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Laura
Hi! I'm Laura, a 23-year-old millennial girl discovering who I am by sharing my life experiences on my blog. You'll find me writing about me discovering my personal style, my growing wanderlust or giving any sort of style, uni or mental health advice.

If you ever have any questions, notes or other things that you want to know, feel free to email me

styleandsushi@outlook.com

From July 2012 all items marked with a (*) are gifted items or PR samples. Posts on this blog may contain affiliate links or sponsored content. Please read my disclaimer for more details.

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MY SKINCARE ROUTINE ON ACCUTANE

This post contains affiliate links. Please read my full disclaimer here.

Another day, another post to add to the Accutane diaries. I am really hoping these Accutane diaries are helpful for anyone who is also going through an Accutane journey, if you are interested in the whole process in general or love skincare like I do. Accutane dries out your skin so much and I have noticed it also makes skin super sensitive/reactive to products. My skin used to be an actual disco ball, as I was that oily, whereas now I have dry patches and flakey skin if I don’t moisturise properly –eww, gross!
Anyway, I thought I would share my skincare routine on the blog today as I think it can be quite difficult to find the right products for you if you are on Accutane. The key to your skincare routine if you are on Accutane is to use products that are really moisturising, hydrating and help repair your skin barrier. The Accutane is basically sucking out all of your body’s oils. Back when I started doing my initial research I wasn’t too convinced that my skin could ever become that dry, as I was just really that oily. I have now reached that point where I can confirm that your skin can become so dry and sensitive it can cause rashes, so the little pill obviously seems to be doing the trick.
The products I use at the moment are all soothing, calming and aim to keep my skin moisturised, hydrated and protected from pollution and UV-rays. I also think this is one of the simplest and more affordable skincare routines I have had in years due to sticking to these products religiously. Sure, they are not all as glamorous as some of the products I used to use, but they do their job like they are supposed to. I don’t see the point in using any other products for that reason.

I start off my evenings with cleansing my skin. At the moment I am only using the La Roche Posay Toleriane Dermo-Cleanser as my first and second cleanse. I used to use an oil-based cleanser from Rituals as my first cleanse, but have recently run out of it. With the coronavirus I don’t want to make unnecessary online orders. On top of that I have noticed that this product can leave me feeling quite itchy sometimes as it contains quite some fragrance that is a known irritant to skin. Which is why I am testing to see if I can properly remove all the dirt just with the La Roche Posay cleanser. At the moment I am making sure to really massage the product in for my first cleanse to get rid of all of the SPF and other dirt. I add a little water, massage it some more into my skin until my entire face is looking a little creamy from the product and then I remove it with a cloth and lukewarm water. Then I repeat this process for my second cleanse and lightly pat my face dry with a clean towel.
In the mornings I actually tend to avoid using a cleanser, and just wash my face with some water. This is extremely controversial of me, as you are supposed to also use a cleanser in the morning. I have noticed that if I do use a cleanser my skin feels too tight when I have used it in the morning. At the moment I don’t find this necessary for me to use, as I don’t want to strip my skin off any more of its natural oils than the Accutane is already doing.
Like I said, my skin can feel quite dry or tight once I have cleansed my face. It’s thankfully not nearly as bad as it used to be, but I just know I need to be putting something on within the first 10 minutes after cleansing my face, or I know I will start to feel an uncomfortable tight feeling.
I like to spray the La Roche Posay Toleriane Ultra 8 Daily Soothing Hydrating Concentrate on first thing after cleansing. I do about three sprays of this to make sure I have got the spritz on my entire face. Another reason why I do this, is to make sure there is enough moisture on my skin for my hyaluronic acid serum, which comes next. Something I do, is I basically make a ‘hydrating sandwich’. If I have understood correctly, hyaluronic acid can actually draw moisture from your skin when using a hyaluronic acid if you don’t have enough moisture on the top of your skin. I don’t want the hyaluronic acid serum to draw out any of the little moisture I have left inside of my skin. By spraying the Hydrating concentrate on first, I make sure the hyaluronic acid works the right way around. If you’d like a more in depth/knowledgeable article on this, you can read more about it in this article on Refinery 29.
The hyaluronic acid serum I am using is the Vichy Mineral 89 Fortifying and Plumping Daily Booster. I use about two pumps of this and put it on my face, neck and hands. I then go back in with three more spritzes of the La Roche Posay Toleriane Ultra 8 Daily Soothing Hydrating Concentrate. And that’s my ‘hydrating sandwich’. I personally have noticed a real difference in doing this hydrating sandwich, as I notice my skin looks much more plump and I don’t have any dehydrated wrinkles in my forehead anymore.

We’re already nearly at the end of my skincare routine, because it’s really that simple. The moisturiser I am using at the moment is the Cerave Facial Moisturising Lotion. This is one of those cult products that get recommended by dermatologists if you’re on Accutane. I was scared to use it at first, as I once had a really bad reaction to a Cetaphil cleanser and was scared this product would do the same. Luckily I did not have any bad reactions from this and I am already on my second tube since I have gone on Accutane. This moisturising lotion contains ceramides, which are great for repairing the skin barrier. It also contains niacinamide and hyaluronic acid. Both are great to plump and hydrate your skin. Niacinamide is an amazing product to use if you want to reduce acne spots, redness and skin texture.
I have two of these moisturisers actually. In the evening I always use the Cerave Facial Moisturising Lotion without SPF. There’s obviously no need to wear SPF at night, which is why I don’t use the other one at night. The other Cerave Facial Moisturising Lotion contains SPF 25. I only use this one throughout the day if I know I am going to be sitting inside behind my desk all day. You might think those UV-rays can’t catch you if you’re sitting behind your desk, behind a window all day. But those UV-rays go through the windows and can still damage your skin! So it’s always good to have some sort of sun protection in your daycream to give you a teeny-tiny amount of protection. The sunscreen in your moisturiser however isn’t enough to really protect your skin against both UVA and UVB rays (read more about that on Caroline Hiron’s post on SPF), so now that spring has arrived I have not used the Cerave Facial Moisturising Lotion with SPF 25 as much as I thought I would. Instead I have used the Cerave Facial Moisturising Lotion and put a separate sunscreen on top. The UV-rays are stronger again too, and I can really feel that my skin is super sensitive to those UV-rays. I am doing everything I can to avoid sunshine as much as possible by wearing hats and caps while on this treatment. On top of that I use the La Roche Posay Anthelios 50+ Shaka Fluid. I have talked about this SPF for ages and ages, and it has got to be my favourite sunscreen out there. I used this all the time while my acne was still quite bad, and this was never the product that caused it. It has a really lovely, light almost water-y consistency and leaves me feeling protected for quite some time. Some days if I am sitting outside when the sun is out, I actually tend to reapply this about two to three times to really make sure I don’t get any sun damage while I am on the isotretinoin.

The last recommendation I have to give is for your lips and any other patches on your body you might have because of Accutane. One of you recommended the Eucerin Aquaphor to me on Instagram and I cannot live without it nowadays. It’s the only thing that keeps my lips moisturised enough. I also use it on rashes I get on my hands and on the insides of my nose to prevent any new nosebleeds. It’s one of those miracle products that I absolutely love using.
And that’s on my skincare routine while I am on Accutane. It’s not glamorous, the products aren’t very Instagram or Pinterest-worthy, but I love using these and seeing that they make a difference while I am on this Accutane treatment. It has got to be one of the simplest, easiest and most carefree skincare routines I have had in a long while. Who knows, maybe this will stay my skincare routine even if I get off the Accutane in September.

Shop my Accutane skincare routine

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