For many years I have struggled with acne. It started when I was in my 8th grade year of middle school. Up until then I had beautiful flawless skin, then suddenly, I was bombarded by hormones with a personal vendetta-like agenda. It has taken me a long time to finally figure out what works for my skin and reduces redness and prevents acne, and after years of experimenting I wanted to share my findings. Now I am not here to tell you what will and won't work because I am one person and this is what has worked for me. But, you might be very different. I am just here to tell you my struggle with acne and hopefully help some other struggling teens in the process.

The first step in finding what will work for you is finding out what type of skin you have. There are predominantly four different types of skin: dry, combination, sensitive, and oily. Dry skin is usually described as being tights and prone to dryness that can result in flaky areas of the skin. Sensitive skin is prone to severe breakout/rashes/itchiness when using severe products. Oily skin is described as having an over-production of oil all over the face. Lastly Combination skin is prone to be oily in the T-zone area (nose, forehead, and chin) and normal in the cheeks, mouth, and eye area. If none of these really describe your skin then you most likely have normal skin. My skin is categorized as combination to oily skin, so what works for me might not work for other people.

So as I said before, my journey began in 8th grade where suddenly I was just bombarded with acne. I went to a dermatologist in a desperate attempt to rid myself of the infestation on my face, but found (much to my dismay), this was going to be a long journey. I had a type of acne called cystic acne. Cystic acne is incredibly painful. It is where there is a pimple that is in your skin and you cannot do anything about it. The best you can do it sit back with a warm compress and wait it out. Being a young teen however, I didn't have time to wait it out and would dig those puppies out. I am sure most of you have cringed by now, and trust me I am as well. It was an awful awful mistake. I would go into school with scabs on my face where I had attempted to get a painful pimple off of my forehead or nose. After many of these attempts my mom took me to a dermatologist to see if there was anything that I could do to help with the pain. My dermatologist gave me prescription that I took for about 3 years that helped with my acne, but this was not a magic pill that completely rid me of acne (no matter how desperately I wanted it to).

After years and years (6 to be exact) I have finally gotten my acne relatively under control. So here are some things I learned from my journey.

1. MOISTURIZE!!!

I don't know how to emphasize this enough. With combination and oily skin there is a large misconception that moisturizer is your enemy. I am here to tell you that is INCORRECT. I spent so many years attempting to make my face as dry as possible and ended up turning my face into an oil slick in the process. Moisturizing is probably going to be your best friend throughout this whole process with acne. It is widely thought that the more you moisturize the more oil will be produced, and this may seem to be true but it really is not. Essentially what is happening is when your face becomes dry, your brain tells your sebaceous glands to produce oil in order to moisturize the face. It takes a couple of days of moisturizing for your brain to realize that your face doesn't need the excess oil anymore and to hit the off button. Once you get through those days you are home free! It is essential to your daily routine to moisturize your face twice a day, before bed and when you get up.

2. Wash your face once a day

This idea goes back to moisturizing. The more you wash your face, the more you are dehydrating it. It is important to wash your face, but once a day is enough to keep it clean and fresh and also moisturized. I wash my face with a soap at night before I go to bed so I take off all of the grime from the day and I wash it with just water in the morning to get off that grim from the night.

3. Use gentle products

Before I really began to understand my skin, I used such harsh and intense products on my face. Today I use really gentle products to wash my face which is what my skin needs.

Finally for those of you who are like me and have dropped SOOO much money on products that didn't work, I want to leave you with a list of products I use that are relatively cheap and are a god-send.

1. Aveeno Positively Radiant Brightening Cleanser

I use this once a day at night to wash off all the grossness.

2. Neutrogena Healthy Defense daily moisturizer with sunscreen (SPF 50)

I use this twice a day once when I get up and once before bed.

3. Nip and Fab Glycolic Fix Night Pads Extreme

I use this 2-3 times a week to give my face an extra hydrating boost in the middle and the end of the week.

4. Simple Micellar Cleansing Water

I use this product to take off all of my makeup (when I where it). It is very gentle and works really well to breakdown tough makeup such as waterproof mascara. I then wash my face with the Aveeno cleanser in addition to get off anything that I might have missed.