In the skin care world, The Ordinary, created under the company Deciem, has been on the up and up. The line offers serums, acids, cleansers, all packed with potent ingredients, at incredibly low prices – seriously, most of their items are under ten dollars! So, like any broke college student, the deal itself lured me to purchase, after all, I spent more than seven dollars on Starbucks some days. (I have a caffeine addiction, but that’s a problem for another day). I decided to buy two of The Ordinary’s more popular products, their Peeling Solution and their Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1% (review pending on this one).
Like many others, my acne has been flaring up with more frequent mask wearing, not that it takes my skin much to pitch a fit; it’s worse than a tyrant toddler in that way. In the community of the blemish inflicted, AHA and BHA are often praised as fantastic weapons against the red scourge. Now, I have used lower percentages of these acids, such as in the Truly Organic Mask (you can read more about this product here). However, outside of the once in a blue moon facial, I’ve never used a full on chemical peel myself. But, much like dying my hair blue (which ended poorly, my poor hair turned grey…), I decided to drive in head first. I didn’t even do a skin patch test – which, please, if you love yourself, don’t do this. Logically, I know this is stupid, yet, here we are. Thankfully, my experience ended up far better than the blue hair debacle. I did read the instructions (even I’m not that foolhardy) and applied the blood like peel to my freshly cleansed, dry face, and I left the mask on for under ten minutes. Things seemed fine after I washed it off, and my skin did seem pleasantly smooth, so, thinking all was well, I used my toner, serum, and moisturizer like normal…
This is where I made my mistake. Maybe my toner aggravated my skin; it is a Thayers witch hazel toner; however, I’ve always found it to be quite gentle for my skin. No, I believe the culprit was my serum, which includes .75% of salicylic acid. I figured since it’s such a low percent, things would be fine. Things were not fine. I lasted about five minutes before I grabbed my milky cleanser by Glossier and scrubbed it all off my poor, burning skin. Thankfully, most of my skin was no worse for wear, though the skin around my cheekbones and nose were a very unhappy shade of cherry red. This self inflicted irritation was gone by morning. At least, unlike the swamp blue hair, the mistake didn’t haunt me after the fact.
So, while I would say this product may be worth the hype (especially for the price point), be careful with your use. I would recommend a patch test (the old, do as I say, not as I do) and after using the product, follow up only with moisturizer to avoid any possible irritation from your serums and toners. As a chemical peel, it’s a powerful product, so please treat it as such. I think, with my sensitive skin, I would use this peel no more than once a week, maybe only bimonthly. Overall, I would recommend the product – plus, its blood like aesthetic is perfect for Halloween (yes, I know it’s August, but Fall can’t come any sooner).
Let me know what you guys think down in the comments below! I’ll be back with another post next week!
The Good Stuff Skin Care Guide 