My biggest issues were always oily skin, redness, shallowly pitted scarring (uneven texture), and small bumps on my chin.
I guess I'll chart some of my progress and talk about what I did as I went along.
This was me around senior year of college:
I think whoever took that pic used a Blackberry, so it's really blurry. In any case, I was dealing with a rough, uneven skin texture that would be oily in patches and dry in others. Under certain lighting, it could even look quite leather-y.
What I started doing at this time was exfoliating smarter. I had been woefully uninformed about how skin operates, so I was under the assumption that I could just scrub away the roughness with those horrible St. Ives microbead or Japanese charcoal cleansers and reveal smooth, even skin underneath.
Nope.
AHA/BHA (chemical exfoliants rather than the harsh, irritating physical ones I'd been using) solved the roughness issue. Since then, I've looked younger than the high school students I teach
On to the next problem, a few years later:
This is me about the time I did my student teaching a long time ago.
I was awkwardly jutting out my chin to get a clearer picture of the chin bumps that just seemed to never go away. Redness was also apparent, even after applying toner with calming agents and moisturizer. I don't remember what that brown mark was, but it could have been a hyperpigmentation scar.
What helped most were three things. First, Retin-A helped bring those bumps (which were painless clogged comedones deep in the skin) to the surface and dry them out. Second and third respectively were switching to an electric razor and topically applying oils full of essential fatty acids, antioxidants, and cell-communicating properties like rosehip seed oil and avocado oil, both of which helped temper the redness a bit.
Redness results from irritation, so I had to do a lot of research about the ingredients in the products I use. Very quickly, I eliminated anything that contains alcohol, any cooling agents like menthol or sulfur (that "cool" sensation feels nice but it's bad for you), any type of fragrance, dye, or fruit extract, etc.
This is my most recent face situation:
As you can see, my skin tone is more even (in both color and texture).
I'm hoping that derma-rolling will help fade that chemical burn on the left side of my chin right below my lips (left on a glycolic acid spot treatment too long...) and reduce the pitted scarring on my cheeks. I've already noticed significant improvement, so here's to waiting.
By the way, things that never affected my skin (and which science proves, allergies aside, shouldn't affect yours):
- Diet
- Exercise
- Frequency or amount of water consumption
- Masturbation
- "Toxins"
Non-myth contributors that do actually affect acne:
- Stress
- Lack of sleep
- Hormone imbalance (adult acne like mine is caused by this 99% of the time; if you "grew out" of acne, it's because your hormones normalized, and if you're a middle-aged woman and suddenly getting acne again, it's because of menopause throwing your hormones off whack)
- Weather
- Hygiene (not regularly changing pillowcases/washcloths/etc. spread the bacteria that inflame your pores; this does not refer to washing your face)
- Too many other things to list
Hopefully this rambling post helps someone?
