Hi,
I just joined acne.org and I hope you all can help me. I am looking to clear myself of acne, and get that glowing skin that is even in tone and blemish free. I hope to get a skin that with time will also "age like fine wine" (the meaning behind my name haha). I hope you all can help me, and I hope my advice and habits that I have learned through experience can help you all as well.
About me and my skin: Moderate oiliness, Uneven skin tone, Little acne, but read for details please
I am a 17 year old male with North Indian origin.
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My skin color ranges. In the summer with lots of sun I have seen myself grow dark to at least E7~E8. However, in the winter with relatively little sun and no sport season, I lighten up to around E3. As of right now coming out of the summer sports season, I would say I am around E5.
I started getting acne in my early teens, around age 12~13. Through experience, I have learned to deal with my acne. My skin as of right now with my regimen is lightly to moderately oily, depending on the day. Lightly oily after washing my face, and moderately oily at the end of a school day or so. I get pimples on my forehead and my cheek generally. However I also used to get many pimples on my nose, and it probably is the only area where I have a visible acne scar on m face, and this imperfection irritates me a lot. I have learned to be vigilant when it comes to blackheads on my nose, and I know its also the most oily area on my face because simply squeezing it every night will cause blackheads to come out (I know, disgusting right?). If it weren't for my experiences with acne, especially on my nose, during my early teens, I would not know how to deal with acne to the degree I know today. Although my nose has zero pimples right now, (I have a pimple around my cheekbone and one on my forehead near my eyebrow), I know that my nose is really the most oily part of my face.
I have little acne scars, but that probably because I have a mother who was concerned about my skin,and taught me how to identify blackheads. I also learned by myself with time and reasoning how to pop a pimple without leaving a crater behind: Wash hands, pop the whitehead and pull out the blackhead or oil thing responsible for its existence, swab the area with alcohol and let the former pimple bleed, filling the pimple and covering the crater. Then, put neosporin, and the scab forms. After a few days, the scab falls off, and the skin is healed like there was never a pimple in the area.
As of right now, I would say that I get less acne than "light acne" (referring to the photo on the acne.org quiz). However this is more likely due to my regimen and my habits I have gained overtime. I don't want to entertain the idea of what my face would look like without my regimen. I also have noticeably uneven, patchy skin tone. I may be patchy due to my skin just lightening up, but I am not sure.
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Regimen: Done twice; In the morning and at night before bed
In shower:
-St. Ives- Green Tea Scrub [Edited link out]
-CVS Oil-Free Deep Clarifying Cream Cleanser [Edited link out]
For the back: I experience a lot of bacne, my back is much more patchy and blemished than my face, and I have much more pimples on my back compared to my face.
-Dial Men body wash Maximum Moisturizer [Edited link out]
+
-Dove Beauty bar [Edited link out]
This combination + back scrubber is what I normally do.
Out of Shower:
-Neutrogena- Oil Free Moisturizer SPF 15 [Edited link out] (This one stings my face noticeably, I usually use its CVS Counterpart which stings minimally, like it isn't irritating, but I couldn't find it in the store so I started using this Neutrogena moisturizer)
Anyways, so that is my regimen. I am aware that it may not be the best I could do, because many products these days are geared towards women rather than men, and these products probably are primarily for women I think. Needless to mention, I also have uneven and patchy skin tone as well as pimples, and I recently have been dealing with flaky skin (probably because of this new moisturizer).As a 17 year old male, my routine may be good for now, but once my skin thickens fully as an adult, I can foresee my current regimenbecoming ineffective or useless as well. Please feel free to add or replace to my regimen as you see fit. However do note that I am still a teenager, so I am not looking for any expensive or hard to get products. Also I am trying to keep my routine as simple as can be (and please don't recommendthe acne.org stuff).
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Some pieces of advice/habits I have adopted throughout my years as an acne prone teenager:
-If you want to touch your face, do so with the back of your hand rather than the front.I know you have all heard not to touch your face at one point or another, but that is an impossible task, especially when your skin may be itchy or an oil slick. Even though I still keep touching my face a minimum, when I do touch my face and there is no place to wash my hands, it is best to do it with the back of my hand. Just think about it logically. Throughout the day, youare touching and holding things with the palm of your hands, so touching your face with the front of your hands would be exposing your skin to many more bacterium. Touching your face is thus less of a risk with the back of your hand just because there would logically be less bacteria on that side of your hands.
-Use a face towel to dry your face.Maybe you haven't thought about this yet, but should you really be drying your face with the same towel you use to dry your junk? The thought in itself is disgusting.
-Stop splashing water on your face habitually.This is purely experience based, but there was a point in time where I started to splash water on my face out of habit, to keep myself alert or whatnot. Over time however I noticed my skin was noticeably redder, and by the end of the day, was practically an oil slick. Putting two and two together, splashing water on my face was not only stripping away the natural oils of my skin off my face, but to compensate, my skin had to produce even more oil, thus not only resulting in redder skin, but making my skin more prone to breakouts simply because it was producing more oil.
-Drink water, and avoid greasy or sugary foods.You probably have heard this a lot, so I'll spare you the explanation.
That is all the advice I can say off the top of my head. If you have come this far, thanks for reading, and PLEASE offer me any tips on my own regimen or routine!
My goodness, the st.ives is a good scrub but it has walnut shells as the exfoliant which can irritate the skin and cause some blemishes. Your cleanser has fragrance and menthol which is irritating to acne prone skin, menthol is a alcohol which gives it that minty scent which is bad alcohol further dry your face which is horrid. Your body wash dial is a complete nono it has fragrance and sodium laureth sulfate which is super comedogenic. Which maybe why you have bacne. As for the dove soap I suggest you invest in a BHA body wash and see how that works. Sunscreen looks okay but generic brands are kinda jiffy why dont you try cetaphil oil free sunscreen.
For bacne do you workout and not shower, do you have something against your back all. It also can be a detergent problem maybe try switchibg your laundry detergent with a natural one.
For a cleanser i reccomend PH formulated ones which are non comedogenic. Dans cleanser is pH leveled and its something that lathers really well and you can wash off in 10 seconds which reduces irritation. For exfoliation I suggest you looking into chemical exfoliants such as AHA or enzyme exfoliators instead of scrub microbeaded nutted ones. All reducing irritation. As for the sunscreen cetaphil oil free is a bland suncreen so it shoulsnt cause breakouts but it looks greasy on face though shiny.
For the bacne try to not put stress on your back as much and dove is too akaline I say for acne related skin you shoulsnt be trying to raise pH but more toward your skin pH. So like I said maybe try out a BHA body wash see how that goes. Remove your dial because if yiu buy a body wash thats all you need less products less irritation. Also check out acne.org comedogenic list search by google and ways double check ingridients dont just follow labels that say its non comedogenic. Ceteryl alcohol is common some are able to be ignored but sodium laurteht lauryl sulfates are all bad. Try to buy products fragrance dye free.
About splashing water yes you shouldnt do this because water has all kinds of chlorine and metals it also makes your face dry. Try taking luke warm shiwers not hot showers and rinse off with cold water not extreme cold water. As for the towel part yes you should use a face towel but a new one each time you wash your face why because your transfering the bacteria you had on your face again when using same towel so maybe 1 face towel a day.
Touching your fave with backhand in general touching face is bad what i do is use my shirt or a napkin and slighty itch it barely touching to not cause irritation and bacteria transfer.
Abiut your skin yes your collagen thickens but that doesnt mean you should suddenly change your routine when its worning when your a adult if it works it works.
2 hours ago, VulneraryRain said:My goodness, the st.ives is a good scrub but it has walnut shells as the exfoliant which can irritate the skin and cause some blemishes. Your cleanser has fragrance and menthol which is irritating to acne prone skin, menthol is a alcohol which gives it that minty scent which is bad alcohol further dry your face which is horrid. Your body wash dial is a complete nono it has fragrance and sodium laureth sulfate which is super comedogenic. Which maybe why you have bacne. As for the dove soap I suggest you invest in a BHA body wash and see how that works. Sunscreen looks okay but generic brands are kinda jiffy why dont you try cetaphil oil free sunscreen.
For bacne do you workout and not shower, do you have something against your back all. It also can be a detergent problem maybe try switchibg your laundry detergent with a natural one.
For a cleanser i reccomend PH formulated ones which are non comedogenic. Dans cleanser is pH leveled and its something that lathers really well and you can wash off in 10 seconds which reduces irritation. For exfoliation I suggest you looking into chemical exfoliants such as AHA or enzyme exfoliators instead of scrub microbeaded nutted ones. All reducing irritation. As for the sunscreen cetaphil oil free is a bland suncreen so it shoulsnt cause breakouts but it looks greasy on face though shiny.
For the bacne try to not put stress on your back as much and dove is too akaline I say for acne related skin you shoulsnt be trying to raise pH but more toward your skin pH. So like I said maybe try out a BHA body wash see how that goes. Remove your dial because if yiu buy a body wash thats all you need less products less irritation. Also check out acne.org comedogenic list search by google and ways double check ingridients dont just follow labels that say its non comedogenic. Ceteryl alcohol is common some are able to be ignored but sodium laurteht lauryl sulfates are all bad. Try to buy products fragrance dye free.
About splashing water yes you shouldnt do this because water has all kinds of chlorine and metals it also makes your face dry. Try taking luke warm shiwers not hot showers and rinse off with cold water not extreme cold water. As for the towel part yes you should use a face towel but a new one each time you wash your face why because your transfering the bacteria you had on your face again when using same towel so maybe 1 face towel a day.
Touching your fave with backhand in general touching face is bad what i do is use my shirt or a napkin and slighty itch it barely touching to not cause irritation and bacteria transfer.
Abiut your skin yes your collagen thickens but that doesnt mean you should suddenly change your routine when its worning when your a adult if it works it works.
Yeah during the summer I did sports and I think that in itself significantly reduced my bacne. I think that was just the sweat doing it own exfoliating work. Also I suspected my back routine was bad but not to the extent you said it would be haha. Thank you for your reply!
Vaseline is non comedogenic but I really cant say because alot of people say uts taboo you can test spot a part of your face like the skin on jaw where itnconnects to ear. Everyones skin is different assessing skin type is pretty easy. If your face gets oily really oily pretty quick or some hours later its only. Dry skin tend to produce little to no oil. Dehydrated skin makes your face feel dry but produces alot of oil. Just because its oil free does not mean its non comedogenic. It really has to say it on the label and check the ingridients.
Can I get more replies to my thread please, I appreciate VulneraryRain's replies but I would like to hear more thoughts.
Also a few more questions:
-What are some chemical/enzyme exfoliates that are cheap, easy to find and can be put on in the shower?
-What are some cleansers that are non-comodogenic/ph leveled, cheap and easy to find?
-Does anyone have any sunscreen/moisturizer suggestions that have zinc?