How owning Beauty on TApp helped transform my skin.

Since puberty I’ve struggled with my skin. In my teenage years, I was constantly reminded what baby-soft and chocolate skin I had as a young girl. During the teenage years my mother bought every product possible to combat my stubborn acne. My late gran would even chime in and suggest products for me to try from adverts she’d seen. My acne wasn’t terrible – I’d get a few pimples here and there and had very oily skin. As I grew up and took control of what cosmetics I’d use – I tried a few pharmacy brands that kept my skin “ok”. At the time I knew nothing about skincare – I bought products based on adverts I’d seen and didn’t really know much about ingredients. 

When I started working I had the budget to do a little more selfcare and did my nails religiously. On one visit, one of the salon aestheticians came to me and convinced me to do a skin analysis. I obliged – and she put me on a new skincare routine using products from an international brand. My monthly spend on skincare sky-rocketed. I started using these products and saw a slight improvement with my acne however these products made my skin dull and dry.  I thought that is how skin is meant to look – after all “matte skin” was the goal for oily skin. 

I took a turn to a dermatologist to help me with in-grown hair pimples I’d get under my chin that wouldn’t heal. He saw the condition of my skin and put me on a mild dose of Oratane (I didn’t even ask). I stayed on it for six months and it kept my breakouts at bay during that period but they came back a year later. I learned to just live my skin as it was and tried different things – but it wasn’t until the Covid-19 pandemic that I actually started to understand skin and skincare products a lot more. 

During the pandemic, selfcare become a priority and we (Beauty on TApp) went all out to source the best local skincare brands. Before listing a brand – we do a whole lot of work to understand the products – packaging, product quality and ingredients etc. We also do research on ingredients to understand how we can position certain products to our community. This forced me to gain a deeper understanding of skincare ingredients, how they work together and how to build an actual skincare routine. Through listing brands and creating content for our social media pages – I started to learn a lot about my skin.

I realized I have oily skin that was highly dehydrated (I saw this via the wrinkles I had on my forehead and smile lines), large pores that were prone to clogging and skin that is prone to dark mark formation due to high levels of melanin. This meant that any pimple I get will form a dark mark and this is exacerbated by sun exposure. The lightbulb moment came – I was actually using products that were stripping my skin’s moisture leaving it dull and thirsty (which would apparently combat acne) but I was also using face oils that would clog my pores and induce breakouts. I learned that oily skin isn’t necessarily hydrated and that one should limit the use of moisture stripping products to achieve matte and flawless skin.  I swapped all of these out for an oil-free but hydrating routine that resulted in my skin being much healthier and clearer with infrequent breakouts and no visible lines.  I adopted a stringent five-step AM and PM routine – where I focus on hydration in the AM and dark mark treatment and barrier building in the PM.  I added Alpha Arbutin to my routine, a melanin inhibitor, to reduce my dark mark formation and I am currently obsessed with sunscreen (I use Skin Functional’s SPF50) and what a skincare miracle worker it is.

The biggest bonus was that I managed to reduce my skincare budget. I use a mix of local and Korean skincare products (Some by Mi Acne range) that are affordable but more effective for my skin. I realized that expensive and international doesn’t necessarily mean the best and that affordable skincare can yield optimal results. 

People always ask me for skincare advice, and I always revert and ask them what they currently use to understand what ingredients they have in their routine and what issues they want to tackle. I  encourage you to ask yourself these two questions before committing to new skincare products and embarking on a new skincare journey.

It’s important to note that your current routine might not need an overhaul like mine did, but that you just might need an extra serum or hydrating mist to assist with a stubborn skin issue or skin dehydration.It’s also important to gain an understanding of ingredients and products. We’ve tried to make the @beautyontapp social media pages as informative as possible and have also made our website user journey as simple as possible to make it easier for customers to shop skincare.

Your skincare routine is there to help you keep your skin healthy and manage it – not perfect it. I still get the odd breakout but its okay because my skin is healthy and looks good 😊.  I hope this helps you out with your journey and you’re welcome to leave a comment or question for me to answer below. 

Mathebe