"Um... Water and soap?"
For the longest time, I was that girl. One of the lucky few who were spared from the battle and heartache of (as the Koreans would say) "troubled" skin. I had the luxury of taking my skin for granted. And I did.
Oh.. How I regret it.
While my my mum and some of my peers were taking all measures to stay out of the sun, I would say "I'll do what I wanna do. I neither want fair or tanned skin. If my friends are going to play basketball in the sun from 12-2pm, I'm not gonna let the sun stop me from joining them." I still stand by this now. I'm not gonna let some sun stop me from spending quality time with my friends and family. I don't wanna be that little princess of a party pooper.
Many well meaning 50-something women I know well have warned me over and over, "Take care of your skin. You will have so many freckles on your cheeks that they will all merge into two large patches, and people may mistake them as burns from a cooking accident"
Stubbornly, I did not heed their advice. I hated having any sort of cream, no matter how light it was, on my face. I'd feel like there was a layer of something on my face and it's keeping my skin from breathing. Nothing ever happened to my face anyway. My face was perfectly flawless without any sort of cream for many years.... until one day, when I was in my early twenties. I saw it... freckles scattered all over my nose and cheeks. That's when I realized, this freckle thing is real! ....but still, I didn't do anything about it.
I took my good skin for granted. No proper face wash. Nothing to keep my face hydrated. Then I went to the UK to study and China to work, and that's when my skin experienced the cold and harsh dryness of cold weather. My face got so dry that when I smiled, I felt like my face was cracking, and scaly looking skin formed on my face. When I washed my face with soap, it hurt.
Finally, out of necessity, I was forced to do something about my skin. I put on face cream on my face like how you would have to put lipbalm to stop your lips from cracking. But this did not last. As soon as the dry and cold weather passed, I went back to my old habits of neglect.... until...
- 6 months later, when I was in LA for 6 weeks. A lady who saw me at the start and at the end of my trip said, "Audrey... Wow, you must've been in the sun a lot. You have so many freckles now." O.O
- Then when I went to Korea, every few days, a relative will look at my face and go... "Audrey, do you have nothing on your face? Suncream at least?" and "You face is not looking too good". I guess in the trained Korean eye, they know how to see the signed of bad skin.
These two events screamed at me. Youth will not be on your side forever, and its protection is leaving you little by little everyday.
Finally, I committed to taking care of my skin. I used a number of dark spot remover products which I bought for myself or borrowed from my mum, but to my dismay, none of them have worked for me. I'm persistent and I still try to use such products in the hopes of it working if I used them in the long run... but at this point, the best I can say is "Prevention is better than cure". Take care of your skin even if it's perfect now!
Still... Go in the sun, play with your friends. Don't neglect your relationships with people. But if you can, put on some sunglasses, or a pretty hat or cool cap, and please, don't forget to put on suncream everyday before you go out.
Also, get started on some sort of night time skincare regimen cos they do make a difference. Summer this year, I started using skincare products (Toner, essence and emulsion set) that was a gift from my cousins, then steadily added a lot more things (suncream, serum and night cream) in my skincare regimen. I'm convinced of its effects cos I haven't had any problems with dry skin since then, even in this harsh cold weather.
I worried about my face breaking out cos of all that "gunk" on my face, but no such thing has happened. Instead, I think my face is baby soft =)
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