Every August 17, I get to gloat both my birthday and the year-end of my company. This year, I prestigious my 53rd trip virtually the sun and my 26th year in business! I couldn’t be happier.

I’ve learned so much over the years—about business, beauty, and everything in between.

Last year, which was Renée Rouleau Skin Care’s 25th anniversary, I focused on sharing all of the most important merchantry lessons I’ve learned. This year, though, I thought it would be fun to switch gears and share the biggest skincare lessons I’ve learned. After all, I’ve been in this industry for over 30 years, and throughout that time, I’ve helped hundreds and hundreds of clients with their skin. I’ve moreover been caring for my own skin! Gotta practice what I preach, plane though I haven’t unchangingly gotten it right.

Here are my seven biggest skincare regrets. May you learn from my mistakes!

1. Picking at Cystic Blemishes

I never really experienced many breakouts on my squatter until I was in my early 20s (although I used to have bad back acne during my teen years). Virtually this time, I suddenly started getting cystic breakouts on my chin and withal my jawline (as so many women do). I spent the next 10 years or so dealing with these blemishes. Luckily, I learned a lot well-nigh how to manage them.

One lesson I learned the nonflexible way was that you should never, under any circumstances, pick at cystic breakouts. You see, not all blemishes are the same. Unlike a papule or a pustule (think a typical red pimple that sooner forms a whitehead), cysts are not meant to come to a head. Instead, they’re sooner reabsorbed by the body. They’re nonflexible and lumpy and can be very painful, so I understand the urge to pick at them, but this will only exacerbate inflammation and make them last longer.

Unfortunately, I didn’t unchangingly follow my own translating when in the day. Somehow I justified my picking by saying, “my hands are licensed, I know what I’m doing!” I had a bit of a skin-picking obsession and would go to town on my cystic breakouts, which led to unsightly scabs and increasingly than one deep, stubborn scar. Now that I’m in my 50s, I don’t get these breakouts that often anymore. When I do, though, I faithfully use Anti Bump Solution (a true miracle, which is why it’s our best-selling product!) as a spot treatment until they go when down. Anti Bump calms inflamed breakouts without drying them out, which is exactly what you need. I might moreover use a high-frequency device every now and again!

After years of dealing with cystic breakouts myself and then treating my clients for them, I came up with these eight tips to prevent chin and jawline breakouts.

2. Not Understanding My True Skin Type

Speaking of cystic breakouts, did you know people who deal with acne in their younger years often end up using the wrong products for their skin type later on.

Before I knew better, I was one of these people. When I had cystic breakouts on my chin and jawline, I very much took the “scorched earth” tideway to treating them. I used a lot of drying, acne-focused products like harsh foaming cleansers. I’d use these not only on blemish-prone areas but on my unshortened face. My skin really suffered as a result. It became dehydrated, which exacerbated any fine lines I had and made my skin squint unrewarding and anything but glowy. Still, I was so fixated on what was bothering me most (my blemishes) that I didn’t consider my skin’s other needs.

This wits was part of what led me to create my 9 Skin Types. The goal with these was to bring some nuance to individual skincare routines. I came to understand that skin is increasingly complicated than the traditional dry, normal, and oily skin types. What’s more, most of us want to write multiple skin concerns at once. I myself was a Skin Type 2, which meant I was using a routine to write occasional breakouts while still supporting healthy skin aging. As I’ve entered my 50s and gone through some hormonal shifts, I’ve transitioned to a Skin Type 6.

Learn the five mistakes people make when determining their skin type.

3. Not Treating My Neck and Chest as an Extension of My Face

With daily Zoom calls rhadamanthine the norm and terms like “tech neck” taking part-way stage, people are increasingly enlightened of the importance of treating the neck zone than they used to be.

There’s still one mistake I see so often though, and it’s one I’m guilty of making in my early years. When I was finished applying sunscreen to my face, I would take whatever was left on my hands and stilt it lanugo onto my neck. As we now know, sunscreen is only constructive if you wield it generously, so my neck was definitely NOT protected well unbearable all those years. (I unquestionably suspect this might be part of the reason I ripened poikiloderma on my neck in my 40s.)

These days, I diligently wield a generous value of sunscreen to my neck and chest. Your squatter requires a good quarter-sized dollop of sunscreen for proper protection, and your décolleté requires the same. (Check out my guide to sunscreen application to make sure you’re getting the right amount!)

On that note, I moreover regret not stuff largest well-nigh delivering other skincare products, like serums, lanugo onto my neck and chest. Considering the skin on my neck gets red easily, I mistakenly unsupportable it was too sensitive to handle most products so I neglected it. It’s true that this zone is sensitive and should be treated with care, but it was really just well-nigh finding the right products. Now, I use a gentle retinol serum a few nights a week withal with my Intensive Firming Neck Creme. To exfoliate, I love a gentle physical scrub. I’ve seen a lot of resurgence with this routine in getting the texture of my neck to squint much smoother!

Read the eight things you should be doing for the skin on your neck and chest.

4. Not Wearing Foundation Makeup Every Day

When people hear me say this, they usually think I’ve misspoken, but I really regret NOT wearing foundation every day when I was younger.

I understand why this confuses people so let me explain. There’s a misconception that wearing makeup doesn’t indulge your skin to “breathe.” However, the skin doesn’t have a respiratory system, so there’s no need to worry well-nigh that. While I fully believe everyone should finger well-appointed going bare-faced should they choose, the fact is that makeup can goody your skin. Yes, really!

Most foundation makeup gets its tint from iron oxides, the ingredient used as a UV blocker in physical sunscreens. This ways they’re unquestionably providing an uneaten layer of sun protection. Plane if these products aren’t labeled with an SPF number, know they’re offering some protection.

When I moved from Boston to Texas when in the late 90s, something that really stood out to me was the fact that a lot of the women in their 50s and vastitude had really smooth and trappy skin. After some observation, I realized these women were wearing wiring foundation makeup 365 days a year, rain or shine, and terminated the sun protection this provided was a huge contributing factor.

I do want to note that makeup should never be relied on as your sole form of sun protection. It’s still important to wear a certified broad-spectrum sunscreen product every day to protect versus skin cancer and premature skin aging. Just think of your makeup as an widow insurance policy!

Read increasingly well-nigh the variegated ways foundation makeup can protect your skin.

5. Getting Botox in My Jaw Muscles for Clenching

Years ago, I got Botox in my masseter (jaw) muscles. Like many people, I grind my teeth, and over time this had started to make my squatter squint a little increasingly square thanks to the strengthening of my jaw muscles. It was recommended to me that I try Botox to relax these muscles, and this was moreover supposed to requite my squatter increasingly of a heart shape. I decided to requite it a go, but unfortunately, I wasn’t a fan of the result.

Because I had good volume and lots of fat cells in my squatter (my squatter has unchangingly been naturally full), my skin started to fall a little bit now that it was no longer “hung up” on those jaw muscles. They had been vicarial as a sort of scaffolding for my skin. Instead of the heart shape I was going for, the lower half of my squatter ended up looking a little bit droopy. The problem sooner corrected itself, but I had to wait patiently for well-nigh four months for the Botox to wear off.

I will say, just considering this didn’t work out for me doesn’t midpoint it won’t work for anyone. Some people may have unconfined results. It just depends on your unique facial anatomy. Considering of this, it’s important to see an experienced doctor who can predict how treating one zone might naturally lead to changes in other features. I still get Botox regularly to soften the lines virtually my eyes, and I love the results in that area.

Learn which three facial features that can requite you a younger appearance.

6. Not Starting Retinol Sooner

While I was a pretty early adopter of wearing daily sunscreen, it took me longer than I would’ve liked to hop on the retinol/retinoid bandwagon.

When I first tried using a retinoid in my mid-30s, it hadn’t really been virtually that long. The only form misogynist was a prescription tabbed Retin-A (also known as Tretinoin), and it was typically used in fairly upper concentrations compared to what’s offered today. When then, a prescription retinoid was moreover seen as something you started using once you noticed signs of skin aging. It wasn’t really marketed as a preventative option the way it is now.

I tried so nonflexible to incorporate Retin-A into my routine, but no matter what I did I would develop eczema on my eyelids (even if I didn’t put the product anywhere near my eyes). Eventually, I just gave up. It wasn’t until years later when I ripened my own retinol product that I could use it consistently.

In hindsight, I wish I had understood the retinization process largest and had known how to get through that initial stage. I’m unquestionably worldly-wise to use a prescription retinoid one or two nights a week now, and I think it’s considering I have a much largest understanding of how to superintendency for my skin’s moisture barrier. I moreover learned how to incorporate it into my routine increasingly slowly, and I understand the value of using a lower strength consistently.

If you’re struggling to incorporate retinoids into your routine, check out this handy beginner’s guide.

7. Giving Treatments But Never Receiving Them

I got a facial a few months back, and it was the first one I’d had in years. I’ve been a working esthetician since I was 21, and in all that time I can count on one hand the number of treatments I’ve unquestionably gotten myself.

It’s not so much that I think the quality of my skin has suffered as a result, but I wish I’d taken increasingly time for myself. I was very focused on my career and taking superintendency of my clients and employees, and while this brought me a lot of happiness, I regret not taking a little increasingly time for myself (all work, no play was my life for years). If I could talk to my younger self, I’d tell her to slow lanugo every once in a while, take it all in, and enjoy the ride (as well as a good pampering now and again!). I did just get flipside facial here in Austin a few weeks ago, and I really enjoyed stuff the recipient of a service in the profession I love so much!

Next up, I talk well-nigh what brings me happiness and how I strive to incorporate this into my everyday life.

The post Renée Just Turned 53—These Are Her 7 Biggest Skincare Regrets appeared first on Expert Skin Translating from Renee Rouleau.