Growing up, I never truly had skin problems until my sophomore year of high school. I never needed a routine. I wouldn’t wash my face, use moisturizer, nothing. In hindsight, I should’ve appreciated it more. Once I hit my sophomore year of high school, it was embarrassing. I mean, the kind of acne you think about when you think pubescent teen. Large pimples, under the skin — cystic acne. Additionally, I have very fair features: pale skin, blue eyes, blonde hair, so I definitely needed to be taking care of my skin in the sun more than I was.
I then tried tons of different cleansers and masks. They would work…until they didn’t. For some reason, my skin would get used to the skincare I was using and go back to mountains upon mountains on my face. I was privileged enough to be able to go to the dermatologist, where she prescribed me a topical cream and face wash. These were super drying and I knew they weren’t great for my skin in the long run. So, I gave up. I washed my face with water and put on moisturizer when it would get dry. I let my skin be my skin until the second semester of my freshman year in college.
Thanks to the beautiful concoction of quarantine and TikTok, I was finally hearing stories like mine and hearing from skincare professionals. They were all talking about CeraVe. I had known about the brand, but figured it was too simple and too affordable to work well enough. Next thing I knew, I was at Target searching for CeraVe cleansers. I didn’t even know there were two different types until I got there! At this point, I wasn’t even sure what my skin type was other than sensitive. Dry, oily, combination? So, what did I do? I bought both, the Hydrating Facial Cleanser and the Foaming Facial Cleanser.
I began using the Foaming Facial Cleanser when my skin felt oily that day and the Hydrating Facial Cleanser when it felt dry. It was working, too! My large, under the skin pimples started to go away. Then, I decided it was time to fully commit to CeraVe. I bought the largest size of their Moisture Cream that I could. Secondly, thanks to SkincareByHyram teaching me the importance of SPF everyday, I bought the CeraVe UltraLight Moisturizing Lotion with SPF 30. So here’s my routine: I wake up and put on the UltraLight Moisturizing Lotion before I do anything else and that’s it for the morning! Before I go to bed, I pick the cleanser I’m going to use (lately it’s been the Hydrating Facial Cleanser), follow up with the Moisture Cream, and end with a topical cream (either Adapalene or Benzoyl Peroxide) for newly forming above the skin pimples.
My skin is seriously better than it has been before. It’s easy to take care of, gentle, affordable, and most of all, saved me the embarrassment of having adult acne. I highly recommend CeraVe if you have cystic acne, normal pimples now and then, and even if you have perfect skin (you need to preserve that)!