Break outs suck. Anyone who has ever had one knows this all too well. If you're like me, break outs were a pretty big part of life. I've suffered from acne since around seventh grade and I'm approaching my sophomore year of college. As I've gotten older, I've learned how to deal with break outs and how to keep my acne under control. If you suffer from frequent or even just the occasional breakout, maybe these three steps will help you.
1. Diet is pretty important.
I'm somewhat of a health freak but I haven't always been this way. Many kids have poor eating habits growing up, but if you can learn to control yours, you can seriously cut down on break outs. Avoid eating sugary foods and beverages, such as candy or pop. If you're breaking out and consume large amounts of sugar, you're only adding fuel to the fire. Another habit to avoid is drinking dairy milk. I know, this sucks. I drank milk my entire life and still do sparingly, but milk is known to drive breakouts. Avoid pop, candy and milk as much as possible.
2. Besides being conscious of your diet, be aware of your skin type.
If you have oily skin like most people, you obviously need to dry your skin out by washing your face once or twice a day. This is pretty common knowledge, but here's the catch—don't over do it. Washing your face too often can dry out your skin too much, making your body produce extra oil in order to combat the dryness. Basically, if you try to dry your skin out too much, you can actually produce even more oil and only make our break outs worse. Learn what your skin can handle and clean your face accordingly.
3. Do not stress over breakouts.
This is the the hardest behavior to fix. For years, I had severe anxiety about my complexion, missing school at times because I didn't want to be seen in public. I've learned that people don't really care about your complexion as much as you do, so don't drive yourself crazy over it. It will get better with time and at times it may be out of your control. Do what you can, take the previous two steps into consideration and fight it as much as possible. Breakouts will happen and when they do, do not stress over them. Stress will only make it worse and honestly, there's much more important things in life to spend your time worrying about. Acne is temporary, don't let it take away your happiness and self-confidence! We’re all human; we’re all imperfect. Do what you can and just live your life.
