Face It

Tips for clear, healthy, beautiful skin:

• Start the day by washing your face - Use warm water. I've heard that it can be best to end by splashing your face with cold water, to close the pores. And don't use regular bar soap for your face...unless you want to look like a leather hand-bag when you're 40. No matter what type of bar soap it is, don't use it on your face unless it says it's specifically for that.

• End the day by washing your face. Washing it twice a day really does make a difference.

• Apply lotion/moisturizers. I do this every night, but usually don't put any on in the morning if I'm planning to wear any makeup, since it tends to make the makeup behave differently. My skin is sensitive, so I tend to stay away from oily lotions, scented facial products etc. I use Cetaphil lotions, and it's generic brand counterpart of facial cleanser. My skin seems to like them (it was quite a challenge for me to find something that worked and that wouldn't make me break out, or get even drier skin), so I've stuck with them for several years.

• It's nice to exfoliate your skin once a week to remove the dead skin cells, and to rejuvenate your complexion. There are many exfoliating scrubs out there - you must decide which is best for you and your skin type. 

__________________________________________

Now, if you take care to keep your skin clean, but still have a problem with it breaking out, it could be a variety of things - don't just assume it was "something I was born with". I will note below some of the most common break-out causes below (however, you may be more likely to have it when you are an adolescent, without any of the things below causing it...that's just how life goes):

• Makeup - Many people are allergic to different formulas of makeup. If you wear makeup, and break out frequently, this could be one of your problems. To test it, you could go a week without any makeup, and see if your skin clears up. These days, there are so many different formulas of makeup, it's not hard to find some hypo-allergenic kinds, that aren't excessively expensive.

• Perfume - It's true, perfume - whether you spray it on, or it's in your lotion - can irritate your skin.

• Diet - Diet is one of the main things that can cause me to break out, now that I've gotten the right facial cleansers and moisturizers. For me, it's mostly just chocolate (do I hear some gasps of dismay?). Chocolate really does it. Too much of some other sugary things can cause me to break out too...but chocolate is the worst. If you eat a lot of chocolate, and tend to break out a lot...you may want to cut back on it. Also, gluten can cause breakouts in people who are allergic to it. These would probably be the type of breakouts that stick with people, and they think it's just genetic. If you have a regular "rash"/breakout on your face, you may want to research gluten intolerance ("Celiac disease"). The breakout can be a sign of something more serious. If you research it and feel it might be true, try not eating anything with gluten in it for a couple of weeks. If your skin begins to clear up, you may have found your allergy. Fatty foods as well can do it to people. Though there are many, many food allergies out there...these are just some of the more common ones.

• Touching your face - if you have a habit of resting your head in your hands, rubbing your forehead, running your finger along your nose, etc - don't! This will cause oil to be deposited on your face, which can potentially clog your pores and cause breakouts.

__________________________________________

I hope this may have helped you - here's to clear skin!