Eating & Drinking
I think the #1 thing that helped clear up my skin and keep it amazingly clear in Portugal was the clean, pure, unfiltered, direct-from-the-mountain water.
Some people think they're ugly. I think they're beautiful!
The second, was eating natural grown-in-the-backyard fruits and veggies.
And during that time, I actually ate MORE meat, seafood, salty things, sweets, deep fried things, daily ice cream bars, chocolates and soda than I’d normally do.
None of that extra deep fried stuff seemed to affect my skin because I was taking care of it by splashing clear mountain water on it each night, drinking good water, and eating pure, ugly looking, natural foods that were grown without pesticides, chemicals and weren’t genetically modified.
Now that I’m back in Canada, I noticed 3 or 4 pimples pop up within the first week.
It may also be due to the climate but I cannot confirm that.
Not wearing makeup
I didn’t wear much makeup in Portugal. But that didn’t seem to affect anything because I don’t wear much makeup here in Canada.
I go au naturel most of the time, and if I can manage to swipe on some eyeliner, blush and undereye concealer, it’s a big day for me… or I am going to a client site/meeting new people.
I suppose wearing makeup leaves a lot of chemicals, grime and grease on your face that can be difficult at times to clean out of your pores, which causes pimples.
And you NEED to wash it off with a cleanser.
Skin Washing Regime
I washed with only splashing water and dabbing it off in Portugal.
I’ve kept that same regime back here. Just washing my face and dabbing it off.
No cleansers because I don’t go out every day, and I don’t wear makeup when I do go out.
If I do wear makeup, I do use a cleanser.
Acne-battling Regime
I only got 3 or 4 pimples that have since disappeared because I’ve found a routine that works for me that gets rid of my pimples within 3-5 days.
During the day, when I see a pimple pop up, it gets an immediate dab of super fine Panoxyl Benzoyl Peroxide Aquagel 5%.
It has a water base for sensitive skin and is the best one I’ve used for my skin out of all the benzoyl’s out there.
At night, I splash water on my face, dab it off, and every other night, I put on a dab of Proactiv Sulfur Refining Masque and leave it on while I sleep.
(Yes, I HAVE scared BF, but he’s too nice to say anything.)
Any kind of cream or masque with sulfur in it will work.
If you find a cheap cream or masque that says “Chemical Ingredient: Sulfur 6%” or something, it’ll probably work just as well.
Mario Badescu also has a sulfur-infused drying cream but I found it a tad more expensive than Proactiv. Read Rae’s review of it here.
Every other night, I also dab salicylic acid on the pimples.
This seems to work for me. Not too aggressive, not too gentle.
So that’s it. Eat and drink well, do as little as possible to your skin, and have a quick acne-banishing routine ready.
Just a girl trying to find a balance between being a Shopaholic and a Saver.
I cleared $60,000 in 18 months earning $65,000 gross/year.
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Hey there, have you ever tried making your own organic skin care products? You see like the kind of person who would enjoy this.Organic skin care is definietly growing in popularity, thanks mainly to its price point compared to commercial brands.I really like your blog, keep up the good work.
This is very interesting! It could be all the chemicals from how our food is grown. Drinking lots of pure water would definately be good for our body and skin. Wearing no make up is great as it allows our skin to breath. Try wearing mineral make up too. It's free of chemicals and so natural. Having regular sleeping patterns is another winner as well as trying to keep our stress levels down.
Great Post!
My recent post Who Else Hates Acne How A Desperate Acne Sufferer Got Rid Of A Lifetime Of Acne And How You Can Too
I did not start having acne until I became an adult. What a pain in the you no what. I tried lots of products. For health reasons I started to eat organic foods. I saw such a improvement in my skin. I decided to try organic skin care as well. After trying several lines I tried Juice Beauty (GO SEPHORA). The very next day I saw a change. Within 2 weeks my husband was commenting. I had not thought about it but when I looked in the mirror not only was there no new acne but my skin had changed. No blackheads, my skin was smooth to the touch, and my skin tone had reached a point where I no longer needed makeup. (They offer a acne pack but this made my already sensitive even more so.) Good Luck
Juice beauty sounded interesting to me, but when I tried a sample on my skin, my skin went all red and irritated. Only Korres seems to react nicely to my skin..
But there is certainly something in those other cleansers that cause SOMETHING in my skin to react to it — the dimethicone or something. I don’t know what it is, but my skin is much better now
Eating right and remaining stress free is the number 1 way to get rid of zits. Along side that, I had training on MD skincare (and the clairsonic) and their Alpha Beta peel is great for acneic skin along with other oil – free cleansers and moisturizers. Pimples are caused by three things: dead skin cells that end up clogging pores (exfoliate them), bacteria (target with salicylic acid), and oil (mattify, control oil). The peel is awesome because it unclogs with different AHA's – glycolic, malic, lactic, and I think one other AHA and I believe also Salicylic acid. It's basically two pads that you swipe over your face, the first you leave for 2 mins, the second neutralizes and contains green tea, chamomile and other such soothing ingredients. I've used these and I cannot say enough good about it. Although I only get pimples around my chin and forehead (probably from my pillow), the peel cleared up my zits and has made my skin even and the texture of a baby's bum. Just three things to let you know though: 1. You NEED to wear a sunscreen while using this because AHA's make your skin sun sensitive and if you're using the peel to lighten pigmentation from the sun, this will prevent any further darkening. 2. The first few times you use it it feels tingly although I like to describe it as cold, like a minty cold but it goes away after that layer of dead skin cells gets eaten up after the first few uses 3. Junk from way below in your pores is brought up to the surface due to exfoliating the top layer of dead cells, so it can get worse before it gets better. I use these every night and they're awesome. In place of the peel, the clairsonic would work to cleanse and bring up and unclog those pores too. Just check out all the reviews at Sephora.com. Though I wouldn't use the peel and clairsonic together since they both exfoliate. I hope some acne sufferers can take some helpful advice from this. Thanks for letting me share my newfound knowledge!
I also find that my face is less oily when I get enough rest – for an extended amount of time.
I use SpectroJel as a gentle cleanser and Marcelle moisturizer. I also use some medication – medicated toner and Differin Gel. I'm so glad I am finally able to keep my acne under control! 🙂
I find sleeping does help .. but my skin is my best when I don’t spread anything on it — concealers are the ones that usually cause problems.
I remember when I used to refuse to look in the mirror, crying over the state of my skin.
So glad that's behind me.
I actually don't even wear foundation most days. I splash with water in the morning, and use a tiny bit of cleanser in the shower at night. Less is more!
I just stick some concealer under my eye, eyeliner and that’s my “out-the-door” face for when I want to look a bit more polished
Other than that, I don’t bother 🙂
Funny thing is when I taught English in Portugal my skin looked amazing also, must be the water!
I noticed a dramatic difference in my skin since I started using pure liquid glycerin soap as a cleanser and witch hazel toner (I use Thayer's). I haven't had any breakouts, and my skin texture has improved considerably.
I've found that drinking a lot of water tends to clear up my skin. I do feel that I have to wear makeup because, being Italian, I have HUGE dark circles under my eyes. So, I wear concealer daily…I also wear powder and Perricone MD's No Foundation Foundation. Its practically just a moisturizer and it evens out my pitted skin from acne damage when I was 17/18. I wish I was lucky enough to have non-pitted skin, but I'm too embarrassed not to wear make up because of it.
This might sound a bit extreme, but I've stopped using anything on my skin except olive oil or coconut oil. As for hair, I wash with baking soda and cider vinegar. No problems. I had a couple of pimples about a month back—I don't really know why, but they're gone.
I didn't have acne before really, but I've certainly come to realize that a lot of the stuff I was using on my face was totally unnecessary. . .
I still use soap though on by hands/body–just thought I'd throw that out there 😉
I tried using oils on my face but they just don’t work for me….. 🙁
I'm not sure what you were doing in Portugal, but I'm willing to bet your stress levels were signifcantly lower than in Canada. Well, I hope that is the case, or my point won't make sense. But being stressed out does cause acne. I believe it causes acne in two fold manner: being so stressed that you forget to follow a healthy skin care regimen and hormonal imbalances. So another tip to add is to try living a stress free life!
The thing is that I wasn’t stressed in Canada…. I had all of 2009 off, and I didn’t really freak out about anything — I had nothing to freak out about! 🙂
But I do agree that being stress free helps. I generally try to stay calm and easy going although sometimes it doesn’t work