There was one big reason I didn’t feel ready to shave my head (and may have put it off indefinitely).
Rather, hundreds of small, bumpy, red or white, cystic, open wound, enlarged pore type reasons.
I have acne. Have since adolescence, and I’m now 26.
Even at best, my pores are always large, my cheeks constantly covered with tiny, colorless bumps, (not whiteheads, just bumps) and usually two or three large, red spots tossed in for good measure.
At worst, the big ol’ pores and bitty bumps are joined by one or two dozen red bumps of various diameters, usually marching across the lower half of my face.
After reading No More Dirty Looks, I spent the month of June on an all-natural skincare routine; many, many readers at the No More Dirty Looks blog rave over how miraculously their skin has improved after switching to all-natural, all “clean” skin products.
Mine has not. Am I [irrationally] bitter? You betcha! I spent June using olive oil soap as cleanser, plus tea tree oil diluted with jojoba oil for the acne; products recommended by the book. Yes, they recommend a whole host of other products I could try— but I started with the cheap stuff on purpose, because good lord do those ladies recommend expensive stuff.
Makeup hides much of the problem, but these past few weeks definitely constitute an “at worst” situation. To be fair, most of the blemishes rule the bottom half of my face, same as usual. Then again, my neck’s never had it so bad.
Now, I don’t wish to be melodramatic; many people have far worse acne, and EVERYONE ALIVE has far more serious problems. Still, my skin depresses the hell out of me, and it has for a long time. My sudden discovery of HEAD ACNE is just scummy frosting on the cake o’ beauty woes.
Some doctors say acne has nothing to do with diet. Some doctors say acne is diet-related; but my acne was no worse when I ate 10 chocolate bars per week, and I eat worlds less sugar now. I still had acne while eating a vegan diet. My old boyfriend Crumble ate pure garbage all day every day, and he had smooth, glowing skin. I am not a doctor, but I sense that there is no justice in the world of skin.
I used to use a BHA and 2.5% benzoyl peroxide. This always seemed to work at first— my skin would feel smoother to the touch initially, then resumed roughness in a week or two.
For all these years, I’ve hoped that my acne would disappear with age. Instead, my skin has branched out…
… and taken up wrinkling in its spare time. The naso-labial lines don’t trouble me much, and I don’t EVER think about crow’s feet. But the forehead… that’s a concern. Concern makes me wrinkle my brow, which makes my brow (that’s right, you guessed it!) wrinkled. The lines aren’t Always red; some days they’re nigh on invisible. Still, I was hoping to put off facing my mortality until I turned at LEAST 30….
I have a referral to a local dermatologist. But before I spend my life savings on drugs and creams—
Lay it on me, readers. Have you ever had acne? What do you do about it?
Ugh, acne. I’m 28 and I still have it! When I moved out west into a different climate my skin rebelled BIG TIME and went all cystic on me for months. I had poor student insurance at the time and couldn’t get to a dermatologist, so I got me to a Sephora.
There I was recommended Peter Thomas Roth cleanser and Murad Exfoliating Acne Gel (I highly recommend this one. Quite pricey, but lasts for 6 months or so). Later I also invested in a Clairsonic facial cleanser (like an electric toothbrush, but for you face!) both for my face and my arms, which have a lovely genetic case of keratosis pilaris.
I’m a big believer in the Clairsonic and Murad products now – they work very well for me. The other thing I’ve noticed is that my acne is strongly correlated to where I touch my face. I have the habit of resting my face on my hands, and that does not end well. So for me a mixture of products and behavior-changing has helped a lot.
Did you know there’s a theory that acne is caused by microscopic skin mites? Fun times.
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P.S. My care package is fantastic!!! As are you – obviously.
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I don’t think I’ve ever had the smaller, more widespread bumps that you mentioned, except on my upper arms. My brother has them on his arms too, enough that he went to a dermatologist during high school and got some sort of cream for it (not that it ever worked very well). I have it more moderately, and it is everpresent. On my face, I usually only get a handful of the large, red, white-headed zits in a nice conspicuous place like between my eyebrows or on my chin. I also used to have moderately bad backne in high school, but that seems to have cleared up somewhat over time. I have a bad habit of pick-pick-picking at the acne that does appear on my face, on the somewhat unconscious principle that a scab looks less icky than a big gooey whitehead, even though I know that this isn’t ideal. Other than that, I try to wash my face when I remember (usually with some cheap facial scrub, or with a sugar scrub that a friend made me for Christmas) and moisturize.
Even though I have known plenty of people over the years with worse skin problems than I have, there’s definitely the feeling of “I FEEL SO SCUZZY” every time a zit or five pops up…but it’s worth remembering that we are almost always more critical of ourselves than others would be. I can see the bumps and wrinkles on your skin, but it doesn’t affect your appearance negatively in my eyes. They are human imperfections, and you’re still an amazing-looking person to me, whether in spite of or due to those imperfections. (I hope this doesn’t sound peculiar or overly familiar, coming from a stranger on the internet, but I might as well be truthful.)
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Louise Reply:
July 15th, 2011 at 9:31 PM
What has worked for me over the years is the realization that other people simply do not concentrate on the little faults we obsess over. It really is that simple.
Try to treat yourself and your image as kindly as you would your very best friend. You still love her and think she’s beautiful/strong/smart/funny no matter what her skin/hair/butt fat/varicose veins are doing that day.
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Mia Reply:
July 19th, 2011 at 4:16 PM
That’s a really good way of putting it. It’s hard to remember to love oneself as much as one loves other people sometimes.
Also, I neglected to mention this in my previous comment, but I definitely get scalp acne on a semi-regular basis. I can feel it sometimes when I’m just playing with my hair. I never thought much of it, but it’s surprising somehow to hear someone else talk about their scalp acne, because I never thought of it as something that Other People Get.
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hey rebekah,
I’m 25 and I always had acne too. I tried what seemed like everything too, proactiv etc, but nothing helped. This sounds like an infomercial lol, but then i found acne.org, and not only is it a really awesome website, but i bought the stuff and it literally worked for me within one-2 days. i never consider other skin care products. they call it the regimine on acne.org and you use a lot of benzoyl peroxide but then mosturize with a very good mosturizer. i read the acne.org blog– and it might explain why when you used the bp it worked for a little while but then stopped working. if you don’t mosturize your skin can get irritated from the bp, and cause acne again. the guy,dan, who runs the website dan explains everything really well, and i swear to you, it cleared up my skin. I hope this helps!
-tor
http://www.marthaflatley.wordpress.com
http://www.drburnshead.tumblr.com
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Hmm. The only thing that has ever kept my face happy is to use nothing on it at all but water and a sea sponge 9 months of the year, be sure I rinse my face really well after shampooing, and use just a touch of Skin Trip in winter as needed.
But, I don’t know that you inherited my skin, so don’t know if this will work for you.
Was your acne not better in Las Cruces? Weather difference? Water difference?
Re: Wrinklies My Aunt Madeline always used to say Smile a Lot, so that when you get wrinkles they will be in the right places.
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I used to get horrible cystic face acne! In fact my dermatologist sent me to my gyno bc it was hormonal. He put me on The Ring and I took myself off of it bc I could literally FEEL blood clotting in the back of my knees (like tiny bubbles…now that they have a 600 person class action suit against Nuva Ring…after a number of women have died!). So I did some research, started taking Evening of Primrose instead of hormonal birth control and everything’s been fine.
I don’t always take the EoP — but I take it if I notice mood swings or acne (more likely I notice the mood swings first, and they come before the acne) and haven’t had any trouble in a while.
The frustrating thing was always trying stuff and not knowing if the product made it worse or if it was going to get worse on its own anyway. It’d be helpful if there was a control group but that’s impossible with breakouts.
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I’ve had great luck with The Body Shop tea tree face wash and mask.
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Also have definitely noticed a huuuge difference in my skin quality since I stopped eating so many processed foods and sugar, but sounds like you already tried that one.
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Manalive I sympathize. Honestly, not washing my face at all has helped, but I know that’s not for everyone. (I rinse my face with water 2x/day and exfoliate a couple of times a week.) I’ve read that acne concentrated on the lower half of the face is hormonal. Not sure how you feel about going on the Pill for acne but I have plenty of friends who swear by it. I’ve also read that salicylic acid is a better treatment for adult acne than benzoyl peroxide, and used to use a salicylic acid lotion at night. My acne hasn’t been heavy since my early 20s, though (and I started using salicylic acid after it cleared up) so I don’t know how effective it really is. But it’s a standard and worth trying if you haven’t given it a go ever, or since teenagedom.
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I’ve had it from the moment I turned twelve, and most recently the best product I’ve used has been Aveda’s Botanical Kinetics for Oily/Acne skin. I bought it 3 months ago and still have over half a bottle (a little goes a very long way). And by the way you’re super beautiful and in your photos I had to try and find your acne; all I could focus on were your stunning eyes!!
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Hi, with acne issues tea tree oil works for me…..but, the thing is to know which kind of sking you’ve got. Mine is dry, so there’s not much acne. Maybe just cleaning pores with vapor. You heat water, you add thyme and/or rosemary (is it the same as pilgrim?) then you put the pot on a table, sit on a chair cover your head with a towel and inhale, like a home-made-facial-sauna. After a while your pores will be clean, then you must apply some kind of astringent tonic so that the pores close again. Then a facial cream (maybe a serum would be better if your skin is greasy) Serum is great. It moisturizes without greasing. Have you tried serums? One question, is there any facial product in which you believe a lot and that you have been using for a long time?
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Hi!
I have the colorless bumps on my skin. It really it looks very much the same with makeup. I also get actual zits before period. I would say the big issue is drying the skin out with chemicals like BP. Cold dry weather will worsen. My grandma told me she had this problem in her mid 20s but after she stopped touching her face, she said it all stopped. This acne is definitely hormonal. It needs to break out before it can heal. I’ve been trying to make it break out. SO, sweat, make your face go pink, that will bring nutrients to the face and increase healthy cell production under the skin. SWEAT DAILY. Don’t over wash the face. Once a day at night. NO MAKE-UP. This type of acne was brought up by clogging of pores with constant makeup application. Eat more vitamins, not from a bottle, but living food (fruits and veg.). That’s going to keep the new cells healthier and stronger. But by sweating you will already benefit.
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