Tag: pimples

  • Types of Clogged Pores & The Best Way To Pop A Pimple

    Types of Clogged Pores & The Best Way To Pop A Pimple

    To pop or not to pop, that is the question?  Dermatologist for the most part say not to pop. I disagree.  This post will explain the different types of blackheads and pimples there are and how you can properly extract them.  I can explain on a professional level (esthetician to esthetician) and an at home level what to look for while performing your own extractions.  Disclaimer this is all knowledge I have gained while working on clients and also personal.  Not to be recommended as medical advice. I’ve always had the opinion to pop pimples but correctly.  My thought is that pus represents infection.  If you have infection where is it going to go if you don’t pop it?  It can stay in the skin and infect more pores.  If you do not feel confident to pop your own pimple then I would recommend booking a facial that includes extractions and letting a licensed esthetician who is trained on extractions to help with your blackheads and pimples

    Note to avoid clogged pores and pimple issues with the skin I always emphasize that one should drink 8 glasses of water a day.  If your looking for a good filter this company offers good water bottles and pitchers that filter water. (Affiliate Link)  https://clearlyfiltered.com/?cjdata=MXxOfDB8WXww&cjevent=2d4f2d6229ed11f0835504340a82b82a

    Blackheads

    What are black heads?  Why do they exist?  How do we extract them or “clean the pores?”  Basically you have to visualize your skin with a bunch of tiny micro circles which would be considered your pores.  Sometimes those circles get clogged.  Now I’m going to try and go into more detail here because there are a lot of facets and entities to clogged pores.

    How a pimple can form or develop-

    First you have your basic blackhead, let us use the nose as an example.  When you look at your nose you see tiny little microscopic circles or holes.  Some people you cant really see with the eye but once you put pressure on the nose area white pus can come out.  Some people have larger pores and when you apply pressure a light brown or beige color comes out and that is a little more dirt so we can call that  a blackhead.  Then there is a third level of blackhead.  This is when the skin has grown over the pore so when you push on it nothing comes out.  To extract this type of blackhead you need a lancet (or a sterilized needle). Because the skin has grown over the pore you need to create an opening which is why you need the needle or lancet. Just a tiny poke and it should open that pore up. It is strange because usually you get a pustule if the skin grows over a blackhead and it gets infected.  Then pus grows under the skin and then you get the pimple bump.

    Milia

    Milia are a special type of pimple that I would recommend having removed by a licensed esthetician that is confident to remove the milia.  Normally a milia is a very small white bump that does not grow to a large pimple and stays in the skin.  It does not come to a full head.  Essentially a milia is similar to a black head but it is a tiny whitehead.  The only way to remove a milia is to poke a hole and let the pus out because the way the milia is formed is by skin covering the pore.  Milia are usually found on the skin next to the eyes which is delicate skin.  The reason these pimples form is because a lot of times the eye cream is to thick.  Milia can be found on other parts of the face but usually the cause is heavy molecules in the eye cream.  You want to be aware of your eye cream ingredients and not have to heavy of oils or mineral oil on that area of the face.

    Hormonal Pimples

    Hormonal pimples are the type of bump you will experience around that time of month or when your ovulating.  They can be a bump that never comes to a pustule head.  You want to be aware of the bump and not try to pop it if it does not come to a complete head.  It technically can just be a hormonal bump but if no pus comes in the pimple it will leave when the hormonal fluctuation is finished.

    So essentially every pimple starts with your pore getting clogged.  If you understand from the paragraph above either you have a black head and you want to clean your pores or if you don’t address a clogged pore it can get a little bump and create pus.  So step one, clogged black head.  Step two, if you don’t get that clogged blackhead cleaned out, your skin can create pus and then you have what you would call a pimple or a pustule.

     

     

    Large Pimple? What is it?

    Taking this further because this is my observation while doing extractions on my own skin and hundreds of clients.  Have you ever had a large bump and a pimple is forming?  You know its coming and you know its growing and it is going to be big?  A douzy of a pimple right there on your face or forehead. You can feel the pressure building and it can be painful.  You can see pus starting to form and your getting ready to pop that pimple.  Finally you see enough pus and you go for it.  Then what happens?  You think you popped the pimple and the next day you wake up and look in the mirror and!!!!!…….MORE PUS!!!!  Now what happened?  You thought you popped it?  How can there be more pus?  Better yet you go to pop again and hardly anything will come out?  Oh this gets annoying. It can take days for this one to heal.

    Breaking down this type of pimple for you so that you can understand what happened?  I explain it this way to my clients all the time.  So imagine again your tiny little pores.  Your blackheads. Now not one but imagine 3 little blackheads are getting infected.  So they grow into a big pimple but at different stages.  I like to say there neighbors.  Its like one neighbor is full of pus and ready to go and the other one is behind by a day and the third another day.  Those are the worst type of pimples to deal with but essentially that is what is happening.  So one pore is full of pus and ready and the others are behind but the bump on your face is in the same area.  The best way to get this type of pimple popped (technically about a 3 in 1) is to wait until the pimple is really ready to pop.  Almost like the first part of the bump is turning from white to yellow.  That way the neighbors are caught up.  Then again you want to use a lancet to create an opening for the pus to exit the skin. If you wait that extra day you can almost always get your pimple popped better and cleaner and not have to try and re-pop.

    When popping a pustule or pimple lancets or a clean needle are necessary.  You need to create a little opening so that the pus has an exit for the skin.  If not, you can put pressure and the pus can go under your skin causing bacteria under the skin and more break out in that area.

    One more thing I want to add here.  Yes we are all different.  Our bodies are different and we react to things different.  One thing that always will help your pores to be clean is drinking 8 glasses of water a day.  That just helps your lymphatic system clean and filter your skin from the inside.  On that note it is perfectly natural if you go to extract your blackheads that different colors come out.  For example an auto mechanic that works around grease can, more than likely, have black coming out of their pores when extracted.  Someone working around dirt and dust normally have brown coming out.  There can be different levels of dark to light brown.  Then some people you go to clean their nose pores and they have a light green to white coming out.  I’ve seen it all because its a combination of your external environment “landing” on your skin and your internal environment and how your skin handles filtering or cleaning your skin.

    Another note to estheticians performing extractions, smells can come out of the pores when extracting and cleaning blackheads.  Common ones can be a smoker.  As your cleaning the pores and performing extractions you can usually smell like a fresh cigarette smoke smell.  I’ve also had clients who love garlic and as I’m cleaning the pores a garlic smell is present.  Just note if you notice any smells it is natural as your doing extractions.

    How To Properly Extract

    In the Spa Room-

    Note if your reading this and not an esthetician you can always learn how you should be receiving extractions properly to know if the technician is missing any steps.

    Step 1)  After properly cleansing the skin and performing a form of exfoliation you normally would use a steamer to soften the skin.  Some spas have stopped using steamers and they use a type of disincrustation formula to soften the skin.

    Step 2)  Once the skin has been prepped either by disincrustation or steam its time for extractions.  You normally can use a magnifying lamp if available but either way you want to make sure you have enough light to see the skin.

    Step 3) You want to make sure to have the proper protective gloves or finger cots on. I personally prefer to use either a tissue or 4×4 to perform extractions.  I wrap the tissue around my extracting fingers and it helps to keep the gloves from sliding and as you are doing the extraction it cleans up what ever is coming out of the pores. You can also use a comedone extractor tool.  I have used these on occasion but because they are metal they can hurt and also leave the skin more red.  The best one I have found that can work is a thin wire one. The less metal the better.  Also as far as lancets go you want to make sure that legally your state allows you to use lancets.  If someone has a large pustule on the face and you cannot use a lancet I usually leave it alone.  You don’t want it to turn the skin super red and have the pus release under the skin.  If you feel that you can get it by popping off the pus top then go for it but just take into consideration that the skin can be more red.

    Step 4)  After you have finished extractions I usually use a toner on cotton and wipe the face.  You want to feel like you gently cleaned the skin.  If the spa you work at has high frequency then this is the time to use the violet wand which is anti bacterial.  Some spas have LED and if you’ve just done extractions you would want to use the blue light to calm the skin.

    When performing extractions on a client or on yourself the key to a successful extraction is to see the angle of the pore. Meaning, if you see a pustule what angle is the pus at?  This is the proper direction to put the pressure and push the pus up and out.

    At Home Extractions-

    1. If you are going to attempt to clean your black heads or pop any pimples at home I always recommend after a shower as you need to soften your skin first.  If you have a mini portable steamer that can also help.  Also boiling water in a pan and covering head with towel but be careful not to put your face to close to the water as that can feel like burning.
    2. As far as a lancet goes I’ve seen them for sale at CVS or you can order online.  If you don’t have a lancet you can use a sewing needle with a thin point and make sure to wipe with rubbing alcohol before you use.
    3. Now the crucial part.  I always suggest wrapping tissue around your fingers to not rip your skin.  The tissue protects the skin.  If you use your finger nails you can end up squeezing and slipping and cut the top layer of the skin which can cause scarring.
    4. As you attempt to pop the pimple use your lancet or needle and find the tip of the pimple. Poke just a tiny hole in the pimple and apply pressure at the bottom of your pimple closest to your face to let the pus out.  You know when the pimple is finished emptying when a clear fluid comes out.  That is your lymph cleaning everything out.  If you get just blood there is usually more to pop and you attempted to pop the pimple to soon.  You always want a clear fluid to pass through to show the pus has all come out.
    5. Same thing as in the spa setting you want to use something to clean the extracted area.  Toner on a cotton pad is good.  One of my favorite toners is Cranberry Toner from Arcona. https://www.arcona.com/product/cranberry-toner.html   Cranberry is antibacterial and will help the extraction to heal and cleans it out.
    6. If you are bleeding try and hold a tissue to coagulate the blood so that you don’t leave a huge mark.  (Not sponsored I just love this product for all skin types.) The cranberry toner helps with this step. https://www.arcona.com/product/triad-pads.html

    Conclusion

    My final thoughts on extractions.  After reading through this article you might think that popping a pimple is invasive.  As I said most dermatologist recommend not popping a pimple.

    Another suggestion for someone who wants thorough non invasive extractions is to book a hydrafacial.  The hydrafacial machine performs the best extractions and shows you what was removed in the gunk jar.  You can check the hydrafacial website and find a location near you.  I would highly recommend this machine facial for extractions (not sponsored) https://www.hydrafacial.com/find-a-hydrafacialist/

    Do I believe in spot removers and overnight pimple remedies?  No.  I know there are a lot out there to choose from and people recommend salicylic acid.  I was using a spot treatment on my pimples when I went through my acneic phase.  I would feel a bump coming on, put the salicylic acid on the bump and the next morning I’d wake up and still have a bump that never came to a head.  I  didn’t like that because again I always feel you need to extract out what is in the pore.  It didn’t make sense to me to know that something was growing in the pore and it never came to a full head to pop?  I found out a few years later that salicylic acid is basically diluted aspirin.  You need to be aware of the source and you want the salicylic acid to come from the white willow bark which is natural and better for the skin.

    I hope you find this article helpful on what to do with a blackhead or pimple and how to properly extract them.  If you are a parent with a teenager who is going through hormonal changes and may have some breakout hopefully these tips can help you.  As I always emphasize drinking water would be step one to help clear skin up naturally.  Bottled water or spring water is best but if you need a good water that is alkaline and antibacterial with healing properties you can check out the Kangen water info here  and learn about a new type of water to help your skin and heal your skin. https://missellen.kangendemo.com/

     

  • What Is Face Mapping???

    What Is Face Mapping???

    Have you ever heard of face mapping?  Have you ever had a small little pimple break out on your face?  Maybe one that keeps coming back in the same spot?  Or, your getting a lot of breakout on a few repeat areas of your face?  Maybe a repeat or return pimple? I’m creating this post to give you tips for breakout and ideas as to what could be causing them.  I’ll explain face mapping and breakdown different areas of you face along with the organs those areas are connected to.

    What is face mapping?

    When I was studying in my esthetician course on the island of Maui we had a very thorough education.   Being we were on the island there is a huge Asian influence we were taught a few more things stemming from the Asian cultures.  There are a lot of Japanese or Japanese Hawaiians living on the island  as Japan is 5 hours away from Hawaii.  So a lot of people had migrated over from Japan and mixed with the Hawaiians and the Hawaiian culture.  That being said we actually learned that face mapping came from traditional Chinese medicine.  I wanted to point out the Japanese Hawaiians because the whole island has an Asian approach to doing things.  Basically the concept of face mapping is like this.  Your face tells a story.  There are points on your face that are connected to your internal organs or areas of the internal body. If something could be going on internally with an organ it can show up on your face as a pimple or breakout. It doesn’t just have to be pimples. You can also just be getting red patches that could be surface dryness but can be stemming from something internal.

    Example:  The nose point would be connected to your lungs, there are two spots by the mouth and they are connected to the small and large intestine.  There are the areas on the face that always break out when you are stressed and there is the hormonal area.  I will draw a map of the face with the points I learned and these have been proven time and time again in my career and when I mention an area the person can put the break out to a reason that can be affecting the internal body.

    The Map

    Would like to note here this is the map I learned from.  If you goggle face mapping or look up other articles there may be different face maps that represent the facial areas different.  I also have had that happen with reflexology of the hands and feet.  You can take into account that nothing is set in stone but this is a general guide.  I feel confident sharing this map as through the years I have seen the connection of these points on the face with myself and my clients with results for figuring out skin issues.

    As you can see on the map the different points on the face and how they relate to the internal organs.  Essentially the idea is. if you had a break out and it was around your nostrils your lungs are being exposed to something and it is coming out on your skin.    So the two spots next to the nostrils would be considered your lung points.  The two points next to the corners of your mouth would be considered your digestion.  Within the lines of digestion are your small and large intestines.  Sometimes you can get breakout along the small and large intestine lines if your eating something your intestines cannot handle.

    To the side of either of the intestine lines is your hormonal breakout.  Normally you can get a pimple in that area when you are either ovulating or getting ready to have your period.  Its just a large dose of hormones and the excess is coming out on the skin.  Anytime you get a pimple right on the jaw bone but underneath it that area represents stress. Hands down I see it on my own face if I get stressed.  The spot right under your nose that is above your lip in the little dip represents the uterus.  Now I have only learned this as the uterus.  If I had to take a guess for men it would be one of their male sexual glands.  If something is going on internally in your uterine area or reproductive organs you may get a pimple right in the middle of the upper lip.  The general area that I know from experience if something is going on in your stomach you can have break out on the forehead and also the cheeks.

    What to do about it

    Just be informed.  I am explaining this concept to bring an awareness as to why you could be breaking out.  I can say from my own experience when I was in manicure school and we were working with acrylic,  I had pimples many times next to my nostrils.  I know it was from breathing in the acrylic chemicals.  My body was not used to the strong chemical and I was being affected by it.

    I have learned that a hormonal pimple is not always a pimple and does not pop the same as a pimple.  If that’s the case it is actually better to leave the bump alone and let it heal itself. You can know you have a hormonal pimple by the location on your face and it usually is a more spread out bump. If the breakout doesn’t come to a complete head or look like a regular pustule it is best not to touch and it will go away.

    If you have little pimples on the intestinal line then that can be a food allergy.  You want to pay attention to what you ate the night before or a day before to see why you can have little breakouts on that area of your face.  I know that I am allergic to seaweed and every time after I have eaten say a sushi veggie roll the next day I will always have tiny little bumps on the intestinal line.  That is my body reacting to the food and sending it out through my pores.

    If you have a pimple in the uterus area something can be going on with your uterus and or your reproductive zones.  But also you can just have a hormonal thing going on and if your ovulating or getting ready to have your period you can get a pimple in that area.

    Also the stress pimple on the jaw line.  If you get a big pimple right around the jaw line it is in the stress area or zone of your face.  You can almost check in with yourself and see if you have a stressful event coming up or something going on that is stressful.  A pimple on the bottom of the face right around the jaw bone area usually represents stress.

    Now the area which I marked on both cheeks and the forehead, that area would mainly represent your stomach.  What ends up happening is if you are allergic to a food or you are consuming something that your digestion doesn’t handle well it can manifest on your face in the cheeks and forehead.  I know when I was consuming almonds and was allergic to them my whole forehead had a lot of breakout.  It some time before I put it together that what I was consuming  I was allergic to and my skin was definitely showing me.

    Can I just throw this out there?  Not always the case, but sometimes when people part-take in a recreational drug that gives you, let’s say the munchies it can cause a lot of break out on the cheeks and forehead.  Sometimes people do not realize they are allergic to that said drug and the body is detoxing it as best as it can and as fast as it can.  Hence why the breakout on the cheeks and forehead.  It is a larger surface area and can help to get the toxins out.  Not always the case but something to think about.  It doesn’t even have to be a drug that gives you the munchies you could also be taking prescription drugs and your body can react to it with a little break out here and there.

    Another area I want to add that is not drawn on the map is the liver.  Under your eyes on the inner corner represents the liver.  Yes you could have no sleep and have dark circles.  We all can get that.  However, if you have puffy eyes and a lot of dark color under your eyes this area represents your liver.  Ask yourself are you consuming something your body cannot handle?  If you drink a lot of wine are your eyes dark underneath the next day?  Sometimes people are allergic to pasta and they get dark circles under their eyes.  Also believe it or not burning scented candles can cause puffy eyes and dark circles.  Fragrances can be taxing on the liver and it will show on your face.  Also again prescription meds affect your liver.

    Knowledge is Power

    I just want to bring an awareness to this topic.  The more you know the more you can try and heal your skin.  Sometimes it starts on the inside.  Once in awhile you have a lifestyle change and start breaking out and you cannot figure out what is causing it.  Instead of running to get an anti acne cover or a new cleanser maybe just think about any recent lifestyle changes and what could be causing it?

    Another note is the skin on your body.  Sometimes you may get a pimple on the back or arm or maybe even the buttocks.  Nine times out of ten that is an ingrown hair and it has developed due to friction and then causes the hair to grown into the skin and a little pus to form around where the hair is growing in.  I always suggest to pop and get the pus out.  Why?  If you don’t open the pustule and get air into it the hair follicle will keep growing internally.  Have you ever had an ingrown hair and you can take a needle to it and get it out and it is nice and tight curls and really long?  Well I have had that happen and I can honestly say it is better to pop and remove them on the body then to let them stay growing.  Just a nice poke with a sterile needle and then some alcohol after to clean the skin.  But you want to look for the hair and maybe even use a nice sharp tweezers to try and get the ingrown hair out.  I always say if you don’t get the ingrown hair out it will stay in your skin and keep growing.

    Conclusion

    Now that you have learned the concept of face mapping you have an ability to spot other issues going on in the body.  If you do have a breakout or pimple I always say first drink a lot of water.  Dehydrated skin is dry skin and tight skin.  The lymphatic system is always cleaning from behind the skin and the more water you drink the more it aids your system to flush out toxins.  So water water and more water is always the first step.  Second you now have a new awareness and maybe you cannot handle certain foods in your body.  Again water water water as that helps get things moving out that shouldn’t be in the body.  Also consider your surroundings and environment.  If your breaking out by the nostrils maybe there is mold in a work place or home or place you frequent and your body is letting you know.  Or you take a weekend trip to a city with lots of pollution and you get a pimple by the nose point?

    Face mapping is just another way to be in tune with your body and aware of what is going on.  Having this tool can help you to solve little issues you or a family member may not be aware of.  If someone says to you, “I don’t know why, but I keep breaking out in this spot.”  You now have a tool to help them or suggest to them maybe something is going on.  Leave me a comment if this has helped you or given you a new light on breakouts on your face.  Would love to know how you find this post helpful in your skincare journey.

     

  • How I Cleared Up My Acne (Naturally No Medication) Part 2

    How I Cleared Up My Acne (Naturally No Medication) Part 2

     

    This post is a sequel to Part 1 about which cleanser is right for your skin type and why.  This post is my personal story on how I developed acne and how I was able to clear up my skin.

    How it Started

    I would like to say that genetically I have dry skin.  I did not realize this until I was around 18 years old.  I went to the department store to purchase a cleanser and the lady at the counter did me a favor and explained to me that my skin was a dry skin type.  I was convinced that I had oily skin because I had breakout.  Of course I was a teenager and my hormones were balancing and I had some black heads and small pimples but in reality I do have dry skin.  So luckily I purchased a milk cleanser and went about drinking 64 ounces of water a day as per recommendation and my skin became more clear. Again it goes back to the correct cleanser for your skin type to get your skin balanced.  Lesson learned.

    Fast forward a few years later and I relocated to the island of Maui.  Now I was living in a humid tropical environment.  My skin was still dry but I knew to switch up my moisturizer to something lighter due to the heat and humidity. I was living on the island for about a year and I decided to sign up and study at a trade school to become an esthetician.  I entered the program with beautiful clear skin.  Some of the students even complimented me on my skin saying how pretty it was.  This program was 1000 hours long and over the course of the months I slowly started developing break outs all over my face.  Imagine your in a skincare course and all of a sudden your developing acne everywhere.  It was extreme.  My friend in the course would stay after class and do extractions on me.  She, gained the practice of how to properly pop the blackheads and pimples and I, gained the idea of trying to clean up my face.  The reality is I learned the pain of having pimples (pustules) and black heads and watching them grow on my face. I gained the understanding of how it feel so see ones facial skin change in a negative way.

    Having acne is a very emotional thing.  It can affect your psychological state of mind because it is easy to become obsessed with the pimples and it feels like something beyond your control.  No one gets pimples and looks in the mirror and feels good at what they see.  Every morning you wake up and look in the mirror hoping nothing new develops on your face.  Meanwhile your purchasing and mixing skincare brands like crazy trying to find anything that will work.  On top of the fact that you want to extract and pop your pimples like crazy to get rid of them which is a lot of pain.  Pain for the swelling pustules growing under your skin, that alone hurts and then add the extractions.  Its a vicious negative cycle that has you mentally wondering if your skin will ever clear up.

    The Extreme

    One day after about 6 weeks of all these new pimples on my face I had had enough and I asked my friend if she could do a facial and do massive extractions on me to get as many pimples and blackheads popped as possible.  She agreed.  Now two things here, first of all when doing a facial we had to pick out the products being used.  She asked me what type of cleanser I wanted to use.  Of course my mind is thinking I have acne now so give me the oily skincare line.  Second thing here, we were taught in school doing extractions can cause trauma.  Technically your never supposed to perform extractions on someone for more than ten minutes.  Well we went for it and I told her to keep going and thirty minutes later I was a red puffy faced extracted mess.  I left that day feeling terrible.  I was so down because you look in the mirror and your horrified to see all the pimples and redness and swelling.  You feel like your never going to heal.  To be honest the extractions for 30 minutes was a little to much emotionally and I did cry a little.  But I was at a loss and feeling desperate.

    Incoming Workshop

    So now I am still in esthetician school studying and I had an opportunity to go to Oahu and attend a workshop with a certain very well know brand.  This seemed like a great educational learning opportunity.  So I went to the one day workshop to learn more about skincare.  There was a section of the workshop that focused on acne and there was to be a live demo on extractions.  I begged the presenter to let me be the model.  With all the breakouts on my face I would love a trained professional with experience to do extractions on me.  She agreed and I was now the demo face for this workshop on how to properly extract pimples and blackheads.  Personally I was just happy to be getting extractions again.  Remember when you feel like everyday your waking up with more breakout you just want the skin cleaned. Unfortunately because I was the model receiving the extractions I never was able to see watch how she demonstrated doing the extractions. However, after this workshop I was convinced to purchase this skincare line of oily skincare products to clear up my face.  I bought the whole thing.  Cleanser, toner, spot treatment and moisturizer.

    I had hope again.  But what happened?  Nothing.  I literally obsessed woke up every morning going straight to look into the mirror to see if my face had cleared up.  Checking to see if my spot treatment for those new pimples had worked.  Honestly I was seeing my skin look worse and I was getting hard bumps and my pimples were not coming to a head.  I was using spot treatment with salicylic acid and nothing was making sense.  (I found out later why this was)  Anyways here I had invested in this whole product line probably spending at least $70 dollars and my skin was not looking any better and if anything looked worse.  I felt defeated again.  On one hand I wanted to just give up and on the other hand I kept doing my research.  This had been going on for months at this point.  This vicious cycle of trying a skin care product with the hope of getting clear skin to seeing no changes.

    Light at the End of the Tunnel

    After feeling hopeless and not wanting to invest anymore money on products I was at a loss. I didn’t know what to do.  I literally felt horrible and just wanted clear skin.  I feel like the saying it is easier to gain weight than to loose it, well in this case it was easier to gain pimples and taking forever to get rid of them.  I was frustrated.  Then all of a sudden during my research I came upon a more holistic brand of skincare.   Their approach and concept for healing acne was homeopathic. Now at this point I was familiar with homeopathic as I had my own homeopathic doctor and I understood homeopathic remedies. The homeopathic method pertaining to skincare was way less invasive than what I had been using prior.  This line is very natural and uses flowers and plants from nature to heal the skin and I decided that was the way I wanted to go as far as skincare. As I was reading up on this it all made sense to me.  So I was down to give it a try. Ready to buy the whole skincare line but this brand offered a mini sampler kit. I think it was around $20 and I decided to try something new.  This way I could test what I needed without buying the whole line.

    The brand that I found was Dr. Hauschka. In simple terms their approach was way different to healing oily skin or break out.  Essentially they have the homeopathic concept that like cures like.  So if you have oily skin you put more oil on it and you will stop producing to much oil?  It made sense to me as you read in my Part 1 post its all about the acid mantle.  If your acid mantle is stripped then you are going to be producing more oil.  I was probably guilty of this when I kept buying oily skin cleansers but the base of my skin type was dry.  With this line the concept was using a cleanser that was almond meal based so you felt like you were cleaning your skin nice and deep but it was gentle enough to use everyday and then you would spray the toner on your face and in the morning you would use an oil based moisturizer and at night you would give your skin a break and cleanse, tone and let the skin breath with no other products on it.

    So here I am on the quest for clear skin with a new approach which is homeopathic with a brand that has more natural ingredients.  I’m all in and ready to try it.  Let me tell you within the first week I started seeing the difference.  I had hope again.  This homeopathic approach seemed like it was working.  Needless to say after 1 month my face cleared up and my skin went back to the beautiful clear skin that I naturally had. Another thing I want to point out here with skin is that everything has a 28 day cycle.  Your skin will renew itself in 28 days.  So whatever products you are using on day one if it is correct for you and your skin type and is balancing or healing you should see a change within 28 days. I was so grateful to find Dr. Hauschka and the clarifying day oil. Ill post link here (not sponsored) https://www.drhauschka.com/clarifying-day-oil/  It was such a good feeling to able to use the products properly and have everything clear up within 28 days.  I continued using this remedy for probably a month more and then I started to phase into the correct moisturizer for my skin type and a milk cleanser for the morning and the scrub at night time only.

    The way that I had discovered Dr. Hauschka is because I had been searching for natural skincare brands to work with.  That is how I originally found them and then saw their concept to treating acne and problem skin. At the time they were offering a special 5 day training in Esalen California by Monterey for licensed estheticians. I was about 2 months out of facial school and I was down for more training. I had to apply and be approved to go to this training.  It worked out and I was able to go and learn about all the flowers and herbs in the products and what each ingredient was designed to do for the skin.  Let me just say that this brand changed my whole trajectory on how I approach skincare. I have always, since finishing my esthetician course, chose the natural approach to skincare with organic and natural skincare brands.

    Conclusion

    If you take anything away from this post it would be that it is possible to balance your skin. I definitely went through it with my break out crisis and I completely understand how it feels to have acne and oily skin.   Skin by itself is a science and I will say it always starts with your cleanser and what is right for your skin type.  You need to check in with the acid mantle and make sure your not stripping your skin and that your using the right products for your environment.  In hindsight I figured out what I had done to cause the break outs and excessive oil.

    • 1) I took my esthetician program in the summer months on Maui.  So the weather was much hotter at the time and I was studying in a large warehouse that had no air conditioning.
    • 2) I was receiving daily facials to practice skincare and it was to much for my dry delicate skin.
    • 3) Add to it that we were using a steamer in no ac in a humid climate I was getting bacteria on my face like crazy.
    •  4) Then use the wrong cleanser that was stripping my skin.  Forget it my skin would not have healed.

    I share this personal story hoping that for anyone out there looking to clear acne or balance your skin you may be able to relate to some of the scenarios here to help you in your own skin.  A few years later when my life and environment changed I ended up developing borderline psoriasis and I had to figure out what was going on again and how to balance that.  Stay tuned for Part 3 on developing psoriasis and how I was able to get my skin back into balance. Please feel free to comment or contact for any questions on balancing skin.

Newsletter Signup

Sign up now and never miss a thing!

You're Signed Up!

Now that you are signed up, we will send you exclusive offers periodically.