Acne Skincare: Where do I start?

First Lets Talk Major Causes of Acne:

• HORMONES

• Hereditary Factors
• Inflammation
• Cosmetics
• Skincare Products (i.e. the wrong ones for your skin type)

How to know what is causing your acne:

• Sun Exposure
• Greasy workplace
• Over cleansing
• Self-trauma (i.e. picking/popping pimples – don’t do it!)
• Nutrition and diet

Let’s Break This Down

Sun Exposure

Who believes that the sun clears up their acne? I did! I did! Why? Well, because for the summer months, my skin did better. I had severe “BACNE” as a teen. Summers were awesome! Truth is, as the sun does dry up your blemishes and helps to clear things up, for a time. It is actually making things worse. It has been documented that sun exposure causes a cell build up which adds to flare-ups. Bummer, I know! Stick with me, good news is coming.

Greasy Workplace

If you have acne prone skin and changing jobs is not an option, it’s time to bring your cleanser to work. Cleanse your face once or twice during an 8 hour shift will help. Airborne grease mixed with environmental toxins only compound the problem. By reducing the amount of toxins on your face will help control your acne.

Over Cleansing

Ok, so if you’re not being exposed to a greasy environment, for long periods of time, cleansing should 2-3 times a day. MAX! Too much cleansing will strip away too much of your lipid barrier and throw off your skins pH. This leaves it vulnerable and can make acne flare up.

Self-Trauma

Picking and popping pimples! Yikes, guilty! I have to warn ya, picking and popping those pesky pimples can lead to more breakouts. A dirty environment (we have millions of bacteria living on our skin at any given time) combined with a freshly popped pore and you just invited everyone in for the party. It gets worse, the deeper bacteria gets in, the more it travels.

Ever notice you seem to have a cluster of pimples rather than just one? This is why. Bacteria spreads and grows. I recommend having your esthetician crack those open in a clean environment and feed your skin with products to help.

Nutrition and Diet

Numerous claims have been made about different foods effecting our skin, and directly causes acne. I’m sure you have heard chocolate, nuts, seafood, greasy foods; burgers and fries, pizza. False. They don’t cause acne. Taking in large quantities of these kinds of foods will cause irritation at the follicles and cause inflammation. Which could lead you down the path of breakouts.

Sodium: taking in too much sodium can irritate you on a cellular level and lead to inflammation. However, for those who don’t over consume large amounts of junk keep looking for root causes of your acne.

I am a big cheerleader for good food can lead to better skin, but it is only one part.

Hormones

How many of you know how many foods have hormones in them? Milk for one. Eliminating milk alone helped many. However, soy is another estrogen imposter. What does your body do when it detects estrogen? It produces more oil, more oil leads to more pimples and more breakouts.

Cosmetics and Skincare Products

How many of us get a blemish and love that we can cover it up with foundation? I do too!

However, there is so much out there now, it’s making our skin so much worse.

Now imagine the vicious cycle you get on, blemish-cover-up, more blemishes, more cover up…more bumps, and more uneven skin. Now you need a better coverage foundation, and the cycle continues.

I am sorry to say, the more make up, the worse your skin is getting. Some is due to not getting all the make up off at the end of the day, because we can see how much we absorbed into our pores, the other is due to the ingredients that irritate our skin and cause the skin to react with blemishes.

Paraben is the hottest “no-no” these days. Who can tell me why? It is a preservative, and helps keep bacteria out. All good and fun until it mimics estrogen and our body responds with an increase in oil production. Yikes! And even though that make up is sitting on top of your skin, you are still absorbing it into your pores. And the build up begins. There is so much out there. I’ll be back to talk about what to look for and stay away from at a later date.

Ok; you’re probably wondering what you can do to help combat Acne; here’s how: Acne Treatment: What do we do? Where do we start?