So I have been waiting for this post for a while! It's been about a whole year since my acne began and I think that now would be an appropriate time to write a post. :) I just wanted to share my story with everyone on how it started and what I have done to take care of my skin and have clear skin again.
**Note: This is going to be my experience with my recent acne experience. I have struggled with acne when I was in high school, but that is a completely different story! And that was about 7 years ago, soo...but if anyone is interested in that story then let me know!**
So let's begin!
Last summer, on 01 July 2013, I was put on birth control by a doctor at Women's Health because she said that I had a hormonal imbalance that was affecting my mentral cycle. (It was really off, I must admit.) So, on July 1st, I started the pill. (I have no idea what brand I was taking. Sorry! I can't remember which one I was given.)
The very next morning, I had a break out on my chin. When I say break out, I don't mean a little pimple. I mean it was a huge, throbbing and angry pimple! And this continued every single day for the entire month. I had a new pimple on my chin and along my jaw line for the entire month. After I finished that one month, I stopped taking the birth control completely; however, my breakouts did not stop immediately after stopping the birth control. My hormones took a while to get back to normal. I would say it took between3-5 months for my hormones to finally get back to normal and my break outs to calm down.
So you can imagine that I had constant breakouts for a while! Not only did I break out a lot, but the acne was big, they throbbed, and my skin was very, very sensitive! I did not like touching my face!
Once I started getting the acne, I wasn't quite sure what to do to take care of it! Mainly because there wasn't much I could do to prevent the breakouts because the cause of my breakouts was mostly hormonal and not because of any outside sources (such as my diet or products I use on my face). I just had to wait it out, basically.
Although there wasn't much I could do to prevent the breakouts initially, I didn't know of a way to calm down my acne and an effective way to get my skin to heal faster. (When I break out and the pimple finally goes away, it leaves a red spot that takes about two-three months to disappear.)
Here is a timeline on what I did to take care of my skin:
July- Aug 2013
The first couple months were the most sensitive months.I had a simple skin care routine. I did not include any heavy exfoliating in my routine because my acne hurt too much for that to happen! At the time I was using H20 products on my skin because it was nice to my skin. I used the liquid cleanser and the gel moisturizer day and night. That was pretty much it.
*By the time I stopped the birth control, my acne moved from my chin/jawline area to my cheeks! They never made it up to my forehead.
July 25, 2013
Aug 02, 2013
The photos are only one week apart! See how badly my skin got in such a short time?
At this time, I was vlogging about my skin, but I didn't take any pictures with my camera. So these are screen shots from my vlogs.
September 1st, I bought a microdermabrasion system. I felt that it was time to have an exfoliant for my face because my skin wasn't as sensitive and did not hurt to the touch. And because I was wearing heavy foundation, my face felt so clogged by the end of the day! I really needed to start exfoliating! I decided to buy the Neutrogenia Microdermabrasion System. I used it about twice a week. It left my skin feeling so soft! Immediately after using it, my skin was so smooth and I saw my acne calming down. I actually kept using it up until April 2014. (I didn't bring it with me when I deployed.)
November 2013
I think this was the time that I discovered face masks. I bought a face mask out of curiosity from Ross one weekend. I was skeptical to try anything new on my face for fear of my skin breaking out. But I thought I would give it a shot. The results turned out great! My acne wasn't as red after using my first face mask and my skin looked so much calmer.
After this discovery, I decided to do research and bought asian face masks. I still use face masks to this day. I started off with My Beauty Diary Sheet masks. Now, I just try anything. haha! (If you're curious though, I have found the best results from the Innisfree It's Real masks. hehe. I might just do a review on my favorite sheet masks in the future. ;) )
**By this time, I still had a lot of acne scars but a lot less acne and the acne was mostly on my cheeks. The acne was still big and angry looking too. I no longer had any on my chin but had the ocassional pimple on my jawline.
**At this point, my skin care routine included the face masks, the same H20 cleanser and moisturizer and the microdermabrasion system. And honestly, I did see the scars going away faster, but I was still breaking out! Something was missing! Although I wasn't breaking out like crazy as I was at the beginning, I was still breaking out often enough to make me wonder what was wrong. Because by this time, my hormones were pretty much back to normal. I needed something to completely stop the breakouts!
April 2014
By this time, I decided to take a chance and start a whole new skin care line. I went to Ross one day and bought the Shiseido Pureness line and bought the Foaming Cleanser, Balancing Softener and Matifying Moisturizer. This is what changed my skin drastically. My acne was literally shrinking before my eyes within a few days! The change was amazing! The cleanser cleans my pores so well, especially since I was still wearing heavy makeup. I think I would have to give majority of the credit to the Softener though. This product balanced out my skin (my skin was never dry and flaky ever again!) and the more I use this stuff, the more my acne just disappears! My skin loves this stuff!
**My acne scars faded significantly by this time! And I just had a small clutter of pimples on one of my cheeks.
May-Present 2014
My skin care routine still includes the Shisedo products, the face masks, and I decided to buy a face scrub to exfoliate my skin. I have completely switched from the H20 line to Shiseido (Mind you, H20 is a great brand as well! It was good to me for the past three years! But I needed a change due to my acne crisis!) I don't want to get too indepth in my skin care routine because I did a separate blog on that. :-)
**The results? Right now, I have one pimple randomly appear on my temple a couple nights ago (I think I was really stressed at the time and didn't get enough sleep), and I have one by my ear. So two pimples?! That's amazing! My hyperpigmentation is almost gone! Right now, it's just about time. My hormones are back to normal and my skin care routine is on point, so now it's just about waiting it out and sticking to my skin care routine! I noticed I still have one or two random pimples appear on my face around my period, but it's expected and not a big deal to me. For the most part my skin texture has stayed smooth and even and I have a nice glow to my skin. I have gotten quite a few compliments in the past couple months at how nice my skin looks. Such a big boost to my self esteem!
November 07 2013/ January 27 2014/ August 08 2014
Right Side
November 07 2013/ January 27 2014/ August 08 2014
Left Side
My feelings throughout the experience?
At the beginning, I didn't care too much because I knew it was a result from the birth control, but once it started to hurt and left so many scars, that was when it really affected how I felt about my looks. It was such a hassle just to buy foundation too that would cover up well enough and for a long time. I never wore foundation every day until I started breaking out like this. I did not feel good about myself and my joy for playing with makeup turned into being a chore for me to do every morning getting ready for work and anytime I wanted to leave the house. I did try to make it fun for me though by trying different kinds of foundations and reviewing them, but still it's not very wallet friendly.
I became very self conscous about my skin and my looks once I started breaking out. I don't like that at all because even though my skin has gotten a lot better over the year, I am still self conscious and still will not go to work without foundation on my face. I have taken some baby steps since being deployed because I actually do not mind walking around outside without makeup when I'm not going to work, but still need that comfort when I do have to go to work. Baby steps, though! I am working on it!
After seeing how far I have come, it has boosted my confidence significantly. And since experimenting with skin care products, I did finally find a routine that works for me! So those are the good things about this experience!
My Advice:
- Know your skin type! That is the first thing you need to find out! You can do some research online on the different skin types and just pay really close attention to how your skin reacts throughout the day and in different environments.
- Don't be afraid to try new skin products. Once you know your skin type, many products will describe what skin type they are suitable for.
- Do research. I did A LOT of research on EVERYTHING that I have tried before really trying it on my face. I look up reviews to see what skin type the products are more suitable for and what other people think about the products.
- When trying a product, once you see a breakout or if the product irritates your skin or you don't see any significant change (in a good way), get rid of the product! I never gave products that did not work out on my skin a second chance. I bought a product before by the Body Shop (I did a review on it already. It was tee tree foaming cleanser.) and it broke me out and I immediately returned it!
- Do not pick your face! I know it can be disgusting to see a huge zit on your face about to pop but don't break the skin intentionally! Let it dry out on it's own and it will less likely leave a nasty mark on your face.
- Have a skin care regime that includes the following:
- cleanser, exfoliant, balancer/toner and moisturizer. Your skin will love you, especially when you include the moisturizer!
- Get to know your skin. This step will take a while. You will really have to pay attention to what your skin's needs are on a daily basis! I don't do the same steps every single day because my skin feels differently each and every day! That is why I have a couple different moisturizers and buy different sheet masks.
- Never be rough with your skin! When I exfoliate my skin I am extra careful when I scrub my face. I only scrub hard enough to get the dead skin off my face without irritating it and having my face turn red. I also stay away from products that burn my skin.
- Massage your face. I do this when I wear face masks and applying moisturizer. I do this step before bed. Your skin will feel so relaxed. Be kind to your skin. :)
- Be patient. Your skin takes time to heal. You will be happy in the end! :)
- Stay confident! It isn't permanent!
So, that's it! I would be surprised if anyone actually read this whole post! hahaha! I hope you got something out of my story. I don't know if it will help anyone, but I've waited a long time to write about this post because I thought my advice and experience and an example of my skincare routine (Check out previous post!) would help someone out there. That is my hope! I want to help someone out there! If anyone has any questions though, don't hesitate to ask! I won't bite. :) And if you have your own story you would like to share, I would like to know! :)
