My Move to Canada & Skin Disaster

Why Skincare Matters

Before I made my move to Canada from the US, I made yet another purchase from Missha for my mother who soon fell just as in love with asian beauty products as I did.

In the photo: Missha Time Revolution Night Repair Turn Over Booster
& Missha Time Revolution Night Repair Vital Intensive Lotion

My mother, whose prime skin goal concerns anti-aging, had me order her the Missha Time Revolution Night Repair Turn Over Booster and Missha Time Revolution Night Repair Vital Intensive Lotion that came in a set* for its claims to repair the skin and rid it of wrinkles – the star ingredient being retinol. This set contained miniature versions of these two particular products which my mother gave to me to try out. I immediately fell in love with them as my skin had never looked better; not only had my acne marks all faded, but for once in my lifetime, I was completely acne-free!

Photo above taken: November 17, 2015

After I moved to Canada, I continued to use these products, but then my skin took a turn for the worst. Queue drumroll~

Photo above taken: July 16, 2016

Cystic acne! Fun stuff!

Normally cystic acne like this is linked more to hormones than anything else (I’ll get back to this point in a moment), but I realized my beloved Missha Night Repair products were ruining my skin because the climate was so different – it was extremely cold and dry, which led to a very, very parched face. 

When this happened, that was when I knew I would have to find new asian beauty products* to use in order to repair my moisture barrier. Thankfully, my skin did eventually begin to heal.

The following is the list of products that helped immensely with my parched skin:

1. The Face Shop Chia Seed Soothing Mist Toner
2. The Face Shop Chia Seed Moisturizing Cream
3. Hada Labo Gokujyun Lotion - Clear
4. CosRX Advanced Snail 96 Mucin Power Essence
5. Missha Time Revolution Night Repair Science Activator Ampoule

Photo above taken: September 28, 2016

Aside from ceasing the Missha Night Repair line, there were a few other things that helped my acne which I would like to share because they were equally as crucial in this transformation.

A.) I started taking birth control: Diane-35 (Cyproterone Acetate & Ethinyl Estradiol). This was a particularly important decision for me to make because I had long suspected my hormone levels were out of whack. I grew an embarrassing amount of hair on my upper lip, my hair everywhere on my body grew back quickly and always very dark, and my body was not very feminine in shape. It took approximately four months before I saw any difference in regard to my acne, but some other cool perks to this birth control in particular was that it reduced the darkness and coarseness of my body hair and my boobs filled out more, resulting in a more feminine body (probably TMI, I know, but for my fellow members in the itty bitty titty committee, this is good news to hear!).

B.) I started paying attention to the food I was eating and which foods were acne triggers. Usually people scoff at this notion (but if you ask any acne-sufferer, they will give their testimony that proves otherwise), and this is because the science here makes this information all murky and confusing. Basically, science says it is not the food that is directly linked to acne, but rather, it is the chemical reactions that take place in your body after consuming certain food. In particular, one can expect to see less break outs when they stop eating food that contains dairy, such as in milk, cheese, chocolate, and regular yogurt. The reason for this is because dairy products contain grossly large amounts of hormones, causing your own hormones to become unbalanced and leading to an increase in acne as a result. Some things I absolutely must avoid include anything deep-fried, sugar-ridden, or dairy-rich (especially chocolate, in my case).

C.) I stopped using products that dried out my skin. This includes high pH cleansers, products containing any alcohol, and actives such as retinol. On this note, another item in particular that I stopped using was the Neutrogena Oil-Free Acne Stress Control Power-Cream Wash that I used to use successfully when I still lived in California. The more research I did, the more I learned that cleansers like this one were terribly stripping due to their high pH levels*. After I made a switch to the CosRX Low-pH Good Morning Cleanser, I saw an immediate difference.

* As far as I know, this set is no longer available.
* Read reviews for these products in a future post.
* Learn more about pH levels and why they matter here.