What I Would Tell My 25-Year-Old Skin -- From an Esthetician Who Had Acne for 20 Years
What I Would Tell My 25-Year-Old Skin -- From an Esthetician Who Had Acne for 20 Years
On a recent Beauty Lab Podcast episode, Velia and I spent some time asking ourselves what we would tell our 25-year-old selves if we could go back. She had a lot to say about hair. I had a lot to say about skin -- because my skin journey is a big part of why I became an esthetician in the first place.
I started developing severe acne at nine years old. I was in and out of dermatologist offices for years. I was given antibiotic after antibiotic. I used every harsh topical treatment on the market. And I have scars I am still working on today as a result of choices I made -- and did not make -- in those years.
Here is everything I would go back and tell myself.
Fix Your Gut, Not Just Your Face
This is the biggest one. The advice I most wish I had received at 25.
I was on antibiotics for my acne almost constantly through my teens and 20s. The antibiotics knocked out breakouts temporarily, but they were also destroying my gut biome in the process. And now, with everything I know about the gut-skin connection, it is clear that a lot of my chronic inflammation was being driven by what I was eating and how my gut was functioning -- not just by bacteria on my skin.
If I could go back, I would tell myself to stop treating acne as a surface problem and start asking what was causing it internally. The inflammatory foods I was eating -- sugar, fried foods, shellfish -- were triggering responses on my skin. If I had cut those out and focused on rebuilding my gut health, I believe the severity of my acne would have been significantly different.
If you have to take antibiotics, take them. But pair them with probiotics and prebiotics, and treat that as non-negotiable. And if you are dealing with chronic acne, work with someone who will ask about your diet and your gut, not just prescribe another topical or another round of antibiotics.
Stop Picking
I cannot say this strongly enough. I know it feels satisfying in the moment. I know you tell yourself you are just cleaning out the pore. You are not. You are creating trauma to the skin that leads to scarring -- and scarring is permanent in a way that active acne is not.
I have acne scars today that I work to improve with professional treatments. Had I left my skin alone -- truly left it alone -- I would have far fewer of them. This is the advice I would go back and give myself most urgently, and it is the advice I give clients most urgently now.
Stop picking. No exceptions.
Sunscreen Is Not Optional
I was using Retin-A at night through a significant part of my 20s. What I did not know -- and what no one told me -- is that Retin-A makes your skin significantly more photosensitive. More vulnerable to UV damage. More likely to develop hyperpigmentation when exposed to sunlight.
I was going to the beach. I was laying out. I was not wearing sunscreen. And the hyperpigmentation and melasma that I developed, which showed up in my 40s? It was being set up by those decisions decades earlier.
Sun damage does not always announce itself immediately. It accumulates quietly and surfaces later -- often much later. Daily SPF in your 20s is not about preventing something you can see right now. It is about preventing what you will see in 20 years.
I say this as someone who learned it the hard way. Start wearing sunscreen every day. Do not stop.
Switch the Harsh Products for Gentle Exfoliation
When I was dealing with blackheads and whiteheads in my 20s, the approach I was taking was to layer everything. Benzoyl peroxide, alcohol-based toners, Retin-A, harsh scrubs. All of it at once. All of it drying out my skin and stripping my barrier, which caused more inflammation, which caused more breakouts.
What I actually needed was something much simpler: a gentle enzyme exfoliant or a mild exfoliating product to lift the buildup from my pores without destroying the skin around it.
When your barrier is compromised -- dried out, stripped, inflamed -- nothing you put on top of it works the way it is supposed to. Your skin cannot absorb, cannot heal, and cannot regulate itself. The answer to congested, acne-prone skin is not more aggressive products. It is a calm, supported barrier with targeted and gentle exfoliation.
Stop Trying to Cover What You Have Not Fixed
In my 20s I was putting on full coverage foundation, concealer all over my face, powder on top, and setting spray. Not because I understood how to apply makeup -- because I was trying to hide active breakouts that were three-dimensional and could not actually be hidden that way.
The bump is still there under the makeup. The redness is muted but the texture is not. And all that makeup -- applied in layers over skin that was already clogged and inflamed -- was making the acne worse. The formulas available back then were largely comedogenic. I was trapping everything in.
What I would tell myself now: fix the skin first. Treat the acne, support the barrier, and the coverage you need will be so much less. And when you do wear foundation, choose formulas that support the skin rather than sit on top of it. The difference between those two things is enormous.
It Is Never Too Late to Start
Whatever you did in your 20s -- the baby oil, the picking, the harsh products, the not wearing sunscreen -- you can start taking care of your skin right now. The damage is not irreversible. The barrier can be repaired. Pigmentation can be treated. Scars can be improved.
My skin is in the best shape it has ever been because I finally understood what it needed. That took time and knowledge that I did not have at 25. But it is possible, at any age, to get there.
If you are not sure where to start, my free skin type quiz at palette-to-perfect.lovable.app will tell you your skin type, the hero ingredients best suited to your skin, and what your routine should look like. And if you are in the Bay Area or want a virtual consultation, you can book a
free appointment at Moderne Beauty.
