After almost a year of persistently annoying acne, I’ve finally discovered why I get it. The why is something that has caused me great frustration in the past, because none of the methods that previously worked to treat my acne have been working.
The secret is a large amount of stress from a split with my boyfriend. A ‘breakup’ might sound like no big deal but we were together for over eight years and I guess in a way I feel as though that length of time makes it almost like a divorce. Well, we probably lasted longer than some marriages anyway.
Previously I’ve always had the odd pimple or two but it was always PMT related so eating well, exercising and taking supplements (evening primrose oil, fish oil and vitex agnus-castus) always really easily fixed the problem and made my skin perfectly clear.
So there’s a reason why I have this acne condition at the age of 28. I think the stress from the breakup is the biggest contributing factor, but the stress from having to move house, buy new furniture and make new friends has also added to the stress. I’ve also changed jobs which of course is one of the biggest known stressors in anyone’s life.
The thing is, I’m the kind of girl that gets stressed easily anyway, so why didn’t I have this problem before? I’d often stress over tiny things or even bigger things in my life and it never made me break out in acne. My theory is that the breakup with my boyfriend has created a lot of heavy energy around my heart. I used to carry all my tension in my stomach (which would result in a lot of funny guts), but now I feel as though the tension has moved to my heart area. If I sit down and close my eyes I can even feel a heavy feeling around my chest. It kind of annoys me actually. He got a new girlfriend out of the split, and I got acne!
Now I know the why, I realise the cause of my acne is going to be a lot harder than I thought to fix, because the cause of the symptom (acne) is purely emotional, not physical. So I can’t fix this emotional cause with any magic pills. What I can do, is to work on my heart and try and help it heal as quickly as it can. I’ve been wearing my pink kunzite crystal around my neck to help my heart energy, and I’ve started doing a heart meditation for 30 minutes every day. I play music that was given to me by my yoga school that vibrates with my heart, burn heart chakra oils, and close my eyes and focus my energy on my heart chakra for the full 30 minutes. I come out of the meditation feeling really happy and super relaxed. To be honest though, I don’t think I’m going to be able to do much to help it along. I think all I really need is a lot of time.
I have an appointment with my Chinese Herbalist / GP this Wednesday to see if he will let me go on antibiotics for my skin, which is an attempt to fix the symptom (acne) only. I think my diet and relaxation have kept the problem under control but I still have a patch of persistent cysts under my left jaw line and a small number of pimples across both cheeks, jawlines and my chin. It will be a year this easter that I’ve had this problem so I’m finally ready to take medications. The acne causes me so much stress in my life that I figured while I’m trying to remove the stress, I have to remove a large part of the stress, which is my bad skin. I believe that feeling happy and confident with my appearance will help me work on my heart to finally shift this heavy energy and fully heal the cause of the problem as well.
I’m not entirely sure he will give me the antibiotics though because when I woke up this morning my skin was looking good. I guess the meditation, supplements and OCM have been working well for me. I’m kind of worried it will start getting worse again so we’ll see what he has. I just hope he doesn’t say no and then I get a massive breakout a week later or something!
So, I finally bought a camera on the weekend so I’ve posted some pics to show you my acne. Yes, its brave of me I know! I took these photos this morning not long after I got out of bed, so there’s no makeup or anything and I look kinda scary because yeah, I just got out of bed. You can see that I still have a persistent patch of acne under my left jawline, but front on and on the right side of my face it looks okay.
The right side of my face.
The left side of my face (the bad side!)
My chin and under my jaw line.
Having said all of that, I also believe that if I lived in an ashram for a month or two my skin condition would also clear up. An ashram would mean I’d be spending all day doing yoga and meditation, eating healthy food only, and would have no contact with my ‘real’ life, including friends and family. There would also be no makeup or hair dryers, or any of that vanity stuff. I bet you I’d walk out of there clear, healthy and glowing.
In fact, I’ve always thought that it would be awesome to have some kind of holistic skin care retreat which is similar to an ashram. You’d go there and there would be no mirrors, skin care products, makeup, hair dryers, nothing. You’d do yoga and meditation all day, eat healthy vegetarian food, and you’d never be able to look at your reflection so you’d never touch or pick at your face, and you’d spend the whole time just focusing on yourself and making sure you’re happy and relaxed. I’m willing to bet that everyone that walked out of that skin care retreat after one month would have 100% clear skin.
Fran
Fran Kerr is the founding editor of High on Health. To cure your acne, sign up to Fran's FREE acne cure mini-course or download her latest how to guide, Eat Away Your Acne.
4 responses ↓
wow i totallly know what u mean, this is exactly what happened to me and thats why i found ur site because im going through it again, after i broke up i was lucky that i just went out and had as much fun as i could,yes its hard especially when i was breaking out already, wasnt very confident going out and just being in the relationship already i had lots already ,but u just got to do it, guess i was lucky too because im pretty well off and dont really need to work so i could afford to travel, but it really help me alot, im not very good at the whole meditation thing, have a really short attention span so couldnt handle that but it is more cost effective i guess for meditation. well good luck
How does one actually flush their body of toxins? I learned about the “Acne Gone in 3 days” Charles Gibson method…Honestly, it frightens me. I’d like to know more of the detoxification…
Please and Thank you
p.s.
Fran, you’re amazing for testing yourself and helping acne sufferers around the world, thanks
Hi Hannah,
The Acne Free in 3 Days scares me too! Which is why I never tried it. Honestly though, you only need a fast detox like this if you have Candida or a really bad diet. Otherwise it’ll make you skin a little better but not cure it.
I prefer a slower detox. So eating less junk and more fresh whole foods. Honestly, I end up eating healthy all the time and preferring it when I do it this way
detoxing can make your skin worse as the impurities will come to the surface. Drink plenty of water and use fishoil to improve the texture of your skin.
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