Anyways, I usually take two showers a day. I was reading around here, and there's one post that inquires about the order products should go on - it said in the AM, it should go: cleanser, toner, sunscreen, moisturizer. First question is, can I skip sunscreen since my moisturizer already is SPF 15? If it makes any difference, it's once in a very blue moon that I'll ever burn/peel, though my face does tan a little during the summer. Second question: Should I get cleanser? I'm assuming that's not like the apricot facial scrub I have. Next question, how long/often should I use all these products? Should I use the facial scrub every time I shower (aka, twice a day?) Should I use it every day? How about the cleanser/toner/moisturizer? How long should I wait between applying all of these products?

Next, what about at night time when I take my shower before bed? The same thread I referenced before says to use cleanser, toner, topical chemical exfoliant, then topical antioxidant. Is this true? What exactly are the second two? Is that like a mask? Should I be putting a mask on every night? Weekly? I have a detoxifying mud facial mask treatment by DETOX... it's marked as using herbal clay, rosehip oil & aloe vera with antioxidants. Is this the topical antioxidant?

Really, thanks again for looking guys... it's really nice to have such a great forum with all this information and smart people around!


Cleanser, toner, topical chemical exfoliant, topical antioxidant