Sitting in your car...

If you’ve had a skin consultation with me at Skin by Leanne Moss in Ipswich, you’ll know exactly what the above title means. We always talk about your skin journey — and how it’s not a quick fix or overnight miracle. Skincare is a long-term commitment, and together we take it step by step.

Understanding Your Skin Journey

In those first few weeks, I often ask you to imagine that you’ve just got into your car and put your seatbelt on. You haven’t even pulled out of your driveway yet — we’re simply sitting in your car, ready to begin.

The truth is, your skin journey has no final destination. You’ll never stop looking after your skin — and that’s a good thing. For some, the journey feels smooth with beautiful views along the way. For others, there can be bumps, setbacks, or even moments that feel like you’re going backwards.

When this happens, I love to share words from one of my skin heroes, Robyn McAlpine, who perfectly explains what’s going on when things feel a little rocky.

If you’ve made the switch to corneotherapy and it’s not as smooth sailing as you’d hoped, have no fear, this is the perfect read for you.

If you’ve experienced dryness, flakiness, purging, more congestion than usual, pimples feeling tight and just overall not great, you could be going through a transition phase.

The Transition Phase Explained

For some people, the transition onto dermaviduals can feel like a step backwards before we move forwards, and this is for very good reason.

Our focus as Corneotherapists is to help your skin return to its perfect state of homeostasis. Homeostasis is when your skin is functioning at its baseline best. ‘Living its best life,’ so to speak. It has created its own perfect environment in which to flourish, and this is exactly when your skin will be at its healthiest, most youthful, and radiant.

Often, skin products we’ve used, treatments we’ve had, or the way we have or haven’t cared for our skin will disrupt this cellular equilibrium. This disruption changes how our skin works because it is left trying to do its very best under the circumstances. But this means for weeks, months, sometimes years, our skin has been working in a dysfunctional way.

The transition onto a corneotherapeutic range like dermaviduals is aimed at restoring your skin’s most healthy state of being. To undo the dysfunction and support our skin back to optimal function. This means your skin might feel like it’s completely falling apart, but in fact, it’s falling into place!

So how long can this transition take?

That’s like asking how long is a piece of string. But that doesn’t really help you when you’re feeling like you’ve made a huge mistake in stepping into this new skincare journey.

Much like an unhealthy body, one gym session and a week of eating a nutritionally rich diet isn’t going to undo years of harmful living. It can take weeks to months to transform into the healthiest version of you. Your skin is the same, and it is going to depend on several things.

Factors Influencing Your Skin Transition

Your Chemistry History

The cocktail of ingredients that have been applied to your skin over the last few years doesn’t always just wash down the shower drain at the end of each day. Ingredients like silicones, binding agents, and emulsifiers can bind themselves to your skin and sneakily embed themselves between your cells. This isn’t something you can easily see or feel, and it isn’t something your skin will instantly react to. It’s like a strangler vine on a host tree. The tree will continue to grow, but the vine will slowly change the way that tree is growing. These ingredients interfere with the way our skin works.

When you begin working to create a healthy skin cell turnover and support the natural keratinocyte lifecycle, using physiological skincare that is designed to work below the skin's surface, the non-physiological ingredients get mixed up with the good things going in. They end up where they don’t belong, and your skin doesn’t like it.

What you’ve previously used, how much, and for how long, coupled with the condition of your skin to begin with, will determine if and how your skin will be impacted by this chemical exchange.

Your Skin's Current State of Health

Where you’ve been and where you’ve come from can also influence this transition phase. If you’ve used skincare that has worn down your natural barrier and your skin's lines of defence, it is going to be quite vulnerable. Corneotherapy is about restoring this balance, and it sometimes can take a little while to do this. It’s like a house that has been falling down and needs some support. Sure, a coat of paint will make it look nice for a while, but for true restoration, the builders need to go in and rebuild foundations. If you’ve ever lived through a house renovation, you know it’s messy. Things don’t always run smoothly, and there are often a few glitches along the way. Same with skin. We’re working on the framework, not just the superficial stuff, and that isn’t always pretty.

Internal Deficiencies and Your Body's Health

Much like your current state of health, our skin reflects this. Our body's hydration, nutrition, health, mental wellbeing, and self-love will all impact this phase and how our cells behave. This is why I will always partner with a naturopath, doctor, or even guide you to emotional support if there are things internally that impact you externally. You are an intricate patchwork of complexities, and we cannot separate our skin's function from that.

We’re Taking Away Its “False” Moisture

For years, you may have been using ingredients that strip the oils and add silicones to give that smooth, hydrated, moisturised feel. It’s like back in the 90s when they took fat out of food and added sugar in the name of “healthy.” Your skin hasn’t had to rely on producing its own natural moisturising factors and balancing its own hydration. In fact, it may well have given up trying to make them altogether. So in this transition, we’re giving your skin the room to learn to do this again on its own. It’s like you’ve taken away the training wheels, and your child has to learn to balance on their own. It’s a bit rough at first, but you know that you’ve got to let them wobble so that they can learn to balance. We’re doing the same with your skin.

We’re Re-Planting the Rainforest

Your acne is getting a little (ok… a lot) worse? Acne and your skin's microbiome and bacterial balance are so intricately connected. When we are restoring that environment and the home on which our skin's bacteria live, there can sometimes be a little ‘battle of the species.’

When your skin's natural ecosystem has been depleted, your skin's bacteria is relearning how to live in its own ecosystem. Instead of grappling with an uneasy terrain, we are helping to restore it. Sometimes, the rainforest will run a little wild before it comes back into balance and harmony. So too does your skin. We are covered in gazillions of different bacteria; some of them can go a little rampant while we’re balancing out the natural order of things. This can take time. Your pores are learning to function, your microbiome is repopulating itself, and your skin's biofilm is learning how to make itself. Give it time. It will make you proud!

So what to do if this is you?

Don’t Be Quick to Quit

You’re already halfway across the battlefield; it’s no time to turn back. Talk to your therapist. Communication is key! We’re here to support you through this phase, and know you’re going to come out the other side. Trust the process!

Don’t Chop and Change

The temptation can be that you need to try something different and that the products you are on just aren’t working for you. They are. Give it time. If you go back to your therapist and they keep suggesting something else or they chop and change your prescription, you could be taking your skin back to square one. I know it’s hard when your skin feels worse than when you started, but changing things up only prolongs this process.

Stick to Your Routine

While it might not feel like you’re getting anywhere, don’t stop using your products. Talk to your skin therapist. In the rare case there is something off and your skin response is something more reactive, they will be able to guide you.

The good news is that if you are experiencing these transition signs, things are on the move, and you are headed in the right direction. It is a temporary part of the process and worth continuing through.

Your skin is unique. Your transition will also be unique. You are worth the time it will take to feel confident in your skin.

Back to the Studio! (AKA Leanne)

I think we can all agree, I couldn’t have written that better myself. It’s such a helpful read, and one I share with all my new clients when they start transitioning onto corneotherapy and Dermaviduals skincare.

If you’re just starting out on your skin journey here in Ipswich (or Suffolk), know that you’re not alone — I’m right here in the passenger seat with you. The bumps in the road are completely normal, and they’re actually a sign that your skin is moving in the right direction.

Your skin is unique, and your journey will be too. Trust the process, stay consistent, and together we’ll work towards skin that feels balanced, healthy, and confident.

If you’re ready to begin, why not book a skin consultation in Ipswich today? Let’s put that seatbelt on and start your journey.

Leanne x

Skin by Leanne Moss, Ipswich