No Nonsense Tips on How To Reduce Acne Breakouts

As someone who have battled acne for years, I know full well how a bad breakout can diminish one's self confidence. When I was still suffering from a bad case of acne, my spots are constantly on my mind and I was very self conscious. I avoided all kinds of events that would make me go makeup-less such as overnights, swimming trips, and sports activities. In fact, I never leave the house without any makeup on as I fear exposing my skin and revealing my live spots and scars. Now that my skin is a lot better, I'd like to share with you some of the things I did that helped me diminish my acne.

photo credit: likes.com

I stopped obsessing about my skin.

I used to spend hours in the mirror looking at my progress and more hours online looking for products that I can try. I spent lots of money on soaps, facial creams, and ointments that seem promising. I lived my life this way for many years and there came a point when I just got tired of it all. I realized then that not obsessing too much about it made me feel a lot better and encouraged healing from within.

I air dry.

Whenever I wash my face, I avoid using towels. I allow the water to dry naturally. For some reasons, this actually helped me and actually made my skin more supple and moist during the day.

I ditched whitening products.

Whitening products are all the rage in our country. Here, anything that brightens, illuminates,and whitens is bound to be a hit. There was a time when I thought that whitening products could help me deal with acne scars. I realized one thing though, while they help diminish scars, they also cause more acne. This is because my skin is already irritated and all the peeling and the whitening are just making matters worse.

I skipped sunblock.

I used to wear a lot of sunblock---like everyday. It was also then that I suffered the worst breakout. I don't blame the sunblock, but the fact that all the washing I did then was not enough to remove all the traces of sun screen. This lead to more spots. Now, I still wear sunblock, but only when I head to the beach. My skin is a lot better now and more natural looking.

I limit exfoliation to twice a week.

I exfoliate with baking soda twice a week. Nothing more.

I limit the products that I use.

I only have one facial cleanser, a moisturizer, and baking soda for scrub. As for makeup, I wear very little BB cream as concealer and some powder. I now only wear makeup twice a week.

I regularly moisturize.

I used to hate applying moisturizers because they seem to aggravate my breakouts. However, extreme dryness led me to try the classic Nivea creme in the blue tin. That works for me. 

I stick to my guns.

No matter how tempting it is to try new products, I choose to commit with the products that are working for me. Constant experimentation can actually make acne worse.