Hey everyone, I could really use your help.
I'm a senior in college and have never used anything on my face (I just let water run down my face in the shower). I'm fortunate to not have that much acne, but will always have a spot and will occasionally have a pimple that takes forever to surface.. Annoying and a total confidence killer, in fact I will cancel all plans whenever I have one of those. This is something I want to address. But have no idea where to start. In fact I'm scared to try anything new in fear of making things worse.
Many of my pores have gunk and junk in them (oftentimes with no real irritation or redness). What would help this? A moisturizer? An exfoliant? For the most part I wouldn't say my face is dry or anything, but maybe I'm so naive I just don't know it.
I'm absolutely in the dark here. I'm 21 and have never had any parent or friend assist me with this. What do you suggest?
Perhaps the fact that you don't have a routine to remove dead skin cells and stuff from your skin is what causes your 'junk and gunk'. Maybe you should use a cleanser twice a day (when you wake up and before you go to bed) and exfoliate 2-3 times a week just to remove anything that accumulates. Use some natural products if you don't want to use anything on your skin that could make matters worse e.g. la roche posay, simple but really it's down to personal preference/testing....youtube what a skin care routine should be like e.g. cleanse, tone, moisturise etc and then go from there. Make sure whatever you put on your face (ever) is non comedogenic, you don't want anything blocking your pores!
Hey everyone, I could really use your help.
I'm a senior in college and have never used anything on my face (I just let water run down my face in the shower). I'm fortunate to not have that much acne, but will always have a spot and will occasionally have a pimple that takes forever to surface.. Annoying and a total confidence killer, in fact I will cancel all plans whenever I have one of those. This is something I want to address. But have no idea where to start. In fact I'm scared to try anything new in fear of making things worse.
Many of my pores have gunk and junk in them (oftentimes with no real irritation or redness). What would help this? A moisturizer? An exfoliant? For the most part I wouldn't say my face is dry or anything, but maybe I'm so naive I just don't know it.
I'm absolutely in the dark here. I'm 21 and have never had any parent or friend assist me with this. What do you suggest?
Hey,
Sorry you are feeling low about your skin! But great news that you don't suffer from too much acne.
Onto your skincare:
If you're thinking about starting up a skincare regimen but you are worried about it making your skin worse, I would recommend patch testing products for a week on one area of your skin and seeing how it responds. When I used to wash my face I personally used manuka honey as a cleanser. It is extremely gentle and suitable for sensitive skin, and it has amazing antibacterial and antimicrobial properties! (Perfect for killing acne.)
I know it sounds a little crazy to wash your skin with honey, but it's legit I promise. I had some great results!
Currently I am in the process of the "no wash" caveman regimen. So I am basically trying to do exactly what you're doing now! Results so far in terms of my active acne have been great. But, I know what you mean about clogged pores. When there is nothing removing dead skin build up from your face I can see how they would become a problem. So for a gentle, natural exfoliator if you wanted to try one out, I would recommend oatmeal. Here's a link to a great video on how to use oatmeal for acne:
When you say your pores have gunk and junk in them, are they blackheads or closed comedones? And how visible are they? For example, can you only see them when you are an inch away from the mirror?
Also, how is your diet? Have you considered the possibility of a food allergy causing your breakouts?
Hey everyone, I could really use your help.
I'm a senior in college and have never used anything on my face (I just let water run down my face in the shower). I'm fortunate to not have that much acne, but will always have a spot and will occasionally have a pimple that takes forever to surface.. Annoying and a total confidence killer, in fact I will cancel all plans whenever I have one of those. This is something I want to address. But have no idea where to start. In fact I'm scared to try anything new in fear of making things worse.
Many of my pores have gunk and junk in them (oftentimes with no real irritation or redness). What would help this? A moisturizer? An exfoliant? For the most part I wouldn't say my face is dry or anything, but maybe I'm so naive I just don't know it.
I'm absolutely in the dark here. I'm 21 and have never had any parent or friend assist me with this. What do you suggest?
Hey,
Sorry you are feeling low about your skin! But great news that you don't suffer from too much acne.
Onto your skincare:
If you're thinking about starting up a skincare regimen but you are worried about it making your skin worse, I would recommend patch testing products for a week on one area of your skin and seeing how it responds. When I used to wash my face I personally used manuka honey as a cleanser. It is extremely gentle and suitable for sensitive skin, and it has amazing antibacterial and antimicrobial properties! (Perfect for killing acne.)
I know it sounds a little crazy to wash your skin with honey, but it's legit I promise. I had some great results!
Currently I am in the process of the "no wash" caveman regimen. So I am basically trying to do exactly what you're doing now! Results so far in terms of my active acne have been great. But, I know what you mean about clogged pores. When there is nothing removing dead skin build up from your face I can see how they would become a problem. So for a gentle, natural exfoliator if you wanted to try one out, I would recommend oatmeal. Here's a link to a great video on how to use oatmeal for acne:
When you say your pores have gunk and junk in them, are they blackheads or closed comedones? And how visible are they? For example, can you only see them when you are an inch away from the mirror?
Also, how is your diet? Have you considered the possibility of a food allergy causing your breakouts?
Thank you for the response! I will need to do some research on honey and oatmeal. As far as my pores, there are black heads on my nose and visibly clogged pores (white, not inflamed) on the skin by my nose. Strangely the these pores will literally 'ooze' the pus out after I shower, again without any irritation. When this pus dries it sort of becomes less visible. Gross sorry.
I've experimented with my diet before and I'm almost sure it has no effect on my acne, but maybe I'm lacking a vitamin or something. I drink a lot of water and eat pretty healthy for the most part, but I don't take a multivitamin.
I did some research before reading your comment and found this product (linked below). Could you tell me what you think? It's a Dove product, which reassures me because it's a well-known brand, but I'm not sure if it's non-comedogenic. The link below is to the Dove Sensitive Face Wash for men, I'm not sure if Dove Moisturizing Face Wash for men would be better since I don't plan on adding a moisturizer. Any direction on this?
http://www.dovemencare.com/Products/Face-Care/Sensitive-Face-Wash.aspx
Hey!
I just pulled up the ingredients on the dove face wash, and it contains sodium laureth sulfate (the ingredient that makes it foam up,) a lot of alcohol and a host of other chemicals, unfortunately! I really, really wouldn't recommend using any foaming, chemical filled face wash as it will just lead to irritation. I also wouldn't recommend trusting a "well known brand." At the end of the day, big brands want to make money, they are not always concerned with what's best for the consumer.
I would really recommend looking into honey cleansing, but if it seems too strange for you, the best thing to do (if you are really set on a drugstore facewash) is use an online tool like the tool at Acne Mantra ( http://acnemantra.com/comedogenic-ingredients/ ) which has a comedogenic ingredient checker. So you can input the ingredients and see if they are comedogenic.
But please remember that something being 'non-comedogenic' doesn't mean it won't still be really irritating and full of alcohol and chemicals.
I suffer from blackheads on my nose too! The best thing I have ever used to treat them is a toner made of 50% raw, unfiltered apple cider vinegar and 50% water. You can google a recipe, it's a very very popular acne killing toner. But it is also natural, gentle and lightly chemically exfoliating. (So great for gunk in pores!)
As far as diet goes, yes for some people it seems to have no effect. But equally, your body takes a long time to respond to diet changes. So I was suffering from severe cystic acne, after I quit gluten I was still getting acne for the next 3 weeks. I was really depressed about it, thinking that gluten wasn't the cause and that I should give up. But I carried on, and by week 5 I stopped getting acne. You have to give your body a chance to heal and respond!
But if your acne isn't too severe I can understand why changing your diet might not be the most attractive prospect!
Hopefully that is of some help to you!