Banish the Blemish!

Recently my acne problems have practically tripled, and I’m not really sure why, I stopped using facial cleansers because I figured I was removing the natural layer of skin or something, but that only made the problem worse, the types of spots I was getting were red/inflamed ones, and some of the ones that you can feel coming, the painful ones that you can’t squeeze and have to let grow out. I tried so many things people had given me advice on, including particular vitamins, workout regimes, things to eat, but nothing really worked. But then I thought to myself “Hey! There’s a world of knowledge out there called the internet!” so, knowing that (from my previous blogpost) iVillage was an awesome place to try looking for things in this nature, I set my browser to 5th gear and I was off to a world of skin tips and was blinded by the amount of information I found on spots and acne.

The particular link that I thought was really helpful (I even bookmarked it) was Banish the Blemish! It gave information on any common type of spot, and what you should do for it, when to seek advice from a dermatologist, and when not to, when to use exfoliators, cleansers, toners, face masks and such, and when not to use them. I think that if anyone has spot problems, and they’re pretty much as a confused standstill, this would be a pretty good place to start.

But base knowledge is that you should never squeeze spots, this just builds up the amount of bacteria on your face, from your hands, and it may not seem that bigger deal at the time, but just think where your hands have actually been. You should also cleanse morning and night, and then tone and moisturize. I found out also that by “cleanse” this doesn’t mean use a “deep pore cleanser” and these should only be used once a week (why are we not told these things?) and that it means a gentle, non-exfoliating daily wash. Toners should be generic ones, and you should use them after cleansing to restore the natural pH balance of your skin, and to remove anything left by the cleanser. If you have particularly oily skin, they recommend that you use a “drying toner or lotion” to combat this. Finally, you should use a daily moisturizer, this helps to keep the correct balance of moisture to your skin, and keeps you looking fresh throughout the day.

I thought this was pretty good advice, after starting to speculate whether or not every spot-cream company is actually secretly evil, and trying to give everyone even more spots. I hope it helped you too.

Links: Banish the Blemish

Sources: iVillage