That’s what we are so often advised to do. Beat it back, stay ahead of it. Be consistent and stick with it – it’s going to be a while. Yet, “a while” became a consistent part of life for 15 years.
I adapted to fit what I assumed was just how my skin was. I didn’t just choose clothes I liked; I chose clothes that covered my acne. Foundation became both a mask + sense of safety I was afraid of taking off. (If I didn’t like what I saw, why would others?)
Defenses constantly up, approaching skin care was all about things I could use to tackle acne. Deep clean, exfoliate, reduce oiliness, dry out a breakout. Avoid oils you will only add to the problem. At one time, I was advised to avoid moisturizer, too.
What I didn’t know was these traditional acne approaches are actually quite aggressive.
It may work for those with a highly resilient skin type, but not all of us. We are not one size fits all. If acne were that simple, it would be much easier to treat.
It took a bad breakout that wouldn’t subside + had no apparent cause for me to question things. Half thinking I was exploring a dead end, I cobbled together a list of anything believed to cause acne or irritation. Using a set of products that lacked these, I only used them + waited.
Three days later, my skin began to visibly clear. A week and a half later, I was healing with very few new pimples. My skin was stabilizing without the usual acne treatment.
That’s when I realized what I was primarily experiencing was irritation + skin clogging ingredients. Can I get acne? Sometimes. But most of what I was experiencing was due to products.