My Acne Journey

What I've Tried, What's Failed, My Continued Struggle, and My Love of Korean Skincare

Hello Friends! I wanted to start out my blog with just a background of my skin care over the last several years.

I have oily/acne prone skin and I started my acne journey in High School. I had beautiful skin when I was younger. I thought my acne was bad in High School but I really only had a few whiteheads and blackheads here and there. It bothered me so my mom started taking me to the dermatologist

The dermatologist prescribed Retin-A which did absolutely nothing. Now it’s actually not recommended for acne. I switched to Oxy acne pads. I didn’t use these as often but they weren’t effective anyway. So my mom took me to my primary physician who put me on Minocycline which is an antibiotic. This really worked for my skin but I didn’t like being on an antibiotic just for acne - plus I am allergic to some antibiotics and didn’t want to be further limited by developing an allergy to this one as well.

So I stopped taking it. It gets a bit fuzzy since this was so long ago but at some point I started ProActiv. My doctor also recommended buying white face towels and using one for every wash. So I would go through two towels a day - one for each wash. This was to prevent the bacteria that accumulates on the towels from getting on my skin. I had to bleach the towels every week when I washed them - looking back this was probably a bad idea. The bleach probably didn’t wash out completely and was still on the towels.

I graduated High School with pretty clear skin and three months later (right before college) my skin exploded. Seriously. All across my cheeks, I had acne plus pigmentation. It was hard to tell what was a break out and what was post acne marks. I wasn’t too worried about the pigmentation at the time - I could go out into the sun and get tan, the post inflammation marks would go away. Seriously you guys. I got so dark you couldn’t see the pigmentation at all. The sun was probably damaging the collagen in my skin because I was definitely not wearing sunscreen.

I struggled with my acne all through college. I stopped using ProActiv, it didn’t do jack. I will say that the back acne wash was fantastic and really helped my back. I started birth control to help with my acne - which I found out later my acne is not hormonal related. So no surprise my acne didn’t get better.

(What I was using in college without the cleanser - Clean & Clear Essentials Foaming Facial Cleanser)

At some point during college, I started getting cystic acne. Which is so painful. My acne gets acne. Seriously guys, it looks like well a cyst. I’ll get two or more cystic pimples right next to each other and it’ll look like one big cyst.

I started researching acne and found a site - acne.org which is where I learned about benzoyl peroxide and the method for washing your face. I learned not to rub my face with my towels. I switched to a benzoyl peroxide cream, salicylic acne wash, and cetaphil moisturizer. They suggested not wearing makeup - at the time I was only wearing cover up so I stopped wearing that. I used this for about two years along with my bleached towels.

(Me at the Vatican in 2013)

I graduated college not much better off than I was when I started. I traveled Italy for 2 months, moved to Texas and lived with a vegan family. During this time my acne seriously improved. I only had a few pimples and small pigmentation - it was fading faster. (I found out later that cheek acne may be related to digestion issues. The vegan diet most likely helped) It was also around this time I started taking probiotics and biotin. I started probiotics for other reasons not related to my acne and I started biotin for my skin.

Then around the time I was turning 25, I broke out all along my chin. Not sure what was going on, I looked into a juice cleanse. I tried one and ended up back where I started - terrible acne across my cheeks. (here we go again, digestion issues) I also stopped the biotin and the probiotics around this time. I felt that they weren’t helping me. I quite dairy as well since i read that breakouts along the chin can be linked to allergies, dairy being one of these allergies. My friend recommended tea tree oil and i tried it by itself (spot treatment) as well as mixing it with my moisturizer. I felt this wasn’t helping either.

(My Korean skincare stash - I actually have a bit more than just this)

This is when a friend introduced me to Korean skincare and it has been a love affair ever since.

I dropped my cetaphil moisturizer in favor of gel moisturizers for my oily skin, dropped the benzoyl peroxide in favor of tea tree essences designed to not dry out my skin, and facial cleansers with low pH. I am still struggling with my acne but I have learned a valuable lesson that I hope to share with you all. I was punishing my skin. I have since learned how to treat my skin well. I baby it and treat it softly.

Korean skincare has opened my eyes to all different possibilities. Before I was limited to topical treatments like salicylic acne and benzoyl peroxide, and internal medications. Now I see licorice extract, vitamin c, tea tree, and niacinamide and internally I am paying more attention to what I am eating. I am still learning, new products are released every day, and I am still on my journey to acne free skin.

(Sheet mask junkie)

I am still dealing with breakouts - currently on my jaw (probably due to hormones. I just switched BC) and pigmentation on my cheeks, which is finally fading!

I am hoping to help some of you learn how to love your skin. I look forward to meeting you

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Thank you!
Allison