Each August 17, I get to have fun each my birthday and the anniversary of my firm. This 12 months, I celebrated my 53rd journey across the solar and my twenty sixth 12 months in enterprise! I couldn’t be happier.
I’ve discovered a lot through the years—about enterprise, magnificence, and all the pieces in between.
Final 12 months, which was Renée Rouleau Skin Care’s 25th anniversary, I targeted on sharing all the most necessary enterprise classes I’ve discovered. This 12 months, although, I believed it will be enjoyable to change gears and share the largest skincare classes I’ve discovered. In spite of everything, I’ve been on this business for over 30 years, and all through that point, I’ve helped tons of and tons of of purchasers with their pores and skin. I’ve additionally been caring for my very own pores and skin! Gotta observe what I preach, regardless that I haven’t all the time gotten it proper.
Listed below are my seven greatest skincare regrets. Might you be taught from my errors!
1. Selecting at Cystic Blemishes
I by no means actually skilled many breakouts on my face till I used to be in my early 20s (though I used to have dangerous back acne during my teen years). Round this time, I immediately began getting cystic breakouts on my chin and alongside my jawline (as so many ladies do). I spent the subsequent 10 years or so coping with these blemishes. Fortunately, I discovered lots about the way to handle them.
One lesson I discovered the arduous approach was that you need to by no means, below any circumstances, choose at cystic breakouts. You see, not all blemishes are the identical. In contrast to a papule or a pustule (suppose a typical purple pimple that ultimately varieties a whitehead), cysts are usually not meant to come back to a head. As an alternative, they’re ultimately reabsorbed by the physique. They’re arduous and lumpy and will be very painful, so I perceive the urge to choose at them, however it will solely exacerbate irritation and make them last more.
Sadly, I didn’t all the time observe my very own recommendation again within the day. One way or the other I justified my choosing by saying, “my arms are licensed, I do know what I’m doing!” I had a little bit of a skin-picking obsession and would go to city on my cystic breakouts, which led to ugly scabs and multiple deep, cussed scar. Now that I’m in my 50s, I don’t get these breakouts that usually anymore. Once I do, although, I faithfully use Anti Bump Solution (a real miracle, which is why it’s our best-selling product!) as a spot therapy till they return down. Anti Bump calms infected breakouts with out drying them out, which is strictly what you want. I may additionally use a high-frequency device each once in a while!
After years of coping with cystic breakouts myself after which treating my purchasers for them, I got here up with these eight tips to prevent chin and jawline breakouts.
2. Not Understanding My True Pores and skin Sort
Talking of cystic breakouts, do you know individuals who take care of zits of their youthful years usually find yourself utilizing the improper merchandise for his or her pores and skin sort in a while.
Earlier than I knew higher, I used to be one in every of these individuals. Once I had cystic breakouts on my chin and jawline, I very a lot took the “scorched earth” strategy to treating them. I used numerous drying, acne-focused merchandise like harsh foaming cleansers. I’d use these not solely on blemish-prone areas however on my total face. My pores and skin actually suffered because of this. It grew to become dehydrated, which exacerbated any effective traces I had and made my pores and skin look uninteresting and something however glowy. Nonetheless, I used to be so fixated on what was bothering me most (my blemishes) that I didn’t think about my pores and skin’s different wants.
This expertise was a part of what led me to create my 9 Skin Types. The aim with these was to carry some nuance to particular person skincare routines. I got here to know that pores and skin is extra difficult than the standard dry, regular, and oily pores and skin sorts. What’s extra, most of us need to deal with a number of pores and skin issues directly. I actually was a Skin Type 2, which meant I used to be utilizing a routine to handle occasional breakouts whereas nonetheless supporting wholesome pores and skin growing older. As I’ve entered my 50s and gone by some hormonal shifts, I’ve transitioned to a Skin Type 6.
Study the five mistakes people make when determining their skin type.
3. Not Treating My Neck and Chest as an Extension of My Face
With each day Zoom calls changing into the norm and phrases like “tech neck” taking heart stage, persons are extra conscious of the significance of treating the neck space than they was once.
There’s nonetheless one mistake I see so usually although, and it’s one I’m responsible of creating in my early years. Once I was completed making use of sunscreen to my face, I might take no matter was left on my arms and drag it down onto my neck. As we now know, sunscreen is just efficient should you apply it generously, so my neck was undoubtedly NOT protected properly sufficient all these years. (I truly suspect this could be a part of the explanation I developed poikiloderma on my neck in my 40s.)
Today, I diligently apply a beneficiant quantity of sunscreen to my neck and chest. Your face requires a very good quarter-sized dollop of sunscreen for correct safety, and your décolleté requires the identical. (Try my guide to sunscreen application to be sure to’re getting the correct quantity!)
On that notice, I additionally remorse not being higher about carrying different skincare merchandise, like serums, down onto my neck and chest. As a result of the pores and skin on my neck will get purple simply, I mistakenly assumed it was too delicate to deal with most merchandise so I uncared for it. It’s true that this space is delicate and ought to be handled with care, nevertheless it was actually nearly discovering the correct merchandise. Now, I exploit a mild retinol serum a number of nights every week together with my Intensive Firming Neck Creme. To exfoliate, I really like a mild bodily scrub. I’ve seen numerous enchancment with this routine in getting the feel of my neck to look a lot smoother!
Learn the eight things you should be doing for the skin on your neck and chest.
4. Not Carrying Basis Make-up Each Day
When individuals hear me say this, they normally suppose I’ve misspoken, however I actually remorse NOT sporting basis each day after I was youthful.
I perceive why this confuses individuals so let me clarify. There’s a false impression that sporting make-up doesn’t permit your pores and skin to “breathe.” Nonetheless, the pores and skin doesn’t have a respiratory system, so there’s no want to fret about that. Whereas I totally consider everybody ought to really feel comfy going bare-faced ought to they select, the actual fact is that make-up can profit your pores and skin. Sure, actually!
Most basis make-up will get its tint from iron oxides, the ingredient used as a UV blocker in bodily sunscreens. This implies they’re truly offering an additional layer of solar safety. Even when these merchandise aren’t labeled with an SPF quantity, know they’re providing some safety.
Once I moved from Boston to Texas again within the late 90s, one thing that actually stood out to me was the truth that numerous the ladies of their 50s and past had actually easy and delightful pores and skin. After some remark, I noticed these ladies had been sporting base basis make-up one year a 12 months, rain or shine, and concluded the solar safety this supplied was an enormous contributing issue.
I do need to notice that make-up ought to by no means be relied on as your sole type of solar safety. It’s nonetheless necessary to put on a licensed broad-spectrum sunscreen product each day to guard towards pores and skin most cancers and untimely pores and skin growing older. Simply consider your make-up as an added insurance coverage coverage!
Learn extra in regards to the other ways foundation makeup can protect your skin.
5. Getting Botox in My Jaw Muscle tissue for Clenching
Years in the past, I acquired Botox in my masseter (jaw) muscle groups. Like many individuals, I grind my tooth, and over time this had began to make my face look slightly extra sq. due to the strengthening of my jaw muscle groups. It was advisable to me that I strive Botox to loosen up these muscle groups, and this was additionally supposed to provide my face extra of a coronary heart form. I made a decision to provide it a go, however sadly, I wasn’t a fan of the outcome.
As a result of I had good quantity and plenty of fats cells in my face (my face has all the time been naturally full), my pores and skin began to fall slightly bit now that it was not “hung up” on these jaw muscle groups. They’d been performing as a form of scaffolding for my pores and skin. As an alternative of the guts form I used to be going for, the decrease half of my face ended up wanting slightly bit droopy. The issue ultimately corrected itself, however I needed to wait patiently for about 4 months for the Botox to put on off.
I’ll say, simply because this didn’t work out for me doesn’t imply it received’t work for anybody. Some individuals might have nice outcomes. It simply depends upon your distinctive facial anatomy. Due to this, it’s necessary to see an skilled physician who can predict how treating one space would possibly naturally result in adjustments in different options. I nonetheless get Botox commonly to melt the traces round my eyes, and I really like the leads to that space.
Study which three facial features that can give you a younger appearance.
6. Not Beginning Retinol Sooner
Whereas I used to be a reasonably early adopter of sporting each day sunscreen, it took me longer than I might’ve preferred to hop on the retinol/retinoid bandwagon.
Once I first tried utilizing a retinoid in my mid-30s, it hadn’t actually been round that lengthy. The one type obtainable was a prescription known as Retin-A (also referred to as Tretinoin), and it was sometimes utilized in pretty excessive concentrations in comparison with what’s provided as we speak. Again then, a prescription retinoid was additionally seen as one thing you began utilizing when you seen indicators of pores and skin growing older. It wasn’t actually marketed as a preventative choice the best way it’s now.
I attempted so arduous to include Retin-A into my routine, however it doesn’t matter what I did I might develop eczema on my eyelids (even when I didn’t put the product wherever close to my eyes). Finally, I simply gave up. It wasn’t till years later after I developed my own retinol product that I may use it constantly.
In hindsight, I want I had understood the retinization course of higher and had recognized the way to get by that preliminary stage. I’m truly ready to make use of a prescription retinoid one or two nights every week now, and I believe it’s as a result of I’ve a a lot better understanding of the way to look after my skin’s moisture barrier. I additionally discovered the way to incorporate it into my routine extra slowly, and I perceive the worth of utilizing a decrease energy constantly.
For those who’re struggling to include retinoids into your routine, check out this handy beginner’s guide.
7. Giving Remedies However By no means Receiving Them
I acquired a facial a number of months again, and it was the primary one I’d had in years. I’ve been a working esthetician since I used to be 21, and in all that point I can rely on one hand the variety of therapies I’ve truly gotten myself.
It’s not a lot that I believe the standard of my pores and skin has suffered because of this, however I want I’d taken extra time for myself. I used to be very targeted on my profession and caring for my purchasers and workers, and whereas this introduced me numerous happiness, I remorse not taking slightly extra time for myself (all work, no play was my life for years). If I may discuss to my youthful self, I’d inform her to decelerate each occasionally, take all of it in, and benefit from the trip (in addition to a very good pampering once in a while!). I did simply get one other facial right here in Austin a number of weeks in the past, and I actually loved being the recipient of a service within the occupation I really like a lot!
Subsequent up, I discuss what brings me happiness and the way I attempt to include this into my on a regular basis life.

Movie star Esthetician & Skincare Knowledgeable
As an esthetician educated in beauty chemistry, Renée Rouleau has spent 30 years researching pores and skin, educating her viewers, and constructing an award-winning line of merchandise. Her hands-on expertise as an esthetician and trusted skincare skilled has created a real-world resolution — merchandise which are formulated for nine different types of skin so your face will get precisely what it must appear and feel its finest. Trusted by celebrities, editors, bloggers, and skincare obsessives across the globe, her huge real-world information and fixed analysis are why Marie Claire calls her “essentially the most passionate pores and skin practitioner we all know.”
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