Hello, I'm a 16 year old boy and I would like to know some tips or advice you guys have for my skin.
I have: Oily but dehydrated skin, I produce a lot of oil around my T zones (nose and forehead), majority of my acne is located on those T zones, I have giant pores, when I make a "face" my forehead becomes very detailed and somewhat leathery & wrinkly, I drink a lot of water but don't eat that healthy, I don't exercise too often only just ab & bicep workouts once a week, I used the acne.org regimen which cleared up my skin a bit but it has increased my dehydration symptoms, any advice?
I know this is a long read but I wanted as much information out there for you guys to work with <3
Hey bud,
Let me hook you up with a nice article I found some time ago that helped me understand my skin type a bit more. It's a long read, but it's worth the while:
https://simpleskincarescience.com/dehydrated-skin-moisture-barrier-acne-fix/
From my own experience, my derm's opinion and the info I found on that article, I pretty much realised you shouldn't be using anything that dries up your skin at all. That should rule out Benzoyl Peroxide as well, which is one of the main ingredients on the Acne.org regimen. Before I knew I had dehydrated skin instead of oily, I tried using Salicylic Acid for 6 weeks, and it left me with the worst skin I ever had. To put it simply, you need to be hydrating your face, not drying it even more. Dehydrated skin can be tricky because you find yourself trying to moisturise it with products but often can't control oil production, which not only leaves a pretty noticeable glow on your face, but can lead to clogged pores.
That's pretty much what happened to me. I was gently cleansing my face with micellar water and applying a super lightweight moisturiser, and while it helped a ton with the initial dryness and overall feel of my skin, it didn't do anything for my oil production, so now my face was super shiny and my acne was still there (at least it didn't really get worse).
Read that article and speak to your derm, hopefully you can find a solution to your problem! In my case, even though my acne was pretty mild (but very persistent), my derm pretty much told me that if both AHAs/BHAs and simple moisturising didn't work, I should just try accutane. I've been on it for a month and the results are pretty amazing so far, and the side effects have been absolutely bearable to this point.
P.S: Here's my take on diet, and mind you this is my personal opinion, but it's based on my own 5-6 month experience and my derm's opinion. Diet doesn't really do much for your acne unless you're actually over-eating some products, or unless you actually have an intolerance. Ever since I started trying to treat my acne back in May this year, I cut off dairy completely, I quit drinking soda and energy drinks (I used to drink almost a Monster a day), quit eating fast food and introduced a lot of vegetables and legumes to my diet. To be honest, I didn't notice a slight difference between the months I was on actives, and the ones I followed a basic moisturising routine. In fact, I re-introduced a bit of dairy (cheese pretty much), eggsand fatty foods when I was doing the latter, and nothing changed. So, I truly don't believe that acne causes acne. However, I also believe that if your DAILY sugar and/or saturated fat intake is too high, it could aggravate your PRE-EXISTING acne (acne that is already there even if you can't yet see it, caused by other factors).
So, in short, you should try to eat healthy for your own good in general, but you shouldn't worry that much for your acne.
P.S.2: I did a couple months of Crossfit after I got off the Salicylic Acid, which involved heavy sweating 3 days a week, and I didn't notice any change on my acne at all. Again, you should be working out for your whole body's sake, but I don't think it's gonna do much for your acne. However, I feel like you should be working out more than once a week if you want to see both physical and metabolic results.
Alright, this is my first post on these boards, I hope it helps!
Thank you so much for the article and the help, Winter Break is coming up soon and I'll try and make an appointment with a Derm. I'll try my best to be healthier in general when it comes to working out and diet as well. I read online about Fish Oil pills and how they can really reduce oil and boost hydration which I might try along the break as well. Thanks again!
The day I posted this I had washed it a few times out of pure frustration that my skin was becoming dehydrated 
but on average just 2 times a day.
I agree with Will, some of the worst acne I've gotten was during times I was eating no dairy, sugar and minimal gluten. Now that I've started reintroducing some of that back in my diet it doesn't seem to have any adverse effects. But everyone is different so you have to work that out for yourself through some trial and error.
In saying that I still think it will be best to avoid drinking milk and whey proteins.
I think one of the best things I've done for my skin was moisturising regularly.
