I'm 41 years old with large visible pores on my cheeks, nose, and forehead with combo skin and an oily T zone. Makeup tends to get shiny on me by the end of the day. I have very fair skin and my face also randomly turns red sometimes even if I haven't used any products on my face. This is the routine I try to use daily and am wondering if it's truly effective in the longterm for reducing the size of my pores while also being anti-aging.
Routine effective for diminishing the size of pores?
that I would use daily if my executive function were not in the basement
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thanks! I am very very new to skincare and don't understand a lot of the science and the terminologies involved so please forgive me if I sound slow! I actually did remove two products from this routine that were a medium irritation risk and also doubled a lot of the active ingredients in some of the other products (one of them was the Buffet serum from The Ordinary which I understand has a lot of peptides and ceramides included--would you recommend putting it back in since you mentioned ceramides and peptides above?).
I'm honestly not sure which products to cut out based on your recommendation--I included the Ordinary HA and niacinamide because I at least know those help with hydration, and the Clinique moisture surge 100H is the only moisturizer I've tried that doesn't leave my skin feeling greasy and tacky. Would you recommend cutting out the glycolic acid and salicylic acid? I included those because I read they're supposed to help with the appearance of pores but I think--again I am not very well-versed in all of this--some of the other products in this routine should help as well?
(I do try to use sunscreen at as high an SPF as I can since I'm so fair but am new at introducing it to a daily skin routine.)
I'm sorry if my questions seem dense--I'm trying to understand all the terms used. Thanks so much in advance for all of your help!
Dont apologize! It can be overwhelming when you first get into skincare. Let me make this easier for you and build you a routine that I think you'll benefit from(:
Absolutely add The Buffet Serum back in but when you finish the bottle, The Ordinary Multi-Peptide + Copper Peptides 1% Serum would be a better fit for mature skin! This will be applied in the AM or PM on nights you are not using other active ingredients. Please patch test this, if irritation occurs then we can confirm your skin barrier is damaged and stop all actives and focus on healing and hydrating ingredients for two weeks so you can better tolerate these ingredients.
When it comes to double active ingredients, I suggest picking one product at a higher percent and focusing on those hydrating products most days. The Ordinary AHA 30% + BHA 2% Peeling Solution is a fantastic option.
This is something you will do once to twice a week PM (as tolerated) on dry skin. This will work wonders for pores and texture. However, sunscreen will become a nonnegotiable and you can not use adapalene or other actives with this, infact, you won't need them (:
The HA and Niacinamide are just fine to keep in your routine however the routines I am suggesting below will already have these ingredients in them to help simplify your routine.
if you were to take my suggestion your routines will look something like this, because you already use The Ordinary, I am adding mostly suggestions from their line.
AM Routine:
Cleanse (La Roche Posay Hydrating Gentle Cleanser or The Ordinary Glycolipid Cleanser)
Multipeptide + Copper Peptides 1%
Moisturizer (La Roche Posay Double Repair or Ordinary Natural Moisturizing Factors + Phytoceramides or Current Clinique Moisturizer)
Sunscreen
PM Routine Active Nights:
Cleanse
Pat Dry
AHA 30% + BHA 2%
Wash Off
Hydrating Moisturizer
PM Routine NonActive Nights:
Cleanse
Multipeptide + HA or Multipeptide + Copper Peptides 1%
Hydrating Moisturizer
The above routine is cost effective, advanced anti aging and will minimize pores and texture on the skin. Please remember that regardless of routine sunscreen will always be a #1 antiaging method.
Hello, derm girl here. this seems like a lot of active ingredients and could be stripping your skin barrier so the redness might be an indication that you need to support your skin barrier. You can minimize this routine by getting on a tret or doing no other active ingredients other than the adapalene gel/ vitamin c and focusing on products that restore hydration. anti aging ingredients to look for are ceramides, peptides, amino acids and sunscreen. We lose water retention as we age and so look for low molecular forms of HA and Niacinamide.
Bc of your age, you will see better results using a higher Vitamin A such as .025 tret to start. a peptide complex with this will do wonders for tightening and brightening but be consistant and patient with peptides.
Sunscreen is a must and should be worn daily nothing lower than spf 50. considering all the active ingredients i see in your current routine, no spf or too low of one will cause more damage than good as all those acids as it will cause your skin to be more sensitive to the sun.
If redness still occurs after cutting all the actives in your routine out then id suggest going in to get tested for rosacea. it is very common and can be triggered by overuse of active ingredients.
SkinCueticals has a product called Phyto Corrective Gel that has amazing clinical studies for calming and reducing redness and sensitivty in the skin
hope this helps .