Beauty Tips For Body Care
THE BACKSTORY:I began noticing mask-related breakouts towards the end of this summer. I stopped reusing my masks and replaced with a fresh N95s for each outing. It didn't help. I started limiting my time outside. It didn't help. Even a simple trip to the post office where I wore the mask for <5 min irritated my skin with angry red bumps and whiteheads, especially in that sensitive part of the face that's just past the outer edges of your nose but not quite your cheeks.The acne that had already developed was pretty stubborn, so I thought maybe it just needed some TLC and hydration. I had some leftover Kikumasamune lotion I had bought earlier in the year thnks to Reddit and decided to pat some on before sealing in with my moisturizer.The next morning I woke up to fresh hell. Whiteheads in places I've never had whiteheads in! I started panicking and did the worst thing possible - I picked, with my tweezer. I obliterated every single whitehead and thought I just needed to stay home and let my skin heal. In the days that followed, my acne became a beast - angry red bumps with whiteheads cropping up everywhere, that started turning into carbuncles I had never seen in my life (big painful red bumps with multiple whiteheads, google image at your own risk).REFLECTION:I didn't realize that masks were causing my fungal acne. The moist, humid, warm environment under the mask was a breeding ground for it, but instead of treating for fungal acne, I was treating it as if it were regular acne. Using the Kiku made things 100x worse because it's a fermented product, which can feed fungal acne. That's when I finally made the connection.I've had really bad experiences with picking in the past, and I should have learned my lesson then. Popping the whiteheads was such a bad idea - I didn't even disinfect my tweezer first, and I wasn't disinfecting it in between each pimple I popped. I was literally just reinfecting every lesion and inviting folliculitis to put down roots.UNSUCCESSFUL ATTEMPTS TO HEAL:I tried treating with an anti-fungal cream I had used successfully in the past, but it actually made things worse. I guess my skin had become immune to this type of anti-fungal (Terbinafine 1%) and the cream-texture was now too heavy for my skin to tolerate without the effective anti-fungal effects. I tried using Head & Shoulders as a leave-on mask for 10 minutes. It dried my skin out a bit which temporarily helped relieve some of the painful inflammation, but the acne did keep popping up in the following days. For any broken spots, I tried to cosrx pimple patches, but those spots started turning into carbuncles under the patches.The crazy carbuncle-type acne pushed me into panic mode. I don't know how many reddit posts and medical articles I've read through at this point lol. Eventually, I realized I may have given myself a freaking staph infection because this wasn't even normal fungal acne anymore. This is when I got scared and ordered a bunch of medical stuff off Amazon.HOW I HEALED IN 2 DAYS:I stopped picking, temporarily. The carbuncles were so bad that I couldn't even properly pop them, and it hurt to pick. I committed to stop picking.I used the De La Cruz 10% Sulfur ointment as a 10 minute mask. This had similar results to the Head & Shoulders treatment I used before - my acne was drier, less red, and less painful.*3) I used Joesoef Sulfur Soap as face wash. I CREDIT THIS $11 SOAP TO CURING THE WORST ACNE OF MY LIFE. I left it on my face for about 5 minutes in the shower, and rinsed off. This is when I felt hope again - my acne was even drier, and all the pain and redness was gone. I woke up the next morning and for the first time, no new pimples were there. All active spots had shrunken or come to a head. I started using this twice a day, morning and night.4) I bought alcohol wipes (the kind they rub on your skin at the doctor's office before they give you a shot or blood test) and wiped down by tweezer. Once the soap had began shrinking all my whiteheads, it felt safe to carefully pop again. I disinfected the tweezer with these before AND after each pimple I popped.5) After popping a whitehead and getting the junk out (very carefully with a tissue, ensuring not to let any touch other areas of my skin), I put Neosporin on the popped and drained spot. I waited for 5 minutes, taking a tissue and lightly touching the spot to absorb any liquid that was still coming out. Then, I slapped a pimple patch over it. I buy these in packs of 10 (240 patches) because they are the cheapest I've found for this bulk amount. I go through them a lot.THE SIMPLE, FUNGAL-ACNE SAFE ROUTINE WHILE I HEALED:Aside from the above, I applied witchazel with a cotton pad all over my skin after cleansing (to gently disinfect and soothe).In the morning, after witchazel I use 2-3 drops of Squalane oil (at $6.99 this is the cheapest I've found that's sugarcane based, not olive oil based as the olive-derived squalane breaks me out), combined with a bit of Benton Aloe Propolis Soothing Gel. When I use 4+ drops of the oil, it was too heavy for my skin and the breakouts wouldn't heal as quickly.At night, after witchazel I use a dime-sized amount of Cosrx Honey Overnight Mask which is actually 87% Propolis. When I wake up, everything looks and feels shrunken, smoother and less inflamed. Non-irritating and no new spots either.NOW:I'm on day 3 and all my acne is GONE. I'm just recovering from some scarring now and a few scabs from larger spots that I'm trying hard not to pick at. I cannot believe that my skin was able to transform like this in 2 days, and I feel so grateful to this Reddit community for all the information I was able to find and use to heal myself. I am eating better, working out, and drinking a ton of water too now to help keep the acne at bay, and it's working. The sulfur soap was my holy grail item and I cannot recommend it enough to everyone suffering from maskne. I didn't realize a face wash could be a holy grail treatment item! I usually just use vanicream since it's pH balanced and super gentle. I'm going to start leaving the house again (with my mask on, of course), and I feel prepared to tackle any maskne that might pop up again in the right way.I hope this helps anyone suffering from a similar issue!
Girls Blog 2015
Submitted by cleanlion777
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