My Skincare and Acne Journey – The Balancing Project

The products I tried and the lessons I learned

My skin when I started Tretinoin and Spironolactone vs. 8 months later

I haven’t really talked about acne much in my previous blogposts. But, like many people, I first got into skincare because of my acne. So, I’m going to share my acne journey with you, and a few of the things that I learned along the way. By the way, in all the photos on this post, I did my best to keep the lighting (indoor) and angles consistent, but it didn’t always happen perfectly.

Stage 1: Circa 2008-2012

My skin: was starting to get more and more breakouts during my late middle school to high school years. They were always concentrated on my forehead and chin. Although my breakouts were never particularly severe, I still felt really self-conscious and started wearing more and more makeup over the years, mostly to cover them up.

Products Used: Stridex, Neutrogena Pink Grapefruit Scrub, Makeup

Lessons Learned: None, I was (skincare) stupid back then

Stage 2: Circa 2013-2016

My skin: was still breaking out about the same amount. Not too severe, but it still made me really self-conscious. I didn’t really think much about how skincare products could help me…yet I persisted in my use of the Neutrogena Pink Grapefruit scrub even though it didn’t seem to help and must have been seriously drying out my skin. Why. Just why. I only used a moisturizer if my face was feeling uncomfortably dry.

Products Used: Neutrogena Pink Grapefruit Scrub, Lots of Makeup, Makeup Wipes (mostly Neutrogena), Occasionally a Moisturizer (Clinique or Clean & Clear, courtesy of my mother)

Lessons Learned: Finally learned how to do my eyebrows in 2014 but still was a big old skincare dummy

Stage 3: 2016 – June 2017

My skin: finally began getting better! For some reason, in 2016 I decided to commit to using a moisturizer every day. It was just Pond’s, but it was thick and really moisturizing. I’m not sure if that’s what helped my breakouts or if it was just a slightly healthier lifestyle, but by the time college graduation came around in June 2017, my skin was doing pretty well and breakouts were less frequent.

Products Used: Neutrogena Pink Grapefruit scrub, Lots of Makeup, Various Makeup Wipes, Pond’s Cold Cream, Occasional Face Mask

Lessons Learned: Only took me about 10 years of acne to learn that moisturizing is important!

Stage 4: June 2017- May 2019

My Skin: Well things were going well in June 2017, until I moved to Shanghai after graduation. Then all hell broke loose on my face. Okay, it wasn’t that bad, but I did start breaking out again a lot more and I was not happy about it. It might have been stress, or the pollution, or the water quality, or the food, or the total change in my lifestyle from moving across the world. I still don’t know what it was. But at that time, I finally decided to start taking skincare more seriously, and it was incredibly easy for me to get sucked into it because I was surrounded by tons of Asian beauty products, mostly at very affordable prices. And I also finally had a job and an income for the first time… so I got a little carried away. My skin went through some ups and downs over these years.

Products Used: SO MANY (mostly Korean and Japanese, I tried the whole 10 step routine for a while), Makeup

Lessons Learned: I learned a lot of lessons the hard way here…here are some of the major ones:

The “10-Step Korean Beauty Routine” is mostly a myth. You do not need 10 steps. But lots of Asian beauty products are still amazing.
If it burns your face, you should stop doing it.
Just because the package directions say you can use an active ingredient twice a day, doesn’t mean you should do it.
Double cleansing is amazing and makeup wipes and stripping cleansers are trash.
DO NOT INTRODUCE NEW ACTIVES TO YOUR SKIN IMMEDIATELY AFTER GETTING A FACIAL. Wait at least a week or your face might really hurt.
Too much sugar can make me break out. So do horomones. Aka that time of the month is THE WORST.
Essences, ampoules, serums, toners are all products that exist.
You should wear sunscreen EVERY. DAY.

My skin with mild acne shortly before starting Tretinoin and Spironolactone. I didn’t take many bare-faced photos up to this time.

Stage 5: May 2019-2020 (Present)

My Skin: was more hydrated and moisturized for sure. But even though I thought I had been figuring the whole skincare thing out…my face was still breaking out. Not to mention, I had suddenly gotten a severe and very uncomfortable case of back acne. Ew. So when I moved back to the US in 2019, I finally went to see a dermatologist and got a couple of prescriptions, Tretinoin and Spironolactone, to help clear things up. It took a couple of months to see results, and there were a couple of minor side effects, but I’ve been able to manage them and the results have been so worth it for me. Now I hardly get breakouts anymore, and my skin just looks and feels a lot healthier!

Products Used: Tretinoin and Spironolactone, Benzoyl Peroxide (for my back), also a ton of other stuff, Western and Asian, Very little makeup

Lessons Learned: Sometimes you should just go to the doctor/ dermatologist — they might actually know more than you! Also, wash your (workout) clothes and be careful of what hair products you use –they can cause body acne. Tretinoin will dry the heck out of your skin (I used to have combination skin, part dry, part oily, but now I’m just dryyy).

My skin (acne free!) after about 8 months of using Tretinoin (topical) and Spironolactone (oral)

Final Thoughts

So that’s my acne journey! That’s pretty much how I became obsessed with skincare. For the longest time, acne was my biggest skincare concern and the only thing I really wanted out of my skincare routine was for it to go away. Now that my acne is pretty much under control, I can finally start focusing on other aspects of skincare, which has been so much fun! But I still remember how damaging and painful acne can be, especially to your self-esteem, even if it’s “just” a mild or moderate case. And if it’s accessible to you, I highly recommend going to the dermatologist for acne treatment.

These days, I finally feel comfortable going almost anywhere without makeup, which saves so much time and is honestly so freeing. I still really like makeup, but being able to feel happy and confident in just my own skin is a really good feeling. That is what I want to help other people to achieve through this blog. Regardless of whether you wear makeup or not, I want you to feel like you can be comfortable in your own skin anywhere or anytime.