Hi, everyone.

I've always came to this site to find any information about the products and stuff like that and finally today I decided to join the community!

So here's my acne story (you can skip this if you want):

I HAD CLEAR BRIGHT SKIN until just about 10 months ago.

I didn't even have to apply foundation and my face was flawless.. then I started breaking out due to stress (personal issue..) and hormonal imbalance and my face WAS A MONSTER.

I didn't even want to go to school and currently, I'm taking a break off from college because of personal issue (again) and I'm trying to get back to flawless face again before I go back to school next year..

Ever since I started breaking out, I didn't even go out and I didn't even look at my face..

When I go to the bathroom to wash my face, I would just turn off the light because I just couldn't look at my face.

My mom would always tell me "omg your face is getting worse!" and that made me stress out even more so whenever my mom came near me, I would just walk away because I didn't want her to observe my face and start giving me another stress..

She would tell me to go to dermatologist but I said no because I don't have insurance and my sister went to dermatologist and spent at least 5000 dollars just on the products AND LASER treatment that never worked.. so I didn't want to waste my money going to dermatologist.

My sister is currently on Accutane and her face is getting better for the first time. but accutane and birth control would NEVER BE options for me becuase I don't want to mess up my body system.

So I started breaking out on my forehead (WHICH NEVER HAPPENED if I broke out, it would usually be cheeks and mouth but NVER forehead) cheeks and JAWLINE AND NECK (WORST!). So then, I realized that my acne was due to hormonal imbalance..

I tried so many different things: Differin, Acne.org regimen set, etc etc. things I can't even remember.. I tried produts that my sister would bring from dermatologist but NEVER worked.

From about a month ago, I started taking some supplements, change my habits, etc etc and my face is SOOOO MUCH GETTING BETTER. I can finally look at myself in the mirror.

Currently, I have a lot of discoloration from picking my face (DONT EVER DO THAT!) and some active acnes here and there but that's about it!

SOO here are things I'm doing right now:

1. DRINK LEMON WATER EVERY MORNING BEFORE YOU EAT BREAKFAST.

This became a habit for me.. I would wake up and pour one bottle of water into a glass and squeeze about 1/3 of lemon into the water and drink it before I eat anything.

Lemon is known to detoxify and cleanse your liver and could fade discoloration and make your face brighter etc. A LOT OF BENEFITS!

2. DRINK AT LEAST 2 BOTTLES OF WATER.

I never drank water....I HATED water.. I would only drink soda and it was so bad.. my teeth were bad and my face was bad. I could totally tell water has helped me SOO MUCH. If you are like me and hate drinking water, I know how you feel but you have to do it!!

The recommendation is you drink 4 bottles of water (2L) and I drink at least 3 bottles of water now but if you can't, drink at least 2 bottles.

3. DON'T USE ACNE MEDICATIONS!

I can't emphasize this enough. Well, if you have SEVERE acne, this might not be the case for you. I had mild to severe acne..but they weren't really cystic. I used to use Neutrogena Salicylic cleanser and acne.org benzoyl peroxide and all these harsh medications and omg MY FACE WAS WORSE. I used the acne.org regimen for 5 months but only thing that was left was MORE acne and DISCOLORATION.

Don't USE HARSH CHEMICALS. you will regret it so much. It will dry your skin out and you might think this is good for you, but NO IT ISNT.

If you keep putting all those harsh chemicals onto your face, your acne could improve temporarily, but you will be left with discoloration, scars, and more acne when you get off of them.

So this is the ONLY THING I USE at day and night:

-Purpose gentle cleanser (or you could use cetaphil, anything VERY gentle)

( gently wash your face for only 30 seconds! NO MORE)

Then pat dry your face with towel and use any moistruizer that doesn't have any unncessary chemicals in it.

again, IT DOES NOT HAVE TO BE ACNE RELATED MOISTURIZER as long as it is uncomodogenic.

I'm using acne.org moisturizer.

I used to use cerave moisturizer but I felt like it had too much unncessary ingredients in there and it didn't really moisturize my face.

Moisturizer is just to moisturize your face, nothing more nothing less!

So as long as it moisturizes your face, then it's good to go!!

Seriously, these two things are the ONLY THING I'm using right now.

When I wake up in the morning, MY FACE IS SUPER SMOOTH!! It's really amazing.

Since there are no harsh chemicals on my face, my skin looks SOOO MUCH healthy.

Plesae listen to me and try for at least a month!

At first, I didn't want to stop using my acne medications either because I thought I was gonna break out even more...

Yes, it did get worse before it got better because my skin had to adapt to new gentle formulas I was using..

4.TAKE SHOWER EVERDAY

Frankly, I only took shower every other day.. haha. because my dad would be like "your hair needs oil if you don't want it to get damaged so taking shower everyday isn't good!" So what I do is, I take shower every night, but only every other day, I would shampoo my hair.. And other day, I would just wash my hair with water so I don't lose any moisture on my hair.

This has helped so much with my BACKACNE TOO. omg I HAVE COMPLETLY NO BACKACNE RIGHT NOW. It's amazing.

I'm using Dial body wash and THIS STUFF IS AMAZING.

5.USE ALOE!!!

I just started using this about 2 days ago becuase my mom bought it somewhere and told me to try it..

AND THIS IS SOO AMAZING. okay I find everything amazing but seriously,, it's been only 2 days and my face is soooooooo smooth and all the active acnes would just go in when I wake up.

I am using the raw plant and cut it and just apply it on my face and leave it on for 15 minutes and wash it away then apply moisturizer and sleep. The next day you wake up, you WILL see the difference.

6. TAKE SUPPLEMENTS IF YOU DONT WANT TO TAKE BIRTH CONTROL/ACCUTANE

Okay this step is VERY important.

If you are like me and don't want to take birth control, the option you have is SUPPLEMENTS.

I always knew I had some kind of hormonal problem so I would break out in my jawline and neck.. (and because I had VERY IRREGULAR PERIOD) I WAS about to take birth control but I read somewhere that birth control is piece of shit and it's something you can't get off of until you are like 50... soo I decided not to do it. and you know Accutane has a lot of side effects and I just didn't want to risk it.

So here are supplements I'm taking right now:

-GNC FISH OIL (this has omega 3 in it and it specifically says that it promotes healthy skin) I take twice with meal everyday

-NOW foods Female balance (This is good for regulating hormones and again, I take twice with meal) I read on the amazon review that it helped some people treat their hormonal acne so I decided to give it a try and I feel like it really did help me with my acne and my skin complexion overall!!

-NOW foods L-Cysteine (The reason I'm taking this is because I read on the Korean website (I'm Korean..lol) that it has helped so many people getting their face brighter and healthier) Korean people are obsessed with having good, bright skin so I always trust them with their review.. and not only this helped with my face getting brighter but also helped my nails grow stronger.

Read all the ingredients and stuff before you decide to buy anything!

7. SLEEP EARLY!!!!!! and get enough sleep!

I used to go to sleep at 4am and wake up at 2pm and omg it was bad.. I think that also contributed to my acne..

I read that forehead acne is associated with the irregular sleeping habit and ever sinec I started going to sleep before 12 and wkae up before 9, my forehead acne got SOO much better.

IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS, FEEL FREE TO ASK!