No Moisturizer Challenge: The Results

It's probably one of the most anticipated posts by you, my dear readers, so let me quickly announce the results of my No Moisturizer Challenge in one concise word: SUCCESS!

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Now, for the details. As you might know, I vowed not to use any moisturizer on my oily skin for the whole month of February, curious to see whether my skin actually needed an additional boost of moisture. I'm pleased to observe that after a month, my skin is no more drier than when I was using a moisturizing cream twice a day. The only dryness I've seen was a result of acne treatments... and some overzealous snowboarding in California; nothing that couldn't be fixed with a bit of exfoliation, which I performed twice a week with the help of various scrubs.

As for the overall clarity of my skin, I was pleasantly surprised. For the whole month, I had to fight only one bigger spot on my jawline and a few small whiteheads that faded within a couple days. But most importantly, I've stopped getting those pesky under-the-skin clogged pores on my cheeks that look like little hard bumps at first and then develop into full fledged breakouts. More than that, with the help of one product to be reviewed later this month, I even got rid of quite a few of them and as of today, there's just one solitary bump remaining. That's a huge progress for me - I'm now feeling confident enough in my skin to venture outside without a smidgen of make-up on, which was absolutely unthinkable for me in the past!

If you intend to take the No Moisturizer Challenge yourself, there's a few tips worth remembering:
1. Use a non-drying but effective cleanser. I especially recommend a creamy, non-foaming cleanser that DOES NOT give you the squeaky clean feeling after washing.
2. Exfoliate gently. This will help to get rid of any dead skin cells clogging the pores as well as smooth the surface of the skin.
3. Use a sunscreen. Not using a moisturizer doesn't mean your face shouldn't be protected from harmful UV rays. The SPF in your make-up is usually not enough unless you really pile it on (as roadtested in this review)!
4. Pamper your skin. I do feel that using various masks helped to further strengthen and nourish my skin during the challenge.

I hope this helps some of you thinking about eliminating a moisturizer from your routine. I'll continue skipping my moisturizing cream, but I might add a hydrating serum at some point to ensure my skin has enough water content. Take care, lovelies! x