Three Steps To Dealing With Adult Acne

Acne is never a pleasant experience but adult acne is just not right! Just when you think you have passed it and you have dealt with all that hormonal stuff BAM it hits you in your adult years. For the last couple of years, I have had to deal with adult acne, and let me tell you it hasn't been fun. Actually there were times when I just wanted to lock myself in a room and cry because it was that bad (well maybe in my head). I hated looking at myself in the mirror because I thought it looked disgusted and I felt ugly (I know it's kinda sad, but my adult acne phase actually made me really depressed and self conscious and I am not the most confident person to start off with).

For me makeup didn't help one bit, no matter how much youtube tutorials I watched there was no covering it up. I had to go bare faced most of the time (so hard and I felt like everyone was looking at me) which just made me want to do everything I can to get rid of it quicker. I did resort to going on medication, which thinking about it now was definitely not a good idea but I felt like I had no choice. The antibiotic actually helped for a while but once I stopped taking them, my adult acne came back. I did a lot research and talked to people that knew a few things about skin and acne and I found something that works for me.

For the last couple months, I have been slowly but surely getting a handle of my adult acne and I think it's going away (touch wood). I can't believe it has taken me this long because I have just made  three simple changes and my skin is reacting well, so bye bye to adult acne (fingers crossed).

The first change I made was diet, I know this one is obviously and everyone who knows anything about skin will tell you what you eat affects your skin. I have been eating really good, seriously reduced my sugar intake (which is hard for a chocoholic) and my skin is thankful. But what has been making the most difference is drinking more water. I mentioned before on my blog that I am drinking more water, to be more healthy and for my skin and I have honestly noticed the difference it took a while but we got there. Lately have been giving Deeside Still Mineral Water* a go, which has skincare benefits (I was little skeptical as well). The science behind is that the molecules in Deeside water are cluster together in smaller groups which make it easier to absorb. This is good because  it means that it hydrates you it a lot more than other waters would. In my research of adult acne, I did come across the fact that dehydration is one of the main causes of adult acne. I have been drinking Deeside still mineral water exclusively for just a little more than 2 weeks and my skin has definitely made the most improvement and everyone is noticing (I know it seems crazy but it's true). I know I haven't been drinking it for long enough to confirm that it is actually working but I think it is and so I am definitely going to stock up it can't do any harm can it? Plus it tastes really good as well, so fresh and so clean ( I just sang that bit).

Skin supplements, there is so much vitamins and minerals that you can take that will aid your skin but after some research and recommendation I thought I would give yeast extract a go. I have been taking it for 4 months now and I notice in my skin if a miss a couple of a days, straight away I will have a new blemish. Yeast extracts work because they are known sebum regulating agents, which stop the over production of sebum which causes you to break out (basically they control the oil production in your skin and because one of the main causes of adult acne is excess oil, yeast extracts help to control oil which in turn prevents blemishes). I don't take any fancy branded yeast extract, I have just been taking ones I got from Holland & Barretts, I take around 4 tablets so 2 in the morning with my breakfast and 2 with my lunch. I am looking into including zinc into my routine, which has been known to work well in dealing with adult acne. Let me know if you take zinc and what it has done for your skin.

Thirdly I have been really into my skincare, being really strict about what products I use on my skin and actually doing my skincare routine. It's hard not to try and spend ridiculous amounts of money on products that are said to work on acne. I have tried a lot of products and a lot of them didn't work for me even if they were the most hyped up product in blogging community. what I have learn from my experience is that you have to use what you is right for your skin, so I have really sensitive and reactive skin and harsh products aimed at acne just don't work for me. The second thing I learnt was that if a product is not working, stop using it. I know a lot of people talk about the purging effect, so your skin will get worse before it gets better but there is a limit and if the product is making your skin really bad then just stop using it. I have a found the La Roche Posay effaclar duo works really well on my acne but not as an all over moisturiser, so I just put it where I have blemishes and it does I good job of drying them up and getting rid of them quicker.

This was a long post, I am assuming you have adult acne if you are reading this post and I hope that it has helped in some way. I know adult acne is hard and can be much worse than acne in your teens and it might make you sad and depressed about the way you look but there is things you can do that will help. Let me know any tips you have for me, I could always do with tips for getting rid of my blemishes.

Zeynab x

P.S While you are here, check out some of the things I picked up from the drugstore.