Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Skin Diary! Keep track of your skin...

I woke up thinking of this after I had tried a brand new night product and loved what my skin looked like when I looked in the mirror! Now these results never just come from a jar, you need to check yourself internally and mentally as well. This means how much water you drink, what you eat, do you workout enough, what's your stress level, how is your nightly sleep routine etc...



This study was inspired by my favorite educator in school!
He was not only someone who helped me grow as a budding Aesty back in the day but he also showed me how life went on during a pretty crappy time in my life. Nobody likes to have finals in school and try to deal with a broken engagement at the same time... Learned a lot but never again!

Anyway.

I told him I didn't understand what was going on with my skin and he told me to keep a dairy and track my "True skin" each morning. At the end of a week he'd look at my face and give me his professional feedback. Sounded like and awesome plan and it really showed me a lot! 





So what is "True Skin"

True Skin is when you wake up first thing in the morning and look at yourself in the mirror.
Your body will show you through your skin how well you slept, how hydrated you stayed the day before, your stress level and or all of the above! It's kinda cool but it's also scary because sometimes we just don't like to look at the person staring back at us.The most effective way to see your True Skin is to of course cleanse your face properly the night before! No skimping if you want honest results ;)

Have you noticed after a really good night's sleep, a low key day and some basic hydration that your acne you might be suffering from looks a little calmer the next morning? 
It's your skin trying to show you it can in fact heal!

**Now sometimes when you wash your face after looking you may notice some inflammation but this is from blood stimulation/circulation as you just cleansed and you're waking up your body. It'll ease back down if you have the right products for your skin type, not using a pore clogging makeup and/or calm and drinking water, esp lemon water throughout the day...

Here's where we start to get REALLY honest with ourselves!

Keeping a DIY Skin Diary.



You want to see if you can do some pin pointing on your own?
I lost mine so I can't show you a picture but I can tell you how to set one up!

Here's what you need:
(You can either do this by hand or type it out.)

1. Get a notebook or a document on your computer to keep the log.
(You'll be keeping track for 1 month straight!)

2. Type or write out the following and keep this log in order to get the best results!

. What time did you go to bed and what time did you rise?

.. How did you sleep? How many hours?

... What did you/do you do for both your daily and nightly skin care routine?

.... What did you eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner?

..... What did you snack on?

...... Did you workout? How long?

....... How much WATER did you drink?

........ How much caffeine did you have?

......... How was your stress level?

......... What did your skin look like upon waking and going to bed?

(10 Q's total)

3. Leave yourself a space after each day to make any extra notes.

i.e.

"I bought a new eye cream and I'm not sure if the puffiness was from my intake of salt the day before or if it was something in the cream I'm reacting to. I'll make sure to watch my salt intake over the next few days and see what happens..."

"My skin looks great today! I need to really keep better track and see what I did right... Esp since it looked awful 2 nights back..."

"I woke up looking just okay, I think my 2 a.m. wakeup call with the baby must've had something to do with it. I did however still look hydrated!" 

**Make sure to date each page!!



So there you have it :)
This will help you see and maybe answer some things that have been puzzling you.

A good Aesthetician can also help you out if you're seeing one.
showing her this log can help her understand why maybe one product didn't work as well for you when it worked wonderful for you best friend when you both seemed to suffer from the same issue. 
Or in general help give her better insight on how to treat your skin each visit.
We love inside information!

Hope this helps and that you have a wonderful day!

Happy diary keeping,
Shannon <3