My struggle with oily skin and acne

Hey guys!

How are you doing? Today I want to talk to you about skincare and my ongoing battle against acne and oily skin. It started when I was a teenager and it really got to me then. All my friends had gorgeous skin, boyfriends and I didn’t have either. And you know how that is for a fourteen-year-old… I had loads of self-esteem issues, only saw the flaws in myself and never the virtues. I remember perfectly when this guy told me how pretty I was (the fifteen-year-old me, full of acne) and I laughed and thought “yeah, right!” – basically, I never talked to him again! And even today, if someone compliments me I’m like “yeah, yeah…” – I still have a hard time seeing the positives, even though most of the acne is gone.

When I go to Sephora or to The Body Shop, all the saleswomen tell me “uh, you have such oily skin!” and I’m like “you don’t say!!” It’s so unnerving having people say that to your face! And they all try to sell you millions of things – most of which you probably can’t afford anyway – to make it all “go away”. But let’s be real: most of it doesn’t work!

I can tell you right now that most of the issues (with the breakouts, at least) are related to your emotions: I tend to breakout if I’m stressed, nervous, anxious or sad. But that’s also related to nutrition: when I’m feeling like that, I tend to eat things that aren’t good for my skin (chocolate, candy, chips, you name it!). So I try to make healthier choices (for most part, at least. I’m not that strong – I love to eat, and eat well!), making a few exceptions when I’m not feeling that good. And it’s been working for me.

It got me from this…

To this!

Also, besides nutrition, I’ve tried many different products throughout the years and this is what works for me (at least for now. My skin’s very picky, it gets used to stuff pretty quickly and the products no longer have the desired effect after a few months).

I start by scrubbing my face in the morning with the exfoliator you can see on the left side of the picture.

Then I apply the moisturiser you can see on the picture above (round container) on my face, followed by the eye cream (picture above, left side).

In the evening, I remove my makeup (if I have any) with some makeup remover wipes (I use these), then wash my face with the Tea Tree Skin Clearing Foaming Cleanser (first picture, green container) and rinse it with lukewarm water. After that, I grab a cotton pad with the Seaweed Clarifying Toner on it (first picture, on the centre) and wipe my whole face. I follow that with my night lotion and the one I choose depends on what my skin needs – if I’m breaking out, I go with the Tea Tree one (picture above, green container); if there are no breakouts but the skin’s been oily, I apply the Seaweed Night Treatment (picture above, right side).

I also apply a mask at least once a week, depending on how my skin is feeling. If my skin is okay, I alternate: one week I apply the moisturising one by Sephora and, a week later, the Seaweed one by The Body Shop – and keep repeating the process every single week. If my skin’s more oily, though (mainly during the summer), I apply the Seaweed one twice a week and the moisturising one every two weeks.