WHAT WE KNOW:

SKIN TYPE: Oily/ Combination

PRONE TO:

ACNE – usually food/ stress/ late nights make it worse

INFECTIONS – fungal/ bacterial (Candida infections)

ASHY/ GREY LOOKING SKIN – patchy/ uneven skin tone

SOME MILIA – not too bad (tiny white bumps near eyes)

BUMPS ON THIGHS – folliculitis (from living in yoga pants and tights)

From the previous blogs we now kinda see how and why I turned to more natural or less processed ingredients in my skincare and especially what I gave up – all time favorites like oil free products, getting squeaky clean, washing and washing and cleaning and cleaning…. We now look at some of the other changes I made and what my skincare routine looks like now.

THE OTHER CHANGES I MADE:

I have CFS, probably candida related, the other changes I made were: cutting down on sugar – this was a big one because - 2 sugars with every cup of tea.

SLEEPING! SLEEPING REGULARLY!!! I tried (not always successfully) to get into a routine especially sleeping. I’ve never been someone who could be up all night and then look good the next day. So I stopped doing that completely. I try a minimum of 7 hours every night, I try very very hard.

DIET: What worked personally for me – eating more nuts, I don’t really love them particularly but I had seen the difference healthy fats made to my skin and I just added this to my diet. I didn’t see any weight gain, I still stay the same weight.

I love fruits & veggies so that has always been to my advantage.

When the changes were happening, I just felt good, I had energy and not terrible skin, I did have to stick to a skincare routine but the rest of it required less work. 

I had successful makeup free days – I could ditch the concealer.

Looking back now – it’s now been a couple of  years with a few setbacks (old habits returning); I can see how it very gradually changed, for the first few months it’s difficult to notice but after that when it all comes together, it really can be amazing. 

PRODUCTS I USE & WHY I THINK IT WORKS

It’s always a journey but I now had identified most of my triggers and was on my way to making it better.

WHAT WAS I LOOKING FOR:

I needed Natural alternatives, Natural antifungals, antibacterials to target breakouts, healthy fats to help my skin recover its natural glow. With healthy fats I was looking to prevent my skin from overproducing oil/ sebum which would manage both the dehydrated, dull appearance and the greasiness.

Wanting to try something which didn’t have any harsh chemicals, wasn’t overly preserved I slowly changed my skincare routine to what it is now. 

DAILY – SKINCARE ROUTINE

During the day: Regular moisturizer, makeup, Formula 5 on breakouts if I don’t have any important stuff – formula 5 will leave a shiny spot

Nightly routine: 

This doesn’t change, and is super super important. This affects what my skin will look like when I wake up and it’s something I stick with religiously.

Remove makeup

Cleanse/ Shower

Moisturize

Godmother all over face and on any areas with acne/ bumps/ redness like back especially in the (maybe because of my hair) arms or legs, sometimes neck (under my chin). When I wax/ shave.

Formula 5 on any breakouts

2 – 3 TIMES A WEEK:

Dry powder mask with Neem for acne (Not launched yet)

Timeless : Facial Serum

Glo : Body Oil

WEEKLY SKINCARE ROUTINE:

Cocola Polish – for body, I regularly exfoliate every week, sometimes more often, helped with the bumps on bum and thighs because I love wearing tights/ yoga pants.

Dry mask as a pick me up before a dinner date (help bring circulation back into my skin to brighten and glow)

SOMETIMES:

Cocola Polish – For face - Not very regular with this if I’ve been using the dry masks regularly

NEVER EVER… leave without the core, the basic foundation of your skincare. After all what my skin looks like affects what I might feel like in the morning… We all have it, our skin fix, what we need when our skin is freaking out… what makes everything better

For skincare I could never ever do without Godmother and Formula 5. I travel with these in my handbag. I need it during the flight and I need it after, if I cannot find anything else I will use a thick layer of Godmother as a mask and let it sink it while I bathe. If I have it, I can get away with my eyeliner and lip gloss. My skin is problem skin, I accept it, I treat it well and in return it is good to me...

GODMOTHER – Learn More

FORMULA 5 – Learn More

Start your very own skincare journey or rather a different lifestyle...

PS. Beauty lies within XO

Sooz

Beauty Activist

TIMELESS : Serum

CRYSTAL SKIN SET : for problem skin

COCOLA : Face + Body Polish

GLO : Body Serum

DRY MASK : Under Formulation

HONEY ENZYME MASK : Under Formulation

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Previously: SKINCARE JOURNEY : PART IV 

Next: FACIAL OILS : Is it for everyone?

WHY DO WE LOVE COCONUT OIL?

Coconut oil in the kitchen and coconut oil in skin care – amazing! It has been used in skincare products in its raw form in many traditional skincare routines, it’s used on hair, body – pretty much everywhere.

With different types of coconut oil available, we love using Virgin but it’s great in pretty much all its forms. If we need it to be liquid at cooler temperatures fractionated coconut oil works pretty well and we can still smell the coconut.

Coconut oil’s fatty acid profile is pretty amazing: we love it for its therapeutic qualities and its delicious smell. It is a fairly light feeling oil, more slick than tackiness, delicious smell. Where it really packs a punch is with its Lauric acid content. It has around 50% Lauric acid (a fatty acid, basically a type of fat, not acid how we know it in everyday language) which is a very strong antibacterial & antifungal. With a lot of skin issues revolving around some kind of inflammation from trapped sebum/ growth of germs, coconut oil can be pretty amazing just on it’s on.

Although coconut oil can be pretty controversial with people swearing by it and others totally against, we love it.

How we like to use it:

On its own it makes a great makeup remover – it’ll remove the most stubborn waterproof eye liner.

Great used on tips of long hair as a leave in conditioner detangler

Oil treatment for hair – leave overnight, somehow our experience with wavy hair has been very nice with help retaining curls without the frizziness.

It has a drying effect on some skin types but blended at right proportions with other botanicals/ oils it’s pretty nice.

Strong antibacterial/ antifungal properties make it really good in places which get hot, sweaty and smelly – keeping us germ free. Runners/ atheletes… Great for feet and toes

Very nice in Body scrubs for skin which gets bumpy from wearing leggings/ tights.

Have you tried oil pulling? We haven’t been able to really be able to state how helpful it is but try not to eat it while oil pulling.

When using pure/ natural products always start with using the very tiniest amount, you will be surprised by how little you really need.

We've listed some of our products with coconut oil below but we love using coconut oil and can't say enough about its amazing antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral properties. Even when using it as Fractionated coconut oil or just ordinary good coconut oil from the super market we cannot stop raving about it's uses.

When used correctly, in the right proportion it can benefit almost all skin types, it's so amazing at speeding up healing. 

PS. Always remember...Beauty lies within XO

Our products with Coconut oil:

GODMOTHER: Skin Warrior cream - LEARN MORE

LOVESTUCK: Skin Protector Cream - LEARN MORE

COCOLA: Face + Body Polish - LEARN MORE

FORMULA 5: Spot Treatment Cream - LEARN MORE

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