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I'm So Grateful for My Ex Job

It gave me an experience that led to finding my holy grail beauty tool.

By Rebecca JoyPublished 3 years ago 4 min read
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I'm So Grateful for My Ex Job
Photo by fleur kaan on Unsplash

I discovered my holy grail skincare product - The One, my ride or die, my deserted island product - approximately four years ago. I was working at a well-known beauty retail store at the time as a part-time assistant manager. I mostly did behind the scenes work, such as unloading truck shipments or changing marketing at ungodly hours in the morning before opening hours. Being a manager in a beauty store has its perks - including many, many pieces of gratis gifted to me that I wouldn't have been able to afford even with my employee discount. However, this isn't an expensive cream or foundation. My holy grail skincare product wasn't even for sale at this retailer. And it still isn't. And it probably never will be. But because I was a manager at this store, it led me to discover that I needed this product in my life and it changed the quality and feel of my skin almost immediately. There is no going back.

Working at a beauty retailer was incredibly hard work. It's more than just playing with makeup - it's keeping your team on task, making sales, working with affiliate brands, being the backup cashier, loss prevention, and of course, customer service. Sometimes juggling all of it at once! But sometimes, it does include playing with makeup. However, I was not a licensed cosmetologist, or even interested in becoming a makeup artist. I actually hated putting makeup on other people. Foundation color matches were relatively quick, though, and through the years I got better and better at learning about undertones and which ingredients worked best with which skin types. It was a foundation match on a customer that lead me to the discovery of my must-have beauty product.

This customer was with her daughter, and they both were looking for new foundations in the winter months. I live in a cold climate that turns into a dry, icy hellscape for six months out of the year, so most everybody switches over to rich, nourishing products after daylight savings time. I matched the daughter to her new foundation with ease, and grabbed a few new foundations for the mother's specific skintone and needs. Now, when matching foundations, I was taught to swipe a small dot of product vertically down the jawline to the neck, back by the ear. This will most likely cover the widest range of discrepancy within one's skintone and therefore the best place to do a color match. When I went to do this, I almost had to take a step back. Now of course, by this time, I had seen all kinds of skin issues, heard all types of concerns, and swatched all types of foundations on all types of skin - nothing really phased me. Before you react, I wasn't grossed out by any means, and everyone has a right to how they treat their own body and facial hair - but for a second I wasn't sure if the hair on this customer's sideburn area would give me an accurate result. It was light and fuzzy, but very dense, and I didn't even think she realized it, so I of course continued the color match and successfully sent her off with a new foundation that she loved.

It got me thinking though. I'm kind of a clean freak when it comes to body hair maintenance, and I've always hated my own body hair - even shaving my arms when I was younger! - and for the days following the color match I was intensely, acutely aware of my dark, dense Germanic hair. So I got to work researching how to get rid of it - and enter the facial razor. Yes, a facial razor is my holy grail product! Hear me out, though - this is my magic wand. It allows my skincare products to absorb better, makeup goes on so much smoother, and my large, clogged pores are now smaller and cleaner. I can shape my eyebrows, which annoy me to no end, and draw them on however I want. Those annoying little baby hairs at the nape of your neck? Gone. And, since dermaplaning also physically exfoliates, your baby-smooth skin will also be rid of all those dead skin cells that are clogging your pores. I started out by just dermaplaning my sideburn area and upper lip - but now I do my entire face and neck. There is a bit of a learning curve, and when I briefly lived in California my skin got very red and angry with me so I had to back off for a bit. Like I said, I don't have any licenses or degrees in skincare or dermatology, so I can't back up my claim with any evidence except my own skin. I rampaged through my 20s with many vices, which has definitely sped up the age of my skin, but dermaplaning in combination with using hydrating products that contain ceramides and other essential ingredients that help repair my skin barrier have helped it look and feel better than ever.

I am blessed to have low-maintenance skin, so after my bi-weekly dermaplaning, as long as I'm hydrating my skin it doesn't matter what I put on it. I believe with 100% certainty that dermaplaning has made the quickest and most dramatic, long-lasting difference in my skin that now glows as if I'm a majestic sun goddess. If you're looking to incorporate a new skincare habit that will do the same, I recommend this to everyone, whether you're comfortable doing it at home yourself or going to a professional. Oh, and drink your water.

skincare
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About the Creator

Rebecca Joy

Hi! I'm Becca, a creative of all trades, hoping to utilize Vocal to brush up on my creative writing skills. Thanks for reading!

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