How I Put an End to Breakouts

             In my adult life, I have dealt with hormonal breakouts on a regular basis. No matter how clean my face was, or what "acne treatment" I would use - like clockwork I would end up with a few bumps (varying in size) mostly along my jawline, upper neck, and various other spots on my face. 

I don't remember where I saw it first, but while researching skincare I came across something detailing the pH of our skin, and how important it is to keep it at that level (around 5.5). I knew that I had good results with salicylic acid, and I had great results with the Clinique Mild Clarifying Lotion (which has sadly been discontinued for some reason). I started looking for a lower pH cleanser, so that I wasn't bringing my skin pH too high with cleansing and then trying to lower it drastically with a toner. 

In my search I found the Drunk Elephant cleansers - JuJu Bar and Pekee Bar. The pH of these bars are 6.3 and 6.5 respectively. JuJu (for morning cleansing) contains tiny granules of bamboo powder for light exfoliation. Pekee has a slightly higher pH (for evening cleansing) in order to do a little more heavy duty cleansing. I still recommend an oil cleanser before the Pekee at night just to fully remove any makeup you have on your skin. I have also tried other low pH cleansers with the exact same results, so you absolutely have many options other than the DE products. Switching to gentler cleansers like these made a huge difference in the way my skin felt after washing. It no longer felt tight, dry, and irritated which always made applying skincare after it very unpleasant. 

I have found that using a BHA (I use Paula's Choice Skin Perfecting 2% BHA, liquid or gel) after washing and before any serum or moisturizer has been exactly what I need to help keep any sort of acne/blemishes at bay. You can also grab samples of the BHA liquid or gel at the Paula's Choice website to try it out. Since my cleanser is so gentle, the BHA (beta hydroxy acid aka salicylic acid) never burns and using it everyday prevents any sort of flaking from heavy duty exfoliation. I no longer use any physical exfoliant (besides the very mild JuJu bar), and don't experience kind of flakiness under my foundation which used to be a big annoyance.

I like to keep it simple with moisturizer - no added fragrance or any irritating ingredients. I've been using the Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturizing Gel. It's easy and basic, and pretty inexpensive - although if you have very dry skin it might not be hydrating enough. My skin before I changed to this routine used to be oily, but also red, irritated and could get a bit flakey mostly on my cheeks by my nose. Now I rarely get oily and the only time my face is red is right after cleansing from the warm temperature of the water. I have been using this routine for over a year and a half, and I saw results within a week of starting. 

I used to think it was so complicated to get rid of acne, and that I needed to go scorched earth to see any results. It is something i don't even think about anymore. 

The takeaway is this : Low pH gentle cleanser, and a good BHA or whatever acid you react best to. 

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