I’m working on a really cool story for Racked (here’s what I’ve written there so far) and going on a work trip in a few hours, but I wanted to write a quick post about something I’ve been experimenting with. There’s nothing like a new beauty experiment to keep one’s mind off the stress of unwanted travel — but apologies if this is rushed and disjointed because I’m editing at the airport between a full-body scan and attempt to track down an express manicure! ahaha

I’ve come to feel that shampoo is basically the work of an evil god. My skin hates surfactants, making facial cleanser shopping difficult (I’ve since found two low-pH cleansers that I like). That hatred extends to my scalp, which gets itchy and peely when I use shampoos. I’ve found some I like, but even then, my scalp was in poor enough condition when I went to get my first facial that I couldn’t get microdermabrasion done. 🙁

Sorry I’ve been gone so long! I recently started writing freelance articles about beauty, which you can find here. I’ll somehow try to balance writing for fan-b and writing for not-fan-b. These days I’m pretty easy to find on Twitter if you need to track me down.

I recently shared the skincare routine that has finally helped me bust through the hormonal cystic acne deadlock that persisted for years, but I want to share some of the things I’ve learned along the way as an addendum to the routine.

This is a highly specific-to-me, unscientific account of what has worked for my skin and what I’ve learned. Plus there’s a giveaway of a bunch of my favorite products for dealing with acne at the end of the post.^^