Raised by a man

I was raised by a man. 

Sad but true, that probably impacted my beauty routine.  I don't have any memories of watching Mom put on her face cream or whatever. 

Dad's idea of pampering was a Bubble bath. 

Dad had care of me pretty much from my birth to age 5.  Then he married a woman who had a 10 year old girl, an 8 year old boy, and a toddler boy. 

I knew how to bathe myself, toilet, and brush my teeth so I don't think she was too worried about it.  I might need a reminder to brush my hair but I knew how to wash it.  She still supervised my bathtime for a couple of years, though. 

That would be awful to let your kid drown in the bathtub.  I know it's happened. 

Anyway, growing up, I would wash my face with body soap and scrub with a washcloth.  I might use a little perfume in my teen years but I had terrible skin. 

Along came the acne soap.  By the way, the cure for my skin trouble?  Vitamin A and E supplements.  According to the FDA I can't use the word "cure" but my troubles ended when I started a Vitamin A supplement. 

That's the first time I realized I needed a special soap for my face.  So I did that.  Sometimes I used astringent.  I was given Retin-A, which made my skin peel.  When I was in the hospital for depression, Doc prescribed a course of Tetracycline for my acne. 

I guess you could say my whole beauty routine, for years, was about managing my acne.  Now I finally have that under control (mostly, I had a pimple on a cheekbone last week), I have developed my own routine. 

I wash my face with Neutrogena Acne soap, found in the "teenager" section of the skin care area.  I'll remind you here I am 42.  I inherited my Dad's oily skin, which means I will probably be using the acne soap for decades to come. 

I wash my hair with Suave.  I have various products I use.  I use one for a while, get bored, try another.  I am currently using the Keratin shampoo.  It does help with smoothing my frizz, which can be pretty bad on humid days. 

While I do have a tremendous weakness for "nice" body soaps, I am currently using "Moisture Blast" Irish Spring.  It doesn't dry my skin the way the other soaps can.  I alternate between that and Coast, one I remember from my childhood.  I think they used to have a Lemon Coast, which was great, it has a very nice lemony scent.  I would love to find that again. 

And that's it.  I don't use lotion.  When I shave my legs, I just use regular soap.  I don't use any powders and I seldom use perfume. 

It works for me, but looking at my routine I have to laugh and say, yes, I was raised by a man.