How to choose the right product?

When choosing from 1000 products is overwhelming

Disclaimer: This is meant for general skincare advice and sharing of knowledge. This is not medical advice.

Welcome Back! So far we have covered a lot of good topics including itchy skin, dry scalp, acne, red cheeks, and many more. Now, on to more good stuff.

Have you ever felt overwhelmed at CVS or Walgreens when you want to buy skincare products? I know I certainly have because usually aisles look like this:

See the problem? There are hundreds of products that advertise fixing the same thing. I may be exaggerating a little bit but the marketing of these products is what lures us in and usually it is what causes us to make three simple mistakes:

1. “ Dermatology recommended” : these are just buzzwords to trick you into thinking “if a doctor approves it then it must be a good product”. This trap is the oldest one in the book.

2. Colorful bottles: Bright pastel colors can draw your eyes to that product. When products have clean and nice colors, they convey to your emotions. They seek to be eye-catching. They scream bright colors = great products. The color of the bottle doesn’t matter. In fact, all of my skincare products are in grey or white bottles. Ingredients > colorful bottles.

3. Fancy names like “Beautification” or “Curology” sound legitimate. Again, tricking you into thinking creative names = great products (Not hating on these products but don’t get trapped into these brand names that sound nice)

So what do you pick?

The answer is simple. The list below are all products that I have tried personally over the years. They do not have fancy names, they do not have attractive bottles. They do have good ingredients. To help even further, they are broken down based on what problem you may need to fix:

1. Acne

   • PanOxyl Acne Foaming Wash (benzoyl peroxide)

   • Differin Adapalene gel 0.1% (retinoid)

   • Cerave/Cetaphil Gentle cleansers

   • Cerave Renewing Salicylic acid cleanser

   • The Odinary hyaluronic acid

2. Dry Skin

   • Cerave Moisturizing Cream

   • Cerave facial lotion

   • Cetaphil Moisturizing Cream

   • Vanicream Moisturizing Cream

   • Neutrogena Hydro-boost Gel

3. Itchy scalp

   • Head & Shoulders anti-dandruff shampoo

   • Nizoral anti-itch shampoo

   • Selsen Blue anti-itch care shampoo

4. Dry and cracked lips

   • Aquaphor Lip Repair

   • VaniCream moisturizing ointment

   • Vaseline

As you can see there are various common themes in this list including Cerave, VaniCream, and Cetaphil. I love these brands and personally have used the above products. A lot of what skincare boils down to is personal preference. This list simply provides you with a starting place to build up your stash of products to help with every day problems. Odds are you will face one of these on a weekly basis if not daily. You don’t need all of these but use this as a guide to pick one out of each problem list and trial to see if it works for you. Some may work for you and some may not, but finding the right mix of products that accomplish your skincare goals can truly be life changing.

If you enjoyed this post then check out my twitter at med_conscience for more skincare tips and information. Have a great Sunday!