Witch hazel has been canceled for a while now, but as my eyes darted back and forth from the small bottle of Thayers and my fading forehead acne scars, I realized I was hooked. I had fallen into the trends and had been using CeraVe for over a year, but fell so frustrated at my skin. In desperation over break, I looked to my mom, who has some of the clearest skin I’ve ever seen, and with a bit of roasting, she offered me some skincare advice, and thus I went old-school.
I started with Witch Hazel and built everything else around it. It was the main thing my mom told me to use, and the only skincare product I had in my dorm besides my CeraVe. I found a bag of cotton balls and used the Witch Hazel morning and night; two cotton balls at night, one in the morning, and quickly saw a difference.
My mom's advice made me want to completely change up my whole skincare routine. After I used one product she recommended and saw my skin clear, I took to the internet.
Ponds seemed like the best replacement for my beloved CeraVe. Not only did my mom mention them in her advice, I was finding that they had the basics. No complicated serums or crazy eye creams—just a nice cold cream and a reasonable price tag. I ended up researching their products for a week straight and ordered a light moisturizer and an SPF-infused daily moisturizer from them online. These were a bit of a struggle to find, so it took a minute for them to come in.
After the two morning moisturizers came in, I went to Target and got their more popular items: the Ponds Cold Cream Cleanser and their Dry Skin Cream. I also went ahead and got a full-size bottle of Thayers Unscented Witch Hazel, as I had drained my mini, cucumber-scented one. Last night was my first time using the Cold Cream and Dry Skin Cream, and I was honestly very scared of how my skin would react.
While the new products are old in theory, they work just as well as the current, trendy ones. The Cold Cream is basically a makeup remover balm, and the Dry Skin Cream gave me results similar to slugging. The two moisturizers reminded me of my lovely AM CeraVe, but cheaper and less thick, and the Thayers Unscented Witch Hazel acted as a gentle toner.
I have oily, sensitive, combination skin, so typically after the first night of new product use, I can tell by how red and broken out my face is the next morning whether or not I'll continue to use the products. To my surprise, I woke up to a clearer forehead, softer skin and a rather matte face (which is rare for me), so, so far, so good.
I think I'll stick with this rather old-school skincare routine for a minute.