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| Me in high school, where make-up was purely optional |
For those of you that have known me since my early teens… you likely envied the fact that I was blessed with little to no acne in my teen-years. Sure, I had the occasional zit pop up here or there, but acne? Nope.
Then… I hit 30.
The last few summers especially, I’ve been attacked by that bitchy zit-fairy!
Here I am, one week away from leaving the comforts of home, off to step away from my keyboard to show my face and mingle with my fellow bloggers & companies I’d love to work with… and the skin on this face is simply zitacular!
Not cool.
Just when I’m finally free of one zit, another rears it’s angry, disgusting head. Lately it’s been more than one at a time. Been this way all summer! I think this is the worst state my skin has ever been in. It’s so frustrating, because I used to have such flawless skin!! Now, I haven’t been able to afford a facial in awhile, which would probably take my skin in a more positive direction, but that won’t be happening before a week-long vacation. We are saving every penny for this trip! Oh well. I’ve tried many exfoliation & salicylic acid treatments without success, my stainless steel water bottle is always full of water and within an arm’s reach. I ingest so many vitamins every morning, and I’ve recently added C to the B12, D & E I was already taking… but none of these treatments have been effective.
I’m onto other remedies at this point.
Google guided me to this page. Which not only pointed out several fantastic, natural remedies I haven’t tried yet, like orange peels & cucumbers… but it also mentioned adding niacin to your diet. Niacin Hmmm… so I googled that and arrived at this page. Do you see what #9 is??? Bacon??? I need to eat more bacon?! OF COURSE!!! That’ll totally help clear up my skin! Just need to eat more BLTs with #2 Whole Wheat bread and #10 — sundried tomatoes! May as well add an anchovy (#3!) kicker to it while I’m at it. Yum. Do I think all of this will actually help? Worth a shot, right?! Not mentioned in this niacin top 10… BEER!!! Not a ton of it, but 1 pint = around 10% of your RDA! I’ll drink to that!
If none of these home-remedies work, I’ll simply have to keep hanging out with my old friend: concealer. Because even if my skin remains zitacular for BlogHer, I believe my sparkling personality will shine past my acne issues. And if not, it’ll provide another fun excuse to put a little more alcohol on it.
Do you have any tried & true acne treatments to pass along to my 30something self?
5 Comments
Try this stuff: Clinique Acne Solutions Spot Healing gel. I use this, and it works pretty well – sometimes too well, it does dry out the skin sometimes, but it works great! You just put it on the affected area, not all over and the zits usually disappear within 2 days. I bought mine about 3 years ago and still have about ½ a bottle left. I think it’s like $15-$20, and well worth it, especially since it lasts so long.
Good luck! I’m feeling your pain!!
My brother who has had acne issues since high school swears by toothpaste.
A little dab will do ya!
This is going to sound weird but have some faith. First, for non-severe acne – the occasional zit that rears its ugly head: crack open an egg. There’s a “skin” just inside the shell. Peel it carefully off and put it over the zit. Leave it there for a long time (overnight). As it dries it will pull the oil out of the pimple making it much smaller. It might take one or two attempts but it works (for me). The second one I haven’t tried but I had a roommate who did with good and bad results. Grate carrots very finely. Put the pile in cheesecloth. Place that on your skin like a compress. It will get warm as it draws the oil out of your skin. The good part was it worked. The bad part is you can’t leave it on too long (and I don’t know what the time limit is) because it will turn your skin orange. Like oompa loompa orange. But it’s summer so would people really notice :)?
I LOVE these tips! The egg one is VERY interesting, Judi. I’ll definitely try some of these and let you know what ends up working for me. Keep them coming!
As someone who envied your clear high school skin and has tried everything under the sun (including 2x on Accutane)… ProActive worked wonders for me, and it doesn’t kill your skin like most other acne care treatments.