Part 1 - My Acne Skin Journey

 just a tiny fraction of my old skincare stash

Part 1- The makings of an addict 

Going back to Summer 2016. I bought everything! I mean anything that promised beautiful skin, everything that anyone was using and anything that looked good on my IG page.

My drawers were filled to the brim with stuff, my counters were cluttered with bottles and containers. Some good things, but mostly lots of unnecessary stuff. I had products galore! Every week a package arrived at the door. I was so swept up in the hype of products, that didn't read ingredients, I didn't care, and didn't google anything to see if the ingredients made any sense for my skins needs. If it wasn't suited for my skin I bought it. I used it, indulged and my skin paid the price.

Me at the Cult Beauty Sale.......

I thought what was popular was good for me. And offered my skin what it needed. I thought going natural would be my savior. After all natural is better right? So it seemed...Not till my face was damn near falling off, sore, and completely damaged did I realise this was just the placebo effect and the effects of good marketing.

I justified things because I didn't want to admit what I had spent thousands of pounds on just wasn't helping. 

My mind said they worked, but my skin didn't show any signs of improvement. The truth is my beautiful balms, many face oils, oils serums, oil cleaners, masks, acids and luxury brands were just making me feel good inside. The real truth is they made no difference in my skins condition except to worsen it.

By the time the 2016 holidays came I was so far deep into the hole, I barely had the extra funds to buy what I actually needed to repair my fragile-broken skin. My skin was a DISASTER my self-esteem was low, my confidence was shot. The appeal of Instagram beauty brands, over priced products and advice from most beauty-bloggers had lost its shine and worse their methods and suggestions completely failed. I needed some real help...

Some of my before photos

To see some of my old skincare routines go to just_claire_leeds Instagram

coming up.... Part 2

Clear Skin Phase 1 Retinol/Vitamin A

Phase1 #skincareclub Retinol

I was going to write a big back story and try for fancy writing, but decided on straight to the point.

Step 1 = 12 weeks Vitamin A
As I spoke about on an earlier post, I found Dr Sam's blog post "What to do when acne and wrinkles coexist"  

That post was my "skinspiration" to change!   

I tried to go straight in to phase 1, but my skin was so damaged that it was just reacting, I remembered a conversation I had with the lady who owns Bella Aura Skincare, she had suggested leaving my skin alone, totally! So I did, I went with no make up, and only washed at night time for a few days, I even skipped a day or two here and there, but mainly I just cleansed and moisturised for a few weeks.  

 My skin when it was super reactive to any skincare I applied

little bit calmer after a few weeks of cleanse and moisturise and some days doing nothing

Things I used for phase one-

1. CeraVe Hydrating Cleanser.
2. A gently foaming or "proper" cleanser I used CeraVe SE cleanser. 
3. A vitamin A serum I used KLUR vitamin serum. You could use Differin but I wanted a multi-vitamin serum to start and used stronger retinols in phase three.
4. An evening moisturiser like CeraVe PM lotion as long as it's non-comodogenic to you.
5. SPF like CeraVe AM lotion (it's only 30 so reapply a lot and stay out of direct sun).
6. I only used a toner for a few weeks then dropped it as I didn't want anything messing with my skin, La Roche Posay Serozinc if you must. 
7. A Hydrating serum like Niod Mmhc.
8. Patience, dedication and absolute sticking with it. 

* also La Roche Posay do an amazing range of spf, cleansers, moisturisers, choose basic and for your skin type. 

What to do
To start, use your vitamin a (retinol) serum on Monday evening after cleansing on dry skin, it's better to wait 30 minutes after cleansing to apply.
Next week Monday & Friday. 
The following week Monday, Wednesday & Friday evenings.

I left at least an hour before moisturising to allow the serum Vit A to do it's thang.

NOTE
Please absolutely avoid the eye area, the full orbital bone under the eye and above the eye to the brow, it is very sore and painful if you apply in this area, and only use a tiny amount. 

In the mornings I used the CeraVe Hydrating Cleanser and left on for 3 minute on damp skin, it will sting a little as you get retinol flakes. Then Hydrating serum then spf, no moisturiser is needed if you use CeraVe AM SPF lotion if you have oily skin, however you can use the CeraVe PM lotion under the AM one, or find a nice La Roche Posay one such as Toleraine.

Your going to be a little sore just stick with it, do NOT use face oil or heavy moisturiser or masks. Use a face cloth to gently buff when needed. 

So that's it. 3x a week in the evenings your vitamin a serum, and Hydrating serum and SPF every morning. 

Please DO NOT skip SPF, the harmful rays will undo all your great anti-ageing work and cause the new scar tissue to darken becoming scars that will take a long time to fade. Wear it even if it's winter. Every. Single. Day

This is me now.

I can't find any mid phase photos, but I was hugely upset when at the end of 12 weeks I still had some spots, no where near like the photos at the top, but I did still have under jaw cysts and some jaw (think beard area) spots. I stuck with it and just kept going. It's worth mentioning that in this time I was diagnosed with Coeliacs Disease that can cause external inflammation in the form of cysts and acne, when I gave up gluten my skin cleared up under my jaw and jawline very quickly. It may be worth seeing a naturopath or similar to test for allergies and intolerances that could be causing the cysts. 

Step 2 coming next "Acne is under control so what's next?"