Okay the answer to this question in my opinion is… It
depends. Just so we are all on the same page, I’m talking about on facial moisturising.
For a very, very long time (and I’m talking YEARS here),
I did not moisturise my face at all. Yes yes yes, I can hear a collective gasp
of shock from you readers (actually the
gasp wouldn’t be all that loud since I don’t have many readers. It would
probably sound more like a soft sigh. How sad…L
). Let me explain. When I was young, I had oily skin and never saw the need
to moisturise. My skin didn’t feel dry after washing anyway, so what was the
point? After being exposed to countless advertisements from the media pushing
‘miracle’ products to my young and impressionable self however, I decided to
give moisturizers a try. Who knew, maybe my skin would be less oily and all the
miracle claims would be true!
So then began my journey to find a suitable moisturiser for
my skin. There are so many types out there; creams, lotions, gels and serums.
Now, conventional wisdom dictates that oily skinned people should stick to gels
and serums for their light textures, so I started with those. No matter how
many products I tried though, I simply could not find one that wouldn’t clog my
pores or break me out! It didn’t matter if I avoided products with any type of
oils, even essential oils, my pores still got clogged. I then progressed to
trying lotions since I was also given the advice that using something ‘thicker’
or more oil based would balance out my skin’s natural oil production. All I can
say is… that did not happen for me!!!
WHYYYY….!!!
Lesson learnt: I now realise my skin was actually alright on
its own back then and I should have left it to do its own thing. If your skin is naturally oily and you aren’t
routinely stripping and abusing it with harsh cleansers or suffering from any particular
skin condition, perhaps moisturizers aren’t necessary at all.
After my acne began, I started with an onslaught of harsh,
doctor-prescribed chemicals (both acids and retinoids) to consistently
exfoliate my skin. I believe this is where it all started to go downhill
because all the topical medication just left my skin raw and sensitive. Because
I still couldn’t find a good moisturizer, my skin was also very dehydrated. Once
I stopped with the topical prescriptions, all hell broke loose and the acne
came back with a vengeance. Because my skin would react with any moisturizer I tried,
after a while I just stuck to a routine of gentle cleansing and nothing else. After
a few years of this routine, my skin slowly started to heal even though I still
had the acne problem.
More recently, I’ve begun to incorporate a light serum into
my daily regime as my skin is stronger now and is less reactive than before. I’m
really glad I didn’t give up on moisturizing as I’ve made an exciting observation!
Providing my skin with the much needed moisture has actually helped it to heal
a lot quicker and diminish the frequency of breakouts significantly! For the
first time in many years, my skin today looks a lot calmer and even-toned! Don’t
worry, I will be reviewing this serum in a separate post soon!
Okay I’ve rattled on for quite a bit, but the point of this
post is basically, whether or not
moisturizing is necessary really depends on the condition of your skin and what
you think it needs. If you have oily skin and everything breaks you out, no
matter how glowing the reviews for that product, don’t force it on your skin. For
those that have sensitive skin, it’s probably better to protect it and
moisturise but it may take some trial and error to find something suitable.
Dry-skinned people usually need nourishing moisturizers to replenish and
protect their skin as it tends to age and wrinkle faster. Everyone’s skin is different
and you should know your skin best, so listen to yours and don’t be influenced by
advertisements or the advice of others.
Have a good day!
PockMarkFats
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