Acne: It’s the bane of almost every teenager and young adult’s existence. How I wished I could be rid of it in high school! Lucky for you, wonderful reader, I’ve compiled a list of my favorite ways to handle acne.
General Hygiene
I’ll start with this: These general hygiene tips alone may not eliminate acne, but they are suggestions to address any potential causes of those annoying zits. Think of it like this: Even though just drinking water won’t give you clear skin, it’s a good first step to handling your acne.
Make sure you wash your face every day, twice a day – morning and night – if you can. Take off any makeup before you go to sleep, too. This makes sure that your skin is nice and clean, especially for skincare products! (image credit)
Drink plenty of water and minimize consumption of processed/fried food or excessive sugar or salt. One way to tackle acne is to fix your diet – the bacteria that live in your gut can influence your skin. Breakouts in certain areas of your face can be calmed by consuming less fried foods and more “cooling” foods, like cucumbers! Consult an acne face map for more details.
Wash your pillowcase and clean your phone screen often. Well, on second thought, make sure you clean anything that comes into contact with your face. Avoid touching your face with your fingers, too – there’s tons of bacteria on your fingertips and you don’t want those anywhere near your pores!
If you follow all these basic tips and feel frustrated that you still have acne, much like I did in high school, fear not: I have more advice for you!
How do I handle these horrible whiteheads?
One of my favorite ways to get rid of whiteheads is to use tea tree oil. I prefer The Body Shop’s tea tree oil. I dab a bit onto a Q-tip and apply the oil onto smaller pimples or areas I know will turn into whiteheads the next day, and voila! Crisis averted! I use a cotton pad or cut up a tissue for larger pimples. (image credit)
Make sure you apply the oil before sleeping and in the morning, under your daily moisturizer, until your skin calms down.
Another way to handle whiteheads is to use a pimple patch – COSRX’s famous pimple patches are great for whiteheads that are begging to be squeezed. They provide a barrier between your skin and dirt, grime, or bacteria that might get into and further inflame the pimple. They suck up all the gunk almost overnight and they also prevent you from picking at the zit.
I suggest using a pimple patch until the whitehead disappears and the skin below is no longer red or inflamed. Replace it every 4-6 hours for best results. (image credit)
If you have an emergency and really need to get rid of a whitehead for a big event the next day, you can use an exfoliating scrub stick and exfoliate the whitehead until the white part is gone. Cover it with a pimple patch and leave it on overnight so that it will be gone the next day.
I don’t recommend this for everyday situations, though, especially since this method is rough. You’d be over-exfoliating the skin before you apply the pimple patch. Stick with tea tree oil, if you can!
The one thing you should never do with a whitehead is to pick at or pop it! No matter how tempting it is, unless Dr. Pimple Popper is there to extract if for you, don’t do it yourself! This is one DIY project that won’t go well – you’ll likely end up with a larger pimple for longer. It just isn’t worth it.
Ugh, blackheads! My nose looks like a strawberry!
Okay, I love strawberries, but not when my nose looks like one!
My advice? Exfoliate.
Exfoliate your nose with a scrub stick twice a week at most. I’m partial to Tonymoly’s Tako Pore Blackhead Scrub Stick because of both its effectiveness and its adorable packaging. Regular exfoliation can minimize blackheads in the long run! (image credit)
I’m not a huge fan of pore strips. They adhere tightly to the skin and can cause inflammation, irritation, and flakiness. They’re harsh on your skin and do more harm than good, no matter how satisfying the strip is to look at post-application.
Okay, what about this annoying cystic acne? It won’t go away!
Cystic acne is difficult to treat. Tea tree oil is a safe bet – douse a cotton pad or tissue in it and apply the fabric to the cystic acne like you would a sheet mask to your face. If the cyst is open, a pimple patch is highly effective at drawing out all that gunk inside.
I’ve tried all these methods and they just don’t work! Should I see a dermatologist?
If most or all these suggestions don’t work and if you have the resources to, I recommend seeing your dermatologist. It’s possible that your acne is something that these methods alone can’t handle, and the professionals can prescribe you medication to get your acne under control.