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[things12345]

HEY!
So I'm a 16 y/o girl with mild to light acne. I have dry skin sometimes, and an oily t-zone.

Now that that's out of the way, I thought I'd share with you all some tips.

You've all probably heard that green tea is really good for you and your acne because of it's antioxidants and stuff.

But I bet not a lot of you know, that drinking green tea IS good for your health, but your body doesn't naturally absorb all if its antioxidants. To get more potential out of your tea, I'd suggest either squeezing a bit of lemon juice into your green tea, or having a cup of green tea and a glass of orange juice (alternating).

I'm not exactly sure how, but I've heard/read some articles about how drinking green tea with citric juices allows your body to absorb probably around 80% of the antioxidants in green tea! So there's a tip for you guys, I'm not too sure how accurate that is, but I don't see how it could hurt. Plus orange juice has vitamin C

Also, most people need a moisturizer after they get out of the shower or else their face starts to flake in places when it dries. *cough cough ME.* Recently I discovered jojoba oil. What I do is put a little bit in my hands after the shower and rub it all over my hands then on my face. NOT too much or else your face will feel greasy. Just enough so your face is a little bit shiny, let it get absorbed.

Jojoba oil's chemical structure is really similar to sebum, which is the white crap that is in your pores. You might think that jojoba oil will clog your pores and make your face oily (hence "oil"), but actually, the jojoba particles are the same size as your pores so it fits into your face absorbing nicely, and then the jojoba tricks your pores, resulting in your face producing less oil (you heard me, LESS). Since the oil fits into your pores, it softens up the skin and in the first week you may notice some black heads or your acne not improving. Unless it gets way worse, give jojoba oil a week or two; you might just be in the "purging" state. Hey, all that dirt has to get out one way or another! You might think "the more the better" but don't use too much oil because not all of it will get absorbed and the oil that stays out on your skin will only stick to airborne dirt/dust, making it worse. AMAZING, RIGHT?!

It's a sick moisturizer, I use it on my mild keratosin pilaris and put it on my legs after the shower, it makes you SO soft. I have an oily t-zone, but if I use the oil in the morning, I go through the whole day barely looking shiny.

Sorry for the lengthy post!
I hope you find this helpful, let me know how it goes and leave your own tip if you want! peace

[skinnie]

1. You can't "trick" your skin into producing less oil. It doesn't have "receptors" that sense the amount of oil.

2. Generally speaking, it's not the jojoba oil moisturizing your skin. All that it's doing is sealing the water in from the shower you just had (which a good moisturizer can do).

4. Jojoba oil is a 2 on the comedogenicity scale. Which makes sense. If someone told you they had human sebum and marketed to you as a moisturizer, it wouldn't change the state of your skin for the better. Sebum is what's helping to clog your pores in the first place. You'd be better off using a good quality moisturizer (My personal fave is CeraVe).

5. I was your age 3 years ago,and I wish someone had given me this advice 6 or 7 years ago: Acne is a medical disease. Treat it like one. All of this "superstitious stuff" doesn't work. Make sure you know the science behind what you're doing. Study up on the structure of skin a little. Check out some dermatological articles. That's probably the best thing you can do for your acne: become knowledgeable about it and think logically to come up with solutions.

6. My tip (which I've posted in a thread) is to cut down on excess sebum (which is a major contributing factor to acne) by essentially burying your face in a soft towel. Once you've done that, wash your hands and re-apply moisturizer. This gets rid of oil (bad) and locks in water, which provides moisture. It's better than cleansing, which changes the pH of your skin and so can cause irritation. Still cleanse: but only twice a day. Do this when your face starts getting a little shiny. I think even toweling can irritate your skin though, so don't do it TOO often. It's significantly helped me prevention-wise. I've cut down on how often and how much I have to use BP just because of this. I'm pretty sure that much of the BP Dan uses actually serves to cut down on oil; only a little is needed to actually kill bacteria. Thus, this is a big time/money-saver. The caveat? You have to take a towel and a bottle of moisturizer literally everywhere you go. To work, to school, etc. A little organization can help with that. Buy a ton of face towels (they're not expensive) and a little travel bottle to put moisturizer in. Pack one towel each night with your lotion in a clean cotton gym drawstring. Voila!