Inspired by a night of load shedding, a blog post from me via Eskom's influence.

This is a bit messy, cluttered and uncultured, but I'll tidy it up soon. A lot of you will know some of this from our mails etc.

Some general tips:

The first is for everyone, but especially people suffering from acne.

Anything that touches your face often should be cleaned regularly. The common offenders:

• Hands.
• Phones.
• Pillowcases. Not everyone has silk or satin pillowcases, but everyone *should* be cleaning what they do have often. If you have limited bed linen, turn them over every few days at a minimum, so you're resting on a clean surface.

Products:

Very few brands have a perfect product range. Shop around, read etc. You don't need to buy everything from a single brand (but if you love that brand, go for it).
On that note: not everything will work for you. It happens. There are a million reasons for it, but every so often something will just do what you hoped.

The bridge between products, and routine: while Korean skincare is famous for the 10 Step Routine, a routine that you actually use, and are consistent with, is more important.

The components of skincare are:

Cleanse
Exfoliate/Treatment
Hydrate & Moisturise
Protect

Aim for these, and then build from there.

Your skincare routine:

Cleanse

• Wash your hair first; you don't want the products in your hair to mess with your skincare products. A common issue is coconut oil etc; it's great for hair and body, but terrible for your face.
• When washing your face, use warm (or slightly above warm) water only. Coldwater doesn't penetrate, and hot water will damage your skin.
• On that note, when showering, *please* don't stand with your face directly under the showerhead. It feels great, but the streams of droplets are literally beating your face.
• When possible, try and massage your cleanser (both oil, and water) for a minute.