i've mentioned it before on my instagram and maybe on this blog too, but here's a bit of vulnerability for ya...i really struggle with my skin. i dream of being able to roll out of bed and put on a swipe of mascara and some lipgloss and be ready to go, but i feel like that's just not in the cards for me. i have adult acne, and it is the freaking pits because all your life you think that your skin will stop breaking out when your hormones settle down and you grow up... but no.
my skin goes through phases of clarity and then all hell breaking loose and i wish that i could figure out the reasoning behind all of it, but i am pretty clueless so i still blame it on my hormones. when i was pregnant, i had pretty dreamy skin and so i am kind of craving a baby in my womb in hopes that i'll be able to get nine months of angel skin out of it. good thinking, yeah?? i tried washing with coconut oil because that seems to be all the rage these days and while that worked for a while, i ended up getting a lot of tiny pustule things and i never really felt like my face was completely clean. i've tried cetaphil, i've tried ceravie, i've tried clinique, i've tried salt scrubs, sugar scrubs, basically the whole she-bang. i got a clarisonic for my birthday last year and even used the cleanser that came with that, but to no avail. it seemed that i was doomed to have adult acne, and while i know that in the big grand scheme of things, that really is not the worst thing that's ever happened to me, but it still sucks.
so about a year ago, my mom was getting her nails done and she was sitting next to this makeup artist who apparently had incredible skin. and my mom's asking her about her favorite products, yada yada, and she girl told her she swears by dove soap. just a bar of dove soap. and my mom's like really? so she tried it and she told me about it and i'm like mommmmmmm, no. that would totally break me out. i think that anyone who grew up in 00's is forever paranoid of generic cleansers because in that day and age, everyone thought that drying up your skin was the solution to clear skin. i cringe when i think of all the chemicals and acids and drying agents i used to use daily, trying to get my skin to be clear. i was convinced that any product not from a dermatologist or from the cosmetics counter at nordstrom would make my face break out. but since then i've learned that isn't true at all and that what your skin needs is balance, not to be stripped of all its natural oils.
anyway, i didn't try the dove soap until a couple weeks ago. i have this beautiful friend named beth and she has gorgeous skin. i think i have more wrinkles than she does and she is probably 20 years older than me. i asked her what she uses to wash her face, and she's like, "oh just the cheap stuff - a bar of dove soap." so i figured hey, if multiple people are swearing by this, maybe there's something to it?
so i gave it a shot. and it blew me away. i don't think i have ever seen my skin clear up so quickly. my skin is more even, clearer, more firm, and it feels amazing. i use it every night and sometimes in the morning also, with my clarisonic, and i would recommend it to anyone. i wet my skin first, lather the bar of soap in my hands and apply to my face, then rinse my clarisonic and rub on the bar of soap to get it on the brush. then i wash my face with the clarisonic for the timed two minutes or whatever, and rinse with warm water. i always always always put my favorite lotion on right after i wash my face! i swear by this st. ives timeless skin moisturizer, it is my holy grail item that i would take with me if i were stranded on a desert island. it's the only moisturizer that looks good underneath makeup and it will make your skin feel like a dream, promise!
granted, every person is different and every set of skin needs something specific to them. but this bar of dove soap is really working for me and if you are struggling with your skin, i say you give it a try too? miracles happen, ya know.