By the end of the first month the full ritual is in place: pre-cleanse, cleanse, exfoliant most nights, serum twice a day, moisturizer, SPF every morning, mask once a week, oil when you want it. This is the first point at which looking matters.
What changes first
Overall tone. The uneven, slightly grey quality that deeper skin gets from dryness and old surface pigment evens out, and the skin reads as one color again. Hydration holds through the day. Ashiness on the cheeks and jaw is gone or going. People often say their skin looks rested rather than different, and that is the right description.
What has not changed yet
The marks themselves. Post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation sits deeper than the surface the exfoliant reaches, and the serum is working on the signal, not the existing pigment. Four weeks is too early. Do not add anything stronger to hurry it; that is how you get a new mark next to the old one.
How to photograph it
Same place, same time of day, same window, no flash, no filter. Phone at arm’s length, face relaxed. Take the week-four photo and put it next to the week-one photo. If you did not take a week-one photo, take one now; week eight will need it.
The temptation
Week four is when people stop, because the marks are still there and the novelty is gone. The marks are the week-eight story. Keep going.