Back to tret! 1 Week Results & My Skin Care Routine. Did it work? 🤔

I’ve officially started tret again. It’s been a month off of tret. My skin has settled down. It’s not red, itchy, inflamed, and falling apart. Well, besides the mishap with a particular moisturizer (Vanicream). I think it’s time to add tret back into my routine to help unclog some more stubborn clogged pores. My skin is about 99% clear. I’m ready to take on this journey once again to clear up my skin fully. Since I’ve added more moisturizers into my routine, I’m going to stick to what I was using before (0.05%). From what I remember, it was pretty harsh on my skin. The lower concentrations of tret did nothing for my acne. It was just a waste of time. So, let’s get started! Here’s my skin care routine!

Note: It changes often, haha!

My Skin Care Routine

So I’ve added a few (ahem, lol) more products into my routine. 🐰🙂

Face Wash: I’m still using PanOxyl Acne Foaming Wash (10%), but I’ve also been using PanOxyl Acne Creamy Wash (4%) more often. It’s creamier, more moisturizing, and a lot more gentle on the skin. I haven’t made the jump to try another face wash yet until I finish my bottles of facial cleansers. I might even switch over to the 4%. I haven’t seen any changes in my acne when using the 10%. I think they’re both good, but I like using the 4% when my skin is a bit drier than usual, but the 10% works better when my skin is oilier. I think they’re both good considering the state of my skin.

Toner: I’m using Cosrx AHA BHA Clarifying Treatment Toner. This is a nice skin pH adjuster toner with a low concentration of glycolic acid (0.1%) and a more gentle form of salicylic acid (betaine salicylate, 0.1%). I like it. It’s hydrating. Not drying on my skin at all. For a low concentration exfoliant, it’s doing a pretty good job at keeping pesky little pimples away and hydrating my skin at the same time. I was complaining about the spray nozzle before, but I’m starting to like it. I don’t have to use cotton pads. All I do is spray some product into my palm and gently pat it into my skin. I’m falling in love with it! It’s so much more convenient and easier to use! Less wasteful too!

Serum: Purito Centella Green Level Buffet Serum is the only serum that I’m using. My skin was so dry when I decided to try it out again. I was searching for a serum with a bunch of good-for-skin ingredients too. This looks like it could work. So far, everything is going well. Go to the link provided to check out my thoughts on this serum!

Other Acne/Acne Scar Treatments:

• Olay Regenerist Collagen Peptide 24 Cream Cleanser

I was using Olay Regenerist Collagen Peptide 24 Cream Cleanser daily, but it’s not necessary anymore. Olay dries my skin out when used too often. I can feel my skin getting sensitive and raw. Also, I have Cosrx AHA BHA Clarifying Treatment Toner. I think using those two products with chemical exfoliants daily is just too much for the skin. Even though they are low in concentration, they’re still chemical exfoliants. I don’t want to dry my skin out even further. So I use Olay only a few times a week, while I use Cosrx almost every day (super gentle!!).

Go here to read my 1 MONTH update on Olay!

• Ascorbic Acid Powder

I’ve given up on brand name vitamin c serums. They all break me out due to the other ingredients in the product, so I use the powder form only. I haven’t had a breakout since doing this. My skin looks brighter and acne marks are slowly fading using the powder version. I mix a little bit of vitamin c powder into my essence in the am to boost my sun protection + brighten the skin + fade acne marks.

You can read my thoughts on The Ordinary 100% L-Ascorbic Acid Powder here! 👈🏻

Essences/Moisturizers: I made a list of moisturizers that I like. If you missed out, go check them out! My thoughts have changed on some of them. A new update on that soon!

Sunscreens: Here are my sunscreens! ☀

• Neutrogena Visibly Even Daily Moisturizer SPF 30
• Canmake Mermaid Skin Gel UV SPF 50+ PA++++ 

I was going to give up on Canmake due to some clogged pores, but I decided not to. Yeah, I know, using a product that clogs my pores??!! Why?? Well, I’m alternating my sunscreens. That seems to prevent the sunscreen from breaking me out, since I’m not using it too often. And this seems to be working! I love that I’m benefiting from the Canmake sunscreen too. It has a higher SPF, feels ultra soothing on the skin, and makes my skin less red. I guess I can use Canmake when I’m outdoors majority of the day, while I use Neutrogena when I’m mainly indoors or need an extra boost of moisture. 🙂

1 Week Results!

Dun dun dun! Here we are! My ONE week results! 😁

During the first week, I have to thank Cosrx Ultimate Nourishing Rice Overnight Spa Mask for nourishing and leaving my skin moisturized on this treatment. My skin would’ve been falling apart if it wasn’t for this moisturizer. I ended up using it more often than I thought I would. And it worked (the best it could)! If my skin soaks up all of the moisturizer, I would just reapply to prevent my skin from drying out. That seemed to happen very often too. I would apply a blob of this moisturizer, and my skin would feel dry after a few hours or in the morning when I wake up. That’s how drying tret is on my skin. My skin felt itchy sometimes too and looked awful some days of the week due to the dryness. That means more moisturizer needs to be applied to prevent the moisture barrier from being damaged. Moisturizing the skin helps dead skin to come off easier too.

And I purged this week! Purging occurred much quicker than I expected. I had a bunch of random pimples popping out of nowhere. A lot of blackheads (what??!!) that I’ve never had before. Some of them turned into whiteheads. Some of them healed quick, while others just lingered. It looks like it’s going to be a long, annoying breakout. Hopefully my skin improves before Christmas! 🤞🏻 But right now, I think tret just took my skin back from being almost clear to having breakouts again. *sigh* It’s not something I want to happen, but it’s bound to happen if I want to unclog these stubborn clogged pores that I’ve had for ages! It’s a chance I wanted to take. Who knows what may happen a few weeks from now! Along with my skin breaking out, I had a ton of skin shedding from my face. It was embarrassing sometimes when I had to meet people. I just hope that no one noticed, lol. It was pretty obvious though, haha! Skin would just flake off of my face and get on my shirt. 😳

There were times when my skin became extremely dry, I used CeraVe Healing Ointment to prevent my skin from losing moisture. I applied this ointment all over my face. Yes, I tried it! And you know what? This ointment is amazing! It did wonders for my skin! I woke up the next morning after my skin was feeling raw to touch with skin that’s soft, smooth, clearer, and less crusty. It helped heal my skin faster and helped with flaking. So it looks like my skin prefers CeraVe Healing Ointment over Aquaphor and 100% Pure Petroleum Jelly. It hasn’t irritated my face. My skin feels so much better after using this ointment. Must be the ceramides! 💕 But I can’t use it every night. It’s too occlusive, especially with other moisturizers I’m using. But it’s nice to have it around when I need it.

Those are my thoughts and results after 1 week! I’m going through the initial breakout… 😭

Next up! My 1 month update! See everyone there! 😊

⭐ If you missed out on my previous experience with tret, check them out!! ~

My experience with tret the first week…

After 1 Month on Tret + Skin Care Routine. Here are My Results.

2 Months on Tret. My results. 🙂

Taking a break from tret…