Acne prone skin - best skincare?

mariposa687

I'm at my wits end with my sensitive, acne prone skin. I'm trying to drink more water and eat better as well as taking vitamin supplements. I have been very stressed recently which has made me break out quite badly. I'm 27 yet I still have the skin of a teenager! I have been wearing foundation a lot more than I usually do, mainly because my skin looks so red and irritated at the moment.

So, what have you used that has worked for you? Any recommendations?

I'm willing to spend a bit more (ie premium ranges) if it will help my skin. I have tried Clinique's anti blemish range but it was too harsh and dried my skin out. I've tried tea tree oil products with mixed results as again some of them are too harsh.

wannabeslim

I feel your pain, this is what has worked for me:-

Vitamins - 1 zinc tablet per day (must be chelated I buy from H&B in the sale) and 1000mg of EPO, last lot were from Morrisons on offer.

Products are Cleanser - Cetaphil wipe off cleanser, Rose water and Glycerin toner, St Ives exfoliator and a non perfumed moisturiser, I change about but am using original Olay beauty fluid at the moment, products don't have to be expensive. If I have an odd spot I use Freederm gel on it up to 3x a day until its gone, usually a day of two but I rarely get anything at all, the zinc is amazingly good. I also have mild rosacea so I stay out of direct heat especially in the shower but I have this skin complaint under control now thanks to the above.

I wear make up although not every day, when I do its ELDW with a base of MAC strobe cream underneath and I remove it as soon as I can.

Israfel

Hi OP, this is an issue I've had for years as well so I'll share some tips that definitely work for me, bare in mind everyone's different and I can't promise what works for me will work for you.

Low-GI Diet - It can be tough going but so worth it, for me my skin issues are definitely exacerbated by, in particular, refined sugars. If I eat a lot of sweets or processed food my skin will break out no question. Diet does affect skin and any dermatologist that says otherwise hasn't read recent literature on it. Try to have porridge in the mornings with honey rather than sugary cereals etc. In particular I try to have regular portions of Sweet potato with my dinner/lunch (also I try to have lean meats). I absolutely find this makes a difference, it's very healthy for you anyway but I know it's got a lot of vitamin A amongst other other things which may help (Isotretinoin is some kind of refined vitamin A I believe).

Personally I just wash my face with warm water now and don't use any harsh washes or chemicals. I went through years of using all types of washes as well as benzoyle peroxide and whatever else got prescribed to me, it was a massive waste of time, my skin looked ten times worse using it (bright angry red) and the excessive drying of my skin ended up causing acne in my mind, it became a vicious cycle. Try to be as gentle with your skin as possible while trying to stop it from becoming too oily.

I find witch hazel helps now for smaller breakouts and I do use L'Oreal moisturiser for acne prone skin sometimes if my skin is dry.

One other thing I tried which I believe may have made a difference for me was acidophilus supplements, it's basically a probiotic, I have read that a lot of acne can be caused by candida overgrowth in the gut, I think this may possibly have been true for me and taking an acidophilus supplement while eating a low-gi diet cleared my skin up really well.

Go with what's right for you, I hope you give some of my advice a try as it really did clear my skin and although I still get the odd spot or two it's usually my own fault for eating junk and cleaning up my act for a few days clears up my skin again.

For reference I'm 35 and had suffered from very bad acne since my young teens.

hgotsparkle

How do you take your make up off at night and what do you use to clean your skin?
I found that using things like wipes and even hot or warm water made mine worse, now I get y make up off with a basic scrub, using only cold water and in the morning I use a senstive skin toner and then a moisturiser to control my oil levels from Dermologica, I've forgotten what its called. Ever since I've been doing this, I now only get the odd one or two spots around my time of the month, but other than that, my skin has totallycleared up.
The face scrub I use is the pink one from Poundland, the packaging looks very similar to Soap & Glory packaging.

supermassive

Everybody's different.

If the problem on the surface is dry skin - you're in luck! Everyone seems to be gagging to make your skin wetter.

If your problem is oily skin.. you're screwed, I'm afraid.

Although for 99% of people, any peroxide skin product will work wonders. You just have to remain calm during the initial "this is burning your skin off" phase. Even if it's a bit concerning. The phase passes and you have lovely skin afterwards for as long as you use it.

I used to sell Proactiv which includes an exfoliant... Don't exfoliate. It's one of the worst things you can do if you have spot prone skin.

pirateyqueen

Have a look at this website http://www.skincare-addiction.com

It has a wealth of skincare advice, and all of it is backed by scientific research.

newthrift

Makeup wise I highly recommend Bare Minerals, it is really helping my skin and I know a couple of other people who suffered and it has helped them too.

Avoid make-up wipes and go right back to basics. Soap and warm water - 2 x washes at night to make sure all make up off and once a week use a very mild exfoliater. Personally I found Proactiv good but have now changed to soap and glory and it is working wonders for me - not perfect skin but very few imperfections now.
Obviously if you have sensitive skin you could maybe try writing to them and asking for a small tester of the products to see how you react.
As a toner I use NO7 sensitive, you could always just try rosewater as someone has already mentioned or just a splash of cold water. Don't use a mulsin cloth regular or if you do swop it every couple of days.

Finally moisturiser, first do the skin test, wash your face and dry then pat a tissue on your face, if it has a little oil - oily skin use a water based moisturiser and if it doesn't it reasonably clear use a creamier mosituriser. As I say for me Soap & Glory has worked good luck!

Ben84

As someone else has said, we're all different. However, I too until recently had much the same skin problems as I had as a teenager (I'm 30 now). I really set about trying to change it roughly a year ago and have found some things that work for me.

Pro-biotics have been a big help. There's studies showing them to help with acne, and I'm sure they help with mine. I take bio-kult.

Keeping away from sulphate detergents. Anything with the sulphate group seems to be bad. Maybe it's just me. The simple face wash is suphate free however and works well, I have the best skin when I use it (http://www.simple.co.uk/our-products/product/kind-to-skin-refreshing-facial-wash-gel.html).

Oil cleansers. I've been using these a few times a week as they seem to unblock pores far better than regular face wash. However, they did seem to bring out the spots initially, which other people have said they found as well, before they started to work really well. The L'Oreal one, 15 second something or another it's called, in the orange square bottle is about the cheapest and best working one I've tried. I slightly prefer the Shu Umera one, but really not enough to justify the massive price difference.

When using a cleansing oil or face wash, take a couple of minutes to work it in properly. Good face washing is like cleaning teeth - it takes time.

What hasn't worked, despite years of desperate attempts have been all the popular anti-acne products, antibiotics, bar soap (never, ever, again will that go near my face!), or peroxide. Some of them kind of worked at first, the spots start to dry out and shrink, but they're too harsh and caused me many new problems soon enough. Chemical warfare doesn't cure acne in my experience. Careful cleaning with effective products does seem to work however.

I'm now almost entirely acne free and hope to get the last little bit in time too, but even if I don't, it's not a problem any more.

mariposa687

Thanks all, some great suggestions - it's reassuring to know that it's not just my skin that doesn't react well to anti acne products. I use wipes to take my make up off but I'll try a gentle face wash to see if that helps, as I'm wearing more make up than normal I probably need to take more time over cleansing. I know I need to cut down on sugar as well as I'm sure that isn't helping.

I like the tip about washing your face and then putting a tissue on it to check the oil.

One of my spots keeps getting bigger at the moment so I'm hoping it will calm down before going out at the weekend!

bluelass

teazone products are very good. I use the face wash gel and scrub to control PMT pimples. you can get them in poundland (which sells loads of great cosmetics) and quality save/ home bargains.

Sapphire8

Hiya,

As of lately I'm also suffering from bad skin, being 26 and never been in this situation before its slightly stressful!

But I've found a great regime that with perseverance is working a treat! ps. i've got combination skin (oily t-zone and dry cheeks)

I use Vichy face wash (its a green tube and it part of the acne range) along with their thermal micellar water to cleanse and then moisturise with la-roche-posay's effaclar duo cream. The products are a little pricier than normal skincare (but a bargain in comparison to clinique!) and you can get them in a larger boots store or lloyds pharmacy.

I only wash my face using the face wash at night, in the mornings i wash with just plain water as i've found it was a little gentler on my skin. I also use coconut oil to remove my make up in the evenings and sleep with the oil on my face a couple of times a week to avoid drying out my skin too much.

Hope this helps, i was at my wits end with products and was spending a small fortune. I'd been using clinique since i was 16 and slowly phased it out (partly because i got lazy!) but when i started using it again i found it way too harsh and ineffective!

Good luck! )