7 Steps To Acne Free Skin

You’ve got acne? You’ve come to the right place. I got so fed up with the amount of websites on the Internet that had incorrect information about acne, or information that was just trying to push a product - so I’ve made my own overview on the best way to heal acne, which is based on my personal experiences with healing my own severe acne.

Here is a smiling picture of me now. Yeah, I know before and after shots are really lame. But people were starting to ask if I actually had acne so I thought I’d better include them

And here are some pictures of me with acne. I never took a photo of my skin when it was at its worst because I avoided cameras as much as possible, but here are a couple of photos I took when it was healing. Honestly, I was so happy that my skin was getting better that I took these photos as proof.

Some of these spots are actually cysts sitting under the surface of my skin. They’d sit under the surface of my skin for weeks, sometimes even months.

 

Step 1: Consider visiting a medical professional

If your acne is mild or you’ve already seen a doctor or dermatologist, you can skip this step.

I put this step as number one because often those with moderate to severe acne, or a chronic acne condition may need support from a doctor or dermatologist. This does not mean you can skip the natural treatments, it’s quite the opposite.

Natural treatments are always essential because they will help your acne heal faster, reduce the redness and inflammation in a pimple and make sure your acne does not come back with full force after you stop using any prescriptions if you’re on them.

Conventional treatments, such as antibiotics, roaccutane and topical gels, just treat the acne at the surface level. If you’re getting acne then there’s most likely something in your body that isn’t working as well as it should. So natural treatments are very important to fix the acne at the root cause. In fact, natural and conventional treatments work really well together.

You also don’t have to visit a doctor or dermatologist. All forms of acne, no matter how severe, can be treated by using natural methods alone. It just may take a little longer and require a little more patience and discipline if your acne is severe. The choice is up to you.

I’ve written a few blog articles about conventional treatments, take a look if you have time:

• Conventional vs Natural Acne Treatments
• How To Combine Natural Acne Treatments With Oral Medications

Step 2: Stop picking at it

I’m going to sound like a broken record with this one, and I realise that you’ve heard it a million times before from other information sources. But I can’t stress enough how true this actually is. It’s scientifically proven that if you pick a pimple, whitehead, blackhead, whatever spot you’ve got, then it is likely to cause ten more. How? Because you’re spreading the bacteria underneath the skin. It may not happen immediately but it’s likely you’ll eventually get a patch of pimples around that pimple, or another pimple in the exactly the same spot once it’s healed.

This is one of the very reasons why chronic acne sufferers have a lot of trouble getting their pimples to go away without the use of oral medications or topical creams. Let your skin do it’s job, let it heal in its own way and leave it alone. The redness around a pimple is there for a reason, it’s extra blood your body has sent the pimple to try and heal it. It may look awful to you but it’s actually a good thing! When a pimple forms a head, its your skins way of pushing all the gunk and bacteria out, let it do it in its own time. If you squeeze and pop it, then you’re only putting that gunk and bacteria back into the skin. Think of a pipe, if you try and squeeze the gunk out, it’s going to go both ways.

Step 3: Be gentle with your skin care routine

99% of the time acne is caused by something in your body that isn’t working as well as it should, and not by dirt, grime or using the wrong skin care routine. The first thing acne sufferers attack when they get a breakout is their skin, cursing it and punishing it by lathering on harsh chemicals and damaging ‘quick fixes’. Guess what? This is most likely doing more harm than good. Left alone, you skin does a pretty damn good job at taking care of itself. As I explained in step 2, the formation of a pimple - including the redness and the head - is the skin purging or removing toxins. The best thing we can do is to help the skin by using very gentle skin can products that include ingredients that encourage the skin to heal.

I’ve recorded a video on my favorite cleansers and moisturizers. This is down to personal preference but I find these ones particularly good because they’ve never given me a breakout, and I have super sensitive skin that seems to breakout from most things that I put onto it.

• Click here for my video on what skincare products are good for acne prone skin
• And here is another article I’ve written which talks about the same products.

Regular exfoliation is also a great idea, but be careful if you have a lot of active acne. When I have more than a couple of pimples with a head, I don’t exfoliate because it can spread the bacteria. Yes this means I may not exfoliate for a few weeks sometimes but that is okay. Just be gentle!

There are many different products you can use to exfoliate, but I have the opinion that as acne sufferers we need to be very gentle when we exfoliate, so use something that is designed for sensitive skin. My favorite is a brand from Miessence that is designed specifically for sensitive skin, but any exfoliant that you can find which is labeled as ‘gentle’ will do. You can also make your own, with oatmeal. I’ve written a blog article about oatmeal exfoliants here.

Clay masks are another good option at preventing new breakouts. I’ve recorded a video about clay masks that you can see here.

Just a quick word of warning with the clay masks - if you have a lot of toxins under the skin they can break you out. I find that usually my skin is fine, but if I have a lot of clogged pores and comedonal acne (blackheads and whiteheads), the clay masks can bring on a breakout.

Step 4: Spot treat your pimples

I love spot treatments, they help a pimple go away faster and reduce the redness and inflammation. There are many spot treatments on the market and even some that you can make yourself.

I have two favorites - Miessence purifying blemish gel and my own mix of green clay and apple cider vinegar. I’ve recorded videos about both of these spot treatments, you can see them by clicking on the Miessence link here, or the clay link here.

What spot treatment you use is up to you, it will come down to personal preference. I like the Miessence and the clay because they are both natural so very gentle on my sensitive skin. I find that most grocery store brands contain benzoyl peroxide (BP) or salicylic acid (SA) which can be very effective but they’re too harsh and drying for my skin. These products seem to work best on younger, oilier skin. BP and SA can also have side effects so please use them with caution. I have written a blog article about BP here.

The good thing about natural products is they don’t have these side effects.

Your doctor or dermatologist may recommend products with BP or SA in them. If they do that’s okay. Just make sure you report any unwanted side effects back to them, and discontinue using the products if they cause excessive itching, burning or drying of the skin.

Step 5: Be mindful of your diet

Diet doesn’t cause acne, but it can aggravate it. The food you eat can increase your stress, cause your hormones to go out of whack, give you a blood sugar spike, or even overload your body with toxins. Each of these factors can easily lead to pimples if you have a predisposition to getting acne.

I realise that this is the hardest step to take, so do it gradually if you can, and don’t be ridiculous about it. Eat well as much as you can then enjoy yourself on occasions too. You don’t want to go from a skin disorder to an eating disorder. I like to live by the 90/10 rule - I eat healthy food for 90% of the time then indulge for the other 10%.

There is a reason why eBooks like ‘Acne Free in 3 Days’ can sometimes work. It’s because they are a fast detox of all the stored up yuck food in your system. I’m too much of a chicken to try a detox so I prefer to do it gradually. You also need to continue to eat well after a detox to maintain that healthy skin.

If you want to take care of your diet for now, the easiest way is to follow a typically low glycemic index (GI) diet. I’ve seen clinical studies on low GI diets and acne, and it’s now been scientifically proven that following a low GI diet does help clear acne.

Step 6: Take supplements

Supplements have been great in helping to heal my own acne. However, I don’t like to recommend any supplements in particular, because acne can be caused by more than one thing. So a supplement that works really well at clearing my skin, will not necessarily work for your. I don’t want you to spend a lot of money on supplements that don’t work. Then I’d just be wasting your time and money, and making your depressed and frustrated when the treatment doesn’t work.

It’s best to go to a naturopath for advice. If you can’t afford one or if it’s too much of a hassle, you can go to a health store and ask them for advice. Often they have on site naturopaths, or even just the health store staff are usually very knowledgeable.

I see both a Chinese herbalist and naturopath. Both have given me some awesome supplements and herbs that have completely cleared my PMT acne, and made my stress acne a lot better.

If you’d like to talk to me directly about your acne and supplements you can contact me directly. This way we can work out together why you’re getting acne and then what you can expect a naturopath or a health store professional to recommend to you.

It’s best to write a message to me in my public forum, this way our discussion can benefit others.

Click here to go to my public forum.

If you’d like to keep your message private for personal reasons, you can do so by filling in the form on my contact page.

Step 7: Relax!

I have had one case of moderate and one case of severe acne in my life. Both times were a direct result of a huge increase of stress. Don’t overlook how important keeping a relaxed and stress free lifestyle is. In some ways, this step can be just as difficult as maintaining a healthy diet.

Everybody has different ways of relaxing, so try to find the one that’s best for you. Whether it be listening to music, going for a walk, exercising, yoga, meditation, watching your favorite DVD, or spending time with your family.

If you can’t find time to fit in relaxation, then make time for it. Swap that half an hour that you normally watch tv at night for doing something else that’s relaxing and fun. At the worst time of my severe acne I made a conscious decision to do a half an hour of relaxation every night before I went to bed. I turned off the lights, lit a candle, burned some calming oils and played my favorite relaxing music. This became a very beautiful, relaxing time for me and I always felt so happy and sleepy after it. After a while, I began to miss it a lot if I skipped this little ritual. Regular relaxation can get a little bit like brushing your teeth. If you miss it one night then you can feel a little unclean

Just make sure you do something relaxing every single day. A healthy mind means a healthy body. This has never been more true.

Follow these seven steps and I can guarantee you will see fantastic results, your skin will definitely start looking a lot better and you will finally be able to clear your acne!

Fran