For as long as I can remember, CTM has been an enigma. For the uninitiated, CTM is skincare 101 though I doubt there are many who don't know about it. Blessed with decent genes and lazy bones, I ignored this beauty holy grail until very very recently and now I am a convert. But its not these 3 steps I am talking about. I promised 1 step and that's what it is. 

So as with all good things, my breakout free skin hung up its boots soon after I turned 25 and introduced me to the agony that is called ACNE. Thanks genes! Way to kick a girl in her prime. 

When ignoring didn't make it go away, I went crazy with a facewash trying frenzy, thinking that would be my cure. While I was sort of right with the cleansing idea, trying multiple, drugstore anti-acne facewashes screwed my face into a dry, patchy mess and now I had two problems to deal with! Good time to mention that my once dry to normal skin had now turned somewhat combination, swaying from dry to oily as I combated the other. Fun! 

As you too will also realise one day, girl-talk can solve anything; from bad skin to world peace and that's how I discovered the good thing that is Cetaphil. After patiently hearing me rant one coffee break, my colleague suggested I switch to using a non-soap cleanser like Cetaphil, clearly stating that "...at first, you will thinks it shit and doesn't clean anything but just give it three days..." 

No truer words have ever been spoken.

Word of mouth, two years of trial n error & then a consultation with my dermatologist later, I landed on my current skincare must do and I feel obligated to share this with anyone who'd listen. Basically, the simplest step to good skin, in my experience is cleaning your face, twice. I swear. Its just that simple.

THE MAGIC COMBO

(I wasn't thrilled about this at first because I am a very lazy person but man, am I a convert!) Generic acne facewashes stripped my skin off moisture and I somehow always thought that the dry, tight  and squeaky feeling is a sign of clean skin. But after using Cetaphil and seeing the dirty cotton pad, I realised that I can have clean skin that's soft and not stripped.

DOUBLE CLEANSING

Now, at the end of my day, all I do is I take Cetaphil on a cotton pad and wipe off my (dry) face like I would with cleansing milk. I have tried wetting my face before doing this but I find dry face allows better cleaning than moist face. After I use up both sides of the wipe (which turns disgustingly but satisfyingly dirty), I wash my face using Vichy Normaderm Purifying cleansing gel and I am so glad that I switched up my regular drugstore cleansers to this one.

I have also tried to follow the cleansing process with this toner and its awesome to see specs of brown still come off on the pad. On the negative side, the salcylic acid kinda dries out my face if I use it daily so I am still experimenting with the T part.

I have a feeling that by the end of 2015, I will have my CTM routine down and if this is all I will need to do for good skin, my lazy ass is totally down with it.

P:S : I learnt a cool way to hold cotton pads from this video and it was such a DUH! moment :D