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The Three Most Important Skin Care Habits Even If You’re Working From Home

Posted on March 31, 2020June 20, 2020 Cybil SolynLeave a commentPosted in Skincare

Yeah you aren’t seeing anyone while on quarantine while Covid-19, the Coronavirus strikes fear in our hears with its pandemic claws. But you still need to take care of what you have. So let’s talk about the three most important skincare habits even if you’re working from home.

SPF, Ceramides, & Face Wash are Most Essential Daily

Wash Your Face

Wash your face at least once a day, preferably in the morning. I mean, I’d like morning and night, but let’s get real. If you’re reading this then you’re probably sitting in your pj’s and haven’t showered in a few days – am I right?

Go ahead and splash your face with water in the morning, or wipe it down with a microfiber mitt like Jane Iredale’s Magic Mitt, a knitted micro-fiber cloth that relies only on water and tiny micro-fibers to penetrate and wash away oil and grime. but your skin does a lot of clean up and repair while you sleep so help it by taking out the trash before you snooze by removing the days’ dirt. I really like SPELL Skincare’s Brilliantly Clean. the pumpkin enzyme does double duty by gently exfoliating dead skin and cleansing it with anti-aging antioxidants. It smells pretty awesome before bed too.

A Daily Ceramide

Ceramides are what’s in the skin’s barrier that helps it retain moisture and allows it to hold proper hydration. Always oily? Get blackheads a lot? Always dry? Flakey skin? Forget basic moisturizers and serums. You need a ceramide! My favorite is the ultra-clean and made specifically designed for acne prone skin Roccoco Botanicals Ceramide Booster.

Sunscreen

I know you’re inside, but unless you’re living in a windowless room like that summer you lost playing WOW in your mom’s basement, you’re are getting UV and cancer-causing damage through the glass and whenever you go outside. Maybe you don’t need that 100+ spf that makes you white (you know the one), but you do need something. My favorite is Jane Iredale’s Powder Me SPF. It feels like nothing and can easily just be powdered onto the face in a few quick swipes. My all-time favorite SPF is Epicuren’s Zinc SPF 27. It’s simple, feels awesome, helps mattify the skin, and has next to no smell.

Excuse Me, But Do My Pores Look Big In This?

Posted on April 28, 2016June 20, 2020 Cybil SolynLeave a commentPosted in Skincare

Let me just start by saying that you can’t make your pores get any smaller. Not really. Let me repeat this bigger so you can hear me.

YOU CAN’T MAKE YOUR PORES SMALLER

You can’t. I’m sorry. Your pores are the size you were pretty much born with. Like shoe size or finger length there are certain factors that may have increased pore size as you were growing up like humidity, uncontrolled oiliness, or just bad skin health. But honestly, even that is a minor factor in their overall size. Mostly it’s just genetics. It’s not like you had small pores and then lived in Florida and now have craters on your face. No, you might have slightly larger pores because of something you did when you were young, but what you’re born with is what you get. That’s all.

In this day and age of Photoshop, filters, and HD cameras, pores have become the evil holes that lurk inside our skin. But let me tell you a secret. We all have pores. *gasp* All of us. From Angelina Jolie to me. And you know what? Almost all of us think they are big. Even GIGANTIC!

I’ve been an esthetician for over a decade now and I’ve never heard someone complain to me about their tiny pores. No one has ever cried to me and said, “Oh Cybil, my tiny pores are making my skin all congested and bumpy because I’m not getting enough oil and my pore is so small that everything gets trapped in it. Please help me!” Even a client with this particular skin condition due to the small nature of their pores has come into me and complained about their big pores.

And the reason? We all have pore envy. Although most of us have normal, average sized, pores we think we should have the smooth, poreless skin of a magazine cover. Sure I occasionally get some large pored people in, but most common are the people who have enlarged pores because of the wacked crap they’ve been doing to their skin.

So Why Are We All So Crazy?

Well I think the media has a lot to do with this. As I said before Photoshop and such gave us unrealistic expectations of what skin should look like in a poreless state. Where I look at the photo to the left and see uncanny valley, many of my readers come to me seeking this perfection.

THIS IS NEVER GOING TO HAPPEN WITHOUT MAKEUP AND PROBABLY NOT EVEN THEN.

But this is okay everyone because really we all look the same. We all look like humans and not like this in real life!

So, Like I Have Big Pores

(No I Do! I Really, Really Do!)

Now What?

First, you don’t have big pores. (Dammit, why am I even writing this article?!) But in the off chance you do, come to terms with them and help them look smaller. Seeking the advice of a skincare professional like me is a great start. Stop watching crazy videos and doing self treatments at home is another. Did I mention the wacked crap earlier?

Dirty, oily, abused, dehydrated, and clogged pores will make pores look bigger. Washing 2x a day with a gentle cleanser, following up with a hydration serum and SPF and using a good for your skin makeup (Jane Iredale is my favorite) can do wonders to keep your pores looking smaller. I know other people will say scrub and stuff, but Just Say No. Stick to an enzyme based exfoliating mask or Clarisonic/Foreo face brush 1-2x a week. In the end though, seek a good skincare professional. They will show you the way.