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The 'different' routine that got rid of my acne (good for skin that breaks out at everything) with before and after

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(@fluores)

Posted : 12/06/2015 4:05 pm

My skin is not perfect, but the improvement is amazing. My skin is smooth to the touch now. I have mainly hyperpigmentation and some little unnoticeable clogged pores. When I stick to my current routine, I have no pimples. When I stray or get lazy with my skincare, the acne comes back. Overall, I would say I have had success in treating my acne. My skin type: normal-dry, sensitive, scar prone, hyperpigmentation prone acne prone, light olive complexion.

This article is most useful for those who break out from everything, suspect a makeup allergy and/or have very sensitive-acne prone skin.

 

My full article is {LINK REMOVED}. I get way more detail about how and why my acne started and continued, important things I learned about acne and more advice. It's long but everything I write is necessary. I also show pictures of the healing process.

I'll just copy and past my routine below for you and my before and after picture. If you have any questions, ask away.

BEFOREAFTER.jpg

 

The routine that got rid of my acne

 
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I stopped wearing makeup

Every here and there I put on some foundation or concealer for a short amount of time only where I need it. My nose and undereyes can wear any makeup without problem.

I stopped washing my face
Crazy I know. I love Paulas choice cleansers, but I realized the only reason I needed to use it was to remove left over traces of makeup. Otherwise, my dry skin did not need to be further stripped by sulfates and so on! I only let tap water touch my face in the shower occasionally. I find it really dries it out enough! Must be the chlorine and heat.

I used pure distilled water on my face
Instead of washing my face. I use a cotton pad with the purest water ever- distilled. In theory distilled water should be a ph of 7- which is neautral. My water is slightly more acidic which is normal. My water is a ph of about 5.5 which is the ph of skin. I am therefore not disrupting the acid mantle of my skin. I also use distilled water to water-down things like tea tree oil and apple cider vinegar. I find the water where I live is not good quality. I have hardwater, chlorinated, fluorinated water.

I became very physically gentle with my skin
I have to treat it like a baby's skin. That means no hard rubbing and scrubbing. Very light touches. And most importantly, no picking!

I stopped popping pimples
Sometimes I will pop a pimple if its come to a head. But otherwise i've learned you need to kill the bugger in other ways! It actually heals faster by causing less damage and inflammation. TRUST ME. In the long run, letting a pimple run it's course no matter how big is better than month of hyperpigmentation or a scar. Not only that, popping a pimple almost always leads it to reinfect and come back! It's hard to pop a pimple properly. I use salicylic acid and tea tree oil and soaking in warm water to get rid of my pimple. Use gentle methods like this often and you'll find it will significantly reduce by the next day.

I remove all face makeup without fail!
I've developed a failproof way of removing makeup. It's 3-4 steps without washing involved.
I found using a cleansing water was far more effective for me than oil like olive oil or grapeseed oil. There are many cleansing oils out there that I have not tried. But I have a strong feeling that my skin might not like it. Cleansing waters made a huge difference when I started 'weaning' myself off of foundation! I don't plan on switching to anything else.

These steps are performed very, very gently with a cotton pad. By the end steps, I use the light from my mirror to look through the cotton pad to make sure I see no darkness. Any darkness means there is still oil and makeup on your face. The cotton pad might look clean, but holding it up to a light really shows you. The cotton pad MUST look clean by the end of this session. These steps are also a gentle but powerful form of exfoliation.  It really soaks your face as well, you might notice scabs accidentally coming off in the process. 

This is a weird cleansing method, but it really works for me. I don't do this everyday I do ever other day or if I wore makeup. I find if I go bad to my old ways or get lazy, the pimples comes back. I use about 2 cotton pads cut into fourths.

Step 1: Use a cleansing water: I love Bioderma Sensibio H2O and Marcelle 3-1 Micellar Solution.
Step 2: Use distilled water to take off any residual cleansing water or makeup.  You technically don't need to worry about cleansing water residue on your face (it leaves none!) but I do't like the idea of the chemicals in it staying on my face!
Step 3: I use apple cider vinegar mixed in distilled water (a ratio of about 2:10) This is has a low ph,  so is chemical exfoliant. I like to think it sort of cleans my face. I find it removes more oil and makeup. I really like to soak the pad after the initial wipe down and then let it soak in my skin.
Step 4: I use Thayers Witch Hazel. It is sort of astringent, moisturising and cooling all at once. The main ingredients are water, organic aloe vera leaf juice, vegetable glycerin and organic witch hazel -alcohol free. By this step, you should see no residue when light shines through the cotton pad.

I use a liquid BHA
I use Paulas Choice BHA liquid and Clear Regular Strength Anti-Redness Exfoliating Solution. These blow away drugstore salicylic acid treatments. I find they soak in far better and have no fragrance. They really exfoliate. With daily use, it's not uncommon to see flaky skin. You'll need a moistuizer. I find this really helps clogged pores heal in a few days. I had Keratosis pilaris (KP) and this got rid of it.

I use fragrance free moisturizers
My face can only seem to tolerate Paulas Choice moisturiser. I love the Skin Recovery moisturizer. I've gone though so many moisturizers and ended up not liking them. They would break me out, the fragrance would be so strong, they wouldn't moisturize or soak in or they ball up on my face.

I use tea tree oil on pimples
This is tricky because you need to dilute tea tree oil just enough. You can't use pure tea tree oil on skin but you also can't use too little regularly because the bacteria on your skin will get use to the tea tree oil and develop resistance and create a superbug infection. Scary stuff!  You do not want skin that is resistant to antibiotics. You need to make sure you use at least 4%. It's something that you need to work with.  On another note, oil is impossible to mix with water so you need to shake your mixture before you use it on a cotton swab. To be honest, I use a strong concoction, where it burns. I don't like mixing tea tree oil in a base like glycerine or moisturiser because I like it to really soak in the pimple. I wouldn't recommend adding tea tree oil to your daily moisturizer. I would keep it for very occasional use on active pimples only!

I don't use heavy silicone hair products
The hair touched your face a lot. It touches your pillow that your face touches. All not good.

I use clean pillow cases
Pillow cases get so dirty. Either change your single pillowcase once every 5 days at least or alternate clean pillows like I do.

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(@kerbren)

Posted : 03/24/2017 4:30 pm

My skincare routine is extremely similar to this and I was wondering how long it took for you to see results??? I am on day 17 of this routine and I think I still might be purging?? Please let me know

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