1. Do not use medicated face washes or harsh chemicals on the skin, items such as Proactiv and Clinique are actually HORRIBLE for the skin, they dry you out and eventually make your acne/breakouts worse! They do work for a short period of time, but once the skin gets immune to the products, you will be worse off than when you started! Use a mild soap such as Cetaphil or (my favorite) Say Yes To Tomatoes Trouble Free Face Wash. . this wash is organic and not tested on animals, it also smells amazing and is very gentle on the skin.
2. With acne prone skin, it is important to exfoliate once or twice a week. Again, do not use chemicals, instead use sugar and olive oil (refer to olive oil post) when you wake up, then was with Say Yes To Tomatoes Trouble Free Face Wash.
3. Toner. . for a natural toner, you will need 2 products, Witch Hazel (can be purchased at any drug store and is about 2$ a bottle, which lasts honestly for about 6 months), and Tea Tree Oil, I purchase organic tea tree oil from Wegmans which is made by the company Desert Essence. It is 100% Australian Tea Tree Oil and costs $7.00 for 0.5fl oz. This may seem like almost NO OIL however, it ends up lasting again, about 6 months. Here is what you do. . take a cotton ball, and get it moist with Witch Hazel, not too wet that the face will remain damp, simple turn over the Witch Hazel bottle onto the cotton ball for not even a second, then place the moist cotton ball onto the top of the Tea Tree Oil and turn over for again, not even a second. You want almost no Tea Tree Oil on the cotton ball . . just a smidge (you will be able to smell it, trust me). The reason for this is because Tea Tree Oil is VERY powerful, and too much can dry out the face and cause irritation. This oil kills bacteria and helps the skin to heal from breakouts.
4. Let this dry and if moisturizer is needed, use a mild moisturizer such as Cetaphil of Say Yes To Tomatoes Totally Tranquil Facial Hydrating Lotion, only use a TINY bit, just enough to moisturize, not enough to look greasy.
5. Do this routine morning and night as well as after a workout.
6. DO NOT TOUCH YOUR FACE THROUGHOUT THE DAY AND DO NOT PICK AT IT.
7. Drink green tea! It helps heal the skin! But make sure it is from a tea bag and that you only add honey, if anything.
8. ABSOLUTELY NO SODA!! Soda is HORRIBLE for your body AND skin. . Only drink water (and a lot of it) and for a treat, drink fruit juices with no added sugar. If you like the fizz of soda add some seltzer water to your juice!!
9. Take a multi-vitamin with zinc. Studies have shown that zinc supplements help cure acne from the inside, so I take a woman's supplement everyday with zinc and it seems to be helping!!
10. NO PROCESSED FOODS (or as little as possible) when you eat healthy, your skin is healthy. . plain and simple. Try to stay away from a lot of sweets and eats tons of fruits and veggies. There are studies that show how dark colored fruits such as purple grapes actually retard the aging process. Also, try to eat all organic, if this is too expensive, at least make all your meats organic, the chemicals put into meat are horrible for you!
11. Change your pillow case every 2 nights, use one side a night and then put on a new one. . this will prevent the oils from your hair to transfer to your face.
12. Disinfect your cell phone with a disinfecting wipe at LEAST once a day. . our cell phones harbor so much bacteria that causes breakouts on the skin.
13. A great all natural face mask which has seemed to have helped me is: by c. Booth and is called "Deep Cleansing Volcanic Mud Mask," which can be purchased at Ulta or Ulta.com, I use this whenever I feel like it, because it is all natural, I don't feel guilty and use it whenever I have time, probably every 2 or 3 days. . also if I feel a pimple coming, I put a little bit of the mask on the area and sleep with it on. . it seems to help a great deal!!
14. Make-up: Ok, let me be honest, none of these steps are a CURE to acne, firstly, your skin is going to get worse before it gets better when using these products. the reason being, if you used harsh chemicals prior to a more natural skin care regimen, your skin is going to need to detox from all the horrible things that were being put on it! Your skin will probably be oily at first because it had to create so much more oil to deal with the over drying that the chemicals caused. . also, any time you change face products, your skin reacts! So just wait it out. . the most important thing is to stay with it. . my skin started improving in about a month, and now my skin is doing pretty well!!! So. . in the mean time, you can use make-up that will actually HELP the process. . .
Mineral makeup such as Pur Minerals or Bare Minerals actually help acne prone skin because the minerals in the makeup heal the skin and do not irritate it whatsoever. Also, make sure to clean your brushes once a week (refer to the previous blog post about how to clean your makeup brushes) due to the fact that they carry bacteria which you are transferring onto your skin every time you apply makeup! I also find that my skin healed faster with the makeup due to the fact that when I have makeup on, I stop touching my skin!! So, don't be scared that makeup will slow the healing process, applying mineral makeup to breakouts is actually a good thing!
Now, keep in mind I still have pimples here and there, but with makeup my skin looks flawless, and the best it has ever looked!! This is no cure, but it helps me significantly!!!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment