Countdown to Confidence: 12 Ways to Get Rid of Acne

Image via We Heart It

Hi there! This week’s Confidence post is all about your skin. Now, I know that your skin or your exterior in general should not be something you should base your level of confidence on, but it certainly helps when you can look in the mirror and say, “Wow, my skin actually looks great!” or a more modest response if you think that’s on the verge of being narcissistic.

I’ve had bad skin for the majority of my life, but lately, after taking good care of it, it’s gotten a lot better. Just as a bit of a disclaimer, I’m not a dermatologist or skin expert of any sort, but these are the things that I’ve found helpful to get rid of the majority of my acne.

1. Drink lots of water. You’ve heard it before and you’ll hear it again – water is important for you! Your skin is very sensitive to the amount of water you drink every day, so try to get at least 1.5-2L in your body daily. If you’re someone who hasn’t always drunken a lot of water, maybe start out with just one litre.

2. Eat healthy. Suffocating your skin with acne-fighting products might work for you, but often times, it’s not as effective as clearing your skin from the inside out. Eat clean and healthy (that means lots of fruits and vegetables) and for some of you, controlling your gluten or dairy intake might help as well.

3. Don’t touch your face. There is a lot of bacteria on your hands, so you’re not doing your face any good by touching it and transferring all that nasty stuff there. Also, don’t pick at your spots. You are just not doing yourself any good by doing that.

4. Switch up your routine. Add a scrub or simply something a bit abrasive than your regular face cleanser a few times a week to exfoliate your face. Also, washing your face in the shower really helps because the steam opens up your pores and allows you to really clean your skin.

5. Wash your pillowcases and change your loofa. This might sound completely random, but it helps a lot, especially the loofa bit for body and back acne.

6. Wear sunscreen or at least a moisturiser with SPF daily. This will protect your skin from the effects the sun can have on your skin and prevent any acne spots from getting darker.

7. Don’t pack on the makeup to cover it up. Remember to let your skin breathe and the breakouts will go away faster.

8. Eat bitter melon. Again, totally random, but it helps so much! I know that it’s going to taste really, well, bitter at first, but if you figure out a way to cook it that you like, just eat it up because of its cooling agents on your skin.

9. Wash your face after a workout. Even if it’s just splash your face a few times with water to get the majority of the icky sweat of your face, try to wash your face in some way because if you leave the sweat on your face all day, you will wake up with some breakouts the next morning.

10. Use a facial tissue/towel to pat your face dry. After seeing this video, I decided to try it out and it really works! If you don’t want to kill the environment, you could also try to keep a towel that you use only for your face extra, extra clean.

11. Keep your nails short. I’ve noticed that my skin always gets a million times worse if I let my nails grow any more than a millimetre because of all the gunk that builds up underneath that later gets transferred to my face. Trim your nails often to avoid that!

12. Ask your doctor or dermatologist. If all else fails, this is the way to go. Sometimes, all acne needs is a kick in the butt by some cream or pills to leave you alone.

Which tips was the most… odd and unusual to you? Have you suffered with acne before? Do you have any other tips to add to keep acne at bay? Share your stories below!

Thank you so much for reading!

- J

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