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Imagine wiping out half of your pay-day funds on a new skincare line in the name of baby-soft and immaculately flawless skin. Finally, you get to try these new products everyone’s raving about. Only, after three days of using them, everything’s gone south and your skin’s worse than it was before!

Did you just waste all your hard-earned money? Do you have to throw out all your new products? Not just yet! It’s not uncommon for your skin to act up after introducing new products so there’s still hope, but how can you tell if it’s just purging or reacting? 

First, let’s find out what exactly​ skin purging​ means.

As freaky and scary as it may sound, skin purging is actually a good thing. It means your skin is getting rid of all the accumulated dirt and dead skin cells that have built up over time. Imagine it as a skin detox! It usually happens when you use new products that contain retinol, retinoid, or chemical exfoliant. These ingredients stimulate skin cell turnover and will bring congestion up to your skin’s surface. It gets worse before it gets better but it should clear out in a few weeks!

Here are some ways to tell if your skin is purging!

You’re getting breakouts on areas you usually get breakouts or acne-prone areas 

You have red bumps on your skin but they’re not swollen, itchy, or painful

Your skin feels like sandpaper

Generally occurs within days or weeks

Takes two to eight weeks to clear up

If you’re in the throes of a purge, then you need to wait it out. While they can be annoying, don’t fret because your flare-ups should go away after a few weeks. Soon, you’ll be reaping the benefits and will be saying hello to picture-perfect skin!

Now, if what you have are red welts, diffuse redness, or anything that resembles a rash, you need to stop what you’re doing. Unfortunately, your newly bought products are not doing as well as you’ve hoped and you’re probably having an allergic reaction! It’s time to bid them an early goodbye and head to your dermatologist for an appointment.

So what should be your main takeaway? Listen to your body! Be patient, but remain observant of what’s happening to your skin. Being the biggest organ in our body, they often reflect how we nourish it. Yes, sometimes, we do breakout out of nowhere and that can be frustrating. But most of the time, there’s an underlying reason (whether good or bad) behind it and we’ve just laid out two different scenarios!

Nobody said that treading the waters of skincare is easy, especially with so many products to choose from (and so many skin states to deal with!), but we’re here to guide you on your journey to better skin. So make sure to stay tuned to The Curator on the website, and follow us on our Instagram for all your skin updates!