I am no stranger to a bad skin day. I thought that it would be useful to put together a bad skin series, covering all the specific products that I reach for different certain skin related problems. I hope that this series is useful in some way, I understand that skincare is very personal. What might work really well for me, might not work for you but it might - you never know. I mentioned a little about this series, on my Good Skin Day post but essentially I have three different posts dedicated to three different skin ''problems''. I have one for redness & irritation, breakouts and dullness.
For this post, it's going to be about my old friend the humble breakout. Throughout my teenage years, my skin was pretty perfect - I took it for granted - but then I turned twenty and everything went down hill. I had the worst breakouts ever, seriously it was absolutely crazy (well at least in my eyes). I learnt the hard way, the best way to handle breakouts is to take the gentle route.
My first line of defence is to reach for a clay mask. I recently picked up the Nip + Fab Kale Fix Clay Mask, it contains witch hazel which works to draw out impurities from clogged pores - which means that the blemish will come to head faster and more likely to do it's business quicker and disappear. Unlike the typical clay mask, this mask contains ingredients like kale (good old kale) and watercress to hydrate the skin - by locking in moisture- rather than drying out your skin.
One of the main causes of blemishes is the production of excess sebum, thus a lot of people just go in straight with the harsh drying products. But sometimes they just don't work and instead of reducing the excess sebum they cause an increase in sebum production. As your skin is trying compensate for the dryness caused by the harsh products. I find that an oil based cleansing balm works especially well when my skin is breaking out. The Ermana Cleanse Balm is made from a rich blend of natural butters that work to soothe and hydrate the skin. It throughly cleanses my face without aggravating my skin or leave it feeling dry or stripped of it's natural oil.
The best I have done for my acne is introducing an exfoliating toner into my routine - check out my favourite exfoliating toner ever. I have been using the Gentle Exfoliating Toner from Merumaya, which is rich in AHA - acids that gently exfoliate the skin while promoting cell turnover. This toner softens, hydrates and brightens the skin. It has become an essential part of my routine especially because I am prone to scarring and pigmentation. The toner aids the process of fading the dark pigmentation, and preventing further pigmentation by working at the red scars often left by breakouts. I have noticed a visibly reduction in the appearance of dark pigmentation I had left behind from previous breakouts.
When it comes to moisturiser, I like to keep it light very light. I have been using the Control + Face Gel from Real-U - a completely new brand to me. The consistency is very light and it doesn't leave your skin feeling or looking greasy. What I like about it the most is that it doesn't contain the typical ingredients you would see in a blemish control moisturiser there is no salicylic acid or benzoyl peroxide. My skin doesn't really react well to large doses of salicylic acid or benzoyl peroxide and often irritate my skin further (I am ridiculously unlucky). If like me, you find that salicylic acid or benzoyl peroxide doesn't work for you this is something you should consider. I have also been using the La Roche Posay Effaclar K (+) almost as a spot treatment and it's really good for keeping oiliness at bay. Also really like the La Roche Posay Effaclar Duo, read a full review here.
Leave me your recommendations for handling breakouts in the comments below, my skin is still a working progress. Make sure you come back for the next post in the series.
Zeynab x
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