Sep 30

Sep 30 How I Cleared my Adult Acne Once And For All!

Since I was a teenager I have suffered from acne. As I entered my mid twenties I was still suffering from angry pimples and blemishes. Not to the extent where I would consider roaccutane, but there were definite problem areas which would flare up at different points of my life; chin, sides of chin, jawline, cheeks, temples, forehead. It has taken me a decade to fully understand the links between certain foods, habits and my skin. I am delighted that for the last several weeks I have had 0 pimples on my skin WITHOUT taking prescriptions.

Foods which contribute to oily skin

Dairy - Caused deep large boils on my cheeks and chin.
Whilst taking accountancy exams I would eat a Pret Porridge every morning to help me concentrate during class. Angry boils started to appear on my cheeks and chin. After my exam the boils continued to persist so I knew it wasn’t just the stress that had caused them. I then went away to Hong Kong for 3 weeks and didn’t have any porridge and no more angry boils appeared. All I had to do was let the scars and old spots heal.
Caffeine - Caused small to medium boils around temples and side of chin and jawline
Having read lots of health benefits about coffee (improved concentration levels, increase in intelligence and life longevity), I decided to start drinking coffee around the time I started my new job. Being new to the job, I would go in early and finish late. Therefore I started to have 3 to 4 coffees a day. Although my new job became less stressful my acne continued to get worse. I knew that although I was working longer hours, the stress wasn’t a negative one like in my previous job, so I started to think it must be my diet. Because I’d read that coffee was an anti inflammatory I was convinced it couldn’t be the coffee! It was only when I was 3 months away from my wedding that I decided to quit it just in case. Lo and behold, my skin started to clear up. It did however take about a month before I started to notice any real reductions. I believe it takes a certain amount of time for your body to clean up the accumulative hormone disruption/ toxins the coffee was causing, so don’t be impatient and think it isn’t working after a few weeks.

Foods will affect people differently, so if it isn’t dairy or caffeine I recommend you take note of what you eat. I would particularly watch out for anything you’re having the same of daily because if it is disrupting your hormones or causing some kind of toxin build up, your body is not getting enough time to expel it or regulate back to normal, so it builds up and causes your skin to flare up. Once you have cut out the offending items you can have the odd pizza and coffee, as long as you’re not having it if everyday your body will be able to flush out any bad effects. Therefore the general rule is to have a varied diet and drink plenty of water. It does take time for your body to regulate back to normal, so be patient.

Skincare routine that stops skin producing excess oils

Drinking more water - This definitely clears your skin, you will only see the effects kick in after several weeks though, so you definitely need to push through. Once you get used to drinking more water, you will start to feel very thirsty when you don’t have enough! After several weeks, the water not only has cleared out your internal systems, your skin is more hydrated. Because it is hydrated it doesn’t feel the need to produce as much oil.
Wash your face with only water in the morning - If you’ve cleansed your face last night, your face shouldn’t be dirty, it will have produced some natural oils in the night, which you can lightly rinse off. You do not want to completely strip your skin of these oils as it helps your skin retain water inside, and if you strip it away your skin will overcompensate by producing more oil.
Use a gentle cleanser - the gentler the cleanser the less oils you strip from your face.
Use an organic toner -after cleansing immediately spray an organic toner onto your face and pat into your skin. If you do not do this step and your face feels immediately tight, your face is going to start producing oil to compensate.
Use a serum - My skin would drink up the toner and demand more so I go in with another layer of serum.
Use a hydrating moisturiser - there are many different types of moisturisers so again you want to pick one that is hydrating. Many brands now understand the different between dry skin and dehydrated skin.
Use facial oil - (optional) I’ve noticed that if you apply a tiny drop of facial oil, your skin produces less oil as it thinks there is already enough. It also acts as a seal on the layers of hydration you’ve put onto your skin from the toner, serum and moisturiser. I only do this step occasionally.

One of the best thing about clear skin is not having to put on foundation. Which means you do not need to use a heavy cleanser and dry your skin out. It can be a never ending cycle if you have spots, over wash, over dry and therefore over produce oils. Therefore break the cycle and DON’T OVER WASH. Mess as little with your skin as possible.

I hope this advice helps you! Remember to stick it out with drinking water and cutting out certain trigger foods. It took me about 3-4 months for my skin to really show a difference, but did start noticing slight signs of improvement maybe 2 months in.

Good Luck!