Hello!
Welcome to my first blog post of 2021! I started this year on a pretty good note, skin wise. I, like many others, spent the holidays with my fam jam over December. Eating my mom’s delicious cooking (follow @pima_sec iykyk) and sleeping to my heart’s content, I went into the new year in a really good headspace, excited for everything to come.
Fast forward to a couple of weeks later, I decided to go on a new product binge to get started on my reviews for the year. Boy did I mess up:/ First, I wanted to try that band-aid hack I have seen everywhere on TikTok and Instagram. Basically, you put a hydrocolloid bandage on your zits and it pulls out all the gunk in a few hours. Here is a basic video below:
These band-aids are typically used in hospitals to speed up healing and many “spot” stickers are actually smaller versions are of this band-aid. Anyway, I tried it on clear skin, thinking it would just pull out some minor gunk..yeah I broke out. A lot. All along my jaw line, these mighty but small cystic bumps that didn’t have a head so I couldn’t pop them :/ I was so shocked. I haven’t had a breakout like this in years…so what was the culprit? Was it really the band-aids? I have seen so many video of this working beautifully, but for me, not so much.
I thought about this a lot, like anyone would, who is experiencing a new onset of zits. How do you pinpoint exactly what caused this? My first suspicion were the band-aids. But it seemed weird because of the area and I typically don’t break out around my jaw. Next I thought of my cycle and my birth control I take. I started my next pill pack a bit later than usual but well before my next cycle was supposed to start..I’ve done this before with no issue. THEN I started thinking of my diet, did I eat something that didn’t go with me? Have I been eating more dairy or something different? Bottom line, the bandaids did not help me lol.
I recently purchased a different brand of cheese I have never eaten before and noticed that during the week I had the cheese was closely correlated with my breakouts. Plus my sister has this issue too. If you want to read more about dairy impacts your skin, check out my previous blog post here.
Let’s move onto dealing with these breakouts once they’ve formed.
Ok, so I’m 95% convinced it was the cheese. I am going to stop eating cheese and dairy for a couple of weeks and see what happens. If it’s just that brand of cheese (which I think) or if it’s all cheese, we shall see.
What are some ways to best treat hormonal breakouts? Hormonal breakouts tend to be more painful and are usually easy to recognize as they are deeper bumps that are under the skin’s surface and can’t be squeezed or popped . These bumps can also be tender and inflamed. Great. Because they have an inflammatory component, they require a more clinical approach to treatment that starts from the inside out rather than treating them topically.
My method for dealing with hormonal acne (from the inside) is the following:
1) Stop eating the suspected cause (aka cheese)
2) Get back on my normal BC routine (already happening)
3) Drink lots of water
4) Try to eat less greasy foods over the next 3 weeks, more whole grains and veggies
5) Include more probiotics and fermented foods
Here is my method for dealing with hormonal acne and how to treat/avoid scarring
1) Wash your face with a cleanser that has salicylic acid night and day
2) Use a toner that has an either glycolic acid or AHA’s in it. These ingredients can help increase cell turnover for new skin and help with dis coloration
3) Use a light moisturizer. I feel like the simpler and more direct your products and routines are the better your skin will be in the end
4) Target: my go to right now has been my Innisfree Volcanic Cluster mask. I have been using this for spot treatment of active breakouts (which has helped reduce their size and redness) and with my scars and it’s actually doing a really great job of fading them. It makes sense that this would be a great spot treatment since it absorbs sebum, helps exfoliate, cleanse and contains AHAs.
5) Sometimes, I have to admit, I do get handsy and have to pick or pop the breakout. When this happens, it’s important to squeeze in a way that doesn’t stress that skin around the breakout and at the same time, gets all the gunk out so the area can really start to heal. I squeeze, clean, put some treatment on it and hope for the best :D
xoxo Nelufer
Comments