Okay so I'm 15 and I've had acne since I was like 10... it really sucks. It has left me with no self confidence at all. I've gotten bullied for it and I literally can hardly look in the mirror without wanting to cry its gotten so bad. I need some kind of help... nothing works for me. I've tried natural remedies like the caveman regimen, african black soap, tons of homeade masks, and the OCM. I've tried some lush products, proactiv, and all the drugstore brands. A nurse told me to try just plain bar soap and scrub my skin with a clean wash cloth twice a day. I've taken prescription antibiotics that helped some but the side effects were too severe to continue and my acne came back worse. I've tried retin-a and taking different vitamins that are supposed to help with acne... i don't know why nothing is working. I can't stay the night at friends houses becuase I don't want them to see me without makeup... I won't even go around my own family without makeup on. The only thing I want is to be able to feel pretty without makeup!
Anyway acne runs in my family. My mom was on accutane when she was younger and she wont let me go on it because of how bad it is for you. Currently I'm just using african black soap and doing a 5 minute 20% SA peel once a week. It has helped some but not very much. I'm thinking about trying some new stuff from lush because I think that was the healthiest my skin had been since I've had acne. Last time I didn't really try the stronger stuff ment for acne because I thought my skin was really dry but that was just from using proactiv. The products I tried didn't really do anything for my acne but they improved my skin overall so this is what I want to try this time around.
Morning:
Herbalism
Tea tree toner
grease lighting
and then I'm probably gonna order some coconut oil for a moisterizer
Night:
Dark angles
tea tree toner
grease lightning
coconut oil
I'll still do the weekly peels and I'll probably order some of their tea tree tablets and steam my face weekly too. I also want to start eating healthy and try to remove most dairy from my diet. So like for breakfast I think I'm going to try having an organic hemp smoothie each morning with rice milk and occasionally some greek yogurt(this will probably hold me over until lunch since I normally don't eat breakfast anyway.) And then for lunch have some kind of salad with a source of protein and for dinner cook something healthy... If anyone has some suggestions or any tips or anything please let me know. If you know of any like supplements or foods or products I should be using/taking tell me. I think a lot of my acne has to do with hormones and I'm not allowed to take birth control so if theres anything safe for a 15 year old I could take to help with that let me know...
I also have a problem with picking so I have a ton of scars.... I know it has to do with physiological reasons because its like my release. You could almost say its my version of cutting. Whenever I'm bored or mad or something happens I go to the mirror and pick so I'm going to try to stop picking. If anyone has tips to stop picking tell me those too. I may or may not update this with like pictures and stuff... I might blog everything idk...
This sounds like a good approach, and yes it does suck to be in this spot, it sure does.
Ditching dairy very good place to start...and try to eat better, minimize processed foods, limit sugar, ditch sodas too even diet (read the label, if you can't pronouce it, don't eat it is a good rule)
have you tried benzoyl peroxide, I'm not a fan but it helps many, particularly with an antibiotic like clindimycin, duac it's called....and a retin a like tazorac can help too, there can be an initial breakout but it's an investment
do blog and keep us posted...and if all else fails you need to talk to your mother about accutane, yes there are side effects but it does work miracles for many (didn't work for me sadly) so that path should be one YOU research and come to your own decision on
but until then, get a good battle plan
BP doesn't work for me. I think I'm allergic to it or something. All it does is make my skin extremly dry and red which isn't normal for my skin because I don't have very sensitive skin. Even at a low percentage like 2.5% it messes up my skin. Like I said I'm doing the SA peels and they don't even make my skin as close to as red and flaky as BP does. I've done them as often as 3 times a week without any problems so its not because my skin is too sensitive. I've already ditched soda. I can't drink caffeine because I have this thing called POTS and if I drink caffeine I basically get really dehydrated and pass out so that limited the soda I could drink so I just cut out all soda a while ago. The hard part is going to be cutting the sugar...
Switch to a paleolithic diet. It will clear your skin quickly and you wont need to waste time with all the products.
Very simple diet. It takes will power to follow. If I blow it on the weekend acne will start showing up with 3-5 days. The correlation is striking.
Okay so I'm 15 and I've had acne since I was like 10... it really sucks. It has left me with no self confidence at all. I've gotten bullied for it and I literally can hardly look in the mirror without wanting to cry its gotten so bad. I need some kind of help... nothing works for me. I've tried natural remedies like the caveman regimen, african black soap, tons of homeade masks, and the OCM. I've tried some lush products, proactiv, and all the drugstore brands. A nurse told me to try just plain bar soap and scrub my skin with a clean wash cloth twice a day. I've taken prescription antibiotics that helped some but the side effects were too severe to continue and my acne came back worse. I've tried retin-a and taking different vitamins that are supposed to help with acne... i don't know why nothing is working. I can't stay the night at friends houses becuase I don't want them to see me without makeup... I won't even go around my own family without makeup on. The only thing I want is to be able to feel pretty without makeup!
Anyway acne runs in my family. My mom was on accutane when she was younger and she wont let me go on it because of how bad it is for you. Currently I'm just using african black soap and doing a 5 minute 20% SA peel once a week. It has helped some but not very much. I'm thinking about trying some new stuff from lush because I think that was the healthiest my skin had been since I've had acne. Last time I didn't really try the stronger stuff ment for acne because I thought my skin was really dry but that was just from using proactiv. The products I tried didn't really do anything for my acne but they improved my skin overall so this is what I want to try this time around.
Morning:
Herbalism
Tea tree toner
grease lighting
and then I'm probably gonna order some coconut oil for a moisterizer
Night:
Dark angles
tea tree toner
grease lightning
coconut oil
I'll still do the weekly peels and I'll probably order some of their tea tree tablets and steam my face weekly too. I also want to start eating healthy and try to remove most dairy from my diet. So like for breakfast I think I'm going to try having an organic hemp smoothie each morning with rice milk and occasionally some greek yogurt(this will probably hold me over until lunch since I normally don't eat breakfast anyway.) And then for lunch have some kind of salad with a source of protein and for dinner cook something healthy... If anyone has some suggestions or any tips or anything please let me know. If you know of any like supplements or foods or products I should be using/taking tell me. I think a lot of my acne has to do with hormones and I'm not allowed to take birth control so if theres anything safe for a 15 year old I could take to help with that let me know...
I also have a problem with picking so I have a ton of scars.... I know it has to do with physiological reasons because its like my release. You could almost say its my version of cutting. Whenever I'm bored or mad or something happens I go to the mirror and pick so I'm going to try to stop picking. If anyone has tips to stop picking tell me those too. I may or may not update this with like pictures and stuff... I might blog everything idk...
My suggestions:
No coconut oil! It might be ok for your face, but it is generally quite comedogenic and will break out some people badly. Look into a different moisturizer - Cerave (in the tub) is a great option, but if you're looking for something more natural and light then there are some alternative oils to look into. Jojoba and Argan oil come to mind.
For treatments themselves, I know you've tried Retin-A, but have you tried Tazorac? That's a retinoid that is generally more for acne. Just a thought.
I know it's a very personal decision, but have you tried talking to your mom more about birth control/hormonal treatments or even accutane? Birth control can work incredibly well for female acne. If not birth control, then maybe you could research Spironolactone, which is also a hormonal medication (it is an anti-androgen and can also work extremely well). Accutane is, of course, ideal if your acne truly is severe and you've tried other options - especially if your acne is scarring as scarring is harder to treat.
Best of luck to you and try to stay positive!
Switch to a paleolithic diet. It will clear your skin quickly and you wont need to waste time with all the products.
Very simple diet. It takes will power to follow. If I blow it on the weekend acne will start showing up with 3-5 days. The correlation is striking.
Or not. It didn't work for me.
Okay so I'm 15 and I've had acne since I was like 10... it really sucks. It has left me with no self confidence at all. I've gotten bullied for it and I literally can hardly look in the mirror without wanting to cry its gotten so bad. I need some kind of help... nothing works for me. I've tried natural remedies like the caveman regimen, african black soap, tons of homeade masks, and the OCM. I've tried some lush products, proactiv, and all the drugstore brands. A nurse told me to try just plain bar soap and scrub my skin with a clean wash cloth twice a day. I've taken prescription antibiotics that helped some but the side effects were too severe to continue and my acne came back worse. I've tried retin-a and taking different vitamins that are supposed to help with acne... i don't know why nothing is working. I can't stay the night at friends houses becuase I don't want them to see me without makeup... I won't even go around my own family without makeup on. The only thing I want is to be able to feel pretty without makeup!
Anyway acne runs in my family. My mom was on accutane when she was younger and she wont let me go on it because of how bad it is for you. Currently I'm just using african black soap and doing a 5 minute 20% SA peel once a week. It has helped some but not very much. I'm thinking about trying some new stuff from lush because I think that was the healthiest my skin had been since I've had acne. Last time I didn't really try the stronger stuff ment for acne because I thought my skin was really dry but that was just from using proactiv. The products I tried didn't really do anything for my acne but they improved my skin overall so this is what I want to try this time around.
Morning:
Herbalism
Tea tree toner
grease lighting
and then I'm probably gonna order some coconut oil for a moisterizer
Night:
Dark angles
tea tree toner
grease lightning
coconut oil
I'll still do the weekly peels and I'll probably order some of their tea tree tablets and steam my face weekly too. I also want to start eating healthy and try to remove most dairy from my diet. So like for breakfast I think I'm going to try having an organic hemp smoothie each morning with rice milk and occasionally some greek yogurt(this will probably hold me over until lunch since I normally don't eat breakfast anyway.) And then for lunch have some kind of salad with a source of protein and for dinner cook something healthy... If anyone has some suggestions or any tips or anything please let me know. If you know of any like supplements or foods or products I should be using/taking tell me. I think a lot of my acne has to do with hormones and I'm not allowed to take birth control so if theres anything safe for a 15 year old I could take to help with that let me know...
I also have a problem with picking so I have a ton of scars.... I know it has to do with physiological reasons because its like my release. You could almost say its my version of cutting. Whenever I'm bored or mad or something happens I go to the mirror and pick so I'm going to try to stop picking. If anyone has tips to stop picking tell me those too. I may or may not update this with like pictures and stuff... I might blog everything idk...
My suggestions:
No coconut oil! It might be ok for your face, but it is generally quite comedogenic and will break out some people badly. Look into a different moisturizer - Cerave (in the tub) is a great option, but if you're looking for something more natural and light then there are some alternative oils to look into. Jojoba and Argan oil come to mind.
For treatments themselves, I know you've tried Retin-A, but have you tried Tazorac? That's a retinoid that is generally more for acne. Just a thought.
I know it's a very personal decision, but have you tried talking to your mom more about birth control/hormonal treatments or even accutane? Birth control can work incredibly well for female acne. If not birth control, then maybe you could research Spironolactone, which is also a hormonal medication (it is an anti-androgen and can also work extremely well). Accutane is, of course, ideal if your acne truly is severe and you've tried other options - especially if your acne is scarring as scarring is harder to treat.
Best of luck to you and try to stay positive!
If diet alone doesn't work, then hormones are next. More complicated because of the scientific prejudice associated with hormone modulation in the medical community.
Keep this in mind as it relates to hormones.
1. Its a balancing act.
2. Progesterone neutralizes Estrogen
Estrogen neutralizes testosterone
Testosterone acts as a progestogen
3. Women with android silhouette more likely to have estradiol deficiency. Bio identical estrogen may help. Never give estrogen without progesterone;
4. Gynoid women, particularly those that have symptoms of progesterone deficiency during the luteal phase ( painful breasts days 14-28 of cycle) are likely to have been estrogen dominant earlier in life. Check LH/FSH ratio for adrenal androgens if diet is appropriate.
5. Gynoid women that have symptoms of estrogen deficiency in luteal phase such as breast ptosis (sagging days 14-28) can benefit from estrogen. Always use progesterone with estrogen.
5. When possible use only bio-identical hormones.