An updated skincare routine + why I stopped using hyaluronic acid

Hi! It’s been a hot second since I shared my skincare routine.

By hot second, I mean almost five years, which is honestly kind of a lifetime when it comes to 20s/30s skincare.

Within the past few years, I moved from Chicago to overseas (where my fancy Korean skincare products weren’t available) to Michigan (where I was unemployed for six months and not about to spend my COVID-relief checks at Sephora) to northern Arizona (desert weather!) and I’ve been switching up my skincare routine accordingly.

I figured it was due time for an update — especially now that I’m living in an entirely new climate.

(Here from Pinterest? My latest skincare routine can be found here.)

So, here’s what I’m working with now. I have three different routines: One morning routine and two evening routines.

I do the morning routine every morning, and the first evening routine five times a week, and the second evening routine two times a week.

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(Some of the following links are affiliate links.)

Morning: CeraVe Hydrating Facial Cleanser + belif Bergamot Herbal Extract Toner + Timeless Skin Care 20% Vitamin C + E Ferulic Acid Serum + OLEHENRIKSEN Banana Bright Eye Crème + First Aid Beauty Ultra Repair Cream Intense Hydration + Nivea Super Sun Protect Water Gel

Evening 1: CeraVe Hydrating Facial Cleanser + belif Bergamot Herbal Extract Toner + The Ordinary Granactive Retinoid 2% Emulsion + Josie Maran Argan Pro-Retinol Eye Cream + The Ordinary “Buffet” + First Aid Beauty Ultra Repair Cream Intense Hydration

Evening 2: CeraVe Hydrating Facial Cleanser + The Ordinary AHA 30% + BHA 2% Peeling Solution + belif Bergamot Herbal Extract Toner + Mario Badescu Skincare A.H.A. & Ceramide Moisturizer

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So, yeah! A few changes!

First of all… I upped my retinol use. And added more actives. Yaayyyy 30s! I’ve gone from using the Peter Thomas Roth retinol twice a week to using one from The Ordinary five times a week — and I would be using it every day if it wasn’t for the other actives I’m using. I’m using The Ordinary’s AHA/BHA peeling mask the two times a week I don’t use my retinol. (If you’re new to skincare, combining certain “actives” — aka, potent chemicals — in the same go can be at best, ineffective, and at worst, damaging.)

I’m still playing around with the best actives and retinols, and I think I’m going to start giving Differin a try soon, once I finish my current supply of The Ordinary’s retinol.

The Ordinary’s AHA/BHA mask will likely stay in my routine for a while, though. Thanks to years of conditioning my skin to tolerate actives, it gives me incredible results, even if I look like an alien when I use it.

Secondly? I had to throw away most of my hyaluronic acid-based products. I was devastated when I found out I could no longer use my beloved belif The True Cream Aqua Bomb on a daily basis anymore. DEVASTATED. That moisturizer had been my holy grail since I first discovered it. I bought multiple containers of it to bring with me during my Peace Corps service because I loved it THAT much.

Unfortunately?

Its main ingredient is hyaluronic acid. If you’re not familiar with skincare, hyaluronic acid (also known as HA) is the trendiest skincare ingredient of the moment. As a humectant, it attracts moisture, so it actually pulls water molecules out of the air and into your skin.

Which is great! …If you live somewhere like, oh, Michigan. Or Chicago. Or Ukraine. Or somewhere with a decent relative humidity.

If you live in Arizona, where the humidity is often in the single-digits? HA can actually make your skin DRIER. Why? Because compared to the environment around you, your skin contains more moisture. So, instead of sucking moisture from the air into your skin, HA pulls moisture from your skin into the air.

It took me a few weeks to wonder why my holy grail beloved moisturizer just wasn’t working anymore. I was layering it on my face every other hour and my skin only seemed to get drier and drier.

Turns out it’s almost IMPOSSIBLE to find skincare products that don’t contain HA, because it’s that trendy in the skincare world right now.

This is also why I’ve switched to using oat-based (the First Aid Beauty lotion) and ceramide-based (that Mario Badescu cream) moisturizers, which work more effectively in drier climates because they just kind of form a barrier over your face to lock out harsh dry air.

The First Aid Beauty lotion is also a humectant, but it doesn’t seem to affect my skin as badly as my old hyaluronic acid-based Belif moisturizer did. Maybe because of the oat? I’m not in love with it, but it’s the best thing I’ve found so far. I’ve only been in Arizona for a little while — I still have some experimenting to do!

Anyway, we’ll see how my skincare routine continues to change as I deal with dry desert air and, agh, the fine lines that come with aging.

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