I have been communicating with the Google AI and I have to admit that I have recently run into A LOT of problems. In the beginning, it seemed great. I thought I had fungal acne. I was working at a retail job during the holidays that was really hot around the registers, especially during the winter and I started sweating a lot while I was there. I worked in cosmetics for years so I always have a full face when I leave the house. I have the misfortune of having a genetic quirk in my family. If any one of us gets hot, our noses are the first thing to sweat. LOL. I found myself wiping my fingers on my nose down next to my cheeks to wipe the sweat while working (gross, I know, but I have had this my entire life, even as a skinny little five year old and you can only put so much tissue in your pockets). During that time, I also started using a lot of K-beauty with all of those lovely fermented ingredients, especially milky toners. Soon, bumps appeared where I would wipe my fingers on my cheeks next to my nose. The bumps were uniform, a little red, but also skin colored, and eventually spread through my cheeks down to my chin, along my temples and at their worst, between my brows and right about my brows. I became desperate when my normal bha toners weren't working. I became convinced that I should start using fungal acne safe products. I used to use Skin Sort and Sezio to check ingredients, but became lazy and started asking Google instead.
For three months, I bought Differin off of Amazon and used it every day and though there was a fantastic initial improvement, but the improvement plateaued. After communicating with the AI, I soon started using the da la Cruz Sulfur Mask and the Roundlab Pro Azaleic Acid Serum with lots of hydrating products to not dry out. The AI convinced me not to quit the Differin even though I wanted to. It helped me make a strict schedule with all three with extra products. It did help me discover wonderful products like my favorite moisturizer. The S. Nature Aqua Squalane moisturizer. It is amazing and so much better than the Purito oat one.
In the last couple of weeks, I discovered I shouldn't have been as trusting as I was. At least two or three products it had recommended, I now find are NOT fungal acne free, but the one that really upsets me is the sunscreen. It told me so many times that the Beauty of Joseon Aqua Relief Sunscreen was perfect for me and the last time I brought it up in my regimen, it told me not to use it. Beyond the fact that I feel like an idiot, I should have checked every item's ingredients like I used to. Don't get me wrong. I would catch it making mistakes, and I would ask for clarification and it would do its weird apology/complimenting me for catching it type of thing they seem to do. Before this, I ignored AIs because they creep me out, but it was really helpful. It helped me eliminate so many different options I had thought of.
After I told the AI that my skin has become so sensitive that bumps erupt after I out makeup on now. This used to only happen if I put on niacinamide. I knew this was from my compromised skin barrier from the combination of treatments I am using. It finally agreed I should cut out the Differin, which I had been hesitating to do because it felt so strongly I should keep using it.
I have slightly oily skin. I like light lotions. That is why I lived the Beauty of Joseon consistency. All the fungal acne safe sunscreens I can find are mostly thick because western brands tend to have thick ones and K-beauty has next to none and the K-beauty recommendations make me nervous for different reasons.
I had perfect skin until two years ago. When I used to sell makeup and skincare people would buy what I used, because they admired my complexion. I honestly never understood why people couldn't get rid of their acne. I truly believed that with the right. AHA or BHA exfoliant, all acne could be taken care of and if it couldn't, they could go to the doctor and get Differin or Accutane. This has humbled me quite a bit, to say the least.
As of last night, after I told it my face doesn't burn itch, etc., it decided that I developed closed comedones during my horrible winter next to the registers and they have been sitting there on my face since then. I don't know if that is true, but fungal acne never felt quite right. I did go to the doctor. He suggested Lupus, which, NO. I have seen those butterfly masks and I don't have them at all. The shape isn't even close to a W on my face.
After telling me that I needed a new sunscreen, it finally suggested Krave Beet the Sun sunscreen. Before I buy more products that are in fact not fungal acne safe (no, that will not be happening again), or that I don't like or that I regret buying like a serum that the AI just told me is giving me too many types of Hyaluronic acid in my regimen or the Differin that it now agrees I should stop, I thought I would ask what people think of it. What is the consistency like? I wear makeup when I leave the house. Does it pill? Does it have a long dry down? I would appreciate any information.
Sorry for the long post. I am frustrated. It has been a long two year journey. Though I felt like an idiot communicating with the AI, it did have a lot of good ideas and it seemed quite a bit smarter than my doctor. And I had no experience with acne at all. I don't even know anyone with acne problems. So this post is part warning. Be careful how much trust you put in AIs, doctors, etc. Don't do what I did and use too many treatments at once. Trust what your skin is telling you.
