Hi WIMJ, excellent site I love it!
I was wondering if anyone had advice about how to work shaving (my face) into a skincare routine such as mine?
Currently using Retinol and Azelaic acid (for redness) at night on alternate days, exfoliating two or three times a week with Boots Salicylic Acid Cleanser (only ever at night) and daytime is kept simple with a niacinamide moisturiser and SPF50 (sometimes a Vit C serum but not always).
I'm prone to breakouts, redness and oiliness particularly my nose and under my bottom lips and it seems to be when I over cleanse they are worse, for this reason I use a Hydrating Cleanser and only at night.
I'd like to incorporate a BHA / AHA to help with ingrown hairs, I shave every morning and have heard good things about Anthony Ingrown treatment and currently sometimes use The Cool Fix ingrown hair treatment straight after the shave.
My questions are:
Is using these ingrown hair treatments everyday too much exfoliation, considering the Retinol I use every other day too?
Would Cerave Smoothing cleanser be a better choice for full face exfoliation two or three times a week as it's weaker than my current SA cleanser?
Could I instead use Cerave Blemish Control Gel on shaved area everyday as a less irritating gentler alternative? it seems to have the same actives as the other treatments but also has other benefits such as HA, ceramides etc and less fragrances etc.
Thank you in advance!