Are we all ruining our skin with our so called skin care ?

[Elasticatedwaist]

I’ve had time on my hands today and ended up idly reading up on skincare ingredients. I always use a cleanser , moisturiser sometimes a serum but without really knowing what’s in them . So I looked into the ingredients ( I know I’m late to the party !)
At first I read about how vitamin c , hyaluronic acid , vitamin A etc etc are good for your skin. Then I got a bit bored and googled ‘ is vitamin c actually bad for your skin ?’ And did it For all the things that were supposedly good . By the end of it I didn’t want to put much of it on my face and it got me thinking that we might all be doing more harm than good with all these products .
I know uv protection is important but still , I mean , I’ve seen many men ( and some women ) who wash and go with fine looking skin .
What do you think ?

I use water and coconut or olive oil. The only product i use other than that is makeup remover. Im early thirties, so i cant really say how my skin will be later on, but so far it looks the same as on my photos from 10 years ago.
I always have the oils handy, because i use them on my hair.

I definitely think doing too much can wreck it. My skin is best when I stick to just a few products and am in a steady routine. Chuck too much new at it and it throws a tantrum - just like me really. Incidentally vitamin c causes me rashes and spots too like PPs

I only use soap and water and then oil of olay. No makeup so my face isnt really dirty.

Does anyone use Liz Earle cleanser? I have mega sensitive skin but I find this doesn't irritate me, I just find the cloths a bit of a faff.

Have a look at Paula's choice products and ingredients dictionary. I'd never put lush on my face though.

I have extremely whiteheads prone skin and I keep it almost clear with acids. I also use hyaluronic for dehydration and vit c for a small sun spot.

You can absolutely over do skincare. Knowing skincare and ingredients takes a lot of time and knowing WHERE to actually read (such as medical studies). Google is famous for a shitload of crap that if you don't know how to select the information you need and the information that is true you'll just end up ruin your skin.

I try to keep a nice and clear skincare routine and wear SPF EVERY SINGLE DAYz

V important to be consistent too - if you keep trying random mass market products you have every chance to mess up.

Also - genetics plays a vvvvv important role. You can do the very best and still have crap skin, and no one ever says it

I mostly use nothing on my skin 😂maybe like cleanser and toner once a week. My skin looks really good, I don’t have any lines (yet!), it’s smooth and an even tone, I never wear make up.

I get comments quite often about what foundation am I wearing and how nice my skin looks. That’s not a boast(promise!!), but I think not plying my skin and face with everything and not having make up on all day every day really helps!

That article about vit c is just crap, poor marketing of their products.

Was told that Aqueous cream is the base on which most creams are made, so I just use that, when I remember ! Plus rosewater it smells lovely and feels fresh.Anything else and my skin flares up .

And drink tons of water !

Yep. I got perioral dermatitis from overloading. It was awful. Cure was going cold turkey on all products, and 6 weeks of low dose antibiotic

To those using SPF daily, are you outdoors a lot?

I keep a very simple routine but only use SPF in summer. In winter, my run will be in the dark probably. I’m not out of the office in daylight much.

I use water and suncream most days. Occasionally massage a bit of argan oil in and wash off in the shower.
Less is definitely better for my skin.
Early 50's no wrinkles yet.

I just use a flannel and water to wash my face and private areas. I bathe/shower every 3 days and these are the only days my face feels dry.

I have very dry skin, and not using soap and other products has really helped.

I’ve also stopped getting thrush.

I use sunscreen in summer and that’s about it.

Rosehip oil and sunscreen for day since my 20s.
Elizabeth Arden night cream before bed since my 30s.
MooGoo oil cleanser if I've had a rare full face of make up or day on the beach with multiple layers of zinc and sand mixed with sea water. Otherwise I only wash with plain cold water.
In my late 40s now and skin not looking too shabby despite living in Australia for most of my adult life.

I do browse and try the old pot of something different but always revert to the same old things.

I have always kept it simple, have tried Clarins when it was given to me as a gift or samples but never finished an entire pot or tube of it, a bit of unperfumed moisturiser is all I use if my skin is dry, however that is generally fixed by exfoliating with a face cloth.

I read the ingredients on the Lidl face cream once, it is cheap for a reason, and as for Bio Oil, what a lot of crap that is.

My skin is good, I don't use make up so nothing to remove. I just use water and a face cloth, no enlarged pores, not spotty, just clean.

I 100% agree with @readingismycardio. If you don't research (properly, not just Dr. Google/Cyberchondria) you absolutely will wreck your skin. It won't necessarily be the amount of products though, it will be not using them properly/in a poor combinations.

Its a bit like saying you made a snazzy cake, but it turned out awful so you're sticking to your basic sponge, even though you put raw prawns in your snazzy cake.

My skin was awful and horrifically sensitive my whole life, but a more complex routine (of the right stuff for my skin) has meant I have film star flawless skin 24/7.
My skin is now perfect every minute of every day, which still feels like a miracle to me. It only takes me about ten minutes morning and night, and its something I enjoy.

I am firmly in favour of researching ingredients, and I'm now at the point where I can read an ingredients list and know whether something will work for me before even trying it.

Like anything though, different things suit different folks

@EatenByDinosaurs

Also I'm pissed by the attitude "I never use anything and my skin is flawless". Yeah, because genetics. Or luck. That doesn't mean you'll look great in 5 years time.

Half the problem is people put lots of product on which they then need to clean off. It's a vicious circle. The more product you use, the more product you have to wash off, and the more product you use to do so.

I 'wash&go'. I use a cleanser from Lidl (because it's cheap, no sls/parabens, perfume&alcohol free, can't stand perfumed ones). And.. That's it.

I've tried the moisturizers/toners/serums/all the other crap. I have oily skin. NONE of the products made any difference for the better (from cheap to high end), they just make it oilier - that's the ONLY noticeable effect, nothing else whatsoever. I tried olive oil - it was a disaster. So I stop bothering altogether. Because: 1) It makes no positive difference, 2) I'm lazy and cannot be arsed, 3) I can think of better ways to spend money.

I eat reasonably healthy, drink lots of water, don't smoke and don't wear makeup every day. Don't have breakouts/zits. My skin is not goddess-like amazing, but it's not bad either, it's normal. Don't see the reason for faffing about it.

The way I see it.. My mum used high-end lotions and potions all her life. Has plenty of money, so various procedures/treatments/etc. She's 53. My dad used soap and water. He's 57, so not much older. Both look the same in terms of youth and my mum's skin is no better than dad's. So I thought, fuck it.

Same for hair and the rest of the body. Shampoo and shower gel. That's it. I really look ok. I'm sure if I'd spend £££ I probably could look better, but I'm happy with my looks (don't seem to scare little kids), so.

@picklesdragonisawelshdragon the only product I need to clean off is cleanser. Nothing else. Not sure what you mean

I only use plain water and eye make up remover around my eyes.
No moisturiser or anything. My skin seems to be ok for my age.

Ironically, I cared more about products when I still had youth on my side and certainly I was less cynical back then about all the claims made. I got lazier as I got older and now don't even bother taking my make up off most of the time. It usually just gets rubbed off in the shower the next day. I'm 52 now and my skin is in pretty good nick, but I think that's partly thanks to my mum, who has good skin, and partly down to wising up in my mid twenties and using sunscreen every day.

I stopped using any skin care products about 5 years ago. I had quite dry skin for a couple of weeks, but it soon balanced itself out and my skin now looks better than it ever did. I stopped using products as I figured we have all become too reliant on them and was worried that as I got older I would have to keep using more and more products as my skin would have no idea how to behave on its own!

Reading, presumably you use cleanser to clean off things like moisturiser, serum and sunscreen?
Lots of people 'need' to wash their hair everyday. They then coat their hair with products like conditioner, serum, hair spray, mousse... and need to wash it off again.

I don't use products and don't need to wash them off. Water and a flannel has been doing me fine for a few years now.