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Skincare

💫⚡️✨⭐️

Introduce yourself with your sunscreen; Hihi, I’m skinAqua 🙈

Introduce yourself with your sunscreen; Hihi, I’m Bioré 💕

that time i helped Krave Beauty pass out samples 💝 i am open for hire

FINALLY tried a Rhode lip product — and I get the hype - I didn’t wanna love this! But I doooo 👄 

This one is the color raspberry jelly

Trying out these new Abib toner pads because I saw they were rated 100/100 on the Yuka app (very rare)

What I paid here equals to what I used to pay for one moisturizer. I keep winning 🫡

Day 3/100
My Night time Skincare routineee

finally opened the packet and stored multani mitti (fuller’s earth) in a jar after a month of executive dysfunction in play 

my skin care game is about to 10x 😎

First Draft Club

The best skincare ingredients don’t come in $150 in a frosted glass bottle; they come in a plain $15 giant blue tub.

It’s not sexy. No one’s flexing it in a shelfie. You’ve probably walked by it at CVS 25 times, and I ignored it, but that plain blue tub of CeraVe Moisturizing Cream is one of the most effective products you can put on your face.

Your skin barrier is built like a wall: skin cells are the bricks, and ceramides are the mortar. Without enough mortar, the wall crumbles. Water leaks out, irritants get in, and sometimes the wall is so damaged that it leaks oil to try to repair itself. 

CeraVe is loaded with ceramides your skin recognizes and uses to repair its barrier. It doesn’t feel luxurious, but it quietly does the work that $150 serums can’t. It’s wonderful applied thick at night but may feel too heavy during the day unless you scale back. It’s also economical enough to use as a full-body moisturizer, and your skin will thank you!



Be the content you want to see on the feed.

Raise your hand if you own this headband (or one like it)…

This stuff is amazing 

That is all

Shoutout to the gal at Sephora who said I had to try it out 👏

Chat GPT is so great at comparing skin care ingredients and products head to head. This saves me so much time. Underrated use case.

A lot of folks asked me how to find the PH of your cleanser and most companies DO NOT publish this because you probably wouldn’t buy it. 

But, many of us care and have compiled info for over a decade. 

Here’s my go to Google Doc with as much verified info as the community could gather!

Many famous western brands are included. Something around 5 is fabulous. Under 5.6 is great. 6 is good. Above 7 starts to get too high. If yours is a 8/9, put it in your shower and buy something new off Amazon today. 

PS. CeraVe Hydrating Facial Cleanser has a pH of 5.5 and can be found in most US drug stores! 



https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/u/0/d/1VqO_uF8m4oKBzzk5ass37gHcjIk-_2Tv4W2KgJJmUQc/htmlview

If you have a lot of cleanser left and the PH isn’t horrible, I’d suggest buying a foaming cup!

1. It’s fun
2. You should be able to buy one on Amazon for $5-8
3. If you have a Daiso nearby, you are in luck, it’s super affordable there
4. You may be able to get a multipack online and gift one to a friend

A foaming cup takes your pea sized amount of cleanser plus a tablespoon of water and turns it into luxurious foam that will look and behave more like shaving cream!

This is SO much gentler on your face and can help salvage cleanses that aren’t perfect. Once you wash with foam, you won’t go back!

Examples, not recommendations, because I bought all mine in Japan.

If you have a lot of cleanser left and the PH isn’t horrible, I’d suggest buying a foaming cup!

1. It’s fun
2. You should be able to buy one on Amazon for $5-8
3. If you have a Daiso nearby, you are in luck, it’s super affordable there
4. You may be able to get a multipack online and gift one to a friend

A foaming cup takes your pea sized amount of cleanser plus a tablespoon of water and turns it into luxurious foam that will look and behave more like shaving cream!

This is SO much gentler on your face and can help salvage cleanses that aren’t perfect. Once you wash with foam, you won’t go back!

Examples, not recommendations, because I bought all mine in Japan. 

https://a.co/d/3xU4wmj

I checked inventory online and you can find a few high quality low PH cleaners on the Google Doc like the Cerave Hydrating Cleanser at Walgreens and Walmarts/Targets and on Amazon.  One bottle could probably last you a year, since you are going to use so much less!

Purchased sheet packs on sale at Qoo10!!

They even gave me a sample.

You’re Probably Washing Your Face Wrong

And it’s costing you your skin barrier. The good news? Fixing it costs $0 and you can do it tonight.

Most skincare advice starts with “buy this,” but not this one. You can get calmer, softer skin right now with what you already own.

The secret comes from Asian beauty, and although I love my 12-step skincare routine, this isn’t about more products. Instead, I challenge you to change your cleansing habits and protect your moisture barrier (your castle wall) and acid mantle (rhe moat). 

Western routines often wreck both by over-cleansing. They encourage you to use too much product, the PH is too harsh, and they tell you to apply cleansers directly to your skin. This usually results in a tight, stripped face that overproduces oil and gets irritated (most of you reading this no longer have true oily skin, but you may think you do because your acid mantle is damaged and your skin is actually dehydrated and producing oil to compensate)!

The $0 Fix

Less is more. 

Tonight, start with a pea-sized blob of your cleanser. If it comes in a pump tube, put a rubber band or a hair tie on the neck so you can’t use too much. The manufacturer WANTS you to use plenty so you buy more! 


Foam first.

Start with a wet face. Then rub your cleanser with water in your hands before applying so surfactants hit skin diluted, not concentrated. Asian skincare suggests foaming nets and foaming cups, but the next best thing is to spend a little time trying to make bubbles in your hands and placing the bubbles on your skin instead of the direct cleanser. 

Rinse longer.

You need to rinse for at least 60
 seconds with lukewarm water. Surfactant residue is what damages the acid mantle and dries you out. You can’t change the PH or strength of your cleanser right now, but you can ensure it’s all gone. One full minute of rinsing will seem excessive, but it’s worth it. 

Why this will work…

Your moisture barrier stays intact when you don’t over-strip natural oils. The above steps will help you make the most of your current cleansers without dramatic changes.  Your microbiome stays balanced instead of getting nuked. You probably don’t have the same bacteria on your face like you do on your hands, but most cleansers treat them the same! 

Long term, you want a lower PH (under 6) cleanser. This is hard to find in Western skincare and may take some AI and Google Fu to find the perfect one, but even these minor changes can help until you’ve got time to switch. 

My challenge to you is to try this next time you cleanse your face: same cleanser, new technique with less product, more foam, and way more rinsing. Your skin will thank you by morning.

And if you want a bonus challenge, don’t use cleanser in the morning. Just rinse, a lot.

A lot of folks asked me how to find the PH of your cleanser and most companies DO NOT publish this because you probably wouldn’t buy it. 

But, many of us care and have compiled info for over a decade. 

Here’s my go to Google Doc with as much verified info as the community could gather!

Many famous western brands are included. Something around 5 is fabulous. Under 5.6 is great. 6 is good. Above 7 starts to get too high. If yours is a 8/9, put it in your shower and buy something new off Amazon today. 

PS. CeraVe Hydrating Facial Cleanser has a pH of 5.5 and can be found in most US drug stores!