If you've read through my old blog posts you'll see that I have been suffering from sudden breakouts all along my cheek and chin area. Unsurprisingly, the flareups began when I discontinued birth control and was under stress from a breakup while not eating regularly (for two weeks I think I only ate hazel nuts and Oreos - due to budget constraints only). Some days I would get so mad at God and say, "Lord why was my face clear when I was carnal?! Why do I look like this?!" It especially got hard when other people would notice and ask me about it.
Now I know the face isn't a big deal to most, but I wanted to reflect the glow and happiness I felt on the inside since coming to Christ. I felt like people wouldn't want to be a part of this life if they saw how God allowed your face to go crazy in order to prompt you to give up vanity and find your self image in Him. I mean there are a host of lessons I learned over this 4 month period that maybe I will go into later, but this post is specifically going to give you the steps that helped me. Doctors recommended I go back on birth control but I know my God is toooooo great for me to need chemicals to control my skin.
Face Type: Combination (Oily T-Zone, Dry Cheeks & Forehead)
- Pray! Pray for God to purify your body, detoxify your liver and truly cleanse you from the inside out. Pray as you wash your face that God will activate the face wash to really do it's job.
- Meditate on scripture. Yes, I know you may be thinking this has nothing to do with your skin, but it has everything to do with your skin. Meditating on the word calms your anxiety level and we all know stress is a leading cause of acne. There is also a verse that says as believers we can drink poison and not be harmed and I really used this in my prayers because I wasn't sure if environmental irritants or foods were causing the breakouts so I clung to that word and reminded God often. [See Mark 16:17-18]
- Drink lots of water! I read that you should drink half your body weight in ounces a day. So since I weigh 120 lbs I should be drinking 60 ounces of water/day. I know I wasn't drinking nearly as much water as I should but on the days that I did, I saw a noticeable improvement in my skin.
- Watch your hair products. When I began breaking out really bad I discontinued my conditioner and was hesitant to put anything in my hair leaving me with a dry, frizzy mess on top of my head. After trail and error I realized my choice of hair products may not be the problem. What wassss the problem was not washing off all of the conditioner residue from my face and body (breakouts on chest, shoulders and back). Now I wash my hair first, bathe my skin and then wash my face in the shower similar to the Acne.org method but without the benzyl peroxide. (2016 Update: I am highly senstive to hear products like Shea Moisture, any heavily perfumed hair product, hair oils, and even oil based hair gels (flax seed oil works fine thus far though).)
- Watch your make-up. I haven't really worn make-up since this started. And although make-up may not be the issue, it has been good to give my skin time to breath. I now like how I look more without make-up...minus my acne scars of course...and no longer use make-up as a crutch. It's nice...but God made me better (you have to combine sooooo many products just to get the natural glow your skin has). Once my dry skin from the cystic acne is gone I'll try an organic make-up. I took a sample of tarte make-up home from Sephora but I'm not sure if I like it yet.
- Be mindful of sensitivities. I am sensitive to sun screen so I had to discontinue all products that had SPF. It's beneficial to find out what you are sensitive to and to avoid it.
- Chew garlic cloves. This one is surprising. I kept asking God to help me clear my face and I'd get these random urges to eat a clove of garlic...which burnnssss. I would do it on the days I didn't have school and would notice changes in my skin, but I thought leaving the house (ie environmental irritants) were making me breakout, not realizing the garlic was helping me not to. I chew a clove on days I don't have class or at around 4:00pm so the smell is gone from my body by the next day (hopefully! just brush your teeth well!!!! and wear some extra perfume just in case). You can google it, but I found out that garlic actually does help with acne especially cystic acne. So walah! an all-natural treatment. It doesn't work for everyone...but that's where prayer can help.
- Don't forget cleanliness. We've all heard cleanliness is next to godliness and I won't get into all of that but just know it is important. Phone screens carry a lot of bacteria, as do your hands. Wash your hands often. Clean your phones carefully with rubbing alcohol, hand sanitizer or hydrogen peroxide with cotton. Do not touch your face with dirty hands ever! Avoid touching your face period! Switch out your pillow cases once a week.
- Sleep on your back. I'm not sure if this contributed at all, but I've been trying it just so my face won't rub against the pillow all night so as to limit irritation. By 4 am I'm on my face lol but I still want to add it in because it may be helping a little.
- Sleep in sleeved shirts. I know this may sound weird, but we are talking about what has been working for me. I loveee body butters and oils (all natural shea butter, cocoa butter, coconut oil, etc) but my face does not. I can't even use Moroccan and Argan oils in my hair because my face seems to hate all oils. (I have not tried Almond Oil yet so maybe there is hope!) I tend to sleep with my hand on my face and somehow end up rubbing the oils and butters onto my face only to wake up to...acne (yayyy! -_-) Either don't put butters and oils on your arms and shoulders at night or sleep in long sleeved shirts. If you notice a difference, thank me. If not...we'll keep experimenting and trusting God.
Well, these are the methods that have been helping me thus far. My skin has a good ways to go, but the breakouts are now controlled. I just have scarring to get rid of, which I'm sure will happen in time. I thank God for this journey! I mean yes I was upset and insecure at points, but I gained a different type of confidence. I can also now empathize with persons who suffer from breakouts and pray for them as I see them. My wish is that everyone grows to see how beautiful they are naturally...even with scars. Your beauty is in Christ. After my angry phase I told God that He was in control of my beauty. That was honestly the best decision I have ever made. It's wonderful to see myself as He sees me.
All the best to you ladies. I pray you come to realize just how beautiful you are. I pray also that these steps help you. I'm no expert. I just share my stories as I'm going through.
Love always,
Zemi
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