Healthy self care and acne.

Greetings to all the beautiful souls reading this. How are you all doing?  I hope you’re all doing great. I know I’m doing good. I’m writing this blog today, in the hopes that it helps some people struggling with acne prone and oily skin. You will maybe find a new perspective that you overlooked before. This come out of experience but logic as well. It’s to be kept in mind that what I write here must not be taken as professional advice as I am not a professional and neither do I claim to be.

The Before

Now let’s get started with the skin. I am a boy of about 21, I’ve had an eventful childhood and when I was younger I had clear, amazing skin. Some of my friends though, did suffer from acne. I did not *phew*. I’m from a place belonging to the foothills of the Himalayas, Manali. The temperature never skips the 22 Celsius mark back in my hometown usually. My college on the other hand is in a place that’s pretty humid and the temperature can reach the soaring heights of 40 degrees at times. That for me, is a LOT. Now that coupled with the hormones came overactive sebaceous glands, and with those came the whiteheads. During my intermediate, I was clinically diagnosed  with seborrhoeic dermatitis on the scalp, eyelids and on the neck (which is doing well now, I struggled with it for about 4 years), so that was a bummer and then the icing on the cake were acne, whiteheads and oily, clogged pores (although, no one would want to eat that cake). I’ve always been a skincare enthusiast, even when I did have flawless, bright skin I took good care of my skin, you know sunscreen, washing my face before sleeping etc. So when I was first encountered with such a problem, I started using all kinds of cosmetics that had the word acne in them.

My hostel closed became like a cosmetic drugstore, I could have opened up a shop and earned some serious coins. Then came the breakdown, the realization that I now have, “bad skin” *dramatic music*. Did I really have bad skin? To me and for me I did, for others it was just skin. Did I hear every now and then “What happened to your face?”, yep a LOT, and you guessed it right, it’s not exactly fun. Everyone would say, “it’s because you put all that cream in your face”. It’s like their words found a punching bag on my already painful skin. I got a negative perception for my skin due to which my confidence subsided considerably. I had this disposition about clear skin. I considered it as a trivial thing. It got me and it got to me. My mind was not in the right place, I was always looking for some “treatment”. It got to a point where it started impacting my life and daily activities. I used to walk with my head down, change routes if there were too many people. I shut myself from the rest of the world.

The Revolution

After reading numerous blogs, watching several videos on YouTube, I learned that skincare is more holistic than we make it. I always focused on what I should apply on my face rather that what I should change in my lifestyle. While I am a 100% sure that what you apply on your face is going to help, but if you have problems that have internal roots, the cosmetic effect will not be sustainable. What you eat has a major impact on your skin and as I live in a hostel, it’s a little out of my control. So I work with what I can control, in other words I eat in “Moderation”. Oily food is bad for the skin but good for the tongue, what do I do? I can’t completely cut off from oil, so I eat in moderation, where I would’ve taken 50 bites, I only take 15 and I’m done with it. We have a juice shop in our college campus and I make sure to drink freshly squeezed orange, carrot, beetroot juice without added sugar almost everyday, and most importantly I now snack healthier.

Opt for healthy snaking options

Never did I order a burger without fires and never both of them without a coke. Now I either eat a burger or eat fries and a VERY few times coke. Instead, I’ll have a salad and plain water along with my meal. Incorporate healthy foods into your diets, especially when you are eating a little unhealthy. Trust me, your gut microbiome will totally understand. After making healthy food a habit, your body will eventually crave healthy food, it will be a win-win situation after a while, you just need to get started. Keep things like almonds, raisins, pistachios, walnuts, figs around so when you start craving just grab some of them and chew away your cravings, this way you are eating healthy and tasty.

Get up and move

I once built a house, it was enormous and beautiful. It took a lot of working hours, but after days of hard work I completely did it. *Bam* it’s 11:00 a.m., the bed is warm and my eyes are dry and there is no house. I wake up and splash some water on my face, I have a nauseating feeling and my eyes are swollen, nature doesn’t call that often but the class is calling, so I gotta go.

This was my everyday, someday I built houses and someday I fought off monsters, the mighty cycle was unstoppable and so were my acne. A very few times did I manage to get up on time and not to be late to college but it was once in a purple moon (rarer than the blue ones). One day I did decide to take a run and do some yoga and pranayam, the whole day that followed was so much better, everything seemed……….Lighter. I was a happy camper and I decided it to be a regular thing, except that it wasn’t. After a few days I was again sleeping late and did not go out to exercise. What did I do wrong? I pushed myself too hard. Waking up wasn’t a pleasant experience for me, it was a rather uncomfortable one.

Waking up too early, sleeping late; wasn’t exactly healthy. So how did I manage to do exercise everyday? I didn’t, I skipped some of the days when I REALLY didn’t feel like going. I sleep at around 12:00 a.m. and wake up around 6:30 a.m. ish. I go out for a run at around 7:00 a.m. and come back at around 8:00 a.m., it works for me, and doesn’t make me too uncomfortable. Slowly you will start to see that it bothers you less and less and once you start doing it regularly it will convert into a healthy habit. There you have it ladies and gentlemen, a healthy habit. Similarly there are other healthy habits you can develop, but to remember to go step by step rather that being overenthusiastic and all over the place.

Do not skip meals

Breakfast, Lunch, Snacks, Dinner. So simple right? Ummm……..no, not so simple. Especially if you’re a busy person. We tend to skip our meals sometimes in the hopes that it will make up for the lost time in our schedule. Now an important thing, it can also serve as an epiphany for some, meals should ALWAYS be a part of your schedule, irrespective of the nature of work. If you skip meals, you tend to overeat or eat less. Your body will send low blood sugar signals to you and you will probably end up eating unhealthy or not eating at all and staving, which by the way as we all know, isn’t good. So what to do? Always make up time for your meals, try not to skip a meal. Having said that, these meals should be healthy and there should be no over indulging. I always opt for one dry/no oil prantha in my hostel mess with a little butter and half a glass of sweetened milk, that is enough for me, it makes me feel full without making me feel sleepy, and I don’t feel like I’m loosing something.

Sweet and salty

We all need some flavor in our lives, salt an sugar are a HUGE part of that. But the sad part is that they can be pretty unhealthy. Salt can cause water to be stored in out body hence causing bloating or water weight. Sugar on the other hand converts into fats very quickly if it isn’t required by the body. So Eat less sugar and salt. You can even use natural alternatives like stevia or meethi tulsi, which is a natural artificial sweeter or natural sweeteners like honey, jaggery, coconut sugar etc.. Avoid the white processed sugar, it’s no good.

Cheat a little

Feeling a little bored? Haven’t eaten food that is probably going to make your skin breakout, and make your senses overwhelm? I have the answer, cheat. Yep, I said it, go ahead and cheat, let the purge begin. See, the thing with us humans is that we can’t really be doing one thing always, it becomes boring and monotonous, we need some sort of change, it’s the same with food, you need to fulfill all your wild thought about food, before it’s too late and you’ve had half a tub of ice cream and 2 extra cheese pizzas. So cut yourself some slack and have at it.

Finally….Keep your face clean

I always did like a clean face, turns out so does healthy skin. I can’t stress enough on keeping your face clean and moisturized. Use a good gentle cleanser in the morning, preferably a cream cleanser depending on the skin type. Use a potent cleanser in the night. I wash my face thrice a day; morning, evening and night. It works out great for me. After washing and pat drying your face, always tone, cleansers leave your skin in a pH that is habitable by bacteria, the tone makes the pH of your skin slight acidic, so that bacteria cannot infest and make pimples. After this comes the treatment. If you have some treatments, you’d wanna apply them now, and then sunscreen/sunblock. Always use a good sunscreen with justifiable sun protection, I can’t stress enough. At night, make sure you thoroughly cleanse your face and then tone and adequately moisturize. For a more detailed surface related skincare, I’ll be writing a different blog, so stay tuned for that.

I sincerely hope this helps, and I hope you great overall health. I’m progressing everyday, I am not perfect, but I do know one thing, change is possible.

XOXO, June.