My skin has gone through many ups and downs over the years – from stress related to being out in the sun, or being sleep deprived. I noticed about a year ago my skin has been looking chalkier and dry. My skin tone has really suffered from acne. When I was in my teens, I had no major acne problems and my skin was silky smooth. I thought it was going to be like this for the rest of my life. Unfortunately since graduating college and then working, my skin started to stress out and started showing signs that my body is becoming more imbalanced internally. I really didn’t know what to do. Before this acne problem I never really invested or done any research on preventative skin care. Until the last 3-4 years I paid more attention to beauty and how to make the skin a little more flawless again.
I used many drugstore and high end products, including Proactiv’s 3 step program. None of the drugstore or high end products were working for me. Proactiv did work for awhile, however, I felt that the ingredient Benzoyl Peroxide was very harsh and it left my face towels bleached. If I wasn’t careful with what I was wearing, the Benzoyl Peroxide would bleach the collars of my clothes as well along with my pillow covers. I would have periods of calm skin and from time to time I would have reoccurrences of major breakouts. I was extremely stressed out for the acne because the skin’s ability to regenerate becomes slower as we age. I started to notice my acne scars were taking a long time to heal, and to add on top of it I would have reoccurring breakouts. So how can I have nice skin if the acne kept coming back?
At first I was purchasing a lot of concealers thinking that I should hide my blemishes, when in reality I should be treating and preventing on top of concealing. I even started to buy more make up thinking that by enhancing my eyes and lips etc, the acne will be lesser of a problem. In the end, my confidence was really affected and I just wanted to hide be it make up or just staying away from social situations.
It never occurred to me what the source of the problem was. So to fast forward, I started to get in tune with my body. I was paying more attention to how my skin reacts to different food products and the environment. In the end, I think my acne cure came from not a bottle…but my lifestyle. I now try to stay relaxed and not stress out too much. When you think about it, what good will the stress do for you? It will not give you that raise, or give you better grades. All it will give you is bad scars and take away your self confidence. Most importantly you need good sleep, and make sure to sleep in the dark. The body needs both bright and dark environments to stay in balance. The sun will give the body the ability to synthesize Vitamin D, while the darkness will promote the production of Melatonin. I don’t want to sound too scientific and possibly off topic. What I’m trying to say is, in my experience when I gave my body time to regenerate itself, ie sleeping at night, my acne slowly calmed itself. I still have some minor break outs here and there, but it's nothing like how it was before. Remember rebalancing your body internally is crucial by sleeping right and eating right. I eventually started to minimize the amount of products I used on my skin.
So when the acne became minimized, I naturally started to look for products that will heal and even out my skin tone. It feels like an ongoing search for the best products for the perfect skin. So for the next few entries, I will share beauty products I feel are helpful.
If I had to give a few simple rules to live by for healthy skin (and you probably heard it before) you must live by this religiously if you want to end the acne battle. So here it is:
1) SLEEP (make sure the room is dark)
2) Drink plenty of water, and eat right - - meaning lots of fruits and veggies, stay away from greasy foods
3) Balance your diet and not overeat, be in tune with your body’s changes (but it’s ok to step outside the lines and indulge sometimes)
Be happy and try to not take life too seriously and RELAX
