Hello! First of all let me tell you about my acne past. I've been dealing with acne since i was 16-17 years old, it started in High School, of course, where else, haha. I didn't really think about it that much, at least I don't remember as much about it anymore. I'm 23 now and I've learned quite a few things along the way.

I had a pretty severe case of acne, also told by my dermathologist, I got prescribed Roaccutane 10mg and 20mg. The 20mg was the first step and at first there were no results, but it was probably cus I was eating chocolate and everything I shouldn't be eating at the time. But after time the pills did kick in I guess and the results were in. I followed the plan with 10mg and they helped as well, it took some time tho. I had severe cystic acne (very painful) on my shoulders, my upper chest and the upper half of my back.

I was taking the pills for about 2 years roughly and was left with scars, mostly keloids on my shoulders and some discolorations on my upper neck right in the ridge that has the bend between the neck and your chin, the edgy part was the most fragile I noticed. It basically stopped producing new acne on my body besides the face.

Now, when I finally said that I need to keep this under control I found out a thing or two on how to battle them with might!

Firstly I wanna say that aside from my scars that are not as noticable anymore, my skin is relaxed and just feels fresh and calm, no storm building up in it.

I follow these steps that really changed my life. I see a whole new side to the Acne battle.

1. Sleep habbits

Deffinetly the most important ingredient of all in battling skin conditions in general and of course Acne specifically. Getting to bed at either 10 or 11 at the latest is great, and getting 7-8 hours of sleep makes wonders, trust me. Sleeping gives your skin and your body to fight back, it's the one time the body feels stronger than any other time. You regenerate and your skin shows it.

2. Water is the elixir of life

Getting rid of the daily syrup drinks was the pain in the ass because I love drinking syrup drinks, forrest berries to be precise, we rarely have Coke or Pepsi or those drinks around the house, so syrup was my thing. Drinking water, well, starting is the hard part, but you get used to it, after a while you don't even notice you're only drinking water. Sugar is deadly for your skin, white sugar is just plain bad. Water clears your skin and just works magic.

3. Making yourself "happy" won't make you happy

Yes, I've read over 10 posts of people claiming that masturbating causing acne is a myth and that it doesn't affect your skin. That's just flat out wrong. Here are some facts: acne is a hormonal skin condition, the hormone level is the essential part of how bad your skin is and how active it becomes. When you masturbate, you raise your hormones to levels higher than ever, and that's when the breakouts happen. You shouldn't stop, god no, but you should lower it to 1/week, and the results will be astonishing, trust me, you won't believe the power of will and patience.

4. Diet

We all love chocolate don't we. Yeah, that sweet feeling of chocolate on your lips is to die for. But as good as chocolate is, it's as dangerous as well. Chocolate does cause acne, even tho some doctors might tell you it "shouldn't" have any special effects on your skin. The same goes for pork, fried food, premade packed or frozen food and dairy products. Change your pork to chicken, make yourself a chicken tortillia with that mexican vegi combo, you'll be begging for more. Instead of eating chocolate, switch to fruits or make yourself a fruit salad to make it interesting cus let's face it, fruit can make you hate it really fast. Salads, tomatos, beans, onions, corn, tuna, those are great nutriants for your skin, filled with positive things, unlike that Prime Rib you always order. And remember, making food by yourself as much as possible, even if it's a sandwich with some lettuce, chicken or turkey or even tuna, and maybe some paprika or tomatos. Food = fun, if you know how to cook, which is pretty simple, you just follow the recepie, shouldn't be to hard. I love cooking btw.

5. Being relaxed and happy

Stress and frustration causes acne, I've seen it happen in a time interval of 24 hours. Do the things you know should be done and do things for yourself that make you happy, don't stress over little things, be open to new challenges and be creative. Don't get into situations where you might be the victim of feeling bad or feeling rejected or just anything negative. Creative a positive atmosphere in your home, your room and your life. Having a fresh wardrobe helps, getting that awesome haircut you've always wanted, or more. In general, be HAPPY, live HAPPILY and feel FREE. Your skin will show it, I promise you.

Some tips and perhaps reaction times for certain treatments I just listed:

When you stop/start doing all of the above, you could see significant if not 75%+ changes in perhaps 2 weeks, it depends on how your body reacts as well. Stopping masturbation will show in just a few days, 3-5 days will show just how amazingly your body fights this annoying thing millions of teens are going against on a daily basis. Chocolate is another factor, I stopped eating chocolate over a year ago and it's been great ever since, it's like getting percentages, chocolate is like 30%, sleep is 25%,... and so on. And eventually you'll get to 90%+ improvements. Now, not everything will go away, your hormones are still active and will cause breakouts every now and then, but some breakouts you won't even notice cus they'll be that small or unnoticable.

I wish that this will help ou achieve your ultimate goal of being free of Acne fear. I hope that you see results as soon as possible.

Have a very happy holiday season, much love and silliness to you all!

Love, Fleksible