41 Comments
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kara's avatar

i just slugged last night for the first time in many moons and woke up to this in my inbox. cosmic

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Fran Hoepfner's avatar

OMG... it's all happening, as the Regal commercial used to say

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Jack Riedy's avatar

this is a topical issue for me; expanding my skincare routine is a priority for me as I approach a milestone birthday this summer. I am a fellow accutane survivor and have managed to have low-maintenance skin since wrapping up that Rx in high school, but I know there's more I could be doing, within reason, to help my face age better. right now I basically just use cleanser and moisturizer with SPF and an occasional chemical exfoliant - I think retinol is the next step for me, any recommendations y'all?

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Fran Hoepfner's avatar

I really think if you're doing SPF then you are doing like 96% of the necessary work to protect your skin!! Lotion that has niacinamide and/or hyaluronic acid - both of which help your skin to retain moisture and good fats - can definitely help but are not necessary.

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kara's avatar

having tried many, interestingly my skin loves differin the most, which is a retinoid (less-potent retinol) and available OTC at like any grocery store, which rocks.

or A313, if you want to be French Women Only Wear Lipstick-vibes https://frenchpharmacy.com/products/a313-vitamin-a-pommade-200-000-ui

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Fran Hoepfner's avatar

Second the differin rec!!!

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Brianna Zigler's avatar

i suffer most from dry skin than any other skin issue too, and i tried slugging a couple times but fell off because i was like "eh who cares" but this post is motivating me to give it another shot. i also started using tret fairly recently so im gonna keep in mind your note about not slugging on tret nights. and i share your discontinued sunscreen woes - there was an incredible japanese sunscreen i was using for two years that suddenly became unavailable to purchase normally online in the US and i have no idea why. now you can only get it resold on ebay and websites that are definitely fake.

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Fran Hoepfner's avatar

I love tret but it does dry me out like crazy... at this point I only use it on my nose and chin (where I get the most acne) and otherwise hope for the best. I'm on a p high dosage of tret (.025 I wanna say) though and would love to scale down to something that's not as harsh. I am SICK of the TYRANNICAL fda WANTING me to be ugly!!!!

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BDM's avatar

I hate more than anything the feeling of something sitting on top of my face so I've always assumed this was Not For Me but I had an incredibly dry winter and itched like mad so hmmm. (The other problem is that if there's lotion on anything, my dog will try to lick it off… he's very persistent and will like, follow me around a room going for my legs.)

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Fran Hoepfner's avatar

I’ve found the ideal amount is such that it barely feels like anything is sitting on your face for more than five minutes, because I share the same thing (it’s also why I never took to pimple patches, Tim Robinson voice “there’s too much shit on me”). My parents’ dogs used to go crazy for the lotion I’d put on my heels and chase me around the house 😭😭

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Sarah Welch-Larson's avatar

All hail Aquaphor, a substance my favorite tattoo artist hates for reasons unfathomable to me, especially because it’s the reason every tattoo I’ve gotten since 2018 looks good

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Fran Hoepfner's avatar

SAME!! And I can tell which ones didn’t get the goop treatment after…

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Hannah Lynn's avatar

Little dab of aquafor inside the nostrils has curbed my abundant winter nosebleeds more than anything else I’ve tried!

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Fran Hoepfner's avatar

Yes!!!!

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Isaac's avatar

You influenced me to try slugging, last night I tried it for the first time and my skin looks so good today. I did accidentally put a little too much on and I watched the entirety of American Gigolo before my skin absorbed it <3

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Fran Hoepfner's avatar

Real af - despite knowing how much I should put on, I always wind up doing too much every 5-6 times.

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Anna Cincera's avatar

[Staring furtively at the aquaphor on my nightstand I usually use for my fucked up heels] Has the answer to my repeatedly cracking nostrils and horrible dry face winter cheek acne really been sitting on my feet all this time???

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Anna Cincera's avatar

VERY attracted to this idea as someone who loves unsexy solutions to beauty problems. Nothing more exciting than when I try like a Cerave or a Vanicream or anything else I’ve heard talked about for decades that resides in relatively boring packaging and it turns out to be a holy grail. Something about the answer to my problems hiding in plain sight? Or psychological rebellion against my college era where I tried EVERYTHING trending and $50-$70 at Sephora to no avail. Anyway, I hope I love being a bargain slug.

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Fran Hoepfner's avatar

Speaking of feet: I use bag balm on the back of my heels (Phil rec) and sleep in socks and my soles are in much better shape. The only reason I wouldn't put bag balm on my face is the smell, which I think would just be far too distracting. But yes: goop for the feet can be goop for the face. I sort of felt like I was misled that "hand" cream, "body" cream, etc. ought to be all different creams. Who cares!!!

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Anna Cincera's avatar

I just discovered bag balm this week! Lanolin rly is that girl

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Jordan's avatar

Aqua4 4ever! Have loved using it since I was on Accutane in high school and literally nothing works better

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Fran Hoepfner's avatar

I used to only put it up my nose to prevent nosebleeds when I was on Accutane and lo and behold it works no matter where you put it!!!

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Jordan's avatar

I started doing the exact same thing then too—used to get such bad nosebleeds and now I almost never do!

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Danielle Bukowski's avatar

Aquaphor Lip Repair is the only thing that’s worked on my dry lips this winter, and I only figured this out 2 weeks ago

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Fran Hoepfner's avatar

REAL AF!!!!

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Maggie's avatar

A friend once asked me what my skincare products were and I said none and she looked at me like I had just transformed into a lizard person

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Fran Hoepfner's avatar

I respect this; it's like when someone has 20/20 vision.

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Haley's avatar

Wait I use the same first aid beauty moisturizer and my skin was drier than normal this winter as well…

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Fran Hoepfner's avatar

Throw that stuff in the trash!!!

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Caitlin Bull's avatar

I am more oily than dry, but the skin under my brows used to peel bc I forgot to moisturise them (needy), and the only thing that would get them back to normal was macadamia oil. And now I just remember to moisturise them.

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Fran Hoepfner's avatar

The skin under my brows was a huge problem area for me but I wound up getting a prescription lotion for that (which seems to work just fine!).

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Caitlin Bull's avatar

Fussy little fellas

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Kyle's avatar

My fave cleanser, smells so nice and foams well https://www.aesop.com/us/p/skin/cleansers-and-exfoliants/parsley-seed-facial-cleanser/

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Fran Hoepfner's avatar

We just started buying Aesop handsoap (full time job alert) and loving it

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brad efford's avatar

gasped at pearl reveal

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Fran Hoepfner's avatar

She’s crazy fr

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Claire's avatar

How to get rid of keloid ???

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Fran Hoepfner's avatar

Lasers, I fear… but I have grown to love mine

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