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Charlotte

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.

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