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Acne Free When In Europe, But Not In Us

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(@lazarus32)

Posted : 08/15/2014 10:10 pm

I was recently in Europe for 3 months of backpacking. Beforehand I was eating well, lots of fresh veggies and fruits and my acne was contained. While abroad, my acne cleared up substantially, despite the fact that I was partying 4-5 nights/week and was very lax on restricting what i ate. Towards the end of my trip, I was basically on a three week straight bender drinking heavily (10-15 drinks/ night) during that time. (i like to party). my diet also went to crap and was eating mainly kebabs, mcdonalds and KFC. funny thing is, this was the clearest my face had been in 1.5 years. i was exfoliating with an apricot scrub w/ SA daily and used an alcohol based aftershave after shaving but thats as far as my treatment went. Within a month or so of returning home to the states my diet had returned to what it was prior to my trip and slowly but surely my acne came back. Anyone have any idea why this would be?

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(@omnivium)

Posted : 08/17/2014 5:32 am

I've heard this plenty of times over the years. People saying they get clear on vacation and then break out again when they get home. I don't know why that happens but I'm in for answers. Do you get clear when you travel to other places within the us?

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(@jollyhohnson)

Posted : 08/17/2014 12:01 pm

I'd be really interested to find out why this happens to. I wondered if perhaps it has something to do with the type of water?

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(@leon85)

Posted : 08/17/2014 12:06 pm

Could it be stress related?

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(@leadingforce)

Posted : 08/17/2014 4:28 pm

my stepsister came from vietnamese with clear flawless skin then moved to the us and started breakout with moderate acne when she first came after the 2nd week but its cleared now

im guessing because u.s food has chemicals in them and terrible environment

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(@willhelm)

Posted : 08/17/2014 5:42 pm

I went on a month holiday to the Maldives, my acne cleared up and i had near perfect skin, the day after i got back to the UK, big break outs and acne back to normal. Some people will say it's the sun but i don't think so, i really have no clue. Maybe it is psychological, being far more relaxed and happy might stop acne. Don't think it's the food or water, plenty of Europeans including myself have acne.

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(@ukdreamin)

Posted : 08/18/2014 12:26 am

Same thing happened to me! I spent the month of July in Europe with 90-95% clear skin, and didn't wash my makeup off at all some days (partying until 8am does that to ya!), yet still managed not to break out. Back home to Canada and my skin starts breaking out pretty much overnight (although mild and manageable thanks to the regimen) I think it has something to do with what Europe allows in their food in terms of chemicals.. and maybe the water? Water in Europe felt more gentle on my skin, as crazy as it sounds.

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(@omnivium)

Posted : 08/18/2014 4:56 am

Same thing happened to me! I spent the month of July in Europe with 90-95% clear skin, and didn't wash my makeup off at all some days (partying until 8am does that to ya!), yet still managed not to break out. Back home to Canada and my skin starts breaking out pretty much overnight (although mild and manageable thanks to the regimen) I think it has something to do with what Europe allows in their food in terms of chemicals.. and maybe the water? Water in Europe felt more gentle on my skin, as crazy as it sounds.

I remember hearing something about certain ingredients being banned in european countries because they are unhealthy. Someone can look into that if they want but I'm too lazy lol.

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(@quetzlcoatl)

Posted : 08/18/2014 8:23 am

Could be food or water, could just be stress. The US doesn't much care for regulation so I wouldn't be surprised if it's just a chemical combination overload like we see with colony collapse disorder

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(@lazarus32)

Posted : 08/18/2014 10:39 am

Ya stress or water quality were two things I thought could be responsible. I usually try to drink about 100 oz of water per day and was pretty consistent with that in both the US and Europe (I drank tap water in both places). Maybe I should try to start drinking reverse osmosis water or something here, just to switch it up. Could be chemicals in the food too, but I wonder how much different fast food in Europe really is compared to the US. I wouldnt say I was stress free at all, just different types of stressors. Overall I was more relaxed/care-free when I was abroad and that probably had something to do with it.

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(@omnivium)

Posted : 08/18/2014 3:11 pm

Well here'es the extent of my research haha. http://eatlocalgrown.com/article/11944-banned-foods.html

It's a list of 10 american ingredients that are banned in other countries.

1. Recombinant bovine growth hormone that is given to cows

2. Genetically modified food

3. A drug called ractopamine that makes meat more muscular and less fatty

4. Drinks with brominated vegetable oil such as Mountain Dew

5. Artificial food coloring

6. Organic arsenic added to meat

7. Bread with potassium bromate

8. A fat substitute called olestra

9. The preservatives BHA and BHT

10. Farm raised salmon

Keep in mind that people in other countries can have bad acne too, but this just shows that other countries are more strict about what they let people put in our food.

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(@green-gables)

Posted : 08/19/2014 5:37 pm

I never experienced this magical skin clearing while traveling abroad. Just my two cents.

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