88 replies to this topic

[LadyWillow]

I know it is too soon to tell about initial breakout and stuff but my skin kind of looks worse today..
I took my first pill of Yaz tonight! I hope it will help with acne and oily skin. I am going to a wedding on Saturday. That will be right about when my skin will be breaking out. WOOHOO can't wait. only 6 more days of being grounded! yay
i don't know whether I should wean myself off of the amoxicillin or just stop cold turkey.

[Lipslikesugar22]

I know it is too soon to tell about initial breakout and stuff but my skin kind of looks worse today..
I took my first pill of Yaz tonight! I hope it will help with acne and oily skin. I am going to a wedding on Saturday. That will be right about when my skin will be breaking out. WOOHOO can't wait. only 6 more days of being grounded! yay
i don't know whether I should wean myself off of the amoxicillin or just stop cold turkey.

Hey there! I've been on Yaz for a year now and it has done wonders for my hormonal acne and oily skin. I did experience an initial break out but not for a couple weeks. I'm a firm believer that the mind has the power to do anything...think to yourself you wont break out...keep staying positive...don't stress out about what the pill is doing to your body...that will only make it worse... and if you do have initial break out...just think to yourself "IT WILL GET BETTER! IT WILL GET BETTER!" although I don't know you, I'm sure your acne is not as bad as you think, we are our worst critics! HANG IN THERE! If you need comfort or anything...just let me know! hehehhe.

I'm so confused about what a toner is? Is like deep cleaning astringent?

[LadyWillow]

thanks so much! yeah that does make me feel better. how bad was your initial breakout?
a toner is just the general term of a liquid that you apply to your face with a cotton ball. the one i used was just apple cider vinegar and water.
yeah i think i really should just think positively. you are right, i do just have to tell myself things will get better! hah
but what is good is that neither topicals have irritated my skin.

[LadyWillow]

I think my skin is improving- pimple wise but it is much more dry and kind of red. I think it is looking better overall and the dryness I can tackle with jojoba oil and aloe.
This is random but with the birth control I have had the most vivid dreams and been waking up early. I usually wake up at 8 40 for summer school but I've been waking up at about 7 for the past few days.
I have a good feeling about my regimen right now, no real initial breakout, just red bumps came to a head. theres an inflamed blackhead sort of thing right between my eyes.. pretty place.. right?
since my skin is so dry all the time I think that a different foundation might be needed. Dan suggested Almay smart shade but I'm not sure if I should try it.. I will do some product research tonight and see what I should do. I just feel like the mineral makeup accentuates my dryness.

[LadyWillow]

Just wanted to say that I love being ungrounded. I love being around my friends even though I feel too self concious to be without makeup when going out =/.
I want to find a not cakey looking liquid. I started a topic in the cosmetics section.
MY SKIN IS SO DRY. SOOOOOO SO SO SO DRY. I have to moisturize 3 times a day. It is crazy I couldn't moisturize today because I was wearing makeup from 2:00 to 12:00. But good thing is that the only oily part of my face is my nose.
I'm having issues not picking my skin. Its so weird because I was really good about not doing that. I don't know why .. maybe because my skin is flakey..? I'll make sure to stop.
Also I'm not eating healthy anymore.. I should really try to go back to healthyness. It is so hard, I felt like I was starving myself.
My skin doesn't really loook better .. too early to tell

[LadyWillow]

Slight improvement possibly.
There was definitely an initial breakout. I broke out a lot on my right cheek bone. Not large pimples just 5 raised red bumps that will leave redmarks. I am using Aloe Vera twice a day and it seems to help with the dryness. I bought the Walgreens brand, the clear one with no alcohol or fragrance, hopefully that is okay to use. I can't find the super natural ones.
I might have hope for my current regimen.
I also spot treat with Neutrogena Salicylic Acid (Edit: At night) and it seems to help reduce the inflammation of my zits. I think it is good to use every few days or every other day.
Also I exfoliated with the baby brush a couple of times. It might be my brush that is weird but it doesnt seem to be as soft as everyone claims. I am going to stop that for a while. I am just constantly tempted to use it because my skin is now very flaky and I want to scrub off the flakes. I just have to try to prevent the flakes maybe.
By the way, just so I can keep track of what I am doing, I put the Aloe Vera on before I put the Benzoyl Peroxide/Differin. It seems to help reduce redness that way. I also moisturize afterwards with olay. Did I mention my skin is super flippin dry?

[LadyWillow]

Little improvement

[greeneyesgirl]

Little improvement

Ditto!!!

[SCaliGirl]

I'm a little lost when reading your posts, what is your regimen day and night now ? You seem to be using a lot of products and changing it up.

Best guess to why your skin is super dry is because all the products you're using. It's late but if you haven't tried the Cetaphil All Skin Type Lotion to moisturize, go for it ! I switched from Olay to Cetaphil because it does a better job at taking care of the dry spots - really. I used to have issues where some spots (like near the edge of my mouth and sides of the face) were super dry and the rest of my face was fine.

Maybe cutback on one product and see if that helps reduce the dryness? Sitting in a sauna or steaming your face is nice too. Hope you find out what's up ! Dryness feels yucky for sure!

[LadyWillow]

I do spot treatmen at night occasionally but thats the only addition. I was moisturizing with jojoba and aloe. My regimen is my sig. Dryness is a side effect from starting benzoyl and differin but my skin iant dry anymore.

I waited a couple of weeks to pit back aha in my regimen but my derm told me that it was fine to use it in morning with acamya(benzoyl and clindamycin). My skin is improving. At night im putting mint julep mask on whiteheads and they r going away quickly. So things r slowly improving.

[LadyWillow]

My skin seems to be getting worse. It might be from wearing makeup..=[ I have a lot of small zits and a few whiteheads. my forehead is clear, my chest is breaking out.
my redmarks are very bright.
the yaz was $65, acanya and differin are both expensive but i haven't had to buy them yet. i wish there was a cheap way to get all this stuff.
my parents make me feel guilty for all the medications.
i wish i had clear skin. if i did i wouldn't feel so insecure . i would go to the beach with all my friends and not worry about not having any makeup on, i would go to parties and not worry if my skin looks too cakey or oily with the makeup on, i could lay in the sun and not worry about my redmarks becoming bright and never going away, i wouldnt be home all day. i hate acne. it sucks . i just want it all to go away.

[LadyWillow]

this is really strange but when i drink, i pop my pimples when i get home.. so my skin seems to be improving and i have a few bright red marks from yesterday. oh well. they will go away eventually.
i bought vitamin e oil and i am putting that on at night like every other day or so.
i just want my skin to be decent for camp.

[very frustrated]

"Change bedding at least once a week if not more. Change pillow case every other day?
Disinfect phone with qtips (lol, you can call me a tweak. I'm ok with that)
Eat more healthily.. Eat almonds, avocados, walnuts,green tea, blueberries, etc.
disinfect laptop and mouse (yes I know this is kind of ridiculous)
Don't pick/touch face. EVEN IF THE PIMPLE LOOKS LIKE IT SHOULD BE POPPED.
Try to get a good amount of sleep.
Clean room. (has nothing to do with skin but it stresses me out)
Clean makeup brushes frequently. "

everyone that knows me thinks im so weird because i always clean my makeup brushes like every other day and put a clean towel over my pillow every two days just to make sure my face doesnt touch the dirty pillow and im always disinfecting everything i own in the house.

haha its so nice to know im not the only one haha

[LadyWillow]

haha we can be tweaks together!
i always freak out. im a germaphobe but only with things that touch my face
what do you clean your brushes with?

[very frustrated]

haha same here, ive even threatened old bfs if they touch my face ill break up with them.

but i usually just clean mine at night, i use warm water and just liquid soap (that has anti-bacterial in it) and wash each brush for a minute or so. then i put down a clean wash cloth to set them in a spot in my room to dry where no one could get them dirty. i always make sure all the soap is completely out of the brush, just in case it would irritate my skin.

but how do you clean yours?

oh and i am also taking BC, but im taking ortho tri cyclen lo its only my second week, i think i broke out a little from it, but hoping it settles in a couple weeks. how long did your IB last?

[LadyWillow]

i clean my brushes with soap now, i used to use this mix that i got from a youtube video. i have to find it again, it was like dish soap, rubbing alcohol, something else, and it worked great, the foundation came right off and it killed germs. I am going to wash my brushes right when i finish this post so i don't forget.
i haven't worn makeup for the past two days because i want my skin to improve. i use everyday minerals and almay smartshade. i dont think it makes anything worse but i just want to have the biggest improvement before i go to camp for a week.

when i started birth control, i also started differin and acanya (benzoyl & clindamycin) and i don't know which gave me the IB but it lasted a few weeks before starting to improve. i think it was the differin. it didn't get horrible though. my skin right now is mostly redmarks on cheeks and like 5 zits, which is a lot less than before. yours will probably be less than mine because i dont think birth control is supposed to give a huge IB. good luck with it!

also do you take it in the morning or at night? i am thinking about switching to morning but i dont know if it would matter

[very frustrated]

i take my BC at 9pm everyday. i take a lot of vitamins in the morning so its nice to kinda balance it out. so i dont feel overloaded with pills.

do you have any tips for everday minerals? how well does it cover your blemishes?

[LadyWillow]

with everyday minerals i would say get a good primer, but i love it because it feels so light and the coverage is buildable. i am about to try a new concealer called pick me up pink (after i get some money) becaue it is supposed to help conceal redness. I prefer to use the bareminerals kabuki brush because i like how big and fluffy it is. also a finishing dust really helps.
sometimes when i have a healing zit the makeup kind of just crusts around it but i feel like everything i have used in the past does the same thing. the mint green concealer is decent but i'm not sure if it makes my blemishes worse. you have to mix it with foundation so that it doesnt look too green - but it does take out redness.
the reason i like it so much better than bm is because the bismuth in bareminerals made me breakout horribly and i felt like it made my face too shiny.
I haven't been taking my birth control at a consistent time. recently i have been taking it at about 7 but sometimes its later. i feel like i am not in a routine with it yet which is pretty awful. summer always throws me off my routines.

[LadyWillow]

right now my skin doesnt look super great.. i have healing zits mostly right now. the ones on my left cheek are bright red and super inflamed. i have two on my forehead which i dont care too much about and my right cheek is mostly older redmarks with one healing zit on the lower right corner and one healing blemish right under my nose. i also have this big painful thing coming in on my nose but i have been icing it and spot treating it. it seems super inflamed and is painful but its giong away a little so i have faith. i really dont want to go to camp tomorrow looking like this. its a youth group camp but its not strict, all my friends go (like 20 girls) and a bunch of guys that are in our circle. i have to go on a 20 hour bus ride with no makeup looking like shit while all my friends have perfect skin and don't have to worry about anything.
people take pictures. i wont want to be in any. i will be a debbie downer. fml. i hate this.

[LadyWillow]

I got back from camp a week ago basically. It was really fun. I tried to not let acne get in my way of having a good time and also there weren't any cute boys at the camp this time around. My skin is improving a lot. I haven't broken out badly in a while. I broke out during camp but I was eating a lot of junk food and it was just not a good environment for skincare.
I went to the derm a couple of days ago and sadly she is moving =[. I will switch to my third doctor next time I go. He is the top gun of the firm so maybe he will be better. My regimen is still the same. I don't always spot treat with the Mint julep mask, maybe once a week or less. Egg white mask used once in a while really does help also.
I don't want it to seem like I am adding a bunch of things because I'm not really changing my regimen.
I have zits on my hairline on the left and right sides of forehead, older ones on my left cheek, no big ones on my right, my chin, nose, and area around my nose still has blackheads, redmarks are not going away, possibly fading but I'm not too sure about that, and still a lot of oilyness.

With the supplements/birthcontrol

going to try zinc and reseaching niacin. I used to drink Apple Cider Vinegar but we ran out so I am going to start that back up when my mom gets more.
My doctor said by the end of next month I should be seeing good results from the Yaz birth control. I'm just crossing my fingers. Downside is the cost of it, 65 bucks.
Also trying to eat healthier! Sorry this post is so long. I'm making myself stop rambling now.