Most people with acne have gone through the motions of trying everything under the sun, hoping in vain that the next thing – the next product, the next supplement, or the next drug – will be THE thing that is the answer to all of their prayers.
Hey… I am certainly no exception!
I woke up this morning, sat at my computer, and attempted to think of something to write about for today. I started browsing through the folders on my computer and voila! I came across this interesting sort of ‘acne log’ that I had written out at some point or another.
It seems to be an accurate description of the timeline and phases that my acne has gone through (since it started in grade 7) and all the various treatments I tried for it. I don’t even remember when I wrote this out or why – I suppose I was trying to understand something about my acne… gather clues as to its origins, maybe? I thought AHA! Perfect blog post! So I am sharing it with you.
It runs all the way to a month or so before I finally got down to business and took this natural, holistic stuff seriously. The latter parts of the log show me getting increasingly desperate… flitting to from treatment to treatment, desperately trying to find the magic bullet (Sound familiar?). After finally beginning to accept that topical treatments were never going to really do the trick, I switched over my hopes to thinking supplements alongside a mediocre diet might be my saviour.
That’s where the log ends… but what happened afterwards is that I finally decided on a skin care routine that I was satisfied with (the honey and aloe routine that I use to this day), and I stopped resisting how ‘hard’ changing my lifestyle was and just did it.
Deep down I knew there was no magic cure….. but I wanted there to be one.
Letting go of that and accepting a holistic approach is what got me to the clear skin I have today! 🙂
So here it is, word for word:
Grade 7 – Starting getting acne on T-Zone…. I think I just washed my face with Oil Free Acne Wash from Neutrogena which contained Salyclic acid. I assume I probably stressed about my acne a lot.
Grade 10 – 12 – On birth control shot (Depo Provera). Continued to wash my face with Oil Free Acne Wash, but due to hormones in BC, my skin was impeccable
November 2005 – Skin had gotten worse since going off BC in June 2005 (when I graduated high school), but wasn’t ridiculous. Still nothing as immaculate as it had been when I was on BC, which frustrated me. Came across Acne.org, and decided to try Daniel Kern’s method of washing the face, using over the counter benzoyl peroxide treatment, and then moisturizing. However, I never used as much as he recommended because I was lazy.
Jan 2006 – April 2006 (in Sydney, Australia). – Face was okay. BP was somewhat keeping it under control, but I was still getting acne. However, bacne flared up all over my back really badly, which I had never had before at all. I couldn’t really use product or do anything to my back since I couldn’t reach it, so it went untreated.
April 2006 – July 2007 (in South East Asia) – Bacne magically clears up as soon as I leave Sydney and never comes back. For some reason my face is quite immaculate while I’m in Asia, but gets worse as soon as I go back to Australia.
July 2006 – Fall 2007 -. Face kind of under control, although still acne prone. At least satisfied with BP’s performance and simply assume my face would be much worse without it.
September 2007 (living in Victoria)– My face flares up, particularly my chin. My forehead seems to generally be alright, but my chin looks awful. Decide to try candida diet and eating healthy which seems to get my face under control again untiilll……
August 2008 – Flare up again….but still not that bad… acne keeps on keeping on
March 2009 – Flare up again… on chin, and some zits on forehead too, which has usually been pretty clear. Decide to start on Clear for Life’s healthy eating plan (still using benzoyl peroxide, by the by).
August 2009 (Shambhala) – By May or June, my face had completely cleared. From June until August, my face was probably the best it had been since BC. Healthy eating had worked. I went camping every other week, and was shocked to not have any breakouts. Until Shambhala (a big festival near Nelson, BC) was the last straw. I was still drinking green smoothies and trying to eat healthy, but it had definitely slid a bit. Went home from Shambles with two inflamed nodules on my chin and it was downhill from there. The zits just came back, same as they were before, if not worse.
Mid September 2009 – Four years later after starting it, I decided that obviously BP wasn’t doing anything, and that maybe I’d just go without and see what happens. Instead of medication, just use a mild cleanser (Spectrojel) and moisturizer morning and night
Beginning October 2009 – For two weeks after quitting BP, I didn’t break out, and I was shocked. Second week into no medication, and my forehead broke out in little bumps everywhere, so I got scared and decided to try Sulfur as a new medication….. Acnomel. It seemed to clear me at first, and I enjoyed the even skin tone it was giving me, wasn’t as drying as BP. but it didn’t seem to work. I was still getting acne like before. Starting to get desperate.
Mid October 2009 – Decided to take the step and ask the doctor. He ordered me on birth control and gave me a (very expensive) topical called Differin. I got too scared to take the birth control after my experiences with it as a teenager, and after researching the Differin, I just couldn’t take it. I put it on my face a couple times and I started getting intense nodules immediately. Apparently there is an extreme purging period with this as well as giving you a red, dry, sensitive face, and I just couldn’t deal with it – especially on the verge of moving to Vancouver and having to look for jobs.
Mid November 2009 – After a month and a half of Acnomel not working, I decided to go back to BP, except this time one of those *harmonized* systems (ie. where the facewash, BP, moisturizer are all made by the same company)… not Proactiv though… I got desperate and ordered it, but luckily they were out and didn’t send it… this was the Cetaphil system.
Mid November 2009 – Discovered Carly’s Clear and Smooth system and their amazing reviews and promises and got excited and ordered it. They said its best to let your face detox from BP, but I couldn’t bear the idea of no medication until then, so I used Clindymicin Dalacin T solution, which also didn’t really work that well.
Dec 1/09 – Start Carley’s Clear and Smooth with excitement and hope. Discovered that doing the routine was kind of a pain in the ass, but it made my healthy skin in between the acne feel so smooth and nice!
Dec 14/09 – Following Carley’s routine to a T. Skin wasn’t overall better or worse than before (although so smooth!) However, I got a couple of monster volcano zits. I assumed this was a detox of sorts.
Dec 25/09 – As soon as I got over the volcanos, all of a sudden one day on Christmas break, I broke out all over my forehead in the worst breakout I’ve ever had in my entire life – by far.
Jan 2/10 – Begin on the Au Naturel route. After a week, I was still breaking out like I’d never seen before. I always thought I had pretty bad acne, but didn’t realize that I hardly did. This was by far the worst my face had ever looked. Luckily there weren’t any big, big ones, but a million little ones didn’t seem much better. Decided to ditch everything. Wanted to do the caveman no water, no nothing routine to let my face completely heal from years of abuse (what a concept!), but with a breakout like this, I couldn’t bear to not wear a bit of makeup. So I started by not washing my face, and dissolving my makeup with jojoba oil and leaving it on. No washing, no cleanser, no moisturizer, no medication.
Jan 17/10 – Started slowly getting my face wet, and incorporating more of the Oil Cleansing Method (steaming face) instead of just leaving the jojoba to sit there (also adding a bit of vitamin e and safflower oil to the mix). Trying to go minimalistic again though because, I was still breaking out like I had been on Carley’s, (although I haven’t gotten any big inflamed ones. Small ones are frequent but come and go quickly. If one under the surface hurts, it doesn’t seem to surface) wondered if the oil wasn’t good for me. Going back to maybe a quick splash of water in the morning, and going to wash my face with an apple cider vinegar solution in the evenings to get makeup off. Minimalize makeup as much as possible. Maybe do an oil cleanse once a week or something.
Jan 19/10 – After two days on Apple cider vinegar, my face already looks a bit better. But we’ll see. I do pray minimalistic is the answer to my face issues. I just need to be repaired from abusing it, I think. The skin on the rest of my body is so smooth and nice, and no one else in my family seems to have acne issues. I am still getting zits, but its hard to tell which ones are active and which are now just scars left from before.
Jan 26/10 – not working… breaking out like crazy all over my chin now in addition to my forehead. 🙁 Can’t deal with not knowing if what I’m putting on my face is really cleaning the makeup off. Going to start washing with Spectrojel at night. Started taking vega supplement and trying to eat healthy.
Feb 3/10 – Quit Spectrojel, because it was making my face dry. Started complete caveman regimen on forehead. Back to apple cider vinegar on lower half of face and mineral makeup.
Feb 15/10 – started taking Evening Primrose Oil. Using Vega, Umac Core, not eating really healthy, but okay I guess. 🙁
Are you or have you flitted from thing to thing in a desperate search for that one thing that will cure you?
40 Responses
That sounds really frustrating but I can really relate to it! I started getting break outs in yr 7 too and went to the doctors and used this strong medicated treatment on my face which worked. Then it slowly stopped working and i tried a gazilion other things XD. One year insetad of getting my school photo taken I went to the dermatologist and he prescribed me Diferin. I was VERY sacred of this product because he said my skin would get much worse for a while before it gets better..emotionally I couldn’t deal with this, because as I started to use it, my whole face would flare up. I dont know what happened after that…think I started to use natural products and focus more one diet..then I found Pro-active which was AMAZING for 2 years and then stopped working. These days I only wash my face with jojoba oil and eat healthy…I still am getting little spots but I have only been doing this “gentle regime” for around half a year so I hope that if I keep up with it, my skin will be completely glowing one day, but I want to focus on being happy more and not worrying so much. Being healthy and gentle with my skin makes me feel much more comfortable. I found the stronger the products i used, the more my skin would get used to them and I would need to get something stronger…it just didnt seem right, but atleast now Im following a safer path 🙂 It’s comforting to know that its possible to have clear skin purely on a healthy lifestyle and gentle skin care routine.
by the way I’m 20 now so thats approx 8 years of trying stuff. I feel like I’m still on a journey with diet however. Finding a balance is really hard..afew years ago after being already underweight I lost 10 kg and i was a little frail. I guess we all have to find something that will work for us individually and not always rely on one way.
Hey Jess! I totally agree with what you say about this path being a lot more comfortable, even if some strong chemical products do work sometimes (and you’re right, it always seems like eventually you need more and more of them for it to work). It just feels right to be working with your body instead of against it.
And yes, it can be really hard to find a balance with the diet thing, I go through a lot of phases with my own diet, and I think that’s okay 🙂
Thanks, I enjoyed reading this! So, products don’t really work, do they? =(
My philosophy on products is that good skin care routines can improve your skin (although likely won’t cure acne on its own), and bad routines and products can make it worse.
And some products and chemicals can clear acne, for sure, but the fact is that most times, they eventually stop working. Essentially… yeah… I feel like products don’t really work. Definitely not as well as we all want them to anyway.
Putting the names of your location in parentheses is making me jealous! My traveling around the world expedition has officially begun though! I spent 6 nights in Mackinaw City, then 3 nights camping in Manistee, MI and now I am in Chicago for 7 nights – maybe more! I hope to make a trip outside of the midwest sometime this month!
I’m hoping to do a camping trip to the Rocky Mountains in September… I hope!
i’m so glad to see i’m not the only one who has done this, jumping from product to product. and the same with supplements and diet phases- lacto-ovo vegetarian, gluten-free, vegan, then pescetarian, etc. not to mention switching back and forth between natural and prescription things. a desperate search for a solution can really drive you crazy.
it is really encouraging to know that minimizing the use of products has worked for you 🙂 i’m getting there gradually… i’m actually going to an allergist this week (hopefully); i think you mentioned in a video a while ago that you had success with avoiding certain foods after allergy testing… so i’m hopeful about it.
thanks, tracy 🙂
Yep, I think most people do this desperate search for miracles at some point in their acne careers 🙁
What kind of allergist are you going to see? Be careful if it’s a traditional medical allergist, because they have a very narrow view of allergy. They generally only test for immediate reaction allergies (called IgE), but those only account for about 20% of all allergies… the ones that cause acne are generally of the IgG type which are delayed allergies, and account for 80% of all allergies!
i didn’t even know that, i’m glad you mentioned it.. maybe i can somehow get an IgG test.. unfortunately where i live there are NO legit naturopaths so i’ll have to go to a traditional medical allergist or nothing at all. :\
That’s sucky :/ Are there any natural health practitioners who may be able to do kinesiology allergy testing on you? I’m just concerned that if the allergist only tests you for immediate reactions, you won’t end up catching what’s contributing to your acne!
hmm.. i will have to do some research on that one. there’s only so much research you can do online, and sadly, legit natural practitioners are super few and far between here- i’m obviously living in the wrong city.
It took me two years to realize that the only magic cure was chasing after a healthy lifestyle! All the dermatologists I’ve ever went to did absolutely nothing for me! I’m really thankful I found a naturopath who help set me on the right track because I would get really desperate too with my acne, and now its been three months since Ive been eating right, taking supplements, and exercising and I’ve already seen a huge improvement! I’m confident that it will only get better as time passes! Thanks for the great articles Tracy and for the info on your improvement as well because it’s inspired me to keep believing!
Hey way to go Viv! Keep going with it, things will definitely continue to get better!! 🙂
Who the heck keeps Listerine in their room?
Haha this is why I purposely threw it in there that that wasn’t my dresser =)
hey! i’ve been looking at the past week’s articles — I’ve been vacationing in california and it’s been hard to get wifi or have time to do anything. all i’ve been doing is eating, walking, eating, riding in the car, over and over again. it’s kind of tough to stay with my typical diet etc. but i’m doing okay …
i found this site like a week ago, and i ordered some samples. it’s ann marie gianni’s skin care, which is supposed to be all natural. thoughts?
http://www.annmariegianni.com/
her stuff is supposedly eatable – i haven’t used it yet but i’m going to after i get back home.
also, i saw some of that aloe that you used before – the lily of the desert one. was that the one that you used before? I started putting it on my face on spots only and it feels great so far!
anyway, take care!
Yeah her stuff looks good if you want to spend that kind of money! I know her and Kevin Gianni are very dedicated to natural, organic stuff, so I can’t imagine that she would put out any dodgy skin care stuff.
yeah there was a special deal like last week — 10 bucks for a sample kit and then a 10 dollar coupon that came with it. soo, it was basically free. i’ll tell you how it works!
oh, and have you ever gone to the sauna to help clean the skin? i’m about to go try it — there’s one for free at my hotel LOL.
i just finished! wow! i was able to clean some blackheads that i’ve had for EVER – like for months! they all came to a head and i just removed them. it feels great too …. i just sat there for 20 minutes and read, and started sweating like crazy. afterwards i just took a shower and then cleansed like usual.
recommended!
Cool Jeff! Yeah I think saunas can be beneficial for sweating out some toxins and opening up the pores…. I remember trying it a couple times when I was first attempting to clear my acne, but I realized that I was way too lazy to make the effort to go to the rec center and do it frequently!
Hi! You mentioned that you had to put on makeup during one of you bad acne phases above. I can totally relate to that! Despite having to have cleared up over the past few months with proper nutrition, my past acne left my skin extremely oily and uneven with enlarged pores. For about 5 years, I would have never gone out without putting on some makeup to conceal my skin imperfections. So I have been shying away from social activities, especially those with stay overs. The thought about being bare-faced in front of others scares me quite a lot. I am incredibly self conscious about my acne, and I am desperately looking for means to solve this issue.
Tracy how did you manage to regain confidence and breakout of your comfort zone (like hanging out without makeup)?
Hi Noelle! Yes the idea of going bare faced terrified me… and to be honest, if I still had really awful skin, I still doubt I’d be able to go bare faced without caring. I’m not made of steel! The problem I found was that even with a few pimples here and there like I used to have before the severe acne, I’d still be completely terrified for anyone to see ONE zit. And I know many people feel this exact same way. I don’t know what it was exactly that allowed me to finally be more comfortable being seen bare faced with a few zits… it was a slow process for sure. I think the number one thing is actually just being open about having acne. We spend so much time and effort hiding it and never mentioning it and pretending it doesn’t exist… if we just acknowledge to others that we aren’t perfect, then we don’t have to be perfect anymore. I should write a blog post about that. haha thanks!
I love how open and real you are Tracy. Thank you for that. I think just god old maturity is what causes us to realize that it’s ok to go out of the house without make up sometimes. I think that we as society are becoming more open about how real people look. Even models are airbrushed and/or have a good make up artist covering their flaws.
I use to be the same way when I had bad acne. Now that I’ve gotten over the breakouts for the most part I’ll go out without makeup once in a while. Even if I have one or two pimples. I realized one time that someone who In my mind is gorgeous, had some zits as well. And it’s something 90% of people have to go thru.
Anyway. Thanks for being real with all of us. 🙂
That actually really helps me a lot – thinking of people that I know who I think are beautiful and also have acne. Or really confident awesome people I know that have acne. It’s like you don’t even see it on them. All you see is their personalities and beaity. It helps me to remind me that it just so doesn’t matter…. you look at most women and I’d say more than half seem to have acne particularly around the chin area… yet all are still so beautiful
Hi there – I don’t know if anyone will see this, but if you do, I HIGHLY recommend trying Coconut Oil – it has to be virgin, cold-pressed, unrefined though. There is a ton of information online, and I myself am currently going through the “healing crisis” stage. I use it on my face for acne, my nails, hair, and also for OIL PULLING (also, highly recommend). I’ve struggled with acne for about 5 years (I’m 19 right now) and nothing has worked. I do believe that VCO (virgin coconut oil) is a miracle though! My email address is cara.r.daugherty (at) gmail.com, feel free to email me with questions/or to let me know how VCO works for you, I’d love to hear your experience with it!!
-Cara
Hi Cara! I have heard about using coconut oil on the face, but I’m very very wary about it…. read the article I wrote about it here:
https://thelovevitamin.com/1177/is-coconut-oil-an-acne-menace-or-an-acne-miracle/
HAHA! anybody notice the sex seen goin on in the painting in the background of that picture! lol almost missed that. sorry, imature teenhere.
aahahah… I had never noticed that!!
my naturopath suggested evening primrose oil 1500mg a day – are you still taking it?
No, I only tried it for a short while. I didn’t really give it a fair shot to know if it did anything, I was moving between things too fast at that point
I’ve never heard of Vega or Umac Core. Were they just supplements that promised to keep the skin healthy and such?
Yes, they were just general supplements supposed to make you healthy – nothing to do with skin in particular
For me..its the combination of ACV + VCO + no sugar + no processed food!! EPO is good too and i apply them on my face once a while as if i consume them orally they will make me eat more :). Now adding some rosehip oil to my daily routine too.
I got lazy a while ago and started washing my face with just water, I didn’t even care about getting all my mineral makeup off, and I was surprised how much better my skin looked. My pores unclogged, my scars started fading fast ;__; my friends and family are excited saying my skin is looking so much better. I started thinking about all the people in the world who don’t have a “skin routine”, and have perfect skin… so not caring so much was the key???
Sounds like the caveman regimen! Yes, for some people the trying is the problem and relaxing is the solution!
So frustrating!! I don’t think I started getting acne until I was in high school but I am now 35 and I still get pretty bad break outs from time to time. I’ve come to realize that I really only have one good week out of the month where my skin looks clear. I’ve know for a long time that my acne is hormonal, but I just started taking estroblock about 3 weeks ago. In the beginning, it made me very sick: headaches, vomiting. So I started taking a liver support supplement and lowered my dose to one cap per day while the liver support kicked in and this week I’m back up to twice a day. But I still have trouble I think bc I still have to wear makeup to coverup while at work. When you do wear makeup, is there a wash that you use? I use jojoba oil and maybe on e a week I use Dr. Bronners. I was using Manuka as a cleanser but once my jar ran out I didn’t replenish. Did you say you use Aloe gel? What brand and where do you incorporate it into your skin care regime? I am so tired of breaking out at the severity that I have been for the last 20 years. Hoping estroblock kicks this acne beasts butt!! 🙂
Hi Autumn,
the magic mitt by Jane Iredale is great for cleansing makeup and sunscreen without actually using a real cleanser. In addition, it’s pretty long-lasting, so it’s actually less expensive than any natural (or chemical) cleanser out there! Here’s an article about it on Tracy’s blog: https://thelovevitamin.com/5457/how-to-remove-makeup-without-cleansers-oils-or-makeup-remover/