Acne thread

Do you guys like not take showers every day or something?

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It's rare that people who shower regularly get severe, unmanageable acne. By that time, it's too late. I'm not saying this to offend people. It's just something I've observed.

While it may sound hypocritical saying you don't know what you're talking about as much as you think you do, but I do, it's actually not, because (and this will sound pretentious, even though it's the goddamn truth) I do know what the hell I'm talking about, having been obsessed with skin care and acne relief procedures for the past four years. You have no idea how much I've been around the block with all of this, so please, step off.

It's more uncommon than rare that your second quoted post above occurs. But unlike what you said, it's severe, but manageable, and can be treated. It just requires a lot more diligence and product specificity than the average person.

I've literally used products perfectly, twice a day, and even changed my diet to include foods beneficial for acne reduction (basically anything high in Vitamin A and other antioxidants; Accutane is synthetic Vitamin A, so large quantities of foods high in the natural vitamin do help somewhat), including a Vitamin A supplement once a day in addition to multivitamins and aforementioned foods. And yet I've still had bad acne.

The reasons?

1.) Most commonly with people like me, in that aforementioned "uncommon" percentage, we got the unlucky skin genes. A lot of skin health is genetic, so even if you do the right things most of the time you can still have severe acne between the ages of 14-24 thanks to having bad genes. My father had horribly oily skin when he was my age, and broke out a lot too, having to use topical retinols (another source of Vitamin A) to combat his blemish breakouts. I inherited those lovely genes.

Ultimately it's actually genetics and age that have the strongest effects when it comes to skin, beyond proper daily hygiene. Puberty and post-puberty ages of 14-24 are the most screwy hormone level years for any person (though things go crazy for women during menstruation, pregnancies, and menopause), and considering overactive sebaceous glands are really to blame for those of us with severely oily, super blemish prone skin, sky high hormone levels that control sebum production are what drives this whole cycle of blergh that is acne. Genetics, again, plays into this as well with people being predisposed, like myself, to very oily skin and acne. But ultimately between the ages of 20-24 for most people, even those of us I've mentioned, hormone levels start to calm down and lower, and final biological changes in the maturation to adulthood all combine to make skin less oily and less prone to break outs.

2.) The second biggest issue I've had, and honestly the reason I still have acne in the first place, is consistency. People like myself who are in the uncommon percentage who may or may not have bad genes and/or crazy hormone levels NEED to be taking care of their skin twice a day, once when they're getting ready for the day, and once before they go to bed. If they even miss one night here or there I can speak from VERY good experience that it can throw everything off and erase a good deal of progress with new breakouts in the morning.

What's important to understand is that these people shouldn't be criticized for failing to take care of their skin perfectly 730 times a year. It's tough! Who knows what every day and night of every day for the rest of one's life may bring? There are times when people genuinely forget or simply don't take care of their skin like they're supposed to, and it's those times you want to minimize the most of. However, criticizing people for a few every now and then is ludicrous, because I can tell you that people with normal, average skin can miss washing their face even every night (ex. my roommate and several other good friends who only wash their faces once a day), and still have perfect complexions.

tl;dr: IT ALL DEPENDS ON YOUR SKIN. EVERYONE'S SKIN IS DIFFERENT.

Final recommendations for people with bad skin like myself and others in this thread: (1) look into getting facials once a month. Yes, they may sound girly and feminine, but they're actually very good procedures to indulge in (and many men do), as they are performed by professional estheticians who focus on revitalizing your skin and rebalancing it for optimum health; (2) like I said earlier, work on your diet. Though its been proven foods, like the notorious chocolate, do not have a direct effect on your skin, foods do have an effect on your hormone levels, including those that affect your skin. Work on eating healthier, as foods weighed down in junk are more "toxic" (using the term very loosely for effect later on in this sentence) for your body than healthier foods, and to help clear the toxins your body alters its biochemistry, including changes that can produce more sebum and other products that are detrimental to your skin; (3) WORK OUT. Sweating and physical exercise opens up your pores and helps your body get rid of wastes and toxins. Just make sure, like Harrison said, that you wash your face and body right after you're done so you don't have the sweat and grime sit and clog your pores instead.

Hope that helps!