Hello everyone! Just found this website and joined. I don't know too much about skincare but I do try to do some research on products before I try them because I don't have money to be spending on a bunch of skincare I don't think will work for me lol. I'm hoping to learn a lot here and hopefully build myself a decent routine over time that will tackle my concerns.
I am getting increasingly frustrated with my skin and I'm just trying to find what works for me. I've had stubborn acne that just won't go away no matter what I do since maybe 2017 and nothing seems to help, in fact it seems as if it's getting worse. It's not extremely bad, but I do get some deep cystic acne once in a while. I do believe that it is mostly hormonal acne as most of the time it seems to concentrate on the lower half of my face/jawline/chin but I do get the occasional cheek/forehead pimple. I am hoping to find some products that help minimize the acne as well as take care of my other skin issues. Other skin issues I am trying to fix right now are scarring and finding a good moisturizer. I seem to have combination skin as some areas of my face will get dry and flaky and other areas will get quite oily. I also have a little bit of bumpy texture.
I just started using the Gladskin acne gel and bar soap, also trying out their makeup remover. Before that, I was using the Cerave salicylic acid cleanser and some curology makeup remover that came with a trial lol. Otherwise for moisturizer I use Cerave AM Moisturizer with sunscreen and the Cerave night moisturizer. Once in a while I will apply the Cerave retinol cream, and other times I will do a treatment with the Paula's Choice 2% BHA Liquid Exfoliant. To be honest I'm not entirely happy with most of the Cerave products I've used but they seem to be the least irritating to my skin. A lot of products will cause me to break out, I have pretty sensitive skin.
As for recommendations, I'm going to start with tackling one thing at a time, so first thing I'm looking for is a good moisturizer for daily use that is non irritating, as well as a good sunscreen for daily use. I live in Florida so it's very hot and humid most of the time, so I can't use a daily moisturizer that's too heavy or else my face will get extremely oily. It's a fine line lol because a lot of 'light' moisturizers are not enough and leave my face feeling pretty tight and dry. I'm hoping to keep the price under $20 but I'm willing to go up to $35 for now if a product is worth it.
If anyone out there thinks I should add any extra steps to my routine, please let me know if you have any recommendations. I used to do a like 5 step routine but I got lazy/didn't see enough benefits for the effort, but now I might be willing to step it up a bit (at least at night time).