Beauty Tips For Body Care
This is long, and I'm sorry! Skip to the bottom if you just want to see my current routine and takeaways. Here's the B&A I wasn't sure I would ever be able to have.I've had hormonal acne since my mid-20s, and I'm now in my mid-30s. It has varied in severity, but it's pretty much always been there. I mostly experienced big, inflamed lumps under the skin around my mouth, chin, and jawline. Usually they came to a head, but sometimes they didn't. They oozed white pus and/or clear liquid when I picked at them (yay, gross!). I also had a smattering of pustules, whiteheads and some small, scattered CCs.I started my skincare journey from a fairly bad place of cleansing too much and too harshly, using physical exfoliants too often, and not moisturizing enough. I also picked and squeezed at my skin A LOT.I am completely uninterested in birth control, Accutane, Spiro, or any other drugs for personal reasons, so I wanted to find a drug-free way to get a handle on my acne. Below is my 7-month journey from the top pictures to the bottom one.Month 1 (Dec. 2017) The first month was all about moisture and healing my moisture barrier. I dropped all of my physical exfoliants. I used one gentle cleanser and 2-3 moisturizing products both morning and night -- and that was my whole routine (plus SPF).I saw an almost immediate improvement in my skin just from these changes. It was less red (less irritated), and I had fewer breakouts.Month 2 With a healed moisture barrier, I felt ready to start addressing my acne. I started using Paula's Choice 2% BHA Skin Perfecting Liquid. I used it once a week for two weeks, then twice a week for two weeks, then every other day for two weeks, then every day for a week (too much!!), then back to every other day. I use it at night.I have dry skin, so I also switched to Cerave Hydrating Cleanser as my everyday cleanser. I continued using 2-3 moisturizing layers both morning and night (and SPF).The PC BHA made me purge -- probably for a full month. I was frustrated, but determined to stick with it. My research on SCA had made it clear that purging was normal, and you just have to wait it out. So I did, but it was difficult! I went through A LOT of hydrocolloid bandages (which have really helped me curb my picking habit).I also made some diet changes in January:For 3+ years now, I've been dairy-free. Going dairy-free was NOT a silver bullet for clearing my hormonal acne, like it seems to be for others. I thought I saw an initial improvement when I first made the change, but even if that was the case, the effects had completely disappeared. I still had very consistent acne while avoiding dairy 100%.In January, I cut out added sugars as much as possible (sugar = insulin, and when insulin levels are high in your body, your ovaries produce more testosterone. Higher testosterone/androgen levels trigger excess sebum (oil) production, and that leads to acne. source 1, source 2, and source 3In January, I started drinking spearmint tea daily. This was an another attempt to affect my hormones -- spearmint has been shown to reduce androgen levels in the female body.Month 3 My purge from the BHA was finally(!!!) coming to an end in mid-February, so I decided to start addressing my acne scarring (of which there is A LOT). I started using Timeless Vitamin C + Ferulic Acid to hopefully help with this. I use it in the morning.I also started using Simple Micellar Water Wipes as a first step in my cleansing, both morning and night. And I was still using 2-3 moisturizing layers both morning and night. Always!!I also changed to a higher-quality sunscreen this month. I've become a really big fan of Elta MD UV Physical Broad-Spectrum SPF 41 tinted. It has a really nice texture, blends in amazingly, and protects well. I went on a 12-mile hike in the sun wearing this sunscreen and had NO redness or color! I also like their SPF 30+ non-tinted version.Month 4 I had heard good things about Azelaic Acid -- supposedly it's anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial (good for preventing acne) and is also supposed to help fade PIE/PIH. So I bought Melazepam from Amazon and started alternating that with the BHA, one every other night. It smells a bit like alcohol and has a pretty terrible texture (it's thick and gritty), but the morning after I used it for the first time, my skin was noticeably softer and smoother.March was a bit confusing because I went on vacation for a week, which upset my new routines a bit. I was in a much more humid climate. My diet that week was overall less healthy, and I was eating a lot of things I normally don't eat. I rushed my evening routine. I was also a bit stressed from the travel. Added to all of this -- it was the week before my period. So, some combination of all these things gave me two big cysts on my chin -- one on either side for symmetry, of course! It was frustrating, because until this point, I hadn't had ANY big breakouts since the purge from the BHA.Month 5 April was an exciting month because I didn't make any real changes to my routine, and my skin continued to look pretty good! My scars continued to fade, and I didn't get any serious breakouts after my skin healed from the End-of-March Massacre.The one change I did make was that I started taking a 400 mg spearmint capsule every day at the end of March. This was often in addition to drinking a cup of spearmint tea each day as well (which I started doing in January). It seems like a lot of spearmint, but after a couple weeks of taking the capsules, it started making a difference. April was the first month in quite a long time that I enjoyed a 9-day streak with NO ACTIVE BREAKOUTS. It was... unbelievable. In April, for 19 out of 30 days, I had no active breakouts.Month 6 I wanted to go through an entire menstrual cycle (period - ovulation - period) before I got too excited and confident that my routine was keeping my skin mostly clear. In May, I went 18/31 days with no active breakouts -- about the same as April.Month 7 (June 2018) In June, I went 18/30 days with no active breakouts. That's three months of an unchanging routine, and extremely similar results every month. The only zits I got in April, May, and June were some small, NON-inflamed whiteheads that were swiftly extracted and cleared up with hydrocolloid bandages usually overnight -- and they appeared mostly before and around my period, which is not a surprise.I can't remember the last time I've gone so long without at least 1 or 2 red, inflamed, deep-under-the-skin lumps on my lower face pretty much all the time. I am seriously thrilled.Other observations: Before I started on this skincare path, the only pimples I ever got were either big, inflamed cysts that stayed far down under the skin, or pustules/whiteheads that were easily pop-able but would ooze forever and usually reoccur a day or two later. I'm still getting zits every now and then, but they are much smaller, NOT inflamed, and they clear up quickly (1-2 days) with a hydrocolloid bandage. My (amateur) hypothesis is that the BHA is helping keep my pores open and clear of dead skin cells, so now when bacteria or dirt gets stuck in there, it stays MUCH closer to the surface, and it just forms a regular little zit instead of embedding itself in my clogged-up dermis and becoming infected and inflamed. Let me tell you, folks -- I prefer these 100% to the kind of acne I used to get! For sure! They're WAY easier to handle, they go away faster, and it's way, way, WAY less noticeable than the red, inflamed lumps I used to get.Here's my 8-product routine (and supplements) as it stands right now:Morning:Simple Micellar Water wipeTimeless Vitamin C + Ferulic AcidVanicream Lite (two layers)Elta MD SPF 41 tintedSupplements: 400mg spearmint and 30mg zincEvening:Simple Micellar Water wipeCerave Hydrating CleanserPaula's Choice BHA 2% Liquid OR Melazepam (Azelaic Acid) -- alternate every other night, and wait 5-10 min. after applyingVanicream LiteVanicream in the tub (the thick, creamy version)TL;DR Topically (externally), I think what helped me most was (1) adding the BHA, and (2) getting serious about hydrating and moisturizing. My skin (on my whole body) seems to have an annoyingly difficult time sloughing dead skin cells, and the BHA/salicylic acid has been a huge help in that area. I'm VERY prone to ingrown hairs elsewhere on my body (bikini line and even my legs), so it makes sense that the skin of my face also struggles to stay clear of dead skin leftovers. The chemical exfoliation of Paula's Choice 2% BHA Liquid seems to be just the right formula to mostly normalize that process without irritation. (The Azelaic Acid might help with this, too, but I noticed a difference before even adding that.)Internally, I think what helped me the most was (1) seriously cutting down my sugar intake, and (2) supplementing with spearmint (tea and/or capsules). I noticed a difference almost right away when I stopped eating half a chocolate bar every single day. Since January, I've been generally avoiding added sugars. I still eat fruit, but if the label on something shows more than 1-3 grams of sugar, I try not to eat it. I have noticed that when I get lazy about my sugar intake, I usually get a few little breakouts.Staying aware of what I'm putting in my body keeps the acne from appearing in the first place, and my routine does a pretty good job of clearing it quickly when it does appear.I am under no illusion that I have "fixed" my skin forever and will never get another inflamed cyst in my life. My goal in working on my skin for the past 6+ months was to understand why I break out and what my biggest triggers are. Knowledge is power, etc., and by understanding what breaks me out, I have the ability to prevent it more effectively. If I can continue to keep my breakouts under control for the next few months, then my next step will be to start addressing my scarring more seriously. I have my eye on niacinamide as the next ingredient I want to add to my routine with this in mind.Thanks for all the help along the way, fam -- couldn't have done it without your advice!!
Girls Blog 2015
Submitted by finebetty
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