Speaker 1: I was essentially marinating my face in hair products every
Speaker 1: night and sleeping on a dirty pillow and that had
Speaker 1: washing ingredients in it that are also going to break
Speaker 1: me out. So you bet my face was a pizza.
Speaker 1: You see how things add up, And that's what I'm
Speaker 1: trying to say, like it's usually a storm of things
Speaker 1: that is causing your acne. Hello, guys, and welcome back
Speaker 1: to Stepping Up. Today's episode is one that I don't know.
Speaker 1: I feel like is very close to my heart because
Speaker 1: it's something I've struggled with for a long time, and
Speaker 1: I honestly wish everything I'm about to cover in this episode,
Speaker 1: I wish I knew a lot a long long time ago,
Speaker 1: because it would have saved me a lot of pain
Speaker 1: and heartache and also money. To be honest with you now, disclaimer,
Speaker 1: As you guys know, I'm not a dermatologist, I'm not
Speaker 1: an esthetician, whatever you want to call it. I'm not
Speaker 1: those things. But I am someone who has struggled with
Speaker 1: adult acne for a long time, for at least about
Speaker 1: a decade, and there's some things, you know, I've done
Speaker 1: so much research and I've tried and tested, and I've
Speaker 1: also you know, learned a lot of things along the way.
Speaker 2: And these are not.
Speaker 1: Only things that work for me, but also things that
Speaker 1: are backed by science and also people also, like you know,
Speaker 1: people like dermatoptologists do share. And again I'm not saying
Speaker 1: that what I'm going to go through here is going
Speaker 1: to work for everybody, but usually help a lot.
Speaker 2: So if you, if you, if.
Speaker 1: You get what I'm putting down here, So yes, this
Speaker 1: chances are if you're listening to this episode as well,
Speaker 1: you very much know the pain of having acne, adult
Speaker 1: acne and just the toll it takes on your confidence
Speaker 1: but also your mental health, Like it just sucks, like
Speaker 1: having to try and put makeup over really painful acne
Speaker 1: and cysts are just it's not nice. It's not a
Speaker 1: nice feeling. And it's your face, Like you're allowed to
Speaker 1: be self conscious of your face because we're humans, and
Speaker 1: it's a goddamn face. And you know, you I'll see
Speaker 1: beautiful girls out, you know, out public with no makeup
Speaker 1: on and they've got some acne and they still look
Speaker 1: so so beautiful. But I'm not going to sit here
Speaker 1: and tell you or just to embrace it. And you know,
Speaker 1: it is what it.
Speaker 2: Is because I get it, bloody get it.
Speaker 1: By the end of this episode, you are going to
Speaker 1: learn a lot more about, you know, the causes of
Speaker 1: acne in adults and women, but even learn about a
Speaker 1: lot of the causes of acne that you would never
Speaker 1: even think were a thing. Like again, if I knew
Speaker 1: these things, I'm like, it makes so much sense now
Speaker 1: to me because I know the things. But I didn't
Speaker 1: always know these things, and it was a really painful
Speaker 1: journey to get to where I am now.
Speaker 2: Now. The reason I'm recording this episode is because you.
Speaker 1: Know, I've spent thousands and thousands of dollars trying to
Speaker 1: clear up my skin, and I want to give you
Speaker 1: some backstory soon because I wasn't. I didn't always have painful, cystic,
Speaker 1: hormonal acne. But you know, I've tried everything to fix
Speaker 1: my skin. I've tried skin clinics. I've tried facials, I've
Speaker 1: tried peels, I've tried prescriptions like even drug I've tried
Speaker 1: rectain anty biotics, I've tried expensive skincare, I've tried cheap
Speaker 1: skin care. You know, basically, if anything or anyone promised
Speaker 1: me clear skin, I've tried it.
Speaker 2: I've done the thing.
Speaker 1: Yeah. And the reason I record this episode today is
Speaker 1: because obviously I'm doing the Doable Glow Up series, which
Speaker 1: there is this part in there about skin care, so
Speaker 1: you can kind of say this is part of that,
Speaker 1: but it's kind of.
Speaker 2: Not as well.
Speaker 1: But it's because a few weeks ago I started breaking
Speaker 1: out again, and I remember like waking up and looking
Speaker 1: in the mirror and being like, hell no, not this again.
Speaker 2: I was like, absolutely not this. I decline.
Speaker 1: Decline because you know, if you've ever really struggled with
Speaker 1: acnea before and you've cleared it up, and then as
Speaker 1: soon as you get one more pimple it pops up.
Speaker 1: It could be for any reason. You spiral pretty fast
Speaker 1: and pretty hard. Because it is it's triggering. It is
Speaker 1: very very triggering, you know, only you'd be like, what
Speaker 1: have I done?
Speaker 2: What have I changed?
Speaker 1: How do my skin get back here? And the weird
Speaker 1: thing is like, for me in this circumstances, I didn't
Speaker 1: change my skin care. You know, I hadn't changed anything
Speaker 1: I was putting on my face or a few of
Speaker 1: the other things I want to take you guys through.
Speaker 2: But then I realized what it was causing it. This time,
Speaker 2: and it was a very very simple fix that you're well,
Speaker 2: you won't.
Speaker 1: Even believe the fix, but once you understand it, you'll
Speaker 1: be like, Okay, it makes sense. So this episode is
Speaker 1: for you if you have also struggled with adult acne
Speaker 1: and it comes and goes. If you've you're currently really
Speaker 1: struggling with it. So if you're currently struggling with it
Speaker 1: and you've tried everything, you know, you maybe you've also
Speaker 1: spent a lot of money, especially been on TikTok just
Speaker 1: spiral and trying to figure out how the hell do
Speaker 1: I clear up my acne and nothing's working.
Speaker 2: And if you're sick of hearing people say just drink
Speaker 2: more water, like no, Barbara, that doesn't work. Like it's okay. Look,
Speaker 2: it does contribute.
Speaker 1: It's very important, but there's a lot more factors that
Speaker 1: go into it, especially when you're a female, especially when
Speaker 1: hormones come into play and other things.
Speaker 2: I want to go through.
Speaker 1: So today I want to be sharing with you guys
Speaker 1: my story of my acne from like you know, I
Speaker 1: want to recap on the teenagers and how I got
Speaker 1: to be someone that had really bad systic acne the
Speaker 1: year of her wedding and it was insanely stressful. What
Speaker 1: actually made the biggest difference for me and the things
Speaker 1: I do whenever I start to have a breakout again,
Speaker 1: what causes it and how I fix it fast, and
Speaker 1: also why I still break out occasionally, And then the
Speaker 1: weird things that no one else really talks about, even,
Speaker 1: like the things that are quite simple to help you
Speaker 1: with your acne that I feel like not enough people
Speaker 1: talk about it all, and the simple things, and now
Speaker 1: my simple routine that I do to keep my skin
Speaker 1: under control most of the time if I'm not stupid,
Speaker 1: and then do the things I'm about.
Speaker 2: To tell you now.
Speaker 1: I'm not going to even give you guys life update
Speaker 1: because I feel like that was kind of part of
Speaker 1: the intro how I've been breaking out again, So let's
Speaker 1: just get into it now.
Speaker 2: My acne story.
Speaker 1: So, as a teenager, I was pretty pretty much like
Speaker 1: everyone else, like we'd all get like pimples here and there.
Speaker 1: I'd get little bumps at my forehead, but it wasn't
Speaker 1: really like, it wasn't shocking. There were definitely times for me.
Speaker 1: I remember, I think I was sixteen, I got a
Speaker 1: lot of acne on my forehead that was not a
Speaker 1: good time. It wasn't fun, and I found back then
Speaker 1: a lot of the time was when I was having
Speaker 1: too much dairy. I remember coming home from school and
Speaker 1: just sculling milk. I don't know why, a bit random,
Speaker 1: but that's what I did. And I felt like as
Speaker 1: soon as I kind of cut that out, it did help,
Speaker 1: but I was still getting it.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 1: I used what's it called, oh, proactive, proactive, and it
Speaker 1: would bleach my bloody pillow cases, bleach the towels. I'd
Speaker 1: get in trouble, you know, like we were just like
Speaker 1: we've always I think our generation too, we were very
Speaker 1: much like brought up with the with the proactive. So
Speaker 1: for us, as soon as we get breakouts, we go
Speaker 1: hard and we just go out our skins so hard,
Speaker 1: and that is literally the worst thing you can do.
Speaker 1: And it doesn't you just want to like dry them out.
Speaker 1: Like I even remember like hoping I got some burnt
Speaker 1: sometimes so I'd burn my pimples off my face.
Speaker 2: Like that's not what we want to do.
Speaker 1: So yeah, it is like it kind of feels like
Speaker 1: second nature for us, for our generation at least, for
Speaker 1: when we get a pimple, we want to burn it
Speaker 1: with something, you know, like whether it's like an exfoliant
Speaker 1: or some crazy bloody cream that's like productive, that's basically bleach.
Speaker 1: And then I will tell you in this episode why
Speaker 1: that's yeah, the worst.
Speaker 2: Thing you can do now.
Speaker 1: Luckily enough, after high school and my period kind of
Speaker 1: settled down a little bit because I got my period
Speaker 1: late too, but my skin was pretty good, like, it
Speaker 1: wasn't too bad. I was still very self conscious of
Speaker 1: my skin.
Speaker 2: I don't know why.
Speaker 1: I think because I did have that little bit of acne.
Speaker 1: When I was sixteen, I would wear this freakin thick
Speaker 1: it was literally it was literally made to cover up tattoos,
Speaker 1: and I would wear it on my face. And it's
Speaker 1: so sad because I look back and I actually had
Speaker 1: beautiful skin at that time, you know. Luckily enough, from
Speaker 1: like eighteen to maybe twenty, I think it was my
Speaker 1: skin was good, like, was pretty decent. And then what
Speaker 1: I did was I when I moved out of home, right,
Speaker 1: I moved out at eighteen, and growing up, I didn't
Speaker 1: have a whole lot of food in the house, so
Speaker 1: it was pretty hungry, you know, not great, but when
Speaker 1: you move out of home, it's like it was like
Speaker 1: a smallest board, Like I just wanted to eat anything
Speaker 1: and everything, and from that I gained twenty five kilos
Speaker 1: in a year. Now, surprisingly, I was, you know, eating
Speaker 1: a lot of junk, a lot of early food, and
Speaker 1: I didn't really break out that much then, like I
Speaker 1: would hear in there, but it wasn't shocking, which is
Speaker 1: kind of weird. But what happened was I lost the
Speaker 1: weight in a like healthy way. But then I went
Speaker 1: too far and I decided to do like bodybuilding competition.
Speaker 1: So if you ever seen the girls I go on
Speaker 1: stage in the bikinis and they're really really ten and
Speaker 1: they got the heels. I did that for like two years,
Speaker 1: lost my period. Yeah, so when you do these things,
Speaker 1: you need to get really lean. And when women for
Speaker 1: under twelve percent body fat, we lose our period because
Speaker 1: our body is like we are not safe enough to
Speaker 1: make a baby. We need more fat than this.
Speaker 2: It stops.
Speaker 1: And when your periods stopped for two years, you could
Speaker 1: imagine how it came back with an absolute vengeance. Once
Speaker 1: it came back, once I put some weight back on,
Speaker 1: it was not a good time. My skin was horrific,
Speaker 1: Like I can't I get emotionally been talking about it,
Speaker 1: like it was so painful to touch, Like it was
Speaker 1: the deep cystic acne, and it was all over my
Speaker 1: cheeks and my jaw, on my chin hormones, you know,
Speaker 1: and I just was like, holy shit. And Ryan and
Speaker 1: I we were getting married that year in September, and
Speaker 1: so I spent thousands of dollars. I was desperate, just
Speaker 1: so desperate. And I'm also trying to save up for
Speaker 1: a wedding as well. Mind you you know, I was
Speaker 1: working multiple jobs at that time. I was at the
Speaker 1: gym and then doing my makeup business on the weekend,
Speaker 1: and you know, I was just desperate, Like I was
Speaker 1: going to be getting married. I didn't want to have
Speaker 1: like acne on my wedding day because even the horrible
Speaker 1: thing about acne is too likes you can cover the redness,
Speaker 1: but you can't fix texture. You can see the bumps,
Speaker 1: especially in certain lights. I remember I would avoid certain
Speaker 1: lighting when my skin was that bad because I was
Speaker 1: so ashamed of it and it was just so painful.
Speaker 1: There was so many mornings I'd wake up and put
Speaker 1: makeup on and it was that painful to put on.
Speaker 1: I would just cry, and it was horrible and it
Speaker 1: was really really horrible. And that was all because yeah,
Speaker 1: like I was, it was because of the hormones, like
Speaker 1: they were just absolutely cooked. So I got that just
Speaker 1: But I tried antibiotics. You can get certain antibotics that
Speaker 1: more for like acne. That worked a little bit. It
Speaker 1: helped a little bit, but there's still every time i'd
Speaker 1: hop off of them that it would come back. So
Speaker 1: I went on Rachu tane. Yeah, and I really didn't
Speaker 1: want to have to go on that, but it did work.
Speaker 2: It dried the crap.
Speaker 1: Out of me, like my skin everything, and had like
Speaker 1: side effects because you can get side effects of depression
Speaker 1: and things. So it was that this is like the
Speaker 1: last resort type of thing, like and honestly, if I
Speaker 1: just knew what I know now, it would have really
Speaker 1: really helped, you know. I went to the dermatologist everything
Speaker 1: they were like, yeah, you need to go and racutine.
Speaker 1: So it was like dire's situation. But look, wedding day
Speaker 1: skin was clear, Thank the Lord.
Speaker 2: So it is what it is. But again I would
Speaker 2: I went off of it.
Speaker 1: I think I was on it for nearly a year
Speaker 1: and then when I got off of it and my
Speaker 1: skin stayed clear for maybe another couple of years and
Speaker 1: then it came back again. Now it wasn't like I
Speaker 1: wouldn't have It's hard to say that it was as
Speaker 1: bad as it was. It was bad, but I can't
Speaker 1: remember it was exactly as bad as what it was before.
Speaker 1: And again my confidence took a hit. It's it's not
Speaker 1: what you want, you know. And I remember it was
Speaker 1: on and off up until and I remember like hitting
Speaker 1: thirty and being like are we done yet?
Speaker 2: Like is this over?
Speaker 1: And the time my skin was at its best was
Speaker 1: actually when I went to a natural path and really
Speaker 1: focused on my gut health. And it's very much true
Speaker 1: that your skin has a huge tie to your gut.
Speaker 1: If you've got sluggish digestion and poor digestion and things
Speaker 1: like that, you will see it in your skin. So
Speaker 1: things like if you're eating too fast, not eating enough
Speaker 1: all that. I'll get into that soon. But when I
Speaker 1: was following a proper protocol with my natural path, my.
Speaker 2: Skin looked amazing. It was it was good, you know.
Speaker 2: And the thing with my skin type is I'm an
Speaker 2: oily girl.
Speaker 1: Like I'm a very oily skin person, which is great
Speaker 1: for like anti aging, Like it is good to have
Speaker 1: oily skin for that.
Speaker 2: But this also means my paws get clogged very very easily.
Speaker 1: So if I don't wash my makeup off properly anything
Speaker 1: like that. It's like there's a lot of products I
Speaker 1: can't use which I didn't know about, and I'll talk
Speaker 1: to you about that soon. But there's a lot of
Speaker 1: products I can't use because I will break out because
Speaker 1: of the poor clogging ingredients. Hot tip number one. So
Speaker 1: for me, I am always before I buy anything anything, I.
Speaker 2: Will be looking into the ingredients. You bet you now.
Speaker 1: The big lesson here is adult acne is usually a
Speaker 1: stacking problem. Sometimes it can just be one thing. It
Speaker 1: could be a product you're using, and I'll tell you
Speaker 1: how to find out what products to use and stuff soon.
Speaker 2: But usually it.
Speaker 1: Can be a combination of things. And it's like putting
Speaker 1: gasoline on the fire. So now when I do break
Speaker 1: out like I have recently, instead of asking what's causing
Speaker 1: my acne, I ask what have I changed? What has
Speaker 1: changed in my life for my acne to come back?
Speaker 1: Because you bet there will be something that you're either
Speaker 1: using or doing that is causing it.
Speaker 2: And it does.
Speaker 1: It usually feels like it's out of our control. But
Speaker 1: once you learn these things I'm about to take you through,
Speaker 1: you'll understand.
Speaker 2: Once you get.
Speaker 1: These like what can affect your acne, you're going to
Speaker 1: actually understand it so much better and you'll be able
Speaker 1: to look at what you're doing now and be like, oh,
Speaker 1: I get it. You know now the first thing that
Speaker 1: can cause adult acne is poor clogging ingredients. Now, this
Speaker 1: step alone, on its own, even if you're doing other
Speaker 1: things that aren't great and you're getting acne from it,
Speaker 1: this step alone will help so incredibly much, Like I
Speaker 1: cannot tell you now.
Speaker 2: I remember it was a few years ago. I was
Speaker 2: listening to a.
Speaker 1: Podcast and it was like the bread was called Clear Stems,
Speaker 1: so it's like an American brand, it's like an acne brand.
Speaker 1: And I was listening to this podcast and they basically
Speaker 1: explained why certain products will break you out and like
Speaker 1: basically poor cloggers and what they do and what they are.
Speaker 1: So basically there's a list of ingredients that is in
Speaker 1: a lot of cosmetics, in a lot of skin care,
Speaker 1: in a lot of hair care, which yes, that counts
Speaker 1: to I'll let you know, that will clog your paws,
Speaker 1: that has potential to clog your paws. Now, if you're
Speaker 1: someone like me who has oily skin and I do
Speaker 1: get clogged paws quite easily, it's a.
Speaker 2: Big no no. It's a no no, you know.
Speaker 1: And then there's people like my cousin Sammy, Like she's
Speaker 1: got drier skin, so for her usually.
Speaker 2: It's not this.
Speaker 1: But I'm not saying this is again like everyone's different,
Speaker 1: but for her usually it's like more of a hormonal,
Speaker 1: stressed type of thing, or a sugar balance thing, which
Speaker 1: I'll talk about. But for me, this is so important
Speaker 1: and for anyone if you break out, I want you
Speaker 1: to pull everything out of your drawers and your cover
Speaker 1: and out of your shower and you're going to start.
Speaker 2: Checking for poor cloggers.
Speaker 1: Now there's a huge list of ingredients, and I'm not
Speaker 1: going to tell you to remember these, like I remember
Speaker 1: a lot now if by heart. So if I'm at
Speaker 1: Priceline or something, I'm quickly having a look. If I
Speaker 1: see a few things, I'll put it straight back, like
Speaker 1: if it se this coconut oil. If there's different type
Speaker 1: of alcohols, there's like certain like heavy esters and butters
Speaker 1: like shade butter.
Speaker 2: That's a no, that's a hard no.
Speaker 1: For me, and they are in a lot of different things,
Speaker 1: and it doesn't mean that these ingredients are bad and
Speaker 1: it doesn't mean they're going to break everyone out. And
Speaker 1: there is other ingredients that aren't technically poor cloggers, which
Speaker 1: I'll get into, that potentially can be breaking you out
Speaker 1: as well. So things like products with fragrance in them.
Speaker 1: Now that's going to relate to your skin barrier, which
Speaker 1: I'll talk about next, but there is going to be
Speaker 1: other types of things, usually fragrance that can also break
Speaker 1: you out, or even things that are like film, like
Speaker 1: film coating products. So a lot of things that are
Speaker 1: in primers you need to be careful with as well.
Speaker 1: But there's a there's a hack for this, and I'll
Speaker 1: help you. So, for example, I listened to this podcast
Speaker 1: and then I went home and I.
Speaker 2: Went through all the things I was using.
Speaker 1: I pulled out all my skincare, pulled out all my makeup,
Speaker 1: I pulled out my hair care. Because yes, if you
Speaker 1: were someone that breaks out on their cheeks and you
Speaker 1: sleep with your hair out, chances are your hair conditioner
Speaker 1: has poor clogging ingredients in it, and then you're sleeping
Speaker 1: on your hair for about eight hours a night. You
Speaker 1: bet you're going to break out. And there's even we're
Speaker 1: going to also be looking at our washing powders, because yes,
Speaker 1: our washing powders can also you know, clog our paws,
Speaker 1: which was what was happening to me recently and I
Speaker 1: had to switch because I didn't realize that the washing
Speaker 1: powder I recently got a couple months ago caused me breakouts.
Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, good times, good times.
Speaker 1: So all you have to do is grab all your
Speaker 1: ingredients out and if the ingredients are on the back,
Speaker 1: take a photo.
Speaker 2: You can literally chuck it into chat.
Speaker 1: YOUBT and just say hey, is this got poor clogging
Speaker 1: ingredients or acne triggers? But another good way to do it.
Speaker 1: There's a lot of like poor clogging calculators online. I
Speaker 1: would probably even love to if I managed to build
Speaker 1: you guys one in this episode. I will link it
Speaker 1: below because I can build you one because I'm a
Speaker 1: little coding AI nerd now, which is another episode, but
Speaker 1: just look up poor clogging. It's called poor clogging calculator,
Speaker 1: poor clogging checkers. There's one on clear Stem. There's a
Speaker 1: few different ones and you just copy and paste, make
Speaker 1: sure you get the full ingredients list, copy paste it
Speaker 1: in there and it will tell you if it's safe
Speaker 1: or not. Now I want you to also do your
Speaker 1: hair care because again that can be breaking you out
Speaker 1: around your temples, on your cheeks, like even on your
Speaker 1: back and things like that. Check those your body wash
Speaker 1: if you get body acne. For me, I tend not
Speaker 1: to get body acne, but I can get a couple
Speaker 1: of pimples on like the top of my back, and
Speaker 1: usually that was with me if I don't wash out
Speaker 1: my conditioner enough. So I'll usually wash my hair and
Speaker 1: then I'll like cleanse my back in the showers because
Speaker 1: I go to the gym and sometimes if I leave
Speaker 1: my crop top on for a few hours, I can
Speaker 1: break out from that too. Yeah, so it's just happen,
Speaker 1: like just being a bit extra careful. So go through everything.
Speaker 1: Now this leads me to the next point, which is
Speaker 1: your skin barrier. So now for some of us, naturally
Speaker 1: when we get acne, we want to burn the.
Speaker 2: Crap out of it, like I said, so we'll put
Speaker 2: actives on it.
Speaker 1: But the thing is when you are putting a lot
Speaker 1: of harsh ingredients on your skin, especially when your skin isn't.
Speaker 2: Used to it. This is where you can destroy your
Speaker 2: skin barrier.
Speaker 1: Now, your skin barrier is the outermost layer of your skin,
Speaker 1: and it acts as your body's personal shield, so it
Speaker 1: locks in moisture, it keeps your skin hydrated while there's
Speaker 1: like toxins and pollution and everything out in the outside air.
Speaker 1: When this gets damaged, you will notice rough texture. You
Speaker 1: can get really dry flaking. You can even get stinging,
Speaker 1: itching or inflammation, so like very red. I get very
Speaker 1: red around my nose when I have a broken skin
Speaker 1: barrier and very textured skin. And you can also get brakes.
Speaker 1: Like for me, that's usually a sign that I've gone
Speaker 1: too hard. So whenever you get a breakout, instead of
Speaker 1: focusing on you know, like usually acne products are usually
Speaker 1: the worst for this time, you want to focus on
Speaker 1: skin barrier protection, so you know there's things out there
Speaker 1: like and also you've got to still be checking for
Speaker 1: poor cloggers because unfortunately this is the double edged sword.
Speaker 1: Usually products that are great for your skin barrier have
Speaker 1: a lot.
Speaker 2: Of poor cloggers in them. So I use things i've got.
Speaker 1: I've got the AVENE B five serum B five is
Speaker 1: very good for your skin barrier. Things like nicicinamide is
Speaker 1: great for people with oily skin and also texture and acne.
Speaker 1: So just look, but I just remember you need a test,
Speaker 1: so like, not everyone can use nic cinemid, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean. So just again, I'm not a dermatologist,
Speaker 1: so just try things like introduce them slowly, try them
Speaker 1: a little bit on the jaw line, and make.
Speaker 2: Sure you don't have a reaction.
Speaker 1: And yeah, just you don't want to be blasting your
Speaker 1: skin with actives when you're in this phase. Like and
Speaker 1: this is also what happens during your ludial phase. You
Speaker 1: naturally do produce more oil. So for me, this is
Speaker 1: a perfect storm to have more clogged paws which turn
Speaker 1: into acne. If you guys didn't realize that that's usually
Speaker 1: how acne starts is as as a clogged paw. So
Speaker 1: if I don't wash my makeup off properly, and if
Speaker 1: I'm if I'm skipping some of these things that are
Speaker 1: going into the rest the episode, you bet I'm going
Speaker 1: to break out because again and your skin barrier is
Speaker 1: more like fragile at this time as well. So for me,
Speaker 1: during the rest of my period, I will use certain
Speaker 1: actives on certain nights and but during my ludi your phase,
Speaker 1: I'm focusing on my skin barrier and just keeping sure,
Speaker 1: like making sure that that's okay.
Speaker 2: You know what I mean, Because that is because.
Speaker 1: As soon as you decide to use actives, like especially
Speaker 1: too many actives, which is what we tend to do
Speaker 1: during our ludial phase because we're oily and we feel yuck,
Speaker 1: so we go a bit harder. And that's what it's like.
Speaker 1: It's fun, it's shit, it's shit, but once you work out,
Speaker 1: But okay, around for me day eighteen, I know, okay,
Speaker 1: I need to not use Like I have two cleanses.
Speaker 1: I've got a gentle cleanser and I've got a more
Speaker 1: like harsh, not a harsh cleanser, but it's a more
Speaker 1: complex cleanser. I'll stop using the complex one and just
Speaker 1: stay to my gentle one, and I'll stop using actives
Speaker 1: for that week. Like I won't even do my selicylic
Speaker 1: acid spot treatments. I won't do a zelic acid azalic acid.
Speaker 1: I don't even know how to say it. I am
Speaker 1: really really careful with what I'm using on my skin. No, sir,
Speaker 1: I do use a zealic acid. Yeah, I won't use Sorry,
Speaker 1: I won't use my retinol, I won't use my acids
Speaker 1: or anything like that. I will keep up with my
Speaker 1: azealic acid, azelic acid, azalic acid. I don't know how
Speaker 1: to say it, but that's a really good one, by
Speaker 1: the way, and it's gentle. So yeah, it's just kind
Speaker 1: of you need to kind of cycle sync your skin
Speaker 1: care as well and just know, like different times of
Speaker 1: your period is what like, this is what's happening with
Speaker 1: my skin. So it is really good even for you
Speaker 1: to like jump on and do a bit of research.
Speaker 1: And I can talk more about like my skin care
Speaker 1: cycle sinking in another episode if you guys want so,
Speaker 1: just be yeah, let's not go crazy on the skin barrower.
Speaker 2: Yeah, like we want to be careful with it. Now.
Speaker 1: The next thing is making sure again that you've got
Speaker 1: a safe washing powder, but also that you're changing your
Speaker 1: pillowcases now. As you know, while we sleep, our face
Speaker 1: is pressed against this material for like eight to nine
Speaker 1: hours if you're lucky, and if you know, if you're
Speaker 1: using a washing powder that isn't you know, safe for
Speaker 1: acne skin, you're going to get breakouts. And if that
Speaker 1: pillowcase is Also, you know we sweat in during our sleep,
Speaker 1: you know, got dead skin cells.
Speaker 2: It's pretty gross.
Speaker 1: That's gonna also create acne, especially in your luteal phase
Speaker 1: just before your period.
Speaker 2: You bet you, you bet ya.
Speaker 1: So what I like to do is I like to
Speaker 1: keep a couple of pillowcases in like my bedside draw
Speaker 1: and I just try and remind myself on like Monday, Wednesday,
Speaker 1: and Friday, they're the days I will switch out my
Speaker 1: pill case. Even if I do it like twice a week,
Speaker 1: it really does help. So try and set like a
Speaker 1: reminder on your phone. It is really worth trying out
Speaker 1: because you know, and for you, it might not even
Speaker 1: be what's causing the breakout. It could be, you know,
Speaker 1: your skin care. It could be your hair care. You
Speaker 1: might be someone that you know, like if you sleep
Speaker 1: with your hair tied back, your hair care is not
Speaker 1: going to matter. But it's all about eliminating and then
Speaker 1: you can try and reach like bring things back in
Speaker 1: in terms of like hair care. But chances are if
Speaker 1: there's poor coggers, it's just better.
Speaker 2: Just not to play with fire. Let's not play with fire.
Speaker 1: I just want to go back to the hair care
Speaker 1: for a second, because I also want to just clarify
Speaker 1: what I mean by that. I'm talking like heavy oils,
Speaker 1: like you're thick leaving conditioners. I'm talking your conditioners, voluarizing products,
Speaker 1: and even certain hair sprays. I just want you to
Speaker 1: just check all of those ingredients because you know you're
Speaker 1: going to get breakouts on your forehead, on your cheeks,
Speaker 1: and like it's just gonna it is going to create
Speaker 1: acne if you're very acne prime, I was essentially marinating
Speaker 1: my face in hair products every night and sleeping on
Speaker 1: a dirty pillow and that had also that had washing
Speaker 1: power ingredients in it that are also going to break
Speaker 1: me out. So you bet my face was a pizza.
Speaker 1: You see how things add up, And that's what I'm
Speaker 1: trying to say, Like it's usually a storm of things
Speaker 1: that is causing your acne. Now, the next thing that
Speaker 1: can cause acne is inflammation. Now this is in a
Speaker 1: different few different areas of your life. It can be
Speaker 1: lack of sleep, it can be stress, it can be
Speaker 1: your blood sugar levels, which is what was causing my
Speaker 1: acne recently. But we'll break it into that, like usually
Speaker 1: your skin will know you're burnt out before you do
Speaker 1: you will notice signs and it could be like, and
Speaker 1: this is where we need to really like look at
Speaker 1: our habits and our life and be like, what am
Speaker 1: I doing differently? It could literally even be like you're
Speaker 1: not doing enough steps, so then therefore your digestion is sluggish.
Speaker 1: Therefore you're going to get breakouts, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: And I'm not saying you have to have all of
Speaker 1: these under wraps all the time, because things like stress
Speaker 1: we can't really always control. But if you are even
Speaker 1: just making sure you're not using poor clogging ingredients, your
Speaker 1: haircare hasn't got crap in it, you're changing your pillowcase,
Speaker 1: and even like maybe cutting out alcohol or whatelse like
Speaker 1: some other things like that, you're giving your skin the
Speaker 1: best possible chance and not getting that extra clogged Paul,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. Now, I'm going to reveal
Speaker 1: to you what was causing my acne recently. And I
Speaker 1: realized that I had stopped having my heavy like my
Speaker 1: protein breakfast the last week and a half. Now I know,
Speaker 1: I literally just spoke about this on the Doable blo
Speaker 1: up and it's one of my non negotiables. But you see,
Speaker 1: in the mornings, I have been getting up pretty early,
Speaker 1: and I go to the gym early, and I usually
Speaker 1: don't feel like eating a lot. And I also like,
Speaker 1: I'm not going to get the blender out. I don't
Speaker 1: want to wake the kids up. And my breakfast smoothies
Speaker 1: are like nearly fifty grams of protein, which is wild
Speaker 1: and they're so good, which I'll tell you what they
Speaker 1: are in a minute if you like. But I realized
Speaker 1: I was getting like this little protein bake bar. Now
Speaker 1: to me, I was like, this is fine, it's protein.
Speaker 1: But I also went against my own rule because I'm
Speaker 1: human and that's.
Speaker 2: What we do.
Speaker 1: So instead of having my thirty grams of protein before
Speaker 1: I touch caffeine, I was having five grams of protein
Speaker 1: and simple carbs, and I was having coffee and going
Speaker 1: to the gym. And also I'm still on my ADHD medication,
Speaker 1: which I've knocked right down, but I'm still taking that.
Speaker 1: So you can imagine I'm not having enough protein and
Speaker 1: then I'm having stimulant stimulant working out. Yeah, so my
Speaker 1: blood sugars were all over the place, you know, and
Speaker 1: your blood sugar when you're safe, you're like not eating
Speaker 1: enough protein and then you're maybe having simple carbs or
Speaker 1: having too much sugar, your blood sugar is going to spike,
Speaker 1: and that spike causes your body to create more produce
Speaker 1: more hormones, and it also creates more oil in your.
Speaker 2: Skin and in your hair.
Speaker 1: My hair lately has been so oily as well, and
Speaker 1: my skin's been very early. It's been like I'm in
Speaker 1: my lude to your phase but all the time.
Speaker 2: And then I was like, oh, that's what I've been
Speaker 2: doing differently, because.
Speaker 1: Soon as I have my thirty grams of protein at
Speaker 1: breakfast before my coffee, that helps my blood sugars for
Speaker 1: the day. And obviously you need to be eating every
Speaker 1: three hours. But that was that was where I was failing.
Speaker 1: And my acne was all along my drawer line and
Speaker 1: like along my neck, and that is what your hormones do,
Speaker 1: and that it just it made perfect sense. So for me, yes,
Speaker 1: my skincare was under control and it was doing its best.
Speaker 1: Like the skincare was carrying the team at this point,
Speaker 1: because if I hadn't, if I was using poor cloggers
Speaker 1: as well, you bet my face would have been a
Speaker 1: mess at this point. So when it comes to like
Speaker 1: reducing inflammation, obviously it's prioritizing protein. It is drinking enough water,
Speaker 1: but there's also things you can do to help with that.
Speaker 1: And this comes down to taking your amega threes, so
Speaker 1: your fatty acids. So I'll be making sure I'm having
Speaker 1: my fish oil because omega three fats help support healthy
Speaker 1: inflammatory pathways. And there's also research that proves that things
Speaker 1: like fish oil actually does help with acne. Now the
Speaker 1: things I will prioritize when I have breakouts again, I
Speaker 1: will look at my routine and be like, what have
Speaker 1: I changed? But I will prioritize my fish oil, my
Speaker 1: fatty fish So I even I just had salmon before
Speaker 1: I recorded this podcast. My protein, my sleep, and my
Speaker 1: stress management. I know it's super basic, but it's very effective.
Speaker 1: So just a quick recap your skin.
Speaker 2: What we're gonna do.
Speaker 1: You're gonna check all your skin care products or your
Speaker 1: hair care products. You're gonna check your washing powder to
Speaker 1: find it. If your washing powder is okay, just again
Speaker 1: jump on and chat ABT whatever. Or you can just
Speaker 1: check the ingredients. You can literally ask it like what
Speaker 1: causes it? The best products in washing powder to look
Speaker 1: for is the sensitive ones. Go for anything that usually
Speaker 1: says sensitive is you'll be fine and go for fragrance
Speaker 1: free as well. I just avoid fragrance in most of
Speaker 1: my skin care now because your fragrance also can really
Speaker 1: affect your skin barrier.
Speaker 2: Things like that lot alcohol.
Speaker 1: So while you know you can use these poor clogging
Speaker 1: calculators and stuff, but if there's other ingredients in there,
Speaker 1: like fragrances and certain essential oils, that can also affect
Speaker 1: your skin barrier. And when your skin barrier is compromised,
Speaker 1: therefore you get a breakout to see where it like,
Speaker 1: it gets complex. But this is the shit that no
Speaker 1: one teaches us. I just have to figure it out
Speaker 1: for myself after.
Speaker 2: Using all my money.
Speaker 1: Now, just a reminder to you, this also counts for
Speaker 1: fate tan and with fake tan there's obviously the dha
Speaker 1: in ten that creates the color, but that also can
Speaker 1: really dry your skin out and again wreck your skin barrier.
Speaker 2: Do you see where I'm going with this. We want
Speaker 2: to love our skin barrier.
Speaker 1: Okay, So I know I only use Eco tan now.
Speaker 1: It's a really good face tan. I find like it
Speaker 1: does have some oils in it, but my face seems fine,
Speaker 1: so just test it out. I think Tenologist face drops
Speaker 1: are pretty good from memory and you put it with
Speaker 1: a moisturizer. But again, you really want to focus on,
Speaker 1: you know, having your skin barrier care. So I use
Speaker 1: the AVN B five serum. There's other things out there
Speaker 1: you can use, obviously using your hyaluronic acid if you're
Speaker 1: allowed to. Again, again, I'm not a dermatologist. You need
Speaker 1: to test this stuff on yourself. Okay, So, but this
Speaker 1: is just for if you don't really have sensitive skin.
Speaker 1: And it's funny because I never thought I did have
Speaker 1: sensitive skin because I usually can use you know, retinol
Speaker 1: and things like that, and I introduce them fine. But
Speaker 1: it's when I'm not when I'm overdoing it, that's when
Speaker 1: my skin barrier is not happy with me.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so make sure with your fake tan.
Speaker 1: I will fake tann my body and I don't tend
Speaker 1: to get breakouts on my body, but I'll use my
Speaker 1: eco tan on my face, but I won't put it
Speaker 1: on like I won't put the fake tan from my
Speaker 1: body on my face anymore. Now, the next thing that
Speaker 1: can really be impacting your acne is overdoing the skin care.
Speaker 1: So whilst there is a lot of things out there
Speaker 1: that are poor clogging safe, they're not poor coggers. There's
Speaker 1: a lot of serums, there's a lot of creams, there's
Speaker 1: a lot of things going on. But if you're using
Speaker 1: a lot of a lot of products at once, it's
Speaker 1: a bit much for the skin sometimes. So it really
Speaker 1: is like go simple, like you'll fine, your skin will
Speaker 1: thrive and look amazing when you're really doing basic stuff
Speaker 1: and you're not using all the fancy creams that look
Speaker 1: good on TikTok, you're using boring shit from like chemist
Speaker 1: warehouse that is literally just the ingredient that we want,
Speaker 1: which is like hyaluronic acid from the ordinary, and that's.
Speaker 2: All it is.
Speaker 1: Like, so just really simplify your skin care and also
Speaker 1: just ask yourself why am I using this?
Speaker 2: So with me, with time, I might introduce a new product.
Speaker 2: So lately I've started using azelic acid. Now. I started
Speaker 2: using this because I saw it. It was it's literally perfect
Speaker 2: for acne.
Speaker 1: It's got your bacteri fighting ingredients in there, but it's
Speaker 1: very gentle. So I started using that and I've actually
Speaker 1: been loving it. But even with that is there's a
Speaker 1: lot of different products with zelic acid in there, a
Speaker 1: zalic acid, whatever you say it, but I bought one
Speaker 1: that had a low amount of that, because you want
Speaker 1: to introduce things slowly, so you don't want to go
Speaker 1: like full onto retinol that's like the strongest one. You
Speaker 1: want to start with retinow or you know, even start
Speaker 1: with just an exfoliator like salicilic acid.
Speaker 2: And only use that like maybe once a week, and
Speaker 2: only on the areas that you break out.
Speaker 1: Because for me, like I was also trying to use
Speaker 1: salicelic acid, but what I was doing, I was putting
Speaker 1: on my whole face and my face didn't like that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it helped spots it, but then my skin barrier got compromised,
Speaker 1: and I would be able to tell that because I
Speaker 1: could tell all my skin looking textured. It just it
Speaker 1: was dry, it was stingy. So you just really need
Speaker 1: to test things out for yourself. But start simple. All
Speaker 1: you really need is a good cleanser, a gentle cleanser.
Speaker 1: It's poor, cooking safe. Some people with acne can use
Speaker 1: oil cleanses, but for me, I can't. I will break
Speaker 1: out no matter what, So I use a gentle oil cleanser.
Speaker 1: I think it's a serave one or serav whatever it's called.
Speaker 1: I use my nicinamide toner water stuff, so it's even
Speaker 1: that's a very low amount of nicinamide.
Speaker 2: Which is good for oil, it's good for like texture.
Speaker 1: And stuff like that. And then I use my exilic acid.
Speaker 1: Again just remember, guys, this is my routine, not everyone's.
Speaker 1: And then I use my hyaluronic acid, and then I
Speaker 1: use a gel moisturize. I don't use like a cream
Speaker 1: oisturizer or anymore.
Speaker 2: I use a gel.
Speaker 1: And then I'll chuck my eco tan on top every
Speaker 1: few days to make my face ten. And that's literally
Speaker 1: my routine. And then at night, my night routine is
Speaker 1: literally the same, but some nights I will swap out
Speaker 1: these zelic acid for like my retinol or for salicilic
Speaker 1: acid like spot treatment, and that's literally it.
Speaker 2: And again when it gets to my.
Speaker 1: Ludinal phase, I go back to basics. And I'm also
Speaker 1: the most important thing here is using SBF. Now I'm
Speaker 1: saying this obviously from a sun protection standpoint and anti aging,
Speaker 1: but also if you're not using SPF, it's not protecting
Speaker 1: your skin from everything else that's going on out there,
Speaker 1: even if you're inside, and it makes your texture look
Speaker 1: it can make your acne scarring worse. It will like
Speaker 1: literally make everything take longer to heal.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Oh so I also use vitamin C.
Speaker 1: So again this is me years and years of like
Speaker 1: testing things out slowly, and even then I am still
Speaker 1: you know, trialing things. But just be simple if you
Speaker 1: can start, Like for me when I first started, I
Speaker 1: did a cleanser, I did a serum, I did a moisturize,
Speaker 1: and I did SBF and that was it. I don't
Speaker 1: even use I cream anymore, guys. Like, when you find
Speaker 1: the things that work that your skin likes, you don't
Speaker 1: need to use much. So I know there was a
Speaker 1: lot of information in this, and again I'm gonna like,
Speaker 1: if I can make you, guys, a poor clogging calculator
Speaker 1: or an acne trigger calculator that has both in it,
Speaker 1: like also talks about fragrance and stuff in it, I
Speaker 1: will make that for you and I'll put it below,
Speaker 1: and if not, I'll give you links below to some
Speaker 1: good like poor clogging checkers that you can use online
Speaker 1: that I've been using before. But please, just you know,
Speaker 1: check your skin care, check your haircare, check your washing powder,
Speaker 1: you know, make sure you're eating enough protein literally even
Speaker 1: just having if you can start anywhere, it's having thirty
Speaker 1: grams of protein in the morning before coffee and you
Speaker 1: will notice a difference and adult acne like it is.
Speaker 1: It really is just the perfect storm for us females.
Speaker 1: It is just hormones and stress and things that we're
Speaker 1: putting on our skin and in our hair that we
Speaker 1: don't even realize are pouring gasoline on the fire.
Speaker 2: Anyways, if you want me.
Speaker 1: To go, like do a deeper dive into my full
Speaker 1: like routines and stuff like that with my skin, even
Speaker 1: like what I do with micro needling and stuff, let
Speaker 1: me know, because obviously acne is one thing, but then
Speaker 1: it also leaves you with scarring, so I've had to
Speaker 1: deal with that too.
Speaker 2: But anyways, I love you guys. I hope this helped,
Speaker 2: and I will talk to you on Monday, babe,