My Acne Battle

I, much like the majority of the population during their teens and into their young-adult stage, suffered from acne. Through the past years, I have spent thousands of dollars on products from foundation to cover up the spots and pimples to miracle serums that said they were going to fix the problem overnight. My acne took not only my money but even my self-esteem and friendships. I would spend hours each day when I was in middle school looking at myself in the mirror and popping each pimple or blackhead that I saw. This left my face raw and bleeding with scabs left over throughout the week. I was so embarrassed over my acne that I never went outside and I made sure to never leave the house without wearing some kind of makeup.

As I grew older, my struggle with acne persists to this day. While I do not spend as much money on beauty products as I once did, I will from time to time look at myself in the mirror and pick at my skin for about ten minutes. My skin looks much better than what it looked like last year and while I know that the majority of this is due to my hormones balancing out due to age, I can also thank some of the things that I do today that I did not do growing up:

1. Stop picking at your face: I know that acne is easy to obsess over, especially when it gets so bad that it hurts you to smile or talk, but poking and squeezing your pimples helps nothing. It promotes the spread of bacteria and causes scarring.

2. Do not use too many products: I would grab 10-15 different products and put them on each night. This dried out my face and did not allow anything to heal.

3. Take a break from the makeup: I know that this is not within everyone’s comfort range, but I suggest that you should take breaks from makeup to allow your skin to breathe. I stopped wearing makeup for most of the summer and my skin never looked better. If you are not able to do this, I would suggest taking your makeup off and showering as soon as you get home.

4. Take room-temperature showers: I know that everyone says this, but it actually works! My skin will get drier during these fall months and even though a hot shower is super comforting, I will take cooler showers to prevent my skin from drying out even further.