What do you guys do to take care of your skin? I am 22 and have acne prone skin that seems to never get better. I have been to derm. in the past and never had any success.
It seems like heavy sweating during my workouts only makes the problem worse. Also, I eliminated dairy products because I think dairy causes me to break out. This sucks cause I can’t have my protein shakes any more.
Anyway, any body have any tips/secrets to clear up your skin and keep it clear. Thanks a lot.
I wash my face with… get this… water. Yeah, no soap. I had bad acne up until about 5-6 months ago when I came upon a thread on here about it. Things that worked better for me then the dermatologist helped was taking plenty of vitamin a, e, and b. This way I’m not on any medications that prevent me from going in the sun.
I started off using about 64,000 iu of A… and after I noticed a definate improvement in the quality of my skin I dropped down to 24,000 a day.
Another thing that helped my skin, and I have no idea why… is when I cut down on eating carbs.
What did the derm give you? I used to have pretty bad acne(runs in the family) but now it is fairly under control. I actually get people commenting on how good my skin looks, go figure. What helped me? -Check out www.cosmeticscop.com and look for the products for acne prone/oily skin. I follow these recommendations with these products and no longer have a problem.
I know Udo would suggest eliminating sugar and eating more healthful fats. Even though after the swis I think Udo is just a profit machine. However I do agree with him that a poor diet can cause acne. Find Eric Cressey’s thread on fats and oils(can’t remember the name sorry). That should help you out in learning everything you need to know about fats. Also eliminate candy if you haven’t already. I never ate chocolate bars or much candy growing up and my acne was never that bad. Ciao. 
I use stuff from nivea - facial exfoliator stuff, face wash, and the zit cream. The zit cream works very well, and I use it all over my body. I use the exfoliator about 2x a week, and it makes your skin nice and smooth. Also, wash your face probably 3x times a day, morning afternoon night.
When I was younger, I used Retin-A (I think that was it). It dried out my skin like a mofo. I could literally peel off an ENTIRE layer of skin from my whole hand. Whew.
Well, I’ve sorta been obsessed with grooming for the past few years so here’s my regimen.
Wash face 2x per day with an oil-free face wash.
Moisturize in the morning with SPF 15 plus sal. acid.
Use a night cream. I have this stuff from Clinique.
Exfoliate every other day with Zirh Scrub. This is great stuff. In fact, Zirh’s entire line of products is. Pricey, though. I just use Scrub, which smells really nice, by the way.
Make sure you wash your face after you go to the gym. I usually go in the afternoon so I use a cleansing cloth after my workouts. Shower as soon as possible, too.
stay aways from accutane unless you have a very serious case of acne. that shit is harsh.
Eliminating refined carbs from my eating plan and adding in Flax and EFA has resulted in the nicest complexion of my adult life.
One good cheat day and I am guaranteed to have a blemish show up somewhere.
I wash my face twice a day with neutrogena facial bar (the one specifically for acne-prone skin). It’s in a white/orange/light blue box.
Works like a charm.
alex!
Acutane will make you look like Michael Jackson while you’re on it.
Youll be carrying an umbrella and wearing a mask everywhere you go, lol.
Most of the people on here are talking about washing your face like 3x a day. But for me, I’ve had really bad acne all my teen years and I’ve pretty much learned that less is more. Wash your face only when it needs to be washed (when it starts looking oily). Don’t touch your face very much at all throughout the day.
One thing I’ve found which I’m convinced has helped immensely is from a company called HerbPharm. It comes in one of those liquid droppers and its a compound called Burdock Sarsparilla. 30 drops 3x a day works great for me. The compound itself says that it improves blood flow so part of the problem might be lack of blood flow to your face. This might be really evident if you have a tendency to get pale lips (for one reason or another).
If you prefer to go the chemical route, get Minocycline. A friend of mine got a prescription for it so he would keep me supplied with em for a period of a couple months and I found it worked pretty good. Theres places you can get it on the internet w/out prescription if you don’t feel like dragging your ass down to the doctor and conning him into realizing that you need it. I dunno about the side effects of it though. I read somebody ask a question about it a while ago on here and I didn’t see any responses so it might be catabolic or something of the sort. Anybody know?
Pantothenic acid works great for me. I started at 10 mg a day and have since dropped down to 5. Seems to be working quite well. The Vitamin Shop has decent prices.
On a side note, I’ve noticed that my skin is much better when I’m not in school (during the summer). Obviously, I attribute this to lower levels of stress. Anybody else have similar experiences?
Try deadlifts. Usually brightens my face right on up.
There is an interesting article at http://www.acne.org/
It seems that there advice includes using very weak Benzoil Peroxide lotion, over the entire face, in large amounts. They say that 10% BP is too strong and aggravtes your skin, they recoomend much milder BP used in generous amounts.
I used Accutane and it is intense. I agree that you should only use it if you have severe cystic acne (the kind that causes scars) which I had. It helped, but it is not for everybody, it is only for the hard cases. It gave me mood swings, supposedly it can make some people suicidal. It can also cause hair loss. 3 years later and I still get dry lips and skin during the winter, because of it. It is also hella expensive.
“I agree that you should only use it if you have severe cystic acne (the kind that causes scars) which I had.”
Thats what I had too. I still have scars on my face. I heard that theres places where you can go to get collagen injections into your face to sorta “puff out” the parts where theres scars and the skin is indented to bring it to the same level as your regular un-scarred skin. Only problem is that it only lasts like a year or so then you gotta go in and get it done again.
I absolutely hated it when I’d have cysts on my face. The worst is when you’d get one on the edge of your lips in between your upper and bottom lips so it’d be hard to eat food. Ugh, childhood. I want to forget it.
Okay this is a long post but having had acne I am now obsessive about skin care. I developed adult onset acne at about 21 and spent three years in and out of the dermatologist’s office. I have tried everything including accutane and all the different antibiotics as well as all the various topicals. Accutane and antibiotics cleared it up while on the medication but as soon as I finished a course of treatment the acne would return. My BF gave me a spa day for my birthday last year including a facial and this is what I learned and what has worked for me (let me qualify this by saying that I did not have cystic acne).
First of all, oil production is your skin’s way of trying to hydrate itself. Using a bunch of harsh products to dry it out will only stimulate more oil production. Additionally, the surface layers of your skin will be dry and unless you are properly exfoliating, the dry, dead surface layers will cause clogged pores and more breakouts.
On my facialist’s recommendation after that first facial, I had a series of 6 glycolic acid peels (once per week for 6 weeks). I pretty much figured she was full of crap but I had tried everything else so why not. I noticed an improvement in texture by the 3rd treatment, much, much smoother and softer. By the sixth treatment it was like different skin. I still had some staining from previous breakouts but my pores were much tighter, skin was smooth as glass and almost no new breakouts.
I continued to do a weekly peel (Glycolic or fruit acid peels are super gentle and a much better way to exfoliate your skin) for another two months then dropped it down to every other week, plus a facial once per month for about six months. Now I just do a facial and peel once per month and occasionally an extra peel if I feel like I need it.
It is extremely important to use a cleanser with a neutral PH. I use one from a company called Yon-Ka, I also use their toner. I use a 10% glycolic acid moisturizer from a company called Peter Thomas Roth (I know you can my his products online at Sephora). These three products total about $100.00 and last my 5-6 months so I am spending far less than I used to on products. I use a good oil free sunscreen in the morning and at night I use clearisil for a hour then rinse off and follow with my toner and moisturizer. I also used a product containing hydroquinone for about 4 months to even out skin tone.
A couple of other products I like are:
Origins charcoal mask. I can’t remember the exact name of it but it is black.
Origins Never a Dull Moment Scrub (don’t use it as a scrub! let is sit on the skin for about 10 minutes then rinse)
Elizabeth Arden Peel & Reveal mask
I use one of the above products about every 3 days, they are a few that I have used that I definetely notice make a difference in my skin.
A few other tips…
Never use scrubs! This is one of the worst things you can use on your skin and will only aggravate it, especially if you have acne.
Don’t use any product that contains alcohol, ever.
The best way to use benzoyl peroxide is to wear it for an hour or two before bed then rinse it off.
Don’t ever let clay masks dry on your skin, try using them in the shower for 5-10 minutes then rinse off.
Don’t wash your face more than twice per day.
Acne is not caused by anything you eat so they say but I notice tremendous in overall appearance of my skin when I cut out refined carbs, sugar, or especially dairy. I have tried Pantothenic acid but didn’t notice any particular difference but I know other people that have had positive experience with it.
Oh, and you can mix most protein powders with water instead of milk.
I have tried about everything under the sun for my skin. Prescriptions and OTC stuff too, including Accutane when I was 16. I have found that Pantothenic acid(Vit b5) works the best for me. Also a cleansor called Plexion helps me.
Has anyone used BHA(Beta Hydroxy Acid) products? Sabrina? Loopfitt?
How much do Glycolic peels cost? Do they tend to make your skin breakout initially? I do not have cystic acne and I would say my acne is mild to moderate.
Thanks
Are you a female? Girls have always told me their skin complexion is always better after a splash of ‘milk’ in their face…
Dont flame me if some girl thinks sucking a lollipop is good for their skin. They must know what they’re talking about since they spend hours upon hours shopping for the littlest of things.
On Sabrina’s point, I too noticed a definite improvement on my skin after I quit dairy and refined carbs.
When I went on Poliquin’s diet my skin became far better for some reason. Id been having occasional breakouts prio to it. But for the 8 months I stayed on the Poliquin diet, I had nothing. I am now following JB’s diet guidelines with 300 g carbs/day and still smooth as a baby, so maybe it was just coincidence.
I prefer BHA’s to AHA’s because they seem to be a little milder to me and don’t irritate my skin the way that AHA’s initially do. I have used Plexion also but it found it to be really drying.
As far as glycolic peels and facials, most dermatologists have estheticians on staff so if you have depending on insurance it may be covered as an office visit (it would be for me, but I have a friend who does mine these days), and you may only have to pay a co-pay. Otherwise, they range from $20-$40 on the average. Facials start around $60 and up. No breakouts after a peel, but use sunscreen and you may be a little sensetive for the rest of the day. At first, I would break out a bit after a facial, but it doesn’t happen much anymore. Now I rarely even get a blackhead let alone a full blown pimple.