Not for the faint-hearted! (My Experience of Acne)

Name: jesika_jay

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Product:	My Experience of Acne
Date:	13/10/02 (2025 review reads)
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This is a subject which I am somewhat familiar with. I have never been a sufferer of Acne as such, but over the past two years I have been prone to spots. All through my teenage years I had lovely clear skin, with not a blemish or blackhead or white head or bluehead or whatever to be seen. I revelled in the knowledge that while everyone else was suffering and debating on the best way to pop a spot, I was gathering up the compliments on what nice skin I had. Feeling rather smug, I reached my last day at school still never having had my first real batch of acne.

But they say what goes around comes around. And it did. Those awful spots that were going around were indeed coming my way. By the time I reached my twentieth birthday, I found I was becoming the butt of all those pizza-face and strawbeery field jokes I used to throw around at those less fortunate spotty friends. I got a taste of my own medicine and it did not taste good! And the more I stressed about it, the more my face began to look like an A-Z of England. It was time to do something about it.

I have lost count of the amount of skincare products I purchased in the vain hope that the moment I applied them to my skin, the problem patches would disappear. From facial scrubs to thermal masks to antiseptic wipes and event to the doctors in the hope of some medication (they wouldn't give me any 'cause they said I didn't need it! What did they know!!)

I tried steaming my face, sauna sessions, various health pills, suplements, blah blah blah. I even tried ripping them off with selotape, to no avail! These were times of desperation. Anything would've been considered if it would get rid of these little demons...

One day whilst out shopping not so long ago, I went into a chinese health store. I found a leaflet about acne and how to prevent it. Even though to say I had acne would be a bit of an exaggeration, I decided to give it a read...

1. DIET. The key to
healthy radiant skin is a healthy fulfilling diet and getting all the needed vitamins and minerals. This means eating bucket loads of fruit and veg: five portions a day. And they have to be fresh. Spicy and oily foods will clog up the pores and create more spots.

- I was only eating one portion a day and lived on curry (I ate spicy food every day!) My diet consisted of foods which were high in oil and I couldn't remember the last time I ate a piece of fruit!

2. SLEEP. Get lots of sleep. Get as much as you can. Go to bed early (before midnight) and get a full night sleep every night.

- I was really bad at sleeping; I love going out at night and getting drunk, or staying up 'till one in the morning every night on the computer, or watching films well into the small hours. I never realised that each hour you sleep before midnight is twice as valuable as those slept after midnight. It sounds tedious going to bed early, but is the key to healthy skin.

3. WATER. Drink loads! Drink it by the gallon. It will clean out your system and keep you and your skin hydrated and full of moisture.

- I never used to drink ANY water in a day; seeing me with a glass of water with a meal was about as rare as hearing a dog meow. Now, I drink 4 litres a day minimum.

4. SPOTS COME FROM WITHIN. They are primarily caused by factors within the body rather than outside; doesn't matter what fancy products you use on your skin, spots won't go until you find the cause eg. stress, poor diet, lack of sleep etc and combat it!

5.EXFOLIATE AND MOISTURIZE. Exfoliate once or twice a week and moisturize day and night to keep the skin from getting greasy or dry. Use an oil-free moisturiser to stop shine and excess grease. Be sure to use enough; if your skin soaks up the moisturiser straight away, you need to apply a little more.


I have found that these methods all work for me; I realised that the problem wasn't w
ith my skin, but with my overall health state; I wasn't living a healthy life. Now I have adapted my life slightly in accordance with the above and I have watched my spots disappear. Of course, I still get the odd spot (I have a huge bhindi-like thing on my forehead as I speak!) but nothing that the ol' concealer can't fix in an instant! but my skin generally looks radiant and healthy.

Different methods work for different people and maybe my method won't work for everyone, but hey, if you're anywhere near as desperate a s I once was, you'll at least give it a go!

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