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So Ive had problems with acne for many years now. To be honest I was not well informed on how to treat it during my teens. Most of my regimen in high school consisted of slathering on a huge amount of bp all over my face. Which didnt really help. At all! Its funny when I think about it now because I pretty much damaged my face for 9 years and now I have alot of acne scars on my face. The worst part of it was I knew people could see and I tried to ignore it saying my face isn't a reflection of who I am. But you can only hope for so much and anyone with moderate or severe acne problems know how much harder it is to interact socially with other people especially with people that dont even know who you really are inside. There were countless nights where I couldnt even work up the courage to even step outside my house. I was constantly bitter to my family as well maybe its because I really wanted to reach out to them a cry for help? My mom was always supportive but being born in America under parents from worrying about acne was silly to them since they never had acne before. Pretty foolish , but I was a growing teenager with just so much acne on my plate.
And reality finally struck me one day when my boss who was cranky one day came up to me and told me "Howd you like it if I rubbed your face in the gravel and give you some more craters?" I know he was teasing but I just felt like maybe if I didnt have acne he wouldnt have teased me and maybe I wouldnt have felt like the biggest loser in the world. Probably not the wisest choice I made when I called him out to fight right there. That being aside as soon as I went home that day and looked in the mirror I realized how ugly I looked and felt. Just so much dissapointment in myself.
So here I am 23 years old and finding these forums has meant so much to me. I have never confided about my acne to anyone else, my friends were always cool but I didnt want to trouble them with my problems because they always had perfect skin even with their junk food diets and they never feared to even touch their face. Whilst I would break out as soon as I wiped sweat off my forehead. I really do love them as my bros and I know they didnt care about how much acne I had but there were many drinking nights/hanging out nights that I just declined because of my acne or fear of potentially getting acne. Like seeing that huge Mt Vesuvius on my face totally zapped any confidence I had. Like dont get me wrong when it comes down to it I have no problem adjusting socially , but I always thought " damn it would be great if I had clear skin ". Doesnt help how image and looks are becoming everything now days. I laugh at the people that complain about their one zit they get. You lucky bastards.
Dang I drifted way too far, anyhow so everything aside I realized it was all me! I let acne destroy my life and after reading countless posts on the forums late at night while my roommate was sleeping even tearing at some of these posts people put up and the journey they have gone through has given me a newfound sense of confidence that I am ready to be acne free and this time Im gonna fight it the correct way so I after countless hours of research I bought Dans regimen and although Im one month and I know its late but I kept a personal record of what has happened so far and here I go ... Maybe after Im done I wont be so scared to look in the mirror anymore.
Since I already am one month in its safe to say I can confidently post up all the mistakes I realized I made but its always a learning process especially since im so damn impatient (like with popping zits).
Week 1 - I used the full amount of bp right away. Now I used bp as a topical for like my whole acne life so when I used dans bp I felt like I could handle the full amount. Yeah I could handle it but damn it itched and burned like hell the 1st week in. So I had maybe no acne on my forehead just bunch of scars but I still put alot there anyways. I mean I read about purging but dang I didnt know itd make me look like I had the worst acne ever. The first week nothing really changed much some of my older acne was starting to turn into these great purple marks on my face ... Awesome! Towards the end of the week I started breaking out like crazy like 4 new pimples on my right cheek and what would you know the day after itd be symmetrical on my left wtf?! Purge city!
Week 2 - So I decided to change up my diet since alot of people talk about fixing yourself up internally as well. I drank lemon juice once a day. Acv at night before bed. At some point I decided to use acv or lemon juice either or as a toner after I cleansed. I have to say both really work I know lemon juice like helps with the alkalinity of your skin and helps balance it, I also noticed that using either acv or lemon as a toner really helped when I applied bp over my face it just glided smoothly like butter! So mah face idk is always oily like even when I moisturize like you should see me in the morning its like oil dripping down my face. Real shiny.
More pimples this week. The ones that just formed are huuuge and idk if theyll ever get smaller. But you can only go up from being down. So I followed dans regimen strictly or at least tried too. I decided to up my moisturizing to two full pumps. Which is actually alot like it takes a hour for my skin to fully absorb it but I had a feeling that the dryness and itchiness caused me to break out.
Week 3 - more pimples! Original ones went away into purple marks. Got some fresh ones on my chin but eventually towards the end of the week another breakout. I started eating more fruits , cut dairy and sugars normally I dont eat sweets but I do love my monster energy drinks! So I limit that to once a day or none. The pimples seem to be coming to a head more quickly like I really wanna pop these white suckers soooo One night I did and it left my pimples bleeding and inflammed :/. Aigoo! The 1 pimple on my forehead got smaller and purple but another one formed right below it. Still following dans regimen not perfectly since I work late till 2 some nights but at least once when I wake up and once when I go to bed. Im still drinkin acv daily maybe like a shot a night. I stipped applying lemon and acv since I felt like with the bp I was drying out way too fast. This is the week I really started to moisturize like whenever Id feel dry or itd look dry id bust out dans moisturizer! My skin got really brown and dirty colored around my cheeks.
Week 4 - more pimples and huge ones 4 in a box pattern on my right cheek 3 on my left. The one new pimple on my forehead got bigger. But not too crazy. Still have many old pimples that are turning into black lumps. Ugh and the marks made it seem llike i still have pimples only their black and more noticable. Felt like giving up at this point. Started using lemon juice on marks and it lightened them somewhat. I cannot stress how important moisturizing was for me at this point.
Week 3 - more pimples! Original ones went away into purple marks. Got some fresh ones on my chin but eventually towards the end of the week another breakout. I started eating more fruits , cut dairy and sugars normally I dont eat sweets but I do love my monster energy drinks! So I limit that to once a day or none. The pimples seem to be coming to a head more quickly like I really wanna pop these white suckers soooo One night I did and it left my pimples bleeding and inflammed :/. Aigoo! The 1 pimple on my forehead got smaller and purple but another one formed right below it. Still following dans regimen not perfectly since I work late till 2 some nights but at least once when I wake up and once when I go to bed. Im still drinkin acv daily maybe like a shot a night. I stipped applying lemon and acv since I felt like with the bp I was drying out way too fast. This is the week I really started to moisturize like whenever Id feel dry or itd look dry id bust out dans moisturizer! My skin got really brown and dirty colored around my cheeks.
Week 4 - more pimples and huge ones 4 in a box pattern on my right cheek 3 on my left. The one new pimple on my forehead got bigger. But not too crazy. Still have many old pimples that are turning into black lumps. Ugh and the marks made it seem llike i still have pimples only their black and more noticable. Felt like giving up at this point. Started using lemon juice on marks and it lightened them somewhat. I cannot stress how important moisturizing was for me at this point.
Have you ever been to a dermatologist? I'd cut out those monster energy drinks completely, they are no good for your skin. Have you ever had your vitamin levels checked or taken vitamins?
As the above poster said, you might want to get your vitamin levels checked and begin adding in at least a multivitamin and omega 3 if you aren't taking these already. They are good for overall health, and have seemed to be beneficial to my skin as well. Also, I am currently doing the "caveman" or "water only" method. Water only touches my face when I am in the shower, and I otherwise use no products (no cleansers, BP, SA, moisturizers, lotions, potions, etc...) I FULLY UNDERSTAND that this method will not work for everyone, and myself having very mild acne this method may work better for me than someone with cystic acne. I am not saying that using zero products will surely cure your acne, but it is working amazingly for me so far and I will not be turning back to using products again! Again, it will not work for everyone, but I would suggest at least giving the caveman regimen a decent try (a month) and see how it does--it can't hurt!
I should be updating this post more often, but even writing about my acne just makes me feel down sometimes. But thanks for the insight and the response. I am definitely gonna get those vitamins and omega 3, seems great for my body even with acne or not. There was actually a period in my life where I didnt really care about my acne as much as I do now and didnt even let it phase me. So I did not use cleansers, bp, sa, moisturizers, lotions for like 2 years maybe and surprisingly my acne wasn't as bad as it is now on dan's regimen I did wash my face with soap tho. I'm so glad that the caveman regimen works for you and I think if Dan's Regimen does not work for me I am willing to try anything else that can help me. Honestly I hate putting all these products on my face I just wish I naturally didn't have any acne lol. Thanks russc56 for the tip, btw how is your diet? Do you still eat whatever you want with the caveman regimen? It seems like recently now that I've become more aware of diet being a cause of acne, everytime I eat anything a new pimple comes out and it defintely wasn't like that before blah!!!
As the above poster said, you might want to get your vitamin levels checked and begin adding in at least a multivitamin and omega 3 if you aren't taking these already. They are good for overall health, and have seemed to be beneficial to my skin as well. Also, I am currently doing the "caveman" or "water only" method. Water only touches my face when I am in the shower, and I otherwise use no products (no cleansers, BP, SA, moisturizers, lotions, potions, etc...) I FULLY UNDERSTAND that this method will not work for everyone, and myself having very mild acne this method may work better for me than someone with cystic acne. I am not saying that using zero products will surely cure your acne, but it is working amazingly for me so far and I will not be turning back to using products again! Again, it will not work for everyone, but I would suggest at least giving the caveman regimen a decent try (a month) and see how it does--it can't hurt!
I am a college athlete so naturally I eat pretty healthy. Mostly fruits, veggies, and protein. I don't hold myself back from eating carbs, pasta, and sweets though. There are some things you can do to improve your overall health and acne, such as a healthy diet, daily exercise, and drinking plenty of water (I drink at least 50 oz per day). If you have a poor diet, try to get into a routine of healthful eating. If you know that certain foods irritate your skin especially, try removing those from your diet. I am sure that most people on here know what a healthy diet consists of and what foods irritate their acne. For me, I can eat meat and carbs without an issue and I am more concerned with gaining weight or maintaining my weight than losing weight--therefore I do not stress much about my food. I would suggest you find a diet (that does not necessarily mean restricting your caloric intake) that works for you and is easy enough for you to keep up without feeling the need to binge on sweets/carbs/etc when you have cravings. For me, a healthy lifestyle and using no skin products seems to be working. For some, it is veganism, for some it is zero carbs or dairy, for some it is antibiotics. Find where you can improve and go from there! It will be a good lifestyle change and MAY help your acne as well.