I know firsthand the nightmare of living with constant acne breakouts.
I suffered from cystic acne for over 15 years and remember vividly how living with that condition wreaked havoc on my self-esteem.
From the tender age of 14 until my early 30’s I went on countless dermatologist visits and was prescribed every harsh topical and medication you can imagine……the usual suspects:
Different Antibiotics
Different contraception pills
Retin A
Accutane (more than once *cringe*)
Tazorac
My bathroom cabinet was littered with countless OTC acne products that dried, burned, or stripped my skin raw…..St Ives scrub, Clearasil, Clinique, Proactiv, Alcohol-based astringents.
I regularly took matters into my own hands mixing clay masks mixed with vinegar, toothpaste tea tree oil
Some of these things worked TEMPORARILY but usually with extremely uncomfortable side effects eg. on one particularly long round of Accutane at a questionably high dosage I remember my lips being so dry I cut the skin off with nail scissors *eek*!!!!
I’m not sharing this to gross you out and I sincerely apologize if this has been TMI but I wanted to try and convey just how bad my relationship with my well-being was. I actually cut the skin off my lips. with. nail. scissors!!!
Waking up every morning dreading having to look in the mirror knowing there would be a new crop of breakouts waiting for me.
When I began my journey of holistic healing I had an ‘aha’ moment about how important my MINDSET was in my success.
I had to become my skin’s cheerleader.
I had to believe my skin could be clear.
I had to look in the mirror and not expect breakouts.
I had to stop ‘punishing’ my skin
Some of my major skin healing game-changers were:
- Giving up smoking (yup…I was a heavy smoker)
- Curbing my excessive dairy habit
- Finding ways to get more greens into my diets (growing up I hated vegetables so no surprise that my skin suffered)
- Upping my water intake
- Radically changing my skincare routine from harsh stripping “acne” drugstore products to natural products that nourished and soothed my skin.
The ultimate game-changer however that l credit to being what led me to finally healing my acne once and for all didn’t come in a pill, cream, or even in a smoothie glass (although my green smoothie is now a non-negotiable).
The question that I get asked the most is how did I finally CLEAR UP MY SKIN.
The truth is I changed the RELATIONSHIP I had with my skin.
I stopped looking at my acne as “the problem”.
Click here to read an article I wrote for the Elephant Journal “5 Reasons You Should Thank Your Breakouts” https://www.elephantjournal.
Always with Alofa (because you can’t heal skin you hate),
Nichola xxx