Breaking Down The "Hype" of Skincare Routine

I know this is not my area, and I really aware that my skin is far from perfect. But lately, some of my friends asked me about skincare, just because they know that I do the "skincare routine". It's true that I know a little bit about skincare routine. Since October 2017, after I graduated I have done my study well, and I thought it's time to treat my skin well. Suddenly I obsessed with skincare and start to do self learning about skincare, almost everyday. Who is my teacher? Of course google and youtube. Little by little, I started to know about the steps of skincare, I started to buy skincare product one by one. I always search the review as much as I can before I buy a product, so I know what is the ingredients of the product, the price, the function, how to apply it, and what people say about the product. Of course the effect of the product will be different for some people and for me, but at least read the review will guide me to know about the product. And because of that, I rarely buy a product just because the hype. It helps me buat nggak kemakan iklan juga. 

To be honest, I thought many times, should I or shouldn't I write about skincare. But let's say we are studying together, and I just share what I know and what I've experienced. Nowadays there's so many skincare product out there. And you may confuse to choose which serum, which mask you should buy. But, actually serum and mask is not that important if you don't do basic routine. You must do the basic skincare routine first, before you explore to another step. So, here is 4 steps of basic skincare routine.

1. Cleansing
   
   First thing you must have ever done is cleansing. It is useless  if you use all those cute sheet mask, buy many kind of serum but you still sleep with make up. Cleansing is the first thing you have to do. In the morning you just need to use a gentle cleanser than go to the next step. But at night you have to do double cleanser. You never heard before? So what is double cleanser? Double cleans means you clean your face twice with different cleanser. Why should you do double cleanse? Because one cleanser will not strong enough to take off the make up residue and the SPF that you have used in the morning.
   First cleanser is used to remove dust, make up, and SPF.
   First cleanser type: cleansing oil, cleansing balm, cleansing milk.
   *How about micellar water? For what I've learned, micellar water didn't strong enough to remove your make up, SPF and the dirt from the pollution, I consider it as pre-cleanser (pre-cleans is a step before first cleanser, like eye and lip remover).  Nowadays there is a micellar water that combined with make up remover, so if you comfortable to clean your make up just with micellar water, than it's okay. But for me it isn't.
   Second cleanser is used to clean remaining dirt from the first cleanser.
   Second cleanser type: facial foam, facial wash, gel cleanser.
2. Toning
   
   Setelah kita berkenalan dengan double cleanser, now welcome to double toningggg *cheering*
   Generally, toner has 4 functions: balancing, exfoliating, hydrating, and penetration
   1) Balancing: to balance the PH level of our skin after cleansing
   2) Exfoliating: to remove all the dead cells
   3) Hydrating: to hydrate (mengembalikan kelembaban)
   4) Penetration: to prepare the skin for the next step of skincare routine
   Because there is too many function of toning, so basically there is two kind of toning: exfoliating toner and hydrating toner. First we use exfoliating toner, after that we use hydrating toner, that's why it's called by double toner.
   How can we know the differences between exfoliate and hydrating toner? We must know the ingredients of the toner.
   Exfoliate toner: contains with glycolic acid (AHA) or salicylic acid (BHA).
   Cara gampangnya kalo pake toner, dan setelah itu merasa kulit kering, itu berarti exfoliate toner, cara pemakaiannya menggunakan kapas. This toner is good for 25 y.o ++
   Hydrating toner: contains of  moisturizing agent, like hyaluronic acid (HA), glycerin, aloe vera.
   Toner ini kalau habis dipakai efeknya lembab, cara makenya langsung pakai tangan kemudian di tap tap ke muka, ga perlu make kapas.
   *if you are under 25 y.o, I don't suggest you to use exfoliate toner, after cleanser you can straight to hydrating toner.
3. Moisturizing
   You should use moisturizer even your skin type is oily. The function of moisturizer is to keep your skin moisturize. You can choose cream or gel or lotion, it depends of your skin type. You can use the same moisturizer in the morning and night, as long as there is no SPF, if your moisturizer contains with SPF, you can only use it in the morning, and you should buy non SPF one for the night.
4. Protecting
   SPF is a must, if you didn't use SPF it means you let your skin aging faster. Make sure you use sunscreen before go out, even you are working indoor. I also use sunscreen even I just stay at home (karena tetep kena sinar dari jendela). For face skin min SPF 30, max SPF 50. "I already used morning cream that contains SPF, is it enough?". If you just stay at home all day long, it is enough to only use that, but if you are going to go out, it will be better if you use separate SPF product. You don't need to use sunscreen at night.

So that's very basic skincare routine. If you are confuse where is to start, just start with that 4 basic steps. If you has been success to do those 4 basic steps every single day for 3 months then you can start to explore the mask or ampule or essence, etc. Buttt kalo make yang basic aja masih males bolong-bolong then don't waste your money to buy serum or sheet mask, it will be a waste. When I start to do skincare routine since 2017, I never skipped a day to not to do skincare routine. I do it every single day without an absent, until now.

The goal

So, what is the goal of all of this? Is it to make "white skin" or "glowing skin"? If your goal is to make your tone skin up or to make your skin looks glowy then just bought some make up that make your skin "whiter" or glowing. The goal should be to make your skin healthy. So what is healthy skin? Is healthy skin about fair, bright, glowing? Here is the definition about healthy skin (Female Daily version):

1. Having an even skin tone (kulit ga harus putih, yang penting warnanya rata ga belang)

2. Having smooth texture (ga geradakan, ga bruntusan, ga jerawatan)

3. Well hydrated (lembab, kenyal, ga kering, ga ngelupas)

4. It has to reflect the light (nah ini yang biasanya disebut glowing, jadi maksutnya waktu kulit terpantul cahaya, cahayanya memantul kembali)

So from 4 points above no one said that good skin means having a fair skin. Every skin tone can be a good healthy skin. And we shouldn't obsessed with "glowing skin", because glowing skin is the result of healthy skin.

What I believe

People said that "skincare is an invesment"

This statement is kind of true. Because in the future we can change our car, we can buy a new house, we can buy better bag, but we can't buy a new face with a better condition, the only way to make our skin healthy in the future is treat them well from now.

Skincare isn't about "trend"

For me skincare isn't just a trend. It's about taking care of your skin, of course it is a lifetime process. Nggak mentang-mentang sekarang lagi trend terus ikut-ikut skinkeran, bsk pas udah ga jaman ditinggalin. You should do it for the rest of your life :) hehe.

The keys: discipline and consistent

So the key of skincare routine is "routine" it self. And routine is about discipline and consistent. It is not about how many kinds of skincare you use, it is not aboat how expensive your product is,  but it's about how consistent you are. If you bought all those high end pricey skincare product but you like oglangan, sehari make sehari engga, trust me it will not work. You must do skincare routine every single day. It shouldn't depend on your mood. Just buy the local skincare product at the drugstore and do it everyday, then your skin will look better.

*Kalo cuci muka aja males mending ga usah beli skincare yang aneh-aneh, entar skincarenya cuma berakhir jadi pajangan☺️

Nothing is instant in this world

If you want to be a pro at basket you should practice it diligently, if you want become a master at violin, you should practice is everyday. Nobody can be a pro at one night. Having a healthy skin is also a process, you need to be patient. You can't have a glowing skin in one night. If you decide to buy a product, be loyal with it. The product and your skin need time to work, so wait for it, don't need to be rush to change with another product. Do the basic first, jangan gampang pinginan sama skincare yang viral.

Better spend my money for skincare than make-up

It's useless if you bought many pricey make up but your skin condition isn't good. Your face is like a canvas, if the canvas is not good then the result will be not good. You only use make up in the morning, then was it off at night, but skincare will give you a long term result.  Treat your skin first, then your make-up result will turn out good.

Answering the most common question.

Q: At what age is good to start using skincare?

A: 20.

Q: At what age I should start using anti aging products?

A: 29. Don't rush to buy a heavy anti aging product, using hydrating product and sunscreen is the best way to prevent aging.

Q: I am under 20, can I use skincare?

A: Just wash your face after go home. Make sure your skin clean before you sleep, and just use SPF before going out, then use the rest of your money to buy some delicious food. Haha, I mean your skin in too young and your skin do the role very optimal in that age, so your skin doesn't really need many skincare product.

Q: I am a beginner for doing skincare. Which mask, which serum should I buy?

A: Just do the basic skincare steps. If you can be consistent with that for several months then after it you can explore to serum, vitamin, mask, etc.

Q: Aku habis beli skinker mahal, tapi ga cocok, jadi merah gatel, jerawatan, tapi eman mau dibuang, what should I do?

A: Stop it right away! Solusinya, kasih ke orang atau preloved aja, then try another product.

How to learn about skincare?

I usually learn from youtube or website, I rarely read an article that posted on intagram, so here I will give you some recommendation.

Website:

- Beauty Journal by Sociolla

- The Klog by Soko Glam

Here some reliable "beauty guru" at you tube:

• Affi Assegaf (I follow her from Female Daily youtube channel, but now she has her own channel, try to find her video on Female Daily, her explanations was reliable and detail, because for me not all "beauty guru" from Female Daily is good)

• Joan Kim (She is Korean-American, so her English is good and easy to understand)

• Jessica Clements (If you look for western skincare then you should go to her video, spoiler: she is very beautiful!!)

• Charllote Cho (She is from California and learn about skincare from Korean perspective, you can watch her video on Soko Glam channel)

I am still in progress to learn about skincare, but I hope you can learn something from this post. In this post just want to tell you that taking care of your skin is important, bahwa skincare ukan cuma buat gaya-gayaan.

This is my empties throughout 2018

"Your skin deserves a better treatment"

I am glad if you are willing to start treating your skin from now,

Regards, Grace.