By now we’ve covered that washing your face often and finding the right acne products is important as far as getting control of your acne, but there are a lot of little things that you can do (or not do!) that will help keep your acne under control. Each one of these tips might not be a big deal on their own but when combined together in combination with your acne regiment, the results add up quickly!
Little Stuff NOT to do to Control Acne
Keep your hands off your face – If you’re keeping your head propped up at work or school with your hands, you’re likely making your acne situation much worse! Your skin needs to breath and if there are hands constantly covering the face, the oil in your skin isn’t going to get to the surface and you’re going to cause clogged pores. There’s no need to getting carried away with this tip though, its okay to “touch your face” but keep in mind that the longer your face comes in contact with surfaces that don’t allow it to breath the worse off it can become.
Don’t pick your pimples – Picking your pimples is one of the worst things you can do if you’re trying to get your acne under control! When you pick a pimple it releases the infection to other areas of your face including underneath the skin you just tore! When this happens the result is more of what you don’t want: more pimples. Pimples can almost be treated like scabs in that they’ll go away and dissipate on their own once the skin is healed. The most important part is to make sure all those pimples are opened up and that the bacteria that is causing them to be red and swelled up is treated! This goes for scrubbing in the shower too! I know its a big compulsion that scrubbing hard will open those pores but resist the urge! Opening up acne that isn’t ready to be treated is only going to make it stick around longer. Finally, as a final warning – picking your acne is the #1 cause of acne scarring in teenagers and young adults.
Keep out of the sun! – I hear a lot that the sun can help clear your acne and in some ways it can! A suntan darkens the skin and makes it harder to see blemishes and acne, but it comes at a price. Too much sun will cause sun burn which will really make your face look rough. Sweating can clog the pores so make sure that you wash your face as soon as you get the chance. Finally, a lot of medications that are out there to treat acne increase the skins sensitivity to the sun! If you’re taking one of these medications make sure to follow the instructions and to use sunscreen whenever you’re exposed to the sun, especially in the summer!
Little Stuff to do to Control Acne
Change your bedding often – One thing to help speed along getting rid of your acne is to wash your pillow cases more often. Of all the surfaces that come in contact with your face, your pillow meets your face the longest! Oil is spread from your face to the pillow case and continues to cause problems even days after. Days old skin is just ripe for bacteria! Depending on how bad your acne is, you might consider washing your pillow case two to three times a week.
Take it easy! – Did you know that stress is known to be a contributor to acne? I’m not implying that your acne is caused by stress but it sure doesn’t help when it comes to clearing up acne. Just last week, the U.K. government released a study indicating that stress not only can cause acne, but causes it to heal slower as well. It’s impossible to avoid all stressful situations, but the less stress you take on the better off you’ll be!
Work out time! – Working out isn’t only a great way to get acne under control but its also great for the body on all levels! Exercise causes you to sweat (or at least it should!) which helps to clear out your pores. This brings sebum and dead skin cells up where you can wash them away. Secondly, exercise restores fluctuating hormone levels to a balanced level. Almost all acne problems are either directly or indirectly related to hormones, and so keeping them under control is always beneficial! Finally, taking a tip from the tip above, a lot of different exercises actually releases stress which is a bonus.
Head and Shoulders it up – Head and shoulders is one of the home remedies that have been hot on the net lately. Apparently head and shoulders is a good way to treat acne while taking a shower. Head and shoulders is really good about removing oil from your face and the zinc in it helps to improve complexion and it’s also supposed to reduce acne scarring with extended use. Hundreds of people in the acne community swear by it! The same can be said with toothpaste! Apparently toothpaste is great at drying up acne. The way most folks use toothpaste is to dab a bit on stubborn or particularly greasy pimple and leave on overnight. A little bit may get onto the pillow cases but thats okay, we plan on washing those anyway. As with any home remedy, try on a small part of your face first before using it all over to reduce risk of a freak allergic reaction.
I can go on and on about things you should or shouldn’t do. One thing to keep in mind about acne is that it is an infection. The better the health and condition of your body, the better off you are at fighting an infection. What’s good for the body is good for your acne so eat well, drink lots of fluid and exercise!
Go back to part 2 of our controlling acne featured article!