Here's How I Turned My Dry, Damaged Skin Into A Wedding-Worthy Glow 8 Weeks Out From The Big Day

I did what all ‘good brides’ are supposed to do. The moment that glistening emerald ring landed on my finger I made my wedding skin prep plan (say that ten times, fast).

My at-home routine was fairly solid, but I booked in to see a professional to help combat my pigmentation and keep things aglow. This was over 12 months out from my wedding date and my skin was pretty healthy; I had consistently been using SPF, vitamin A, and antioxidants for a few years by this stage. I simply wanted to level up. I wanted that coveted bridal glow.

So, we (me and my trusty derm) embarked on a series of treatments. Mostly skin needling and various peels, accompanied by lots of hydration and consistent use of LED. All was well. More than well, actually. My skin was plump, smooth, hydrated, and glowy. My pigmentation patch was fading and my best friend told me my skin didn’t just look good, but it was a feature. My life was filled with skin-compliments galore. With the wedding only six months away, all I had to do was keep up the good practices to maintain what we had worked so hard to achieve.

Turns out, stress is a nasty thing. It can wreak havoc in more ways than one. While the emotional and mental toll it took on my life was unwelcome, the one it took on my skin was the most disturbing of all.

Here’s What Happened

December rolled around, and the heat and humidity ramped up. I began to feel a bit congested, as many tend to do in the summer months. Once the new year ticked over and my wedding was a mere three months away, the stress and anxiety decided to ramp up too. The breakouts got worse and, as a reformed picker, I learned I was no longer, well, reformed. I had simply been lucky enough to not experience pimples or breakouts for quite some time. While the pimples had been few and far between, my desire to pick and pop had gone absolutely nowhere. 

I did what I thought was best: I went hard on the vitamin A, BHAs, and clay masks. I was ever eager to clear out that congestion, put my picking habit to the side, and get back to that glowy skin I’d had not so long ago.

Then, the thing that every skin professional had warned me about happened: I damaged my skin barrier. 

It started off slow. My skin felt a tad dry and flaky and I thought, get it off me. So, I kept exfoliating. Wrong. Huge mistake. The warning signs were there and I ignored them because I guess I thought my skin was incapable of a damaged moisture barrier. I had become so well adjusted to high-strength actives that I misunderstood how easily this breakdown can happen. 

Once I clocked and accepted what I had done, I backed right off. I ditched the exfoliants and the actives. My wedding was eight weeks away and my skin had, quite literally, never looked worse. 

How Turned It Around

1. I Kept It Simple.

Aside from removing the exfoliants and actives from my routine, I also got rid of any fluff or nonsense. I wanted to focus on hydrating, repairing, and nourishing my skin, and fast. So, I used a gentle hydrating cleanser, two different hydrating serums (one with hyaluronic acid, the other with cica), a face oil—one that tackled breakouts with anti-fungal and anti-bacterial properties and worked to rebuild my moisture barrier—and a rich and luxurious face cream. I also switched from a chemical SPF to a mineral one, to soothe my irritated and inflamed skin, and also to avoid absorbing anything when its protective layer was already compromised.

2. I Masked Up

Once or twice a week I opted for a hydrating sheet mask, packed with cica and other juicy ingredients. Ditto for a rich and repairing cream mask that I slathered all over my face with abandon. And, luckily for me, my husband-to-be had bought me an at-home red and near-infrared LED mask. So, you can bet I went hard on that too.

3. I Waited

This was the hardest part of all. I’m an impatient girlie and with a looming deadline, it was a struggle to keep myself restrained. I wanted to scrape the surface of my dry and flaky skin to reveal a smooth, glowing complexion but I knew, deep down, that this would only set me back further. 

After three weeks of my super simple routine, I did a little test. I applied some micellar water to a piece of gauze and very gently swiped over a patch of my skin. The stinging was instant, and I knew we weren’t ready. I took a deep breath and waited another week. By week four, I followed the same test and the stinging was gone. But! I waited two more days for good measure.

With four weeks under my belt and four to go, my skin was finally ready to be reintroduced to some exfoliants. I began slow and gentle, using the right kind of exfoliator once or twice a week.

And you better believe I got my bridal glow back, just in the nick of time.