Accidentally over exfoliating with a multi step routine is so easy and I feel like nobody talks about it enough!
Posting this because I genuinely couldn't figure out what was happening to my skin for months and I think others might be in the same situation without knowing it. I wasn't using any dedicated exfoliant every day like just a gentle AHA two or three times a week. I thought I was being responsible. But my skin started getting that weird rough texture that almost looks worse than before, tight and sensitive at the same time.
What I didn't realize was that my toner had mild exfoliating properties. And the serum I was layering after also has AHA in it. So even on nights I wasn't doing a real exfoliant step, I was still hitting my skin with it from two different products. I only figured it out after I ran my routine through on Thea like I'd been meaning to just sit down and cross check every ingredient list myself but honestly never got around to it, so I just used that instead. It flagged the overlap straight away which made it pretty obvious once I saw it laid out.
Pulled back on the exfoliating steps, gave my skin two weeks to recover and it calmed down a lot. I only figured it out when I sat down and went through every single ingredient list properly and mapped it all out something I honestly should have done from the start but never took the time to do. Once I saw it laid out it was obvious.
I feel like this is such a specific AB trap because the formulations are so sophisticated like actives are woven into toners, essences, serums, even things marketed as just hydrating. It doesn't feel like you're over exfoliating because you're not doing anything that looks aggressive on the surface.Has anyone else run into this? Would love to know how others keep track of overlapping ingredients across a longer routine?