A Connie’s Skin guide
How to keep a skincare diary
Three weeks from now, will you remember when you opened that bottle? A dated note can save you the guesswork.
A skincare diary can be a few lines in a notebook, a note on your phone, or a dated entry in an app. Pick somewhere you already look. If keeping the diary takes longer than the thing you wanted to record, shorten it.
A small entry you can copy
Start with this. Leave out anything that isn't useful to you.
Date:
What I used:
Anything different today:
What I noticed:
Something to remember:
“What I used” can be the name of your usual routine. You don't need to type every product again each day. Write out the product name when you've changed something or want to distinguish two similar bottles.
Here's an example entry, made up to show the amount of detail:
October 9. Usual morning routine. Packed the small cleanser for a weekend away. Opened a new bottle of my usual moisturizer tonight. Put the spare bottle in the bathroom drawer.
The note keeps details you might otherwise forget. If you want to record how your skin felt, use your own words and be specific about what you noticed. You don't need a score or a diagnosis.
Write what happened while you remember it
Choose a moment when the note fits: after your evening routine, for example. Some days, “Same as yesterday” is enough. Other days you may want to note travel, a late night, or a product change.
Missed a few days? Continue with today's date. If you add an older entry, say what you remember and leave the uncertain parts blank. A guessed account is harder to use later than an honest gap.
Read back with a specific question
“When did I start using this?” is easier to answer than “Is everything working?” Look for dates, changes, and details you actually recorded. A diary shows what happened around the same time; it can't establish what caused a change in your skin.
You may discover something purely practical: the product you thought you'd used for a month was opened last Tuesday, or the routine you planned for evenings rarely fits your evenings. Those are useful things to know when you review your routine plan.
Keeping notes in Connie's Skin
Open Progress, choose Routine, and tap a date on the calendar. Add your note, then tap Save note. Optional tags include New product, Travel, Late night, Period, Stress, and Weather.
Tap that date again to read or change the entry. Each note has room for 1,000 characters, so a few useful sentences will fit.