Like some young adults, I have had mild acne since middle school. This took the form of occasional breakouts around my t-zone and extra spots when I was on my period or when I was more stressed than usual. After a while, it started to become normal for me to have acne until I decided to do something about it in high school. I didn't know anything about skincare or even the first place to start, so I used Proactiv because of all of the advertisements and celebrity endorsements I saw on television. Despite it being a complete marketing scam to get money from self-conscious teenagers, it had chemical ingredients I couldn't pronounce, was extremely abrasive on my skin, and left my face splotchy and red. Overall, it did more harm than good.
After the fiasco with Proactiv, I decided to seek out professional help from a dermatologist. She read my skin like a book and prescribed me gentle topical creams and oral medication to alleviate the painful stress-related blemishes. The expensive creams worked for a little while, but it wasn't good enough to be a long-term solution. It left my skin oilier than ever and only reduced the problem by a fraction.
During my first year of college, I was beginning to feel extremely anxious about my skin. All of a sudden, I was hyperaware that most of my peers had grown out of their adolescent skin issues and had beautiful and glowy skin. When it came to class presentations and dating, things that I thought I had pretty good skills with, I lacked confidence and it started to feel nearly impossible. I decided to go back to the bare-bones: using my trusty face wash twice a day.
While I cut back on the products I used on my face, I looked into online testimonials and products that other people used. In doing my own research, I hoped to find products I wanted to use rather than what others promised me would work. After a bit of trial and error, I realized that I needed to switch to all-natural and organic skincare products with no fragrances. Because my skin is extremely sensitive, my rule of thumb was if I couldn't pronounce an ingredient the product wasn't touching my face.
My current skincare routine looks like this: in the morning, I wash my face with a fragrance-free cleanser and exfoliate with a gentle scrub in the shower to remove any dead skin cells. Post-shower, I spray a bit of rosewater on my face to even the tone and massage it into my skin with an organic moisturizer cream infused with SPF. At night, I remove any makeup with my cleanser and apply rosewater again. When I am on my period or it's finals season, I use spot treatments and organic face masks as needed.
Keeping my routine as minimal and organic as possible has allowed my skin to not only recover from the harsh chemicals I used as a teenager, but also regenerate healthier skin. While my face isn't perfect and still has minor breakouts every now and then, I am seeing a lot of progress and have accepted the fact that adult acne is common. While switching to all-natural products worked best for me, it is important to remember that every person's skin type works differently and needs different things. The most crucial part of skincare is doing your own research and being patient while in search of the best products and routine.
