To start, I want to give a little background on my skincare journey.
All through middle school and most of high school, I had completely clear skin. I'm talking not even one blemish. I watched my friends and peers go through having acne, but it was never a problem of mine.
I played sports, I did not have a set skincare routine, and it's not like diet was one of my high priorities either. How in the world did I have clear skin? It's a mystery to me too.
Then, senior year came. I'm not sure if it was the stress of applying to colleges/deciding where to go to college or what, but I suddenly began having acne. It was weird because the breakouts were only on my forehead.
Since then, I have continued to deal with forehead acne. I don't get acne anywhere else on my face; it's always just my forehead. My freshman year of college, it really started to hurt my self confidence. When I looked in the mirror, all I saw was my breakouts. Honestly, my breakouts have never been too bad though. Just a few blemishes at a time, but as I am sure we can all relate to, I think I always notice my own flaws a lot more than others do.
Throughout college, I have tried numerous "solutions" to getting rid of my breakouts. I stopped drinking Sprite and Powerade all together; I have only drank water since January 1, 2019, and I drink around 96 fl oz a day. I went on a healthy food kick where I only ate one dessert a week (if you know me, you know how much I love ice cream) as well as stopped eating fried foods except about once a week. I stopped eating dairy for a couple of weeks. I tried numerous skincare products. Sometimes, it would go away for a bit, and then, it just would come right back after a week or so. It was so frustrating.
After watching a lot of skincare YouTube videos, I came to the conclusion that I have combination skin because my "T-Zone" is oily, but the rest of my face is normal.
About a month ago, I started using BioClarity skincare products. BioClarity is vegan, cruelty free, and non-toxic. I haven't heard a lot of people talking about this brand, so I wanted to give my thoughts on my experience so far. (Take this with a grain of salt because I know almost nothing about skincare haha).
I bought the Clear Skin routine that includes "Cleanse" (the cleanser, who would've thought), "Treat" (acne treatment gel), and "Restore." Honestly, I am not sure what "Restore" exactly is, but I am currently using it as a moisturizer.
"Cleanse" is the best cleanser I have ever used. It leaves my face feeling just so clean. I know that sounds so simple, but it's the only way I can describe it. Before this, I used Cetaphil. It was okay on my skin. It never broke me out more than it already was, but I also don't think it helped as much as I preferred. I definitely plan on keeping "Cleanse" as my normal cleanser.
"Treat" is an acne treatment gel. I use it only on my forehead since that's my only problem area. I definitely see a difference in my breakouts when I wake up in the morning after putting this on at night before bed. Oat Kernel is one of the main ingredients of this product which I find to be really interesting.
"Restore" is the unknown green stuff I am using as a moisturizer. I know a lot of people go in afterwards with a "real" moisturizer, but my skin specifically would break out so bad if I did that. I struggled finding a moisturizer that really worked for me because they would make my forehead so oily but then be fine for the rest of my face. It felt so counterproductive putting moisturizer on because it made my problem areas even more oily and in turn break me out more. I have not had this problem with "Restore" at all. Also, to preface, it does not turn your face green; when you rub it in, it disappears into the skin. BioClarity also has an actual moisturizer called "Hydrate." I have never tried it, so I don't have an opinion. I just thought I would mention that if you were looking for a vegan moisturizer that we know is really a moisturizer.
BioClarity recommends that you do this routine every morning and every night, but I only do it at night. This is mainly because I know doing it twice a day would dry my skin out and in turn cause it to create more oil and then eventually breakout. That's just my personal skin type though.
Here are the results.
I still have some blemishes here and there, but it is much better than before and not near as oily throughout the day. I definitely plan on continuing this skincare routine! I know this was a different post than usual, but I wanted to maybe encourage someone going through having acne that they are not alone and let them know that there are fun, plant-based products out there to try!
"Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth." 3 John 1:2 KJV
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