8 women of colour share their skin care tips

Be good to your skin. You’ll wear it every day for the rest of your life

– Renée Rouleau

This week I thought I'd share some of my beauty tips and include seven beautiful women of colour too. Each with a different skin type, these women have their own ways of maintaining a healthy glow. Enjoy!

Narjes

"My skin care routine consists of the following:

1 - Washing my face with cold water. 2 - Washing my face with Tea Tree Skin Clearing Facial Wash from The Body Shop to have clean skin and to be protected from any further pimples and blackheads. Also, it makes you feel fresh. 3 - Massaging my face with an ice cube before putting my makeup on every morning. It makes my face look fresh, bright and healthy. 4 - Before applying makeup, I also use SVR 20 SPF to protect my skin from the sun. 5 - At the end of the day when I remove my makeup, I use Garnier Micellar Cleansing Water and wash my face with cold water. After that, I moisturise with Glycerin cream."

Thabile Themba

"My skin type is combination so I'm currently using the seaweed range from The Body Shop.

My morning routine:

I use the Seaweed Gel Wash or the Exfoliator (only twice a week) and then I apply the Tea Tree Serum to get rid of an oily T-zone and dark spots. After this, I apply the Seaweed Oil-Control Gel Cream.

My evening routine:

I do pretty much the same thing but instead of using the gel cream, I use the Aloe Vera Nourishing Night Creame from Mineraline. It smells great and it leaves my skin feeling really fresh and hydrated.

Other products I swear by:

I absolutely love the Copper and Zinc mask by Sephora. as well as the White Tea Detoxifying, Oxygenating Bubble Mask. Another really great mask is the Seaweed Oil-Balancing Clay Mask from The Body Shop. All of these leave my skin feeling hydrated too.

To keep my skin clear, I also make sure to drink at least 2L of water every day and change my pillowcases often because they collect old skin cells, which we shed especially when we are asleep. Also, I always take my makeup off before going to bed. Always."

Bonolo Maloma

"My skin care regimen is comprised of three main steps, namely: cleansing, toning and moisturising. I do this every day, twice a day. Every other day I use the African Extracts 2-in-1 mask, which I mix with a bit of activated charcoal. Thereafter, I steam my face with extra virgin olive oil (which seems counter-intuitive considering the fact that I have oily skin, but it works wonders). If I notice any pimples or weird red rashes forming because of the water quality in Grahamstown, I usually use some aloe vera gel on my freshly washed face and leave it on overnight. I use regular aloe that I find on campus".

Clearize Billet

"I don't actually have a regular type of routine; I don't use anything specific. However, on a really hot day, I sometimes use the 3-in-1 Facial Scrub from the African Extracts Rooibos range when I shower at night. I usually just wash my face with water, and then I put some lotion on because my skin is sometimes really dry. I don't do anything about pimples; I wait for them to go away on their own and I do try to drink a lot of water".

Natasha Chinembiri

"I exfoliate regularly to get rid of blackheads and white heads using sugar. This has totally transformed my skin , leaving it smooth and clean- this gets rid of dead skin too. I do this about twice a week. I also drink about 2L of water a day and moisturize using a small amount of tissue oil daily. I think the best thing to do when you have a break out or a pimple is to continue with your normal skin care routine as usual (if the breakout isn't caused by your skin care routine, like introducing a new product). Usually, when we break out, we panic and try to fix the problem by doing a ten step emergency routine and picking at it when really we should just continue as normal and not stress our skin further ;just ride it out. This will also help you avoid scarring due to picking at pimples."

Thandeka Themba

"A few months ago as I was scrolling through Instagram and one of the doctors I follow (Laura Lacquer, MD, Dermatologist) had a story up about the importance of using moisturiser with SPF. Attached was an article/study about a man who had been a truck driver for many years and as a result suffered severe sun damage on one half of his face. The one side of his face looked totally normal for his age, yet the side that had more exposure to direct sunlight aged very dramatically. Since reading this, I’ve been so obsessed with SPF. I still don’t think many people realise that too much exposure to the sun can actually contribute greatly to the aging process. Every morning I make sure to put sunscreen on my face, hands, shoulders and neck, as those areas come into contact with sunlight the most (especially when I’m driving). Other than SPF, I make sure to exfoliate regularly in order to remove dead skin cell build-up, drink lots of water and I try not to touch my face unnecessarily."

Faioa and Fatiau Leupena

"We usually wear sunscreen after we have put on our toner/serum/moisturiser. We also usually double cleanse, especially when we have been wearing make-up and sunscreen. This includes using an oil cleanser first (we use The Body Shop's Camomile Cleansing Oil). You apply it straight onto your face and it melts the product on your face. But when you wash your face with water, it isn't oily at all. Then we go ahead and use our usual cleanser to wash off any remaining product. There's also an amazing exfoliating toner from Pixi called Glow Tonic. It should only be used in the evenings because your skin is more susceptible to getting sunburnt during the day. You could use it during the day, but you always have to wear sunscreen. It just shouldn't be used too much or you'll over exfoliate your skin."

Thank you so much to all the ladies who contributed!

Thabile x

#beauty #skincare