acne, ew. Options

[LittleMissSunshi...]

anywho, so today, I saw my cousin after a while. She always had acne problems all her life, she finally got ProActiv, and it actually worked. I never had huge acne problems, I just usually wash my face with water and soap, and drink a lot of water. That always helped me.

So my question is, what's your way of getting rid of acne?

[mifff]

Be waaary of ProActiv.. I've heard from a lot of people that it can work miracles at first, but stops working after a few months. Anyway, if that doesn't work for you there's tea tree oil, jojoba oil (in place of moisturizer), clay masks for oily skin (whether umbrian clay or the classic Queen Helene's from Walgreens), DDF sulfur masks.. there are a lot of alternatives if one way doesn't work out for you but keep in mind that it takes 4-5 weeks or so for skin cells to renew itself (new dead cells work itself up from the dermis and become the epidermis.) That means when trying out a new product you have to wait at least that long to know if it actually works. Another thing to keep in mind is that a lot of products work by pushing the gunk out of your pores, which at the surface can cause breakouts until all the gunk completely clear your pores. After that initial breakout though, everything should be clear (a lot of people understandably freak out and stop use.) Of course there are tons of other factors like pollutants in the air, how much you touch your skin, diet, and even how you dry your face (pat or blot the towel, don't rub cause it can aggravate it.) Definitely exfoliate (you can use a little bit of baking soda mixed with water) to help speed up the skin's renewal process.

Oh! And don't use any cheapo stuff with mineral oil on your face cause it blocks your pores, unless you have amazing genes.