Skincare...
Well I fortunately started caring for my skin around 10 years ago (well before I was aware that I was transgender). Im really glad I did, because caring for your skin is not only beneficial from a beauty perspective, I find it is a really lovely emotional self care ritual. You dont need to go and spend big money on skincare products, although you may need to do some trial and error on what products work for you. If you go into some skin care product stores - you can usually get some demonstrations and some sample products to take home (with a hint of obligation). Here is a basic skincare regime that I began with:
Cleanse -> Tone -> Moisturise
Cleanse - Its really important to clean out your pores of dirt, excess oils and bacteria. Most days I use a gentle cleanser. My skin is fairly sensitive, so I stay away from "soaps" and anything harsh. I just use my hands and use gentle little circles. Be gentle around your eyes, the skin around the eyes is about 1/2 the thickness of your average face skin and very sensitive. Once/twice per week I **exfoliate (more on that later).
Tone - Applying toner helps to reduce the size of pores and it has a minor additional cleansing benefit as well. Its really important to use toner after exfoliating, I find it calms my skin down significantly. I simply splash some toner into my palm and pat it all over my face.
Moisturise - Moisturising for me is the most important part! Finding the right moisturiser was the hardest part. I have fairly difficult skin... so if I use the wrong moisturiser it gets very oily. When you apply moisturiser apply it in upward strokes and dont forget your neck and upper chest area.
** Exfoliating - This is a really great thing to do once or twice per week. It helps deep clean your pores and helps to clear away the dead skin cells that build up over time. Dont exfoliate around your eyes, and dont exfoliate too often!
