TOP TEN TIPS: TREATING ACNE

 Acne is an embarrassing and confidence lowering issue that can make you feel awful and really bad about yourself. Everyone experiences acne at some stage in their life to some degree so I came up with these ten tips to help treat and prevent blemishes and breakouts.

1. Improve your diet.
Sometimes acne is an indication that your insides aren't healthy and you can change this by eating healthier foods like fresh fruit and vegetables, drinking lots of water and making sure you include chromium and zinc in your diet (helps kill bacteria on the skin).

2. Stop touching your face.
The average person touches their face 18 times an hour, that's up to 432 times in a day! Each time you touch your face, you transfer all of the oil and bacteria from your fingers onto your skin and that can cause more break outs and for your acne to become worse.

3. Use the rights products.
Make sure the acne fighting treatments your using contain either salicylic acid or benzyl peroxide because if they don't, the chances are that they aren't going to do much for your acne. Salicylic acid and benzyl peroxide have been found to be the most effective ingredients in improving blemishes on the skin!

4. Remove your makeup.
Always make sure to remove all of your makeup before going to the gym or bed! If you work out with your makeup on, your skin can't let sweat out of your pores so the sweat with stay in your pores, clogging them and making your acne worse. If you wear makeup to bed then you don't allow your skin to breathe and similar to if you wear makeup to the gym, your pores will become blocked and we all know what nasty stuff happens to your skin when your pores get blocked!

5. Cleanse, tone and moisturize.
Make sure to wash your face with an acne cleanser, purify your skin with a toner and rehydrate with a moisturizer when you wake up and just before bed. Cleansing your skin is obviously essential because it removes all of the dirt and excess oil. Toning is important also for tightening your pores to help reduce the amount of bacteria and other yucky stuff that can get in. If you have oily skin you may think skipping out on moisturizer is a great way to save you any excess oil...think again! If you skip the moisturizer, your skin starts to freak out and produce crazy amounts of oil because you just took so much of it away from cleansing and toning. When you use a moisturizer, it balances out your oil by hydrating but not hydrating so much that you skin becomes oily. Three important steps that are the key to clear skin.

6. Don't pick or squeeze your pimples! 
Picking and squeezing at your pimples only creates broken skin which exposes the blemish to so much bacteria and dirt and therefore slows down the healing process. Not to mention that picking and squeezing also can cause acne scarring which is much worse than acne because it's really hard to get rid off!

7. Keep your hair off your face.
Just think about how oily your hair gets..do you really want that oil transferred onto your face! Try hairstyles that keep your fringe off your face and your hair back. If you love wearing your hair down, just make sure it's clean.

8. Take a multi vitamin.
For your skin to look healthy and glowing it requires certain types of vitamins and minerals. Most you can get in your diet but if you don't think your getting them you can take a supplement. Some vitamins and minerals that have been found to improve acne are Vitamin A, B, C, E, Zinc and Omega 3 Fatty Acids. Trying to incorporate these into your diet can show visible signs of improvement in acne.

9. Exercise.
Light exercises such as Yoga and Pilates help the circulation of blood in the body which creates healthier skin. This is of course good news for your acne!

10. The big guns.
If you have tried all of the above steps, depending on the acne, sometimes you may need something stronger. I recommend visiting a GP or dermatologist to take a look at what type of acne you have and they will be able to prescribe something that could work really well for you. Sometimes the doctor will prescribe a topical ointment or medication, even acutane in severe cases

I wish you all the best of luck in finding clear skin!