How I Saved my Skin | Hormonal Acne

HELLO EVERYONE! LETS TALK SKIN!

So before I show you some horrible skin selfies/ beautiful progress pics, here is my story:

So like most, I struggle with acne and I STILL do. My skin is still slowly getting better day by day and I have been pushing off writing and posting this blog post for what feels like forever. I’m to a point now where I feel like this is useful information that in my option needs to be shared even if it only helps just one beautiful struggling soul. DISCLAIMER: everyone’s skin and hormones are so very different, so what works for me may not work for you! But if you feel lost and overwhelmed with different skincare, routines, and whatever else comes along with it, you might as well give this a shot!

So I am going to start at the beginning of my skin story so you can have a little bit more background knowledge. I never had horrible acne. I would say I was pretty fortunate for that. Middle school I had the occasional pimple like every month (wow bring me back to those days! Am I right??) At the end of 8th grade puberty hit me. And my acne got progressively worse. Never too horrible, like I said, but still enough to be painful to look at at times. In freshman year of High School I started using Proactive Plus. It did wonders for my skin and I had pretty normal teenager skin for the rest of my High School years. However since then I have learned so much about skincare and taking care of my vessel that I would never EVER recommend Proactive to anyone! In the process of destroying your acne it also just eats up and destroys your skin as well. That’s how premature aging can occur.

About a year after High School, Fall of 2017, I went through probably one of the most stressful low points in my life. Let’s just say a lot of family issues. I was going through so much stress and anxiety it basically, I believe threw my hormones off balance like crazy. I was no longer just getting pimples in the classic teenager “T ZONE” (forehead, nose, chin) I was now getting hormonal acne all over along my jawline/ lower cheeks as well as the T ZONE. Going on at least 6 large pimples a day or more. NO JOKE. And it wasn’t just like normal acne/pimples that appear, pop, and heal up and fade away in the time of a week-ish. No they were deep, painful, and when they would heal up they would leave my skin discolored/scared. Making it look like I had more acne than I actually had. At first I tried a few different things including reverting back to what face wash I used in Middle School, Cetaphil. Which at the time seemed like a pretty chill, not too harsh skincare that both my mom and grandmother have used for decades, so why not? Anyways at first it defiantly made my skin FEEL a lot better, however once I was off Proactive and its active ingredient, benzoyl peroxide my skin completely blew up. In my opinion benzoyl peroxide should never been used daily! Especially on your entire face. That is what just completely destroys your skin. NOTE: I was still going through a lot of life at the time too which seemed to just be getting worse which probably wasn’t helping my skin either. Luckily during all this I was also just beginning my 10 month yoga teacher training, and my teacher actually recommended for me to switch to an ALL organic, natural, vegan, skincare routine. She then recommend Keys skincare. I immediately bought it on amazon (links below) and I was blown away. Immediately I felt so much relief on my skin after the first time I used it. It felt so calming and I felt as though my skin could actually breath through it. I wasn’t just packing on chemicals hoping for them to just soak into the skin and get rid of all my acne. I think one thing that most us get stuck on is trying to get rid of the pimples that we can see right that very moment, instead of focusing on PREVENTING future breakouts.

Ok so HERE THEY ARE! My cringy beautiful progress pics. Note: they are labeled with the date taken. I tried to take 3 photos just like these everyday and I put them in a folder on my phone called “progress”. As my skin got better though I did start to slack. I noticed the biggest difference in the first 4 to 5 months and then it was very gradual progress. These are obviously not all of the photos otherwise you would be scrolling for years😅. These photos were something that I was never planning on sharing with anyone, but I’m now at a point where I know that when I was going through this I would have greatly benefited from this information and story. And without the photos the story is nothing.

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For me it was a slow process. The Keys definitely worked! Especially on all acne that wasn’t really hormonal acne. (being 19 almost 20 hormonal acne was no longer the T ZONE for me it was my lower cheeks/ jawline) So the Keys after a few months completely changed my skin in the T ZONE. Now my only real struggle was the hormonal breakouts. I then decided to try going to the dermatologist to see what they would say. I have never been so mad and upset by a total stranger before! Basically they got mad at me for getting off Proactive and not only told me to go BACK on it, but their only solve to the hormonal acne was for me to go on the pill… They were so ridiculous and actually extremely rude. I literally showed them ALL my progress pics of switching to natural skincare and how I was logging and keeping track in a journal of everything I ate, how much water I drank, sleep, and how many pimples. All proving that what I was doing was working and they honestly couldn’t give a sh*t. (Excuse my language). I was so mad and literally stormed out of there. There had to be another way. So I did my research and I found this little supplement called Evening Primrose. THIS SAVED MY SKIN!! DISCLAIMER: since it does effect your hormones and basically does the same thing that the pill does for your skin, take it with caution. I do know that some females take it to GET PREGNANT, not sure if it actually helps with that tho haha. That may be a old wife’s tale. Also not sure if men should take it or if it effects them in the same way. So again it might not be the best option for some. But for someone who is not sexually active and wants an alternative to the pill to fix hormonal acne, it was a blessing. I took 1000mg (one capsule) 3 times a day with food. I started to notice a difference right away. And I definitely noticed the difference on the days I didn’t take it. On days that I was lazy and completely spaced it I would for sure break out the next morning. Without this supplement I would for sure still have hormonal acne along my jawline/cheeks. NOTE: if taken on an empty stomach it can give tummy aches, but other than that there are no side effects to worry about. Also with anything that you put on or in your body you should always do your own research as well, don’t just ONLY take my advice!

What evening primrose can also help with and is used for:

• Acne.
• Eczema.
• Skin health.
• PMS symptoms.
• Breast pain.
• Hot flashes.
• High blood pressure.
• Heart health.
• Help reduce nerve pain
• Ease bone pain

HERE is a list of everything I did to get rid of my acne:

• 100% organic 100% natural skincare including makeup and haircare. All the makeup and hair care I use is from 100% Pure
• Evening Primrose. I took this 3 times a day up (for about a year) until about 5 months ago when I was curious if I could slowly stop taking it since m acne has completely cleared up for a while. And now I no longer need it. Every once In awhile I will take one if my acne wants to start back up again. I am so so very grateful that I found it in the first place. I don’t know what I would have done without it.
• LOTS OF WATER. Eliminate sugary drinks. Track your water. Whether that is in a journal or an app you use. TRACK IT. And then one day you will be in such a habit of drinking tons a water you no longer have to track it anymore. It will just be embedded into your lifestyle.
• Keep a journal of your acne. Whether that is in a physical book or every single day you take three photos like I did above so that you can see progress.
• Tracking what you eat. So I did this for probably the first few months before I realized it was more my skincare that needed to change NOT my diet. However everyones body’s reacts differently to food and it could possibly have something to do with what you are consuming.
• Yoga, meditation, mindset.
• Exercise. This is definitely good if you believe it is stress that is causing the acne in the first place; however sweat can also cause breakouts, so find that happy middle.
• Keeping your hair off your face when you can/tying it back. Not sure how much this actually helped me, but it did help me not touch my face as much.
• No makeup/ foundation over the acne. I mean NEVER. You need to learn to let your skin breath. Eye makeup is fine. Luckily for me I have never been one to use foundation or concealer and I’m still not, but not using it definitely helps.
• Pillowcases changed nightly. Yes nightly. Also clean your bed sheets if you can weekly!
• Use neutral water temp when washing your face. No cold. No hot. Also do not scrub your face. Very lightly clean in circles.

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What I use:

Cleanser

Day time lotion. It also has sunscreen in it which I love!

Night time lotion I would definitely recommend buying BOTH the nighttime and day time lotions. For me the daytime drys out my skin at night and the nighttime makes my skin too greasy during the the day.

Eye cream. This is really not necessarily for treating acne however it is heavenly and I always look forward to it every night!

Evening Primrose

I really hope this helps some of you who are struggling with breakouts and/or hormonal acne. Even if they means just switching up your skincare to some sort of 100% natural, chemical free products. And staying away from chemicals like benzoyl peroxide. Your future skin will thank you for that alone! If you have any questions feel free to message me on my Insta @willowpixie

xo