Skin care advices please? (combined skin, acne neck)

[Daeron Bloower]

Hello guys,

I'm 25 years old male and I truly believe that the reason for my skin problems is my daily routine which is not done right, so I was wondering some of you might help me. I'm a bit desperate, so I decided to try it this way, because my dermatologist tries to force me into antibiotics (which causes the consequence, not the cause) for the acne and the coesmetics I go to gives me Payot products she personally sell and she doesn't give me any deeper information and reasons behind it.

I have combined skin - oily T-zone (nose and forehead) where I usually get bigger clogged pores (blackheads) and dry and sensitive skin on my neck area, where I get red bumps and sometimes yellowheads. I also tend to get some red pimples on my chest and on my back (my back to tends to get dry, so I should moisturise I guess as well, will get to that later)

Most of the cosmetics I use is for oily skin or for dry skin, therefore it solves only half of my face and the other half is not treated well and gets worse then.

I want to get to the point where my T-zone at the end of the day is not greasy as I was about to fry some fries there and my neck is not having those red pimples, red spots and being over-sensitive and dry. I cleanse and moisturise in the morning and before bed, I use crub once to twice a week to exfoliate.

Questions:
1. Should I use different cleanser for the T-zone and other one for my cheeks and neck?
2. Should I use different moisturisers for these areas mentioned?
3. Should I use tonic or something else? Or multiple ones, again for different parts of my face?
4. Could you give me some particular products you would recommend?
5. Or could you give me at least some advice like "use rosea water, use tonicum containing this and that substance,..."?
6. Which products should I include in my skincare?
7. Do you recommend some passive-treatment? Like supplements (zinc, selenium,...)
8. Do you recommend to cleanse my back and chest area as well? And moisturise with the same thing I will use for my face? Or would you recommend something different please?

Before you ask, I use safety-razor (Mühle R89, Astra or Wilkinson blades), pre-shave I just rub some shaving cream in it's un-lathered form on my cleansed and a bit wet face, I then lather the cream in my bowl and apply it to my face), shave WTG, warm water to rinse, alumn if some cuts, if not, I rinse with cold water to close pores, use TOBS Mr. Taylor after shave balm (no alcohol), let it dry, then moisturise.

I have the shaving technique pretty well after a year into wet shaving, but even tho I tend to get some redness because my neck is overall too much sensitive and occasionaly some red-bumps occur through the next 2 days which stay and heal for like one or two weeks, because of the dryness causing it to heal slowly.

I attach some photos so you see I don't have an acne in it't true form, just some occasional little bumps. I believe it's because of not treating the skin right with my daily routine. The red bumps get more visible after hot shower or after morning.


Thanks alot for your help, I'm being really desperate and not knowing who to ask for a help.

 

[TheBeast]

Hello guys,

I'm 25 years old male and I truly believe that the reason for my skin problems is my daily routine which is not done right, so I was wondering some of you might help me. I'm a bit desperate, so I decided to try it this way, because my dermatologist tries to force me into antibiotics (which causes the consequence, not the cause) for the acne and the coesmetics I go to gives me Payot products she personally sell and she doesn't give me any deeper information and reasons behind it.

I have combined skin - oily T-zone (nose and forehead) where I usually get bigger clogged pores (blackheads) and dry and sensitive skin on my neck area, where I get red bumps and sometimes yellowheads. I also tend to get some red pimples on my chest and on my back (my back to tends to get dry, so I should moisturise I guess as well, will get to that later)

View attachment 1403413



View attachment 1403414 View attachment 1403415


Most of the cosmetics I use is for oily skin or for dry skin, therefore it solves only half of my face and the other half is not treated well and gets worse then.

I want to get to the point where my T-zone at the end of the day is not greasy as I was about to fry some fries there and my neck is not having those red pimples, red spots and being over-sensitive and dry. I cleanse and moisturise in the morning and before bed, I use crub once to twice a week to exfoliate.

Questions:
1. Should I use different cleanser for the T-zone and other one for my cheeks and neck?
2. Should I use different moisturisers for these areas mentioned?
3. Should I use tonic or something else? Or multiple ones, again for different parts of my face?
4. Could you give me some particular products you would recommend?
5. Or could you give me at least some advice like "use rosea water, use tonicum containing this and that substance,..."?
6. Which products should I include in my skincare?
7. Do you recommend some passive-treatment? Like supplements (zinc, selenium,...)
8. Do you recommend to cleanse my back and chest area as well? And moisturise with the same thing I will use for my face? Or would you recommend something different please?

Before you ask, I use safety-razor (Mühle R89, Astra or Wilkinson blades), pre-shave I just rub some shaving cream in it's un-lathered form on my cleansed and a bit wet face, I then lather the cream in my bowl and apply it to my face), shave WTG, warm water to rinse, alumn if some cuts, if not, I rinse with cold water to close pores, use TOBS Mr. Taylor after shave balm (no alcohol), let it dry, then moisturise.

I have the shaving technique pretty well after a year into wet shaving, but even tho I tend to get some redness because my neck is overall too much sensitive and occasionaly some red-bumps occur through the next 2 days which stay and heal for like one or two weeks, because of the dryness causing it to heal slowly.

I attach some photos so you see I don't have an acne in it't true form, just some occasional little bumps. I believe it's because of not treating the skin right with my daily routine. The red bumps get more visible after hot shower or after morning.


Thanks alot for your help, I'm being really desperate and not knowing who to ask for a help.

Hey there, I'm sorry I didn't find your post earlier. I hope you didn't give up on the forum and you'll find this response. This will be a longer one since I'm 23 with oily/combined skin so I have some tips.

To answer your questions:
1. You should try it if you can afford it. If you have a daily skin routine, 30ml bottle of a product will last you about two months tops. Your face can take from three weeks to three months to respond to the change of products. BE AWARE - there are many products designed especially for combination skin. I find them to be a hit and miss, depending on the brand.
2. Same as No. 1
3. You should try using a tonicum. Be aware, some use lots of alcohol and sting. Some may cause you some irritation. I once got an allergic reaction from a 50 dollar tonicum that belonged to my girlfriend. Spend your money wisely, always ask for a sample. You can start with using your alum block on your whole face - but wet your face with cold water, not hot, when you are rubbing it on and wash it off after 60 seconds or so.
4. I don't know where you are located. I'm from europe, I have access to a shop called DM market, that's where I get my stuff. I'm sure you can get your hands on CeraVe products. They have stuff for all types of skin - creams and cleansers and so on, it's all great quality. In the same category are products like LaRoche-Posay with their Effaclar line, Avéne and Bioderma. All of previously mentioned are a bit pricey so always try to get (free) samples, I'm very pleased with their performance. If you'd like to go a price category below, don't hesitate, you can get great stuff that can work for you. Try Nivea or Neutrogena, thier stuff is solid. If you can get yourself a Body Shop tea tree night mask (link: Tea Tree Overnight Face Mask | Night Mask | The Body Shop - https://www.thebodyshop.com/en-gb/face/face-masks/tea-tree-anti-imperfection-night-mask/p/p002445), get it. It's amazing, at least works like a charm for me. When my pimples show up, I use it to nights in a row and I'm as good as new. They have a whole line of products in this line (tea tree), don't hesitate to try them all out. If you want to go ultra budget, I'll give you links to products which I find to be the most effective so you can find your alternatives anywhere in the world by finding something with simmilar ingredients.

-> mojadm.sk - dm e-shop | online drogéria - https://www.mojadm.sk/clean-clear-pletova-voda-proti-ciernym-bodkam-p3574660131888.html - great for use on your most troublesome areas with pimples or blackheads, may be too aggressive for every-day-all-over-the-face kind of use

-> mojadm.sk - dm e-shop | online drogéria - https://www.mojadm.sk/nivea-men-univerzalny-krem-creme-p9005800240053.html - one of a kind cream, budget, time tested, millions of users

-> mojadm.sk - dm e-shop | online drogéria - https://www.mojadm.sk/l-oreal-paris-men-expert-cistiaci-pletovy-gel-pure-carbon-5-imperfections-p3600523707997.html probably my favourite budget foamy clensing gel, slightly pepperminty, dark grey - black color (cool factor- contains some charcoal powder)

AAAND there you go, 16€ investment for about 2-3 months of daily use.

6. Find a locar seller of renowned bio products, for my area it is this one: O Apotéce - Havlíkova přírodní apotéka - Havlíkova přírodní apotéka - https://havlikovaapoteka.cz/cs/o-apotece. Pricey, but guite great. Try something like that. Your face might be sensitive to some ingredients commonly used in supermarket grade skincare products.
7. Judging by your included photos, your face looks quite clear from zits/pimples. If you get dry/oily it's all in the right product if it's not catastrophical. Trust me, you didn't try them all. Just keep looking. Finish everything you buy even if it doesn't work the first week. Then move on if you're not happy. Usage of anything above supermarket available should be considered with a professional only.
8. Try it out man, it won't hurt. It's all about trying anything you see/read/strikes your mind untill you figure it out. I didn't have perfectly clear skin for longer than a few days since I was 13 and got my first pimple. Same goes with my siblings. Their skin cleared just before they turned 30. My 17 year old brother is covered in puss filled pimples from his forehead to his hips. Literally. He's using retinoid now, it helped him quite drasticly. He was being tested for nearly everything beforehand, it took 2 months of weekly dermatologist visits to take his first pill.

NOW SOMETHING IMPORTANT THAT WILL PROBABLY MAKE YOU MAD:

Your biggest concern from the looks of it is your neck. It looks quite close to mine. You can read up about my jorney here: Constant ingrown hairs - https://www.badgerandblade.com/forum/threads/constant-ingrown-hairs.617730/page-8#post-11671371

I noticed your hair grows down on your cheeks, sideways and up on your neck. Seems to me like you're shaving straight down, from the top of your cheek to the bottom of your neck and you think that is a WTG (with the grain pass). For you, it isn't. You have to follow your growth direction EVERYWHERE, quite meticulously. If you shave straight down, in your case, below your chin you are shaving against the grain, causing irritation, cutting the hair too short and you are getting ingrown hairs or so called razor bumps. They are those red spots on the photos, sometimes yellow zits. I would know them anywhere, I can't get rid of them for over a year now (while wet shaving - electric clipper I consider to be cheating).

Conclusion:
For your face, try other brands, try everything you have never tried before and trust me, there's lots of products you didn't try yet. Feel free to start with what's most symphatetic to you from anything I mentioned.

For your neck, stody your growth pattern, look it up online, you will find some beautiful explanations. One you will follow your actual growth pattern - which for you wold be shaving sideways with an upwards angle towards your ear (reference - first picture). That should clear most of your spots on your neck, which once again, I'm 99% sure are ingrown hairs.
As a pre shave, I wouldn't reccomend using your not-lathered shave cream. Maybe a little bit of it with lots of water but not really, you should try Proraso White preshave cream.
If you are bowl-lathering, chances are you are doing it wrond like I was. Better lather will give a (much) better shave. Work on it, try face lathering, watch some lathering tutorials, find some on this forum, they are great and helped me a lot.
Also, try other blades for your R89. I have that razor and I like VOSKHOD blades in it. Every blade gives you a different shave. Some are terrible, some are great, try them ALL out.
Try using alum after every shave, namely on your neck, maybe on your whole face, rub it in while your face is already rinsed with COLD water. Rinse the alum off with cold water 60 seconds after you applied it.
Try using other aftershaves. I thought cheap old-school alcohol based splashes would be a disaster for my skin, but once I tried it, I don't want to go back to my fancy moisturizing balms again.

Hope you find this, hope it helps, good luck.

 

[TheBeast]

One more thought: Try using a cleanser only in the evenings. In the morning you can splash your face with cold water, use a bit of moisturizer (or don') and be good to go. Maybe you are stripping your skin of too much natural oils and not replenishing them correctly, so try washing it less so it can learn that it doesn't need to produce so much of it. That helped me a lot. I went from oily, shiny, slimy face full of acne at lunch without a mask in winter, to a balanced skin with ocasional pimple while wearing a mask 8-10 hours a day in summer.

 

[Dobric]

I had same problem, I'm 35.
First, just wash your face with warm water only, couple of times a day, I got off cartrige razors, and used hair trimmer to cut my beard for 2 months, just to rest my skin from shaving
Then I started safety razor, only 1 pass WTG in the morning (use those 2months to map your beard)
After some time I added face wash in the afternoon with light face cream.
Now I go for a daily BBS shave WTG and AGT in the morning as soon as I wake up and wash my face during shower in the afternoon (I work all day) and use cream after shower.
I don't wash my face or take showers before shaving, i find it too agresive and too drying for my face, and I don't use balms or creams after shave as they are making my face too oily and sticky.
Still I wash my face with water only couple of times a day
Oh, and most important thing of all, eat clean food, food is 80% of the problem

Edit: keep in mind, less is more, don't overdue it, face wash, pre sahve, shaving, aftershave, cream, tonic all at once, is too much.

 

[Rodimus80]

I used to have acne breakouts when I was 18 Yates old and my dermatologist prescribed me ProActive. It’s expensive but it works like a charm!

You should give it a try!

 

[CANES]

Can't help ya with too many of those questions, but the oily T zone. I suffered for years with that and I wound up with eczema around my eyes and nose. Looked horrible. Red patches that would look scaly and dry and adding moisturizer to it (to combat the scaly parts) just made everything worse. Tried some samples the dermatologist gave me that didn't work and were super expensive to re-fill, tried salicylic acid cream that I got at a drugstore that made it even more red and scaly and finally gave up.

Fast forward a good bit and on a whim, I picked up some olive oil soap after watching a documentary on How it's Made or something like that. Savon de Marseilles. Started washing my face with that and after 2 weeks I noticed that my T zone wasn't as oily and that the eczema was going away. Been doing that for about a year now and everything has worked itself out. No more eczema at all. I also found out that the Kiss My Face brand of 80% Olive Oil soap found at most grocery stores, etc. works just as well at a fraction of the price. It also works great as a slick pre-shave. $6 for 3 bars on Amazon.

Give that a shot. Hope you find a solution.

 

[Frito Ray]

OP joined February 2, 2022.

Posted one message.

Last seen on the forum February 18, 2022.

 

[Sideburns]

OP joined February 2, 2022.

Posted one message.

Last seen on the forum February 18, 2022.

So he never bothered to come back and see what suggestions we had for him. Such a shame. And, in all this time, nobody gave him what is probably the most important advice: get a different dermatologist because the one you have isn't paying any attention to how your skin is reacting to what she's prescribed.