My 8 top tips when dealing with spots

At 21 years old, I still get spots, and this is not something that I expected from growing up! I always got told that my hormones would calm down and it was just a phase that my skin was going through, and 7 years later, I'm still getting teenage spots. 

It all began when I was 14 and I started to get spots all over my forehead and on my chin. It didn't bother me too much at first because they weren't that bad but then it turned into acne on my forehead and all over my back. It's not the worse acne you've ever seen. I was lucky enough to have it mainly on my back, I never really got spots on my cheeks like some people but my skin was bad enough for the doctor to refer me to a dermatologist at the hospital, I had lots of treatments and medications but nothing really worked for me until they tried me on the Dianette Pill, this just controlled my hormones incredibly well and I then got discharged from the hospital and I have been on this pill ever since I was 16. 

I used to get extremely self conscious and emotional about my skin and it doesn't always help when you get people commenting on your spots or calling you 'pizza face' which I once got called by a lovely year 7 boy... how nice. My skin now isn't half as bad as it used to be and I very rarely get a big breakout, I just get the odd spot here and there. 

So I'm just going to go through my top 8 tips that I have found helps when it comes to dealing with spots! 

1- Wash your face and hands on a regular basis 

Now this is one thing that I have always done growing up. I wash my face at least twice a day and I feel like it just helps my skin feel more refreshed and clean and of course this is going to help spots! Also a key thing is to keep your hands clean throughout the day. You touch your face more than you think and if you're touching a spotty area and then touching somewhere else on your face the spots are going to spread like wildfire so wash your hands! 

2- Use Oil Free products 

This was one thing I never knew until about 3 years ago. I was using loads of different foundations and one day I decided to change to an oil free foundation and it helped my skin so much! I then began to read up on oil free products and how they benefit the skin and I found that people with acne prone skin shouldn't use products with oil in! The only trouble I have is that I have VERY dry skin that is spot prone which is a pain when it comes to buying foundations, because most oil free foundations are for oily skin and create a matte finish which can make dry skin look quite flaky, I tend to use a pea sized amount of my oil free moisturiser and mix it in with my foundation and it creates a more dewy natural look to my skin and doesn't attach itself to dry patches! 

3- Find a cleansing routine that suits your skin

It's taken me over 6 years to find a cleansing routine that suits me and I am so thankful I have found something that my skin loves! Everyones skin is going react differently to cleansing routines. Using using oil free cleansing products is a bonus because its really going to get deep into your pores so you need something that doesn't irritate the skin or causes spots to appear. I have used the Clinique anti blemish solutions for almost a year now and its just amazing. I did a blog post about this a while ago, I will leave a link below! 

4- DONT exfoliate the skin when you have fresh spots

Exfoliating can help people in so many ways but when you have acne it doesn't really help at all. Exfoliators have heavy grains in them and when you are massaging the cream onto your skin you are taking off a thin layer of dead skin cells and you will also be taking off the heads of your spots which can cause them to bleed. And while you're massaging the cream into your face you are also opening up pores and therefore spreading the gunk from your spots into your freshly opened pores ITS NOT GOOD! If you're going to exfoliate, try and avoid spotty areas where the spots are new, try and massage the skin lightly to cause less irritation too.

5- Drink plenty of water

Not only does this benefit spots, it also benefits the overall look and feel of your skin, it helps get rid of dark circles, dry skin and you will feel more energised, It will help spots heal faster! If you don't like just plain water, try adding fruit/cucumber into the water to help it taste better! 

6- Make sure you clean ALL the makeup from your skin

If you are a makeup wearer like me, you need to make sure that every last bit of your makeup has come away from your skin at the end of the day. At night I usually wipe my eye makeup off with facial wipes and then use a cotton pad with my daily cleanser on to clean off the excess makeup. I keep applying cleanser to a clean cotton pad until the pad is clear of makeup/dirt. 

7- DONT pick your spots! 

This is only going to make the situation worse. I can completely understand the pain of having a massive white head on your spot and if you want to pop it thats absolutely fine but make sure you are doing it properly! Make sure your hands are clean, I sometimes use a cotton pad if I need to pop a spot just so I know the gunk isn't going to get on my hands and spread all over my face. After you've finished dealing with the spot ALWAYS wash your hands with plenty of soap and DONT pick at the spot/scab afterwards this just creates more redness and it will take even longer for the spot mark to disappear. 

8- Finally, don't let your spots defeat you! 

I used to get so emotional about my spots and I always used to cover them up with as much makeup as possible. I used to feel like everyone was staring at me and was thinking how ugly my skin looked but trust me, most people don't think that! Half of the time people wont even be bothered by your spots because they have probably all had problems with their skin at some point in their life! 

Try not to worry about it too much, I know its hard but just remember that...

your skin doesn't define who you are and trust me... it will get better

Please find the link to my daily skincare routine below

Thanks for reading

♥

My Daily Skincare Routine Blog Post!








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