The Acne Checklist

Lately (in my free time) I've been playing connect the dots....  with my face.

Breakouts suck for everyone, obviously. But as an Esthetician I feel like having bad skin is suchhh a faux pas! It's as though you've got "I don't know what I'm talking about!" plastered across your face. 

But the truth of the matter is that we're human too! We too drink too much caffeine, forget to clean our cellphones, accidentally fall asleep in our makeup, etc. 

There's such a difference between knowing and actually doing! 

So as I stood in front of my mirror yesterday in (not so) quiet agony, I decided it was time to go through my "Acne Checklist". This is my own personal mental checklist of known causes of breakouts, and I go through it every time my skin takes a drastic turn for the worse. 

The Acne Checklist

• Are you slacking on your water intake? (Refer to my "You Are What You Drink" post)
• Are you eating poorly? (This refers to vitamin/mineral intake, not calories.)
• Have you been sleeping in your makeup?
• Are you using a new powder/foundation? (Always look for the phrase "Noncomedogenic" if you're acne-prone. This means it won't clog your pores, preventing your skin from breathing.)
• Has it been more than a week since you washed your foundation/powder brushes?
• Have you been using a new skincare regimen? (Our faces take time to adjust, and will go through a not-so-pretty purging process before clearing up.)
  
• Have you been touching your face more than usual? (I notice I do this when stressed.)
• Have you forgotten to clean your phones regularly? (Would you rub the inside of your purse against your cheek? Me neither.)
• Have you been sleeping on a (secretly) dirty pillowcase? (It's best to change your pillowcase every 2 days if you're especially acne-prone. That way you can flip it over fresh each night to ensure you're not sleeping on yesterday's oils.)
• Have you recently changed your laundry detergent? (The chemicals in laundry detergent are pretty insane and can easily cause skin irritation if they don't vibe well with you. I always opt for the most gentle, natural option.)
• Have you recently changed your toothpaste? (Same reasoning as the laundry detergent, but only really applicable if the breakouts are along your mouth area.)
• Are your hormones fluctuating? (We all know to expect breakouts around our period, but the same can apply to any changes in your birth control. Hormonal breakouts tend to be all along the chin area and can be pretty intense.)

I'm embarrassed to say that I had to say yes to most of the above list. But you know what? Sometimes shit gets crazy and life gets away from us for a little while, and that's ok. What matters is that you remember to take a minute from time to time to check in with yourself. 

We only get this one body for our whole lives, let's try to remember to be nice to it. <3