Last year, during the nationwide lockdown, my skin took a drastic turn for the worse. Despite never having dealt with acne beyond the occasional blemish that would vanish within a week or two, this time was different. The breakouts were persistent, and no matter what I did, they wouldn't go away. I'll admit, I sometimes use a blackhead extractor tool, knowing full well that picking at my face can cause more breakouts. However, during this period, I made a conscious effort not to touch my face, hoping the acne would clear up on its own, only it didn’t.
What I learned 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 visible on my face. I often wondered how long it would take for my skin to return to normal and rather than just waiting for my chin acne to disappear, I turned to good old Google to find out what was happening with my skin and why.
Here’s what I discovered: the acne 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 many bodily functions, including stress management. When we become stressed, our cortisol levels rise, which can alter our hormones. What I believe to have happened in my case was that, the stress I was experiencing caused a spike in my skin's sebum production. This higher-than-normal sebum production led to many of my pores becoming clogged, resulting in blackheads, whiteheads, pimples, and cysts like never before. My breakouts went from being occasional to consistent, and I had to do something about it.
Feeling lost and unsure about how to handle my skin issues, I almost signed up for a Curology subscription. However, I hesitated because I didn't want to commit to a monthly payment for something that might not work for me. I prefer the convenience of walking into a store and buying what I need when I need it—a flexibility that a subscription doesn’t offer. This is just my personal preference, no shade toward Curology or any skincare subscription service.
So what did I do?
Went back to the basics of skin care and the basics are:
1. Cleanse2. Exfoliate
3. Apply Your Serums
4. Moisturize
I decided to go back to the basics and start there. I quickly realized after doing some research that all you really need are skincare products that target your skin concerns and work for your skin type. That's it. After reading and watching many reviews, I purchased products that addressed my skin concerns and reinvented my skin care routine. (If your interested in learning which products I incorporated into my routine see the video below.)
01 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.
02 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.
03 Apply Serum(s)
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.
04 Moisturize
Ever found yourself reaching for lotion when you're out of moisturizer? I have and yes I know that's a skincare no-no because well, lotion isn't non-comedogenic. I quickly noticed this when I applied lotion onto my face on a hot day and I could just FEEL the lotion sitting on my skin waiting to clog my pores. Don't worry, I ditched that habit ages ago.
Comments
Post a Comment