My Skin Is Finally Glowing & This Is How I Did It
How I battled my eczema and acne to get the skin of my dreams
[bigletter]Having clear skin wasn’t my normal state for quite some time. For me, my skin is what lets me know if I’m stressed or not. I’m not someone who recognizes when I am severely under pressure, but my skin makes sure I know it. I just don’t feel the stress and the anxiety to the point where I understand how serious the levels are. When I’m going through a very difficult phase I flare up into hives of psoriasis or I’ll have an eczema outbreak. .[/bigletter]
The last time, I had a massive rash on my face was two years ago when I was just starting to get settled in London. I had finished an 8-month severe treatment of Accutane that same summer in order to control the adult acne that had been tormenting me from when I was about 18. After eight months of intense treatment, I finally had clear skin again on my back and face. By the end, my skin was extremely dry and flaky, which is normal for the treatment, but for me, a combination of stress from settling down in London and dry skin ended up in a flare-up on my face. Then it spread around the skin above my upper lip, my nose, and through my cheeks.
Then in September 2018, I got a job at a boutique kickboxing studio in Fitzrovia. By then my eczema outbreak had gotten worse, but in October I tried coconut oil as an alternative and I was able to cure the worst outbreak I had ever had – also the first one I had suffered on my face.
While working for the owner of the kickboxing studio, the pressure was so high and my stress level and depression were so severe that my skin took another major hit. I was going through breakout after breakout after breakout. Besides my hard crying in the bathroom every day, the one thing that was a clear indicator of my emotional state was my skin.
That man, who is the biggest asshole in all of London – but he’s not British, he’s an American piece of sh*t – was so abusive and the environment was so toxic, that it seemed as if I hadn’t ever gone through treatment at all. There was no way that my situation was hormone-related, nor that the Accutane hadn’t worked. It was pure stress. So I had to make a switch. I had to:
a) Focus on looking into new products that could help my skin recover.
b) Eliminate the trigger by leaving that horrible job. Since my acne is emotional, I needed to shift both factors in order to see progress.
c) Remain consistent with my routine forevermore.
In February 2019, I began integrating various products into my skincare routine, one of them being hyaluronic acid. By then, I had no actual routine in place for morning or evening. I just knew I needed to keep it hydrated. I purchased a bottle of the serum made by British Skincare Company, The Ordinary and applied it every morning before leaving the house and every evening before going to sleep. I also purchased aloe gel 99% pure, which I initially got for a tattoo I’m getting removed. Aloe soothes burning sensations, and the laser from the tattoo removal was doing just that, so I looked into the benefits of rubbing pure aloe on the skin and found many, so I decided to use the gel and slap it on my skin at night before bed on a daily basis.
By March 31, I had quit that job and went through depression as I tried to recover from 6 months of a very emotionally and mentally draining experience. Working at that place really crushed my soul, so I had a lot of nourishing to do, but I was committed to seeing myself get better and therefore my appearance and skin clear and healthy. Again, at that point, I knew that skincare products were only helping me heel and impulse the process, but it was all related to my emotions.
As soon as I eliminated the initial problem, which was what was causing me so much stress, I began focusing on the best ways to treat and nourish my skin to get it to go back to what I hoped would be normal – the normal that I had paid so much money for in acne treatments.
Three months went by. By May my skin had stopped producing acne, and I was also more organized with my daily and nightly regimes. Not only did I have a new job and a fresher and clearer mindset but my mood was better and therefore, my skin began to look like this:
You could still see a few spots, but my dermis was healing and overall I looked healthier and felt great. I purchased a few more products for my face such as a moisturizer, a brightening serum and a toner.
Six months later, my skin looked like it did before the cystic acne; before the eczema outbreak; before the acne outbreaks on my face. My skin looked like what I had paid an expensive Accutane treatment for. I was glowing and I was beginning to feel like myself again. That was almost one year ago that I finally got my skin to look and feel the way I dreamed for it to.
The skin is an organ. Not only is it the largest one of the body, but it also serves as a shield from microbes, it helps regulate the body’s temperature and it’s the reason why we have sensations of touch as well as feelings of hot and cold. Its seven layers of ectodermal tissue guard the underlying muscles, bones, ligaments and internal organs.
Ever since I turned 25, I committed to being more giving with my skin and using more products that would nourish it. But last year I learned the value of being consistent, of being mentally and physically well and of using good quality products on the skin, while integrating key components such as serums, and sunblock (I’m guilty of not being religious with it up until the beginning of last year) and eating better in order to keep that organ of my body healthy and to glow from the inside out.
Some of my favorite skincare brands right now:
Repechage
ESPA
Monat
La Roche-Posay
Fresh
Patchology
The Ordinary
Glossier
Within the past year, I have been religious about what I do both in the morning and the evening, and it shows. My skin feels plump, fresh, nourished and well taken care of. Most of all, it reflects my mental and physical well-being – clear and healthy – which is what counts most. It has been quite the journey, but hey…you live, you learn and you upgrade. That goes for jobs, that goes for shitty bosses and that goes for skincare routines.
I adore capturing every highlight of my lifestyle and sharing them in hopes of helping a curious reader with a bit of insight. If you want to see more, visit my skincare highlight and follow my hashtags #CBtalksWellness & #CBtalksSkincare.
From London…
