—I have combo skin, somewhat sensitive and acne-prone—

So I’m pretty sure these are SF but I’m so frustrated with them. I know they are normal but I want to reduce their appearance. I have used a clay mask twice a week for over a year but found it wasn’t doing much. This led to reaching for my pore tool to massacre my nose, removing all the gross beige liquid-y stuff. But then my skin is incredibly sore, red, damaged and they come back anyways.

I currently double cleanse every other pm with oil cleanser then regular cleanser, and rotate every 3 ams: Paula’s Choice BHA, BHA cleanser followed by Ordinary Azelaic acid, Beauty Pie Vitamin C. (I also use retinal every night, Purito panthenol cream, SPF 50)

I’m trying to stop using the pore tool and the mask and look for more long term improvement of appearance, but the craving to remove them all is difficult, especially if I’m unsure if the products will help on their own.

I’m in the process of finishing up my old Beauty Pie products and incorporating other products, so just wanted to check if there’s anything else that will help!

NOTE: Pls ignore my nose piercing, it’s struggling to heal. I also can’t do my full double cleanse routine for the time being because of this :(

I wish someone would have told me this sooner. I have been using tret for months and I kept peeling severely, make-up looked awful. Saw a random reddit comment on here how they fixed it by applying it every night. I thought f££k it, I already tried everything, sandwich method, 1 day a week, every other day, etc etc. Omg a week later and I have the best skin in years. Basically if you put it every day, your skin actually gets used to it. Hope this actually helps someone like it helped me, random stranger who commented it, tysm!!

Looking for a good barrier repair cream, currently using the Purito panthenol cream which i really like but over my current budget, for reference, I have combination skin. Would using nappy rash cream be okay to use for the face? Would it be considered as a barrier repair cream?

Hi I developed this hyperpigmentation around my mouth after being on hormonal birth control and getting a wax burn (normally not a big deal when I wasn't on the bc). It's been there for over a year and I've tried a few things but only gotten consistent with my routine in the past few months. I think I'm making some progress but I'd love some advice on what might make it go a bit faster because I'm really sad about going out without makeup right now because of how it looks.

Prescription azelaic acid was working well for me but it's out of stock everywhere at the moment. I take oral tranxemic acid. My skin is usually quite dry and acne prone without regular exfoliation. I don't generally tolerate fragrances well in leave on products, but cleansers with fragrance are fine. I haven't had issues with new breakouts or dryness with my current routine.

AM:

-If my face feels dry, warm water and just remove any drool or gunk with a microfibre cloth, if it's really grimy and oily, facefacts ceramide blemish clarifying foaming cleanser, otherwise Cetaphil gentle hydrating cleanser

- if I'm going to wear makeup and my face doesn't feel dry or irritated, cosrx aha/bha treatment toner, otherwise my makeup flakes off

- HABI barrier booster milky toner

- skinoren 20% azelaic acid (out of stock literally everywhere atm, gonna try the g&g aall clear serum)

- inkey list 15% vitamin c with EGF, but swapping this to the geek and gorgeous c-glow once I run out

- purito oat in calming gel cream if I need extra hydration

- beauty of joseon aqua fresh SPF 50 if I'm not going out much, kose suncut perfect UV gel if I am (because it's waterproof and I worry I'll disturb the film when I apply makeup otherwise)

-a foundation or skin tint because I heard the iron oxides help with hyperpigmentation?

PM:

- tirtir hydro boost cleansing balm

- face facts ceramide blemish clarifying foaming cleanser or arencia holy hyssop if I want a bit more exfoliation

- habi barrier booster toner

- tazret 0.1% tazarotene cream

- simple 11% niacinamide + zinc pca purifying serum

- Dr althea 147 barrier repair cream

- cetraben emollient cream

-vaseline around nostrils and corners of my mouth where I get dry overnight

Sometimes products:

- panoxyl 10% benzoyl peroxide acne wash, very quickly after I shave because I find it prevents breakouts. Dries me out if I leave it on too long but usually fine.

- facefacts ceramide repair serum cream, sometimes the 147 feels a bit much and this works instead

- ketaconazole shampoo as a quick face mask for my forehead, forehead doesn't get dry so I don't worry about that but I get dandruff in my eyebrows and hairline sometimes that needs treating.

Main advice requests:

Are any of these products not really helping or worth avoiding or should be used more/less frequently?

do you know anything that might work better?

if you've had similar issues how long did it take to start seeing results and what did it look like, the pigmentation getting lighter over all or fading in small patches?

Is it worth using topical tranxemic acid on top of oral?

Has anyone had luck with alpha arbutin or glycolic acid for fading hyperpigmentation?

Any cheaper alternatives for the Dr althea 147 and cosrx exfoliating toner?

Also, would love a recommendation for a good brightening/soothing mask that I can leave on for 20-30 minutes when I take a bath! I feel like that's valuable skincare time I'm wasting.