Yin-Yang Skin Care Blueprint

 
“Having a strategy ready for both occasions of just-want-to-do-the-minimum and motivated-to-do-proper-skin-care will serve your skin health well, because it creates the flexibility and longevity of maintaining a skin care practice.”
age-like-an-asian-skin-care-blueprint

My life is very bipolar. Not bipolar as in the medical classification of mental illnesses, but in the literal Latin prefix sense of “bi,” meaning “two,” and “polar,” defined as “opposite.” I used to attribute my bipolar-ness—of personality, preferences, and how I do things—to my Libra zodiac sign (the Libra represents a scale, which teeters up and down based on the weights placed on its opposite ends). How a person does one thing is how they do everything, and so, it is also how I do my skin care.

Unlike Hana, who is clockwork ritualistic about everything, my daily skin care regimen is rather mercurial. It oscillates between high- and low-priced products, and rotates between a multi-step regimen and lucky-if-I-wash-my-face kind of days and nights.

I used to shame myself for what I believed was a lack of discipline and consistency in maintaining my skin care routine (and everything else in life), until I started practicing self-compassion. It is OK to not always be perfect, to run and do everything at 100 percent. It is OK to have lazy days, and even super lazy days, where all you want to do is lie like a lump on the couch binge-watching Queen’s Gambit without pants on, because you need to recharge your internal batteries. I had to learn to shift my mindset to believe that my best efforts are enough, and that best efforts can look different day-to-day.

Fortunately, I’ve inherited relatively good skin genes–a mild level of combination skin that visibly looks flawless on most days. My greatest facial woes are the sporadic acne that lurks deep under the skin like parasites refusing to leave its cozy host, and typically requires great measure and time to extract them. Secondly, my skin scars easily and darkens in pigmentation quickly, if, and when my lazy skin care days outnumber my normal skin care days.

In ancient Chinese philosophy, there is a concept of dualism called Yin and Yang. Yin is the slower, passive, heavier, relaxed state of being, while Yang is faster, fiery, lighter, and an energetic state of being. No matter how opposite two objects of comparison may be, neither are ever categorized as good or bad. And though the differences may be so extreme that it is seems separate and incompatible, both parts are interconnected, interdependent, and complementary; they are both necessary to be whole.

In other words, having a strategy ready for both occasions of just-want-to-do-the-minimum and motivated-to-do-proper-skin care will serve your skin health well, because it creates the flexibility and longevity of maintaining a skin care practice. And so, I hope my personal Yin-Yang AM-PM blueprint allows you to embrace your contradictions and (re)design your own routine.

Yang AM aka Normal AM Routine

Yin AM aka Lazy AM Routine

  • Warm water to rinse off night face and products, followed by cold water splash to close the pores and wake up

  • Apply Supergoop Glow Oil SPF 50 on face and exposed body parts

  • Makeup, followed by Atomy Rose Rain Mist

Super-Yin AM aka Super Lazy AM Routine (working from home)

Yang PM aka Normal PM Night Routine

  • Wipe off day face with aloe vera wipes

  • Double cleanse with Eborian Double Mousse Gentle Cleansing Foam to remove impurities and refine skin texture

  • Tone my skin with Some by Mi AHA-BHA-PHA 30Days Miracle Toner

  • Mederma Advanced Scar Gel to lighten facial and body scars (as needed)

  • Apply The History of Whoo Jinyulyhang or Cheongidan Hwahyun products formulated from traditional beauty secrets of the Korean royal courts; each collection has multiple pieces, which I apply in varying combinations based on my skin needs of the day in the following order: Balancer > Essence > Emulsion > Lotion > Cream > Eye Cream

  • Care:nel Lip Sleeping Mask, because lips need loving too

  • Finish with First Aid Beauty Ultra Repair Cream on the back of my hands

Yin PM aka Lazy PM Night Routine

Super-Yin PM aka Super Lazy PM Routine

  • Wipe off day face with aloe vera wipes

  • Fall asleep with a fresh aloe vera wipe on face

As needed

 

 

 
BeautyJane Hongskincare, skin regimen, skin ritual, skin care, beauty tips, beauty routine, skin routine