Oh no! I screwed up (*´Д｀*)

I burned my face(*´Д｀*) My face has never irritated this bad before but it’s healed now (not completely, but still, thanked God!) and here’s what happened.

A week ago, my long awaited Somebymi’s Miracle Toner arrived in my mailbox and I was thrilled. I heard so many good reviews about this toner being the holy grail for some people and how great it is at clearing acne, redness, whiteheads, blackheads, leaving skin clear and glowing. This toner contains exfoliating acids (AHA, BHA & PHA) in small % which is said to be gentle enough to use daily for gentle exfoliation. So, I’ve been using this toner day and night, twice a day religiously for about one week. On the 8th day, I woke up with a really bad skin inflammation. My cheeks were really red and stinging.

I had a panic attack ＼＼\٩(๑`^´๑)۶//／／I was running around in my room for a good 10 minutes going “Why? Why??!!”

I started tracking back on my recent routine and realized that this miracle toner was the only thing I changed so I started my research.

Okay, before going in further, let me just clarify that I am fully aware that my cheek areas are the most sensitive part of my face. This was due to a laser treatment I did when I was 12 to remove a big brown freckle spot right below my eyes in the middle of my cheeks. Yup, big mistake doing it at that young age when my skin hasn’t fully developed but mom thought it was necessary at the time(￣ー￣).

Well, I guess in a way, I’m thankful to her. It was good that she pushed me to get rid of it or I’ll grow up with a big brown spot right in the middle of my face and that WILL DEFINITELY affect my self esteem today. Not to mention, I have fair skin so it’ll be really obvious.

The thing is, the dermatologist did warn us that my skin will become sensitive due to the laser treatment and advised me to be careful with the products I will use from then on.

Going back to today, 18 years later, I’ve tried A TON of products and while my skin does sting a bit and becomes slightly red with some products at times it was never as bad as this time around. So, why has this happened? σ(^_^;)

After researching online, I come to the conclusion that it’s the potency of these acids and probably the % amount of each acids that made my skin reacted this way. These acids are exfoliators, meaning, they peel the outmost layer of the skin and how strong they peel depends on the % of each acid present. Technically, AHA alone could be very dangerous for those with sensitive skin if the concentration is too high. But here, we not only have one strong acid but three strong acids involved and to be honest, I don’t know the % of each acid in this particular toner.

Yes yes I’m dumb dumb. Should’ve checked thoroughly before using. Or more like I should have known this might happen since I’ve used an AHA toner before. My facialist at the time advised me to only use it at night as AHA can increase skin sensitivity especially when skin is exposed to the sun.

I forgot this particular detail as it’s been a year since I finished my previous bottle of AHA toner from Clarins which I loved by the way because really, when used only at night, it worked without irritating the skin at all.

Sigh. How can I forget this detail and got myself into this blunder. But what’s done is done, lesson learned and here’s how I recover my skin again.

1st Day

The Face Shop's Jeju Ice Aloe & Lotus Soothing Gel

This was how my skin looked like on the first day when it was really red and burning. The picture doesn’t do it justice to be honest. In truth, it was way redder than this. But I think the lighting and flash made the colour slightly toned down.

The first thing I grabbed were this two products from The Face Shop, the Jeju Aloe Ice Refreshing Soothing Gel and the Fresh Lotus Soothing Gel.

I have another Aloe Vera Gel from Elianto but I prefer these ones over it as they both have a nice fragrance ( they are allergent free fragrances so it was okay for sensitive skin) and they work great.

Not only that these didn’t sting my face, but my skin really calmed down a lot with these products. Upon a day’s use, the redness was starting to fade away. I just keep reapplying once they dry out. It also soothes the burning sensation and pain from my cheeks. I really hated that non stop stinging sensation. Even a slight touch was painful at the time. Ugh. Really though, viva soothing gels!

Shu Uemura Cleansing Oil

I stopped using all of my cleansers for fear that they might be too much for my skin at the time so I just used Shu Uemura’s Ultime8 Cleansing Oil. When I bought this cleansing oil, the promoter said that this cleansing oil can be used alone as a cleansing oil or used as a gentle daily facial cleanser as well.

I have never experienced any irritation since I started using this product in 2007 or 2008, I can’t really recall but my face were always left clean and smooth. So, I tried using this on the affected area and it didn’t feel bad at all. The only shortcoming with using this cleasing oil as a facial cleanser is that it’s expensive!!

Bioderma Sensibio H2O Cleansing Water

I had to wear makeup. I just recently started playing around with makeup but before this, I really don’t wear makeup at all. But due to this issue, I don’t feel confident going out with my face looking so red because it draws attention.

So, I used Bioderma’s Sensibio H2O Cleansing Water to remove any makeup residue and grime after cleansing with Shu Uemura’s Cleansing Oil. This product is amazing. I’ve loved it when my skin was normal and I love it more now when my skin is at its worst. Will definitely be purchasing this again.

7th day

I continued the same routine I spoke about above for about 7 days and my skin recovered a lot.

Yes, there’s still some redness going on on some areas but it has truly subsided. Thanks to the power of Aloe Vera.

I hope this doesn’t happen again but at least I know how to go about it now. ｖ（＾＿＾ｖ）♪

#burnAHAsensitive