Hi all,

I have been a reader of the acne.org message boards for years but never created an account because it always made me feel it would make the condition more real. I had moderate (all over the face, also some hormonal on jaw, and occasional but lenghty cysts that left tons of scars on my pale freckly skin) but very chronic acne for probably half my life, I am now a 22 year old young woman who is practically acne free!

I honestly chose to share this now because I have experienced the correlation between my acne disappearing and the things that seemed to have helped so here you go. I created this account today just to share my excitement with you guys and potentially helping someone out there with my cheap and effective regiment!!!

-drinking water or green tea (unsweetened). avoiding juices and sugars (not completely, but most of the time)

-the holy grail of my regimen: APPLE CIDER VINEGAR PILLS!!!! i take this supplement three times a day, two pills with a meal as indicated on the box. I've experimented with other brands and this one was the most effective for me but feel free to try out any other ones. I am positive this is THE ELEMENT THAT CLEARED MY ACNE FOR THE MOST PART. I have been using it on and off since September 2010 and everytime I use this supplement regularly my skin looks amazing, the acne disappears!! It takes 2-3 weeks to see some results but it is amazing and I can testify it works. I tried drinking organic ACV with the "mother" but it was quite difficult in terms of taste even diluted so I stopped. Seriously give this a shot. The brand I used is a Canadian brand called Holista.

-diminishing makeup use and cleaning makeup brushes more often!!!! I use mineral makeup (coverfx) and ever since I cut down on my concealer use (from revlon) I noticed less clogged pores and a healthier overall skin tone. I wish i had the confidence to go makeup-less but because of my pale freckly complexion, any scar typically lasts wayyy longer than usual.

-healthy diet (not overly healthy, but the more veggies and fruits I eat and then less refined stuff the better my overall health is, including skin). I also avoid dairy (except for natural plain yogurt) and only drink almond milk as I am lactose intolerant and milk makes me breakout like there is no tomorrow.

(-birth control pills, still unsure of how effective they are for acne but I wanna mention that I have been on them since december and my hormonal acne has diminshed a bit. nothing as drastic as with ACV pills though. still worth mentioning I guess, i take ortho tri cyclen lo)

THAT's it! Topically I use a gentle cleanser (spectro jel or something from laroche-posay) and sometimes I'll use some salicylic acid pads. I also like tea tree oil to treat spots and to moisturize it's either sweet almond oil or a very rich cream moisturizer from cetaphil (not the facial one, the one in a tube for very dry skin).

Anyway, I cannot stress this enough if there is one thing from this list I recommend you try, it is the apple cider vinegar pills!!!! Make sure you drink plenty of water and be careful to not get it stuck in your throat it could damage your oesophagus (spelling??) because of the high acidity. Do not use if you are pregnant or breastfeeding (that's what it says on my bottle). GOOOOO AND TRY!!!!

Because I have used it on and off and notice a significant improvement every time I use it consistently, and then notice a big change for the worse when I stop I can honestly almost promise you that there is some correlation between the two and that it truly works for some people. You have very little to lose (it costs about 10 dollars for a bottle that lasts for a month or more..). Some people may think it is because I've grown out of the acne, but I don't agree because if I stop the acne comes back full-force...

That's it Happy Easter/Passover/Holidays!!! xx