In my former blog post, I mentioned seeing an esthetician for my acne and how I followed the secrets she shared with me! I want to share those with you today!
Secrets pertaining to diet
Listed here are some foods that you should avoid IF you have acne prone skin!
- Limit foods high in iodine
- salty snacks
- fast food
- processed food
- seasoned salt
- iodized salt
- soy sauce
- MSG
- seaweed
- kelp
- sushi
- shrimp
- nuts
- Chinese food
- Mexican food
- dairy
- whey-based protein shakes
- processed meats
- vitamins with iodine
- Hormone-filled foods
- soy-based protein shakes
- soy milk
- soy-based meat substitutes
- supplements with phytoestrogens (cohosh, dong quai, and evening primrose)
- wheat germ
- peanut products
- Reduce your suger
- Reduce your high glycemic index foods
- wheat bread
- pasta
- white potatoes
- Decrease caffeine consumption
- AVOID BIOTIN
- Cold medicines that contain bromides
I know that sounds like a lot of things to avoid. The best practice is to stick with whole foods. If you do eat dairy, grains, pastas, or nuts, just do it in light moderation.
Good practices to gain control of your complexion
There are a few things we can do with our everyday lives to help our acne as well. The first one is to try and limit your stress. Stress is a huge aggrevator of acne! If you are anything like me, avoiding stress can be a major challenge! If you need extra help in lowering your stress levels and calming your mind, check out this ALL NATURAL peptide! These products are incredible and are all natural ingredients! I absolutely love the MAKE Wellness CALM. The best thing about it? It works in MINUTES!! Simply pour the delicios citrus packet under your tongue and follow it up with a drink of water.
Another thing to do is focus on getting enough sleep at night. It's recommended to get 7 hours on sleep on average a night. I know this is easier said than done sometimes, but CALM also helps to quiet the mind and relax you without causing you to be drowsy.
A game changer for me was washing my pillow case after every couple of days! This might seem excessive, but think about everything that your skin sheds at night or the oils in your hair. When you sleep on this night after night, it ends up getting on your face and into your pores, causing them to clog. Another thing you can do is keep you hair in a hair sock or bonnet to keep it off of your face.
The final thing you can do in your daily routine is to cut out fabric softener and dryer sheets. That's right, fabric softener has ingredients that can clog your pores for acne prone skin! The best alternative I have found for this is adding epsom salts into my washer and using wool balls in my dryer. You should also switch your detergent to a fragrance and dye free formula.
Some things that aren't applicible to everyone, but do apply to some are to stop smoking and quit ALL recreational drug use.
Try not to touch your face if you can avoid it. And do your best not to pick any breakouts that may appear. Picking your face can cause scarring (just ask me about my experience with picking at my cheeks!). Touching your face throughout the day adds oils and toxins to your face that will clog pores.
Let's talk about makeup
There are so many products out that claim to be good for acne prone skin, but unfortunately, you cannot always trust the label. It's best to look at the active ingredients on the packaging. Below is a list of products to avoid in your makeup, BUT ALSO your shampoo, conditioner, and any other hair products.
- isopropyl myristate
- cocoa butter
- coconut oil
- vitamin E
- carrot oil
- fatty acids
- sodium chloride
- algea or seaweed
- olive oil
- D&C red dyes
There are things you CAN take to help you heal your acne
We've talked so much about what not to take and things to avoid. There are a couple of things that help to reduce the inflammation and promote healing. The first thing is taking 60mg of Zinc Picolinate twice a day. The other is taking Omega 3 capsules 2-4 times a day.
Drink more water!! It's recommended that we consume 1/2 our body weight each day (in ounces). For example, if you weigh 140 lbs, you should be drinking 70 oz of water each day. Consuming the recommended amount of water each day will help your immune system and body run at its peak and rid your body of toxins. Plus, if you're drinking water, it means you are not consuming as many sugary beverages!
For those who enjoy working out, NEVER workout with makeup on! As soon as you're finished with your workout, go STRAIGHT to the bathroom and wash your face!!! Sweat dries so fast and settles straight into your pores!
The last thing you can do to really help your face is ice your face. You read that correctly, apply ice directly to your face after you wash it every time. Icing your face helps to reduce inflammation. These ice recovery pops are perfect for this! You simply close the sphere, add water inside, place the stick in the top, and place them into the freezer. When you want to use it, you can leave them out for abour 2 minutes and the bottom comes right off. If you want to use it immediately, simply run some warm water on the bottom half and it'll come right off. The trick to icing your face is to keep it on your face for 3 minutes. I set the timer on my watch for 3 minutes and move the ice all over my face until the timer goes off. I have found it works best with my scarring to keep the ice on the scars longer to help them heal.
Conclusion
If you have found this to be helpful, please let me know in the comments! It can seem daunting, but there's a reason my face has continued to do better since hearing this information! If you have any questions, please feel free to ask me in the comments!
Blog for skin care products that don't break the bank - https://autmhomemadellc.patternbyetsy.com/post/1364044652116/do-you-struggle-with-acne
MAKE Wellness CALM - https://makewellness.com/294667/shopping/item?itemId=17
Zinc Picolinate - https://amzn.to/42paPku
Omega 3 - https://amzn.to/4ibbYlz
Recovery Ics Pops - https://amzn.to/4joyKXV