In Chizu Saeki's book The Japanese Skincare Revolution, she states that excessive skincare damages the skin.  She goes on to recommend "skin fasting" which basically means do not do anything for one day out of the week.  Don't wear makeup, do not put absolutely anything on your skin save for rinsing it with water.

The Skincare Diet and the Art of Listening to Your Skin

Left:  Damaged skin with Acne, Right:  A year and a half later.

This scared me.

But she has a great point.  I had been struggling with painful, itchy acne and bumpy skin for a long time and while my routine had good products in it; I was still breaking out.  So I thought it was time to go on a diet, a Skincare Diet.

I was going to follow Saeki's advice but I still wanted to wash my face because my skin is oily.  I decided that I was going to slim down my routine and only use my trusted Cerave Foaming Cleanser and Benton Snail Bee Steam Cream.  Cerave Foaming Cleanser is a gentle, low PH cleanser that doesn't strip your skin.  If your cleanser leaves your skin feeling tight then that is not good!  That means your skin was stripped of it's natural oils and barrier.  Benton Snail Bee Stream Cream is moisturizing, mild and soothing for me.  I figured if I was still breaking out then one of these products may be the culprit.  Luckily for me, they weren't.

After two weeks of dieting, my skin no longer itched and was no longer in pain.  I still had acne but I realized that I was doing something right.  This is how I learned to listen to my skin.

All along, my skin was telling me something was wrong!  It was clearly upset and I wasn't listening.  I was putting stuff on my skin that it did not like but I thought would help.  So over the next few weeks, I was determined to find out what that was.  I decided that the next item to try from my original routine would be Tarte Maracuja Oil.  I put two drops on my skin once every three days, and that's when the itchiness returned.  Cross that off the list.  I tried it and my skin said "Nope, try again." This sucked because I had just purchased a very large, expensive and most luxurious bottle of this stuff; which Ulta so graciously let me return.  You guys, the bottle was so beautiful and encrusted with gems (holiday edition).  I really didn't want to give it up, but my skin told me that I must let it go.

Through this process, my skin also told me that it does not like Glycolic acid.  Even in very small doses, it ranted in the form of acne and pain.  I had always patch tested before but I did not understand the subtleties of what my skin was telling me until it was too late.  In the end I thought I was purging, but purging shouldn't be itchy and inflamed!  This time, I listened.

Now when I want to try a new product, I have a process that I follow.  For example, I wanted to stop using Paula's Choice BHA Liquid because I did not see any results from using it for a few months.  I decided that I wanted to replace it with COSRX BHA Blackhead Power liquid.

I patch tested in two areas:  1) My Chin - Where I do not break out, and 2)  My Right Cheek - Where I break out quite easily.  My skin's response:  Two very large zits on my right cheek (these are now the two spots on my cheek you see pictured above).  It was angry, but the flare up occurred in a location where I would normally break out.  I deduced that the product was working as intended by bringing a would-be zit to head, but I needed to scale it back.  I now apply only 3 - 4 drops once a week on damp skin as I originally tried it on dry.  Since then, I haven't gotten any zits and even the occasional hormonal acne I would normally get also ceased.

Another example is that I wanted to try out Kikumasamune High Moist Lotion with the intention of using it for Chizu Saeki's Lotion Mask technique.  I used the same testing process as above.  My skin's response:  a few very tiny whiteheads on my cheek that rubbed away when I washed my face.  I translated this as "This is okay, but I need time to get used to it."  I now use it for the Lotion Mask technique, but only a few drops once a week.  In the lotion mask technique, you wet the cotton square on the back of your hand with distilled water and press out the excess water.  You then apply the hydrating toner of your choice, separate the cotton, and place on your face for three minutes as a sort of make shift sheet mask.  Since my skin told me it needed time, I only did this once a week with maybe eight drops of Kikumasamune (which is diluted in the wet cotton) and slowly increasing the dosage over a few weeks. Now my skin does not react with the little white heads, and I get to experience the joy of soft hydration that Kikumasamune High Moist Lotion and sheet masking can provide.  I don't sheet mask at all otherwise, because you can't patch test a sheet mask :(.

One thing to remember is that everyone is different.  What works for others may not work for you.  I thought Tarte Maracuja Oil was probably the most gentle thing I could use, but my skin did not like it.  Just like our food, some people can eat oranges and some people can't (I can't - acid sensitivity) even though oranges are good for you!

So there you have it.  The trick is to listen, wait, and be patient.  Don't haul and shock your skin with a bunch of random stuff.  Imagine how your stomach would react by dramatically changing your diet suddenly?  Your skin is no different.  Give it time and be gentle.