The Garb Store is based in Malaysia – and Malaysia (and most parts of Southeast Asia) is Hot and Humid! Right now as we’re typing this, humidity levels in Kuala Lumpur are at 92%! Such an environment leads to an increase in oil production from sebaceous glands – which affects people with oily skin the most. Imagine barely going through half a day and already looking like an oil rig? Mama don’t like.
How does The Ordinary fit into this?
The great thing about products from The Ordinary is that they have many high quality products with high-concentrations of active ingredients to help you create a complete skincare routine targeting specific skin concerns. The bad? The breadth of products they have on offer can cause confusion and picking the wrong ones might just worsen the oil-rig situation.
OK fine, give me the routine already.
Yes, yes, we’ll get into that bit in the next paragraph. So, we went around the office and asked everyone with oily/combination skin to list down their everyday routine for combating both the weather and their skin dilemma and came up with a concise routine we hope help you tackle this problem. Here’s a day skincare routine for oily skin in tropical weather!
1. Cleanse
Obviously you need to get rid of what was on your skin from the night before. Plus, let’s face it, most of us only change our pillow sheets at most once a week. Contrary to popular belief, you don’t need harsh cleansers. Pick a gentle cleanser that doesn’t tighten your face as it will help any products you layer on your skin afterwards absorb a lot faster.
The Ordinary doesn’t produce a cleanser targeted to us oily skin types. At the end of the day, it’s a cleanser. It’ll be on your face for at most 1.5 minutes. Ladies, if you forgot to remove your makeup from the night before, use an oil cleanser first. That’s called double-cleansing.
2. Tone
Toner helps to remove excess dirt, traces of oil and balance the pH of your skin. We currently love the Simple Kind to Skin Soothing Facial Toner as it does the job (not to mention affordable). Please, if you see ‘alcohol’ in the ingredients list of any toners – don’t buy it. You’re welcome.
3. Serums (in order of application):
- The Ordinary Marine Hyaluronics – Oily skin types produces excess sebum most when it’s dehydrated. The Marine Hyaluronics is a watery formula that hydrates your skin by taking excess moisture from the air (which at 92% humidity is more than plenty) into the skin. Why this and not the Hyaluronic Acid 2% + B5? Because this absorbs much faster and is more suitable for oily skin types.
- The Ordinary Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1% – We can write an entire article (or articles) regarding the benefits of Niacinamide. This ‘miracle’ ingredient is versatile for almost any skin care concern and skin type. It increases skin immunity, minimises redness and pore appearance, regulates oil, protect against sun damage, treats hyperpigmentation, minimises fine lines, treats acne. Seriously, we can go on and on about this ingredient. Use it.
- The Ordinary Azelaic Acid Suspension 10% or The Ordinary Alpha Arbutin 2% + HA – If you’re planning to use makeup during the day, go with the Arbutin. If not, go with the Azelaic Acid (as it doesn’t gel well with makeup). Both these products help with lightening spots, hyperpigmentation, and acne scars. The Azelaic Acid also mattifies your skin and blurs your pores a little, which is a plus.
4. Moisturise
Skip it. Some people might disagree with this, but we don’t recommend using a moisturiser on top of all the previous step. The Marine Hyaluronics does the hydration job pretty well.
5. Sunscreen
Sunscreen is the MOST IMPORTANT skincare product to use during the day. When you live on the equator where the UV Index is constantly at a 9 or 10 (the maximum is 11) you have got to be vigilant about applying sunscreen to your face!
Even if you are indoors, UVA rays (the one that causes you to age faster) bounces off surfaces and go through windows, hitting your skin and rendering all those ingredients you just put on you face useless. Also, one of the reasons we discourage using moisturisers for oily skin is because many sunscreen products in the Asian market already have moisturising properties in them. Unfortunately, we can’t vouch for The Ordinary Mineral UV Filters SPF 15/30 with Antioxidants (even though we sell them). Western sunscreens can’t compete with superior Asian ones and there’s a breadth of choices out there. For oily skin types, we really like the Biore UV Perfect Face Milk or the AMPM 10X Peptide Total-Defense Sunscreen.
Oh, and drink a lot of water
It keeps your skin healthy and hydrated.
