I don’t know why the 60s and 70s have made such a lasting impression on us regarding skin care, because even now in 2017, people believe that pimples are permission to be HARSH with their skin.
When I was younger, I thought that pimples were a surface problem… And so I fought them with all my might, trying to quite literally destroy them…
Though pimples seem like a surface problem, they aren’t. Read about how pimples form here.
3 Damaging Skin Care Practices
People destroy their skin with the best intentions:
1.Too Drying
In the past, it was normal to use astringent toners with horribly drying ingredients like witch hazel and alcohol, especially on oily or acne-prone skin… Even toothpaste was a thing — meant to dry out the pimple. And these products still exist!
Sadly, drying out a pimple became the chosen way to get rid of pimples… Mario Bedescu’s Drying Lotion anyone? It’s a cult favourite product used by celebs from Hilary Duff to Kylie Jenner.
You don’t need to dry out your skin. Dry skin is more vulnerable to damage, and doesn’t heal as easily…
2.Too Much Scrubbing
There is definitely such a thing as too much scrubbing.
To this day, some people go about curing acne through the harshest products ever like Proactiv — manually scrubbing their faces twice a day hoping to get clear skin.
Read about my experience with Proactiv here.
Others scrub their faces with Clarisonic brush twice a day… Or St.Ives Apricot scrub with its super irregularly shaped and sharp walnut particles.
I know these harsh ways well, because that’s kind of where my foray into skin care started.
I too, once thought that I needed to basically scrub OFF the acne — dry it out so that it would never come back again!
I imagined that if only I scrub my skin off, the acne layer would go away…
But it didn’t work, and it made things much much worse. I ended up ruining my acid mantle and making my skin MORE acne-prone and sensitive AND dehydrated and shiny like a disco ball.
You shouldn’t scrub your face more than twice a WEEK… No joke.
3. Too Much Washing
Some people wash their faces until they’re squeaky clean, mistakenly thinking that acne is a dirt issue that can be eliminated with harsh cleansers…
Squeaky clean skin is literally the worst thing you can do to your skin, and the best thing you can do to get a lot more acne. With consistent squeaky clean cleansing, you effectively make your skin more alkaline and less able to fight bacteria. This means that acne bacteria GROWS on your skin, because your skin is too stripped to stop it.
Read more about why the acid mantle is so important for clear skin and how you can heal it here.
The Lesson
I learned the absolute hardest way, that being harsh with my skin is a NO-NO.
In fact, when you see a pimple that’s already formed on your face — it’s too late to do anything about the pimple.
It’s best to let it pass — your body will heal it, and you don’t have to do anything. Not do ANYTHING? That’s like the opposite of everything you hear about skin.
If I Can’t Be Harsh With My Skin, Then What?
The right way to go about healing your skin is through prevention.
You have to take such incredible care of your skin that it won’t have a reason to break out. This means you have to care for your skin consistently — not just when you get a pimple.
There are incredibly gentle products on the market that can wash your face without you needing to rub too hard or pull at your skin… The same is true for exfoliation.
Be gentle at all times! No tugging, pulling, scratching, popping allowed! The gentler you are with your acne-prone skin, the less pimples you’ll experience.
Your skin gets oxygen and nutrients from your blood, so the quality of food you eat plays a huge role on your skin too… Lifestyle factors such as exercise, sleep, and stress also matter.
Which means that you have to take care of your WHOLE body — face, stomach, gut, mind, soul.
I cover all the ways you can improve your skin in my free 28 Days Of Clear Skin video series, where I share 28 of my best hacks for clear skin with you. Sign up now to receive them in your inbox!
You are loved,
Olena
PS. You should sign up for a 30-Day Trial of my Cure It With Love Coaching Community for only 7$. You get unlimited access to ME and my 14 years of pimple-clearing experience!
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