Love your skin and your skin will love you back.

Pre-disclaimer: I achieved better-looking skin because I studied my body for years to understand what ticks it off and what pleases it. It is your duty; you must do the work yourself to understand your body, and only take the opinions of others, not do exactly what they say (sometimes even dermatologists).

Acne and other dermatologically related issues were never a problem for me until grade 9 (14 years old). I’m not exactly sure if it’s a correlation or causality, but that is the same year I got my first menses. I remember being 6 years old and my friends were already extracting small blackheads on their noses and I was staring in the mirror frantically looking for them so I can “fit in”. And now… I can’t get enough of them.

To give you a short history of my skin: I have oily-combination skin, more oily at the T-zone and dry/normal on my cheeks. If you ever find a yoga mat with an oily face imprint left on it it’ll most likely be me. Although my skin is oily, it’s actually quite dehydrated. Whenever I deep cleanse my face to strip away all the oil and gunk from my pores my skin feels very dry and stiff. My acne as a teen included infrequent cystic acne (those huge zits that hurt like a b*tch but they don’t pop until they’ve cooked completely, in which they exploded all over the mirror), few white heads, and a build-up of oil and dirt, which was trapped underneath the dermis and appeared as tiny bumps. The latter were not poppable, and when aggravated they would immediately turn into large white heads. I also was a competitive swimmer from the age of 5, which meant practices 8-9 times a week (mornings and afternoons for those wondering how I went to 8 practices when there are 7 days in a week) where I was exposed to various chemicals in the pool. Chlorine, bromine, and iodine really dried out my skin and sometimes I would come home with lizard skin.

Skin is the largest organ on your body; it’s what keeps all the internal components inside and protects them from the external elements. Skin is our protector of UV damage, airborne toxins and chemicals, and extreme hot or cold surfaces. At the same time, whatever you do to the inside of your body may affect the quality of your skin. This includes smoking, drinking, food, internal diseases, etc.

The number one rule on achieving clear skin is to be patient. Patience is the hardest trait to achieve because I believe we fear the loss of time. As a matter of fact I am the most impatient person you will ever meet (especially with kids), but I learned along the way that when I apply a skin treatment, or change a diet routine, or apply any sort of regimen I think will work to clear up my skin, I wait and see if it made any changes before I change up the regimen again.

The number two rule I always swear by is to change one factor at a time to understand which factor is causing what problem. Whether this includes removing dairy, adding more greens to your diet, testing make-up and skin care products one at a time, etc. I really don’t think it’s healthy when men and women who are struggling with their skin search for blogs and YouTube videos of people with successful skin care routines. While frantically searching for a skin care product to work its magic in a week, they go through so many sources where each one tells them a different thing. This individual will then go to their local drug mart to purchase all of these creams and cleansers the blogger swears by only to cause more damage to their skin. Who knows, maybe one of the items would have really worked if they hadn’t tried it along with a product their skin was sensitive to.

At the age of 14 I began using Clinique at the first appearance of acne – I didn’t want to use any cheap brands in case it would make my skin worse. After a year of failure and my excessively dry skin, I tried Murad, which also failed. At this point, instead of understanding that I was one of the unlucky teenagers who was going to experience acne no matter what because of hormonal imbalances, I frantically began trying each and every skin product anyone recommended for me that contained salicylic acid and benzoyl peroxide. These products dried out my skin more, imbalanced my skin pH, and made it extremely sensitive to other creams or toners I would use. I had lost all hope in ever looking pretty because at that age I never even knew how to use make-up to cover imperfections.

When I started using make-up to cover up my forehead acne.

The worst part about having acne was the satisfaction I would get from removing any pimples. I knew how bad it would be for my skin, the scars and the big red mark in the middle of my forehead, but anytime a zit appeared I had to remove it. The thought of having a huge poppable zit staring at my friend in the face was more embarrassing than having a red mark (more like many red marks). Luckily my skin healed well after extractions and I was never left with markings for more than a month, but we’ll see if I pay the price in the future.

The worst thing I ever did for my skin apart from using various skin care lines simultaneously was going to the spa and getting facials and extractions. The aesthetician would pick at all of the pimples on my face, and sometimes if she couldn’t get anything she would stop; or if she did get any extractions she didn’t completely remove it. I only did this once, and my face was red, inflamed, swollen, and full of poppable zits for at least two weeks.

By the time I was in grade 12, I was contently living with acne – it had become a huge part of my lifestyle. I wouldn’t be embarrassed about my acne, all of my friends and boyfriends were used to seeing me like that, and I stopped picking my acne. During the exam season I would get so stressed I would rest my face on my hand and my fingers would pick at all of the bumps – I started to wear socks on my hand so I would stop doing that.

I started noticing skin improvements towards the end of grade 12 when I stopped microwaving my food, stopped touching my hair and face out of boredom, and when I used 5% benzoyl peroxide, which was recommended by a general practitioner. I also believe at this point my hormones became more balanced. The 5% benzoyl peroxide cream was a prescription cream, and I would use the cream at night because during the day it would leave a white film on my forehead. After 2 weeks of using this cream all of the bumps I couldn’t squeeze turned into blackheads, which were easily extractible (I LOVE blackheads because they don’t leave behind any red markings once they’re removed). Once I was done the prescription bottle I pretty much had clear, pH balanced skin, and my skin was not dependent on using it anymore.

I also experienced a little bit of back acne (mostly cystic acne), but that was at the end of my hormone imbalance. That was fixed quickly by applying the 5% benzoyl peroxide cream and wearing cotton tops or tops that would avoid aggravating that certain area. The most recent problems with acne I was experiencing was cheek acne. I never had cheek acne in high school (thank God), but everything I learned about acne and my body was applied on fixing this imperfection.

Last year I began using make-up, and like all beginners, I didn’t know how to correctly apply it. I would apply too much, use dirty brushes, use old products, and not cleanse properly after a long day. I fixed my cheek acne by throwing out my 2-year-old Hoola bronzer by Benefit and any other foundations or blushes that sat in my drawer for more than 8 months. I also don’t apply a face full of make-up unless the occasion calls for it – on a typical day I will only apply mascara, eye shadow, concealer, and I would fill in my brows. Finally, once my skin is happy with one make-up product, I maintain that routine. Currently my make-up drawer has one foundation (L’Oreal Magic Skin Beautifier BB Cream) and one brand of blush/bronzer (NYX).

My current routine to maintaining clear skin is as follows:

Change your pillow sheets every week.
Wash face with water at morning and at night.
Use a good cleanser/exfoliator that has worked for you whenever the surface of your skin feels uneven.
Pat the towel to dry your face, don’t you dare scrape your face with the towel.
Hydrate and moisturize your face with one brand that works for you – do not use multiple brands in one week. I currently use Avene and I’m moisturizing more frequently to prevent fine lines, wrinkles, and acne scars from resurfacing.
Maintain a balance in your diet. Eating too much sugar may cause more breakouts. For me, microwaving food and dairy sets off the pimple party.
Use SPF and protect your skin from the sun.
Use make-up your skin is used to. If you plan on trying out new products and you have sensitive skin, be prepared to rebalance your skin. Also when you have pounds of make-up on your face and you frequently deep clean your face, you’re removing the natural oils and proteins that give your skin it’s protective properties so be ready to replenish those with creams.

Looking back at the title of this especially long post, some of you may think love is an emotion and a physical attribute. I really do mean emotionally love your skin apart from treating it nicely with skin care and make-up products because I find that when I worry about acne, I usually get it. Or sometimes I jinx myself and say “Oh my skin looks great now, I don’t need to wash my face tonight!” and then in two days I’ll get a nasty pimple. After you wake up every morning tell your skin you love it and are proud of its behaviour lately, and then treat it to some good quality creams and makeup to show your appreciation for your skin taking care of you.

If you experience hormonal acne around the time of the month, please, do not stress and know that billions of other women are experiencing the same thing. Just slap on a little concealer and don’t let your self-confidence drop. Skin imperfections are a way for your body to tell you that something is wrong, so love your body and your skin to letting you know about them. It’s simply a science experiment from then on to find out what the problem is!

Note: Definition of poppable: a zit that emerges from the pore and threatens to pop in the most unpredictable circumstances.

#skin #acne #backacne #cheekacbe #benzoylperoxide #salicylicacid #skincareroutine #hormoneimbalance #pHimbalance #clinique #murad #swimming #sensitiveskin #oilycombination #oilyskin #dryskin #toner #cleansers #Avene #facial #aesthetician #blackheads #dairy #nyx #loreal #bbcream #spf #menstrualcycle #finelines #wrinkles #exfoliate