How I Fixed My Skin With Fewer Skincare Products

I cleared the worst breakout of my life and fixed my damaged skin—not by adding more skincare products to my routine, but by eliminating most of them.

When you look at the image on the left, you might find it hard to believe that up until this point, I had gone through most of my life with relatively unproblematic skin. “Sensitive” was not a term I had ever used to describe my skin type before. I had tried more skincare products, hacks, and trends than I care to remember, and yet aside from a few adverse reactions, nothing had come close to what I was seeing in the mirror now.

How did it get so bad? I can’t say for sure, but I’ve boiled it down to 3 main factors—I had gone off the pill after years of consistent use (a.k.a. hormonal hell), I was going through an extremely stressful period at work (a.k.a hormonal hell, now with 2X the hellishness), and I had just started using a prescription retinoid for the first time (bad timing, I know). This unholy trinity of factors wreaked havoc on my skin’s moisture barrier, and led to a breakout unlike anything I’d experienced before.

Now, don’t worry, this story has a happy ending, because the image all the way to the right was taken about 4 months (and a healthy vacation tan) after the first one on the left. Yes, it’s not flawless, but it’s a major step forward. And, the journey to get there has changed my whole approach to skincare.

My first mistake: Thinking that more = better

Like any self-proclaimed skincare expert, I couldn’t bear the thought of having bad skin. So, I attacked the problem the only way I knew how—with as much acne-fighting firepower as I could. I doubled down on my prescription retinoid and threw in some salicylic acid, benzoyl peroxide, and azelaic acid in the mix for good measure. I thought I was doing everything right, and yet, my skin was only getting worse. It got to the point where skincare was torturous, every application causing painful burning sensations.

That’s when I knew I had to stop everything and let my skin just breathe, even if it meant living with acne for a while.

The simpler routine that saved my skin

I pared back my skincare routine to the essentials—cleanser, calming serum, moisturizer and sunscreen—and something miraculous happened. My skin didn’t just start feeling better, it started looking better. The acne, which had refused to budge while under attack from my multiple treatments, started to calm down with this gentler approach. I also chose products with ingredients I knew my skin loved, not just ones that were viral or trending online.

Both my morning and night time routines contained only 4 products (which might still seem like a lot, but is a far cry from the 8-10 step routine I was used to). My morning routine consisted of:

• (Optional) B.LAB Matcha Hydrating Cleanser: A gentle cleanser that leaves my skin feeling clean but not stripped. On days when my skin felt extra dry in the mornings, I would just skip this step entirely.

• Beauty of Joseon Calming Serum Green Tea + Panthenol: I got rid of all my actives (I still miss you, Vitamin C!), and chose to only use this serum from Beauty of Joseon that contains hydrating and soothing ingredients like green tea, mugwort and panthenol.

• Purito Oat-In Calming Gel Cream: I locked it all in with this lightweight gel moisturizer, which contains both oat seed water and squalane to instantly hydrate and calm irritated skin.

• Skin1004 Hyalu-Cica Water-Fit Sun Serum: And of course, we never skip the sunscreen. This one’s my favourite for damaged skin because it’s formulated with skin soothing centella asiatica, so you get both sun protection and nourished skin from just one great product.

My night time routine followed the same principle, but with a few different products. I wanted to mix it up so my skin wasn’t ODing on any one particular product (a principle I continue to follow now, even as my skin has recovered):

• Bioderma Sensibio Micellar Water: Double cleansing was extremely important to get my acne under control, but my skin was too unpredictable for cleansing balms and oils. That’s when I reached for the OG micellar water, my go-to for a first cleanse when my skin’s feeling sensitive.

• B.LAB Matcha Hydrating Cleanser: I followed it up with the same cleanser from earlier for a second cleanse.

• Mixsoon Bean Essence: I’ll admit, this was one that social media influenced me to buy, but dear god does my skin love it. It uses fermented ingredients like soybean, pomegranate and pear to hydrate the skin, control sebum production, and provide the mildest possible exfoliation. Everything my damaged skin needed.

• Dr.G Red Blemish Clear Soothing Cream: Because I love centella asiatica so much, I had to have it in my night time routine, and this power-packed moisturizer has 5 different types of it!

Re-introducing actives, slowly and mindfully

After about 2 months of this simplified routine, my skin barrier was healthy, my breakouts had mostly calmed down and no new ones were appearing either. Unfortunately I was left with some pretty bad post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation, and the soothing ingredients were not enough to get rid of it.

I wanted to introduce some targeted brightening actives into my routine, but I had to make sure I didn’t take one step forward and two steps back. So, I started low and slow, and used the skin cycling technique to incorporate the following products in moderation:

I’M FROM Rice Toner

The first product I added into my morning routine was this mild brightening toner that’s mostly formulated with rice water, but had some additional brightening power from niacinamide.

Because it’s a pretty mild product, I was comfortable adding this into my routine every day, although once a day in the morning was enough. Everything else you see below was incorporated more sparingly.

REVIVA LABS Dark Spot Brightening Serum

I took my first major foray back into the world of actives with this serum from Reviva Labs, packed full of an intimidating list of brightening ingredients. Niacinamide, glycolic acid, kojic acid, alpha arbutin, vitamin C, resveratrol, bearberry extract, licorice root extract—you name it, it’s got it.

Because of its potent formula, with ingredients like glycolic acid, I use this one with caution only 2-3 times a week.

RETACNYL Prescription Tretinoin

I know, I know, why would I go back to the thing that caused all this to begin with? Honestly, I can’t quit tret just yet, but I figured out how to incorporate it in a way that doesn’t send my skin into a tailspin. This time, I made sure to only use it twice a week at night at the start. I eventually increased the usage to every alternate night, but don’t plan to go any higher than that. I also don’t use any other active ingredients in the same routine with it.

Why I’ve changed my whole approach to skincare

This may make me sound incredibly vain, and I realise that people have much larger problems in their lives than acne, but what the heck, I’m going to say it anyway—the last few months have been HARD. Coming to terms with my skin not being perfect was a journey, but along the way, I’ve unlearnt everything I thought I knew about skincare, and arrived at a place of skinimalism. Today, even as I continue to suffer from occasional breakouts, there are a few principles that I truly think have made all the difference:

• Less is more: My 10-step routines are now a thing of the past. I use fewer products in my routine and I use them less frequently as well. Only my cleanser, moisturizer and sunscreen are constant, almost everything else comes and goes on an as-needed basis.

• Listen to your skin: Yes, I have a morning and night time skincare routine, but I’m also much more intuitive now about what my skin needs on any given day. If it’s dry, I’ll add some additional hydrating toners or serums. If it’s stinging, I’ll scale back my skincare and use only barrier-friendly products. If I’m going to be out all day, I’ll spend extra time with my night time cleanse. Listen to your skin when it’s telling you what it needs.

• Start low and slow: Don’t let my newfound enlightenment fool you though—I’m still not immune to the temptation of a new product—but when I do introduce a new product into my routine, it’s always done mindfully. First off, I make sure I really, really need something before I buy it, and it’s always only one new product at a time, never a whole new routine. If the product has any active ingredients, it’ll only be featuring in my routine 2-3 times a week at the start. Finally, I think about any current products I can replace with this one, so I’m not over-complicating my routine.

About The Skinimalist

Hi, I’m Mal, a 30-something recovering skincare addict, and this is my blog. A space where I attempt to de-influence you from chasing trends and buying more skincare products you may not need.

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