Tuesday 13 July 2021

Skin care routines when you're chronically ill

Okay, so I'll be the first to admit that I need to get into a better and more regular skin care routine as quite often when you have a disability everything is about priorities and prioritising what is the most important things to spend my energy on. Saying that there are ways and things I have done to simplify my skin care regime so I am able to have a daily skin care routine that is manageable to do alongside my disabilities. I am getting better at cleansing my face at least once a day when I'm well enough.

My advice is if you do struggle especially with fatigue is to just have a simple skin care routine that works for you; you don't need to use lots of different types of fancy products to look after your skin. Like for example I don't bother with eye cream as it's one less things for me to do and my eyes are perfectly fine with me not using eye cream.

For me I do rely upon my PA for the 'big' things in terms of personal care like having a bath (which I prefer and find easier than showering unless I'm needing a 'quicker' wash) and sometimes when I am in the bath I'll wash my face or if I'm getting tired I'll get my PA to do my face for me just to save that little bit of energy if I don't have it or if my hand are out of use because they're in spasm for example. So  PA will wash, exfoliate it, spritz it etc and if I want to apply a face mask and rinse products off etc.

So twice a week in the bath I'll wash my face with foaming face wash (sometimes if I'm having a good day I'll wash my face at the sink and use face wash) and every-so-often if I feel my skin needs it I'll use exfoliator. I then use a rosewater toning spritz spray and let my face air dry before putting on moisturiser. If it's a day where I haven't washed my face with face wash I'll use cleanser and take that off with a reusable cotton pad and then spritz my face and put on moisturiser. Depending on what time of day I get around to doing this if it's before bed I'll use a nighttime moisturiser; if I've washed my face in the day I generally just use Aveeno moisturiser. If my face is oily I might put some talc on my face, usually my face is the most oily when I wake up. I also have some serum for when my face breakouts with spots.

I find just using these few product manageable in terms of how much energy it takes me to do my skin care routine and I find only using three products on my face - face wash/cleanser, toner and moisturiser just fine. I know some people have a lot more complex skin care routines than I do but this works well for me and my limited energy.

If I'm not able to do this; for an even quicker skin care routine I'll just use a face wipe from the Botanics range and then use moisturiser. So I do have some flexibility in how I can cleanse my face daily depending on what kind of a day I am having.

I like to use the Boots Botanics products; mostly I use their organic range but some products aren't in that range so I'll use another range in the Botanics collection. I've just found that these products are the best for my skin.

Occasionally I'll indulge in a bit of self-care and put a face mask on which I enjoy. I've collected a few some gifts or freebies. I have a mix of packet/tube face masks and sheet face masks; I prefer the latter. I've also used under-eye mask patches which I've received when I used to subscribe to Birchbox and from when I used to get my monthly Birchbox I do have the odd face products like I have a nighttime face mist which I use and the night moisturiser I'm using at the moment is out of a Birchbox.

To take off makeup (a) depending how much I'm wearing and (b) depends on how tired I am to take my makeup off and cleanse my face. I will use eye makeup remover (from the Botanics range though I'm using one from my Birchbox currently), then I'll use a face wipe then I'll either wash my face and/or use cleanser. I'll use my spritz then finish off with night moisturiser.

These reusable cotton pads I actually make myself and they are a must-have in my skin care routine. I gave some to my PA and her and her daughter love them too.  With my reusable cotton pads I'll use them for a few days rinsing them out after use and hanging them to dry and then I'll put them in the wash. I sell them in my Etsy shop or if you can crochet here's a tutorial for them. They are much more environmentally friendly than single use disposable cotton pads though I've found they don't work unfortunately with liquids so I still occasionally do use the odd disposable cotton pad here and there but very rarely, probably only when I use eye makeup remover or nail polish remover and similar liquid products.