“I thought oils and moisturisers were key”

Hannah Keegan, 23, Stylist’s features writer, believed that heavy moisturisers and oils would soothe her dry skin. She visited Dr Stefanie Williams at Eudelo.

“I’ve always had dry skin so, even though I kept my routine pretty basic, I slathered on heavy creams and oils every night – fearful I’d wake up with tight, chalky skin without them. As a result, I’d get breakouts. It was a catch-22 situation.

Dr Williams used a facial-scanning device that resembles a small washing machine to analyse my skin. It measures texture, wrinkling, redness, invisible sun damage and pore size while you rest your head in the centre of the machine for 10 minutes. It then gives each category a percentage out of 100 compared to your peer group. While I aced the test for pore size and elasticity, I got a shock when it came to sun damage. I’m in the bottom 1%. My skin is pale, freckly and prone to sunburn, so I’ve always been careful – it didn’t make sense to me. Dr Williams reassured me it was accumulative since childhood and mostly reversible. She said my skin also isn’t as dry as I believed and that by dousing it in heavy creams, I was, in fact, making it drier. Skin gets lazy when you’re doing its job for it, plus layers of heavy products can trap dead skin and acne-causing bacteria.

My recommended routine is focused on repairing sun damage and boosting my skin’s natural moisture levels. Dr Williams warned me that my face would feel drier at first as it adjusts to having to remember how to work all on its own. It involves using Avène’s Extremely Gentle Cleanser Lotion, £10.50, in the morning, followed by a vitamin C serum and an SPF 50 gel for brightening and sun-protection. It’s important to use a separate SPF, as well as that in any make-up, to protect against skin-damaging UV rays – even in winter. In the evening, I use SkinCeuticals Retexturing Activator serum, £85, and the skin-repairing La Roche Posay Redermic R Anti-Ageing Concentrate Intensive, £29.50, which I’m slowly building up to using three times a week. So far, my skin feels like it’s adjusting to lighter creams day-by-day.

I’m told in three months the difference will be visible and I can’t wait.”

The Skin Kit:

SkinCeuticals Retexturing Activator

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