Supplement/skincare help!

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I’ve lost a v large amount of weight and when at my heaviest completely neglected my skin and health and although I’m still going with the weight loss, I need to take some control back and improve (start giving a shit!) my skincare and would like to take some supplements to help my health but have absolutely no idea where to start, I’m 34 and have never really cared enough 😕

skincare

• I have pretty normal skin but does dry out when v cold (and live in Scandinavia so it is cold!)
• it’s very dull, I would love to be a bit more glowy 😂
• texture wise, my cheeks have very large pores and are a little bumpy, I’d love to minimise pores
• I have pcos so have excess facial hair which I shave or pluck but have a little sore skin under my chin occasionally
• my eyes are tired 😂

Supplements

• I take an own brand multi vitamin (are there particularly good ones or are they much of muchness?)
• I take vitamin D due to the Scandinavia/no sun!
• I would love something that helps my skin be less dull (it’s SO dull)
• I suffer from hair loss as a mix of pcos and weight loss so my biggest aim is something that helps
• I have been anaemic before but not currently

I would really appreciate some help!

I think generally skincare supplements are a bit of a con. For your skin to look aesthetically good you tend to just go through the skincare route as it's mostly the upper layers that you're looking at. Having said that, omega fatty Acids do give a bit of a healthy glow, lot from within look, which is different to a skincare glow but a nice glow to have regardless. If you don't want an all salmon diet then cod liver oil does do a good job IME, I had very good results with cold fermented cod liver oil.

Since you have pcos and skin and hair loss issues, provided you're not TTC I'd speak to your doctor about getting spironolacton prescribed. It'll improve hormone related skin issues and help with hair loss.

Argh autocorrect, *lit from within,

You are me. I’ve ordered a heavier moisturiser, the light one I use isn’t working so it’s worth a shot 🤦🏻‍♀️

Thank you 🙏 😁

That’s literally how I do my skincare 😂

What can go wrong 😂

If your skin is dull you could try an acid exfoliant, but you would have to tread carefully as it could be irritating to your skin if overused. So a glycolic acid used once or twice a week. It will help to exfoliate off the layers of dead skin cells on your skin, which can cause dullness.

In terms of moisture, you could find a serum or moisturiser with hyaluronic acid, which is good for hydrating and plumping the skin.

I also find that a good Vitamin C serum (I use Geek and Gorgeous C-Glow) in the morning gives my face a nice glow, but again it can be quite irritating at first so tread carefully.

Also, niacinamide is suppose to help pores appear smaller, you can't get rid of them but some things help to make them look better.

If you do try these though you should use a sunscreen daily to protect your skin from sun damage, as they can make your skin more sensitive.

There is also things like retinol, but again that can be very irritating at first and your skin may look worse before it looks better, so you may not want to try that yet.

Ultimately with skincare it's usually a bit of trial and error. If you have the time and inclination you could try a few different products and develop a basic skincare routine. But maybe try out one ingredient at a time for a few weeks until your skin acclimatises.

Here is a link to the Geek and Gorgeous website if you want to build a basic routine - geekandgorgeous.com/collections/101-serums

I know it's a lot of products, but you would only need a few and they are very reasonably priced.

In terms of supplements, I take a multivitamin, iron tablet, omega 3 and vitamin d. Not sure if they are helping but I take them anyway.

Thank you @Farmageddon ! That’s really helpful!

Does it matter on the brand of multi vitamins, should I be looking for particular percentages of something or will some be better than others? I googled and got a bunch of recommendations (that all looked the same…) but very few of those brands are available here so need to know what to look dor

I think centrum multivitamin always comes out as a good buy that covers all bases, however, unless you're actually deficient in something there's no need for them. And since you have pcos, it is in your best interest to discuss with your specialist/gp first, they might recommend something else or find it unnecessary. My gynecologist says I only really need vitamin D, but she's also warned that the research around vitamin D seems to be changing so it's not as essential as previous (I have pcos too). There's other pcos specific vitamins like inositol but they're not skin related.