Last year during the nationwide lockdown my skin took a turn for the worst. In all my years, I've never dealt with any type of acne apart from the occasional blemish that would emerge and eventually disappear in about 1 to 2 weeks. This time in particular the breakouts were not going away and I'll be honest, sometimes I pick at my face with my blackhead extractor tool to remove blackheads. Yes, I'm well aware that picking at my face causes breakouts. However, at this point in time I did absolutely nothing to bring this acne upon myself. I even told myself, "just don't touch your face and the breakouts will go away", only they didn't.
What I ended up learning was that stress affects our body in many ways. I think we can all agree that 2020 was a hectic and stressful year and for four months that stress was displayed on my face. During those four months I often wondered how long until my skin would return to its original state. So I idly stood by waiting for the day that my chin acne would just disappear, just kidding. I turned to good ol' google to get answers on what was happening with my skin and why. Here's what I found, the acne that had presented itself on my skin was hormonal. Hormonal acne can be triggered by stress and when we're stressed our adrenal glands release cortisol. Cortisol is a helpful hormone that plays an essential role in a number of bodily functions including the body's stress management. Basically, when we become stressed our cortisol levels rise thus altering our hormones. In my case, the stress I was undergoing caused a spike in my skin's sebum production. This higher than normal sebum production caused many of my pores to become clogged leading me to experience many blackheads, whiteheads, pimples, and cysts like never before. My breakouts went from making an occasional appearance on skin to a consistent appearance and I had to do something about it.
Being that I was lost and didn't know how to handle what was happening to my skin, I almost purchased a Curology subscription. However, I decided not to go through with it because I didn't want to subscribe to something that I wasn't sure was going to work let alone pay monthly. I prefer to just walk into a store and get what I need when I need it and call it a day which is something a subscription can't offer me. That's just my personal preference, no shade to Curology or any skin care subscription at all.
So what did I do?
Went back to the basics of skin care and the basics are:
After going back to the basics and understanding that I only need a cleanser, exfoliator, serums, and moisturizer, I did my research, read and watched many reviews, and reinvented my skin care routine. (If your interested in knowing which products I incorporated into my routine see the video below.)
Cleanse:
When I took a look at my current skin care routine I realized that the cleanser I was using didn't have salicylic acid (a BHA that penetrates deeper into the skin and dissolves the dirt, oil, and dead skin cells that clog your pores). Salicylic acid not only targets pimples, but blackheads and whiteheads which do not come to a head at the surface of the skin like pimples do. Being that my pores were more susceptible to being clogged with this increase in sebum production due to stress, I felt it was necessary to include a salicylic acid cleanser to my skincare regimen. Now blackheads I was use to, but whiteheads not so much and I was getting them like never before. Whiteheads unlike blackheads, are closed comedones which is a fancy word for acne that resulted from a clogged pore, and they're difficult to extract. A blackhead remains open and can be extracted a lot easier, a whitehead is closed within the pore and can grow in size. I had many of these and they looked like pimples but with no pustule to squeeze. See, with this type of acne you have to use products that target that buildup within the pore which is why I introduced salicylic acid into my routine. You then have to extract these whiteheads otherwise they'll appear to be going away, only to fill back up and I definitely recommend a blackhead extractor tool for that. I also learned long ago that what you do or don't do after the extraction of a blemish is what determines whether that now exposed pore becomes a pimple or not. For this reason I usually extract blackheads or whiteheads right before I cleanse my skin. My current daily cleanser does not have salicylic acid in it, but I do have a salicylic acid cleanser that I use when I breakout.
Exfoliate:
Another important factor that my skincare regimen had been lacking was a good exfoliator. I had a decent physical exfoliator but I wanted something a little more intense. I wanted something that could exfoliate my entire face and dissolve any and all of my dead skin cells that were causing uneven texture and congested pores. Exfoliation allows you to get a deeper cleanse when cleansing your skin because that layer of dead, dry skin is removed and the pores are now unclogged. Now when you apply your skincare products they can be better absorbed into the skin and work more effectively. Knowing this, I searched the web, read, and watched many reviews and decided to go with a chemical exfoliator.
Serum:
Before my skin had this stressed related flare-up, I didn't know much about serums let alone used them. Boy did that change, in the same way we apply primer before foundation, serum is applied before moisturizer. The purpose of a serum is to target specific skin concerns and they're formulated to address those concerns. While I was scouring the internet for products to include into my reinvented skincare routine, I stumbled across a serum that is meant to decongest pores and regulate sebum production which was perfect because that's exactly what I was dealing with. When I tell you I can't imagine not having this serum in my routine, I really can't imagine because this serum alone made my skin go back to normal.
Moisturize:
Have you ever ran out of moisturizer and used lotion on your face instead? I have, and lotion is not non-comedogenic. I quickly noticed this when I applied lotion onto my face on a hot day. I could FEEL the lotion just sitting on my skin waiting to clog my pores. Needless to say I don't apply lotion to my face any longer and I use a moisturizer with SPF to protect my skin from the sun. I learned the importance of moisturizer back in 2010 thanks to YouTube for existing and Michelle Phan for uploading videos where she talked about the importance of a good moisturizer, especially one with SPF. Continual sun exposure and sun damage ages the skin, causing a lack of moisture which makes the skin look dull and dry. There are moisturizers out there that don't contain SPF and I prefer to use those at night because who wants to smell like they're going to the beach when they're really going to bed. However, during the day I like to use a moisturizer that has SPF so that my skin is both hydrated and protected. That's a win win because it's a 2 -in -1, you don't have to apply your moisturizer and wait for it to dry and then afterwards apply your sunscreen. I've tried many moisturizers since 2010 and I haven't found one that I absolutely love. I'm still looking, but you better believe ya girl ain't skipping moisturizer and she definitely ain't using lotion on her face.
Going back to the basics and finding products to address my skin care concerns was so necessary. I truly believe that if I hadn't done this I would have struggled with my skin for longer than necessary. I also feel that if I would've went with skincare subscription before trying anything else, I would've been convinced that I needed that subscription in order for my skin to stay clear. I'm so glad that I decided to do my research and take a chance on the products I purchased. I spent less than $30, learned so much, and my skin cleared up in a month. Yes you read that correctly, a MONTH. Before I introduced these products to my skincare routine, I had been dealing with hormonal acne for three months and on the fourth month my skin was able to heal and clear thanks to these products (watch the video below to see the products). Since then I haven't had any issues with my skin other than the normal, occasional, blemishes that come and go.
If you find yourself in the same boat, there's hope. Do your research and find products that address your skin concerns, keep your routine simple, be consistent with it, and wait it out until you see results.
Love,
Des.
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