My struggle with acne & skincare routine.

Originally written on 7/24/14

Up until march of this year I never truly realized how bad acne could be, sure I've had minor break outs & white heads, but I never got embarrassed by it until I started developing cystic acne. From the research I've done I have found that you have 7 layers of skin. I'm not a professional but from what I understand white/black heads appear on the top surface & cystic acne is rooted deep down in the lower layers. A lot of my friends didn't really understand how different cystic acne was from a typical white head. You cannot 'pop' cystic acne, not only will you probably end up with scarring if you do, but if you do not end up getting all of the stuff out of it the cyst will actually come back with a vengeance meaning it will normally be even deeper & larger. Another downfall that people don't understand is it can be extremely painful. 

It started out with just one tiny cyst and after a few months it was all over my face. I became extremely self conscious & was debating not writing this post but I wanted to help people understand more about cystic acne & what people go through when they have it along with letting others with cystic acne know what I've tried. Next are some pictures of my skin over the past few months, it took a lot to be ok posting them so please be kind. 

This was my right cheek at one of the worst times. 

This is my left cheek, which was by far my biggest problem area. 

This is my left cheek. You can see a lot of the raised cysts are calmed down & I have some scarring. 

I'm not quite sure what caused all this yet but I'm working with different things to try and figure that out. I am also currently on an antibiotic twice a day from my dermatologist. 

Looking back on how I cared for my skin a year ago I'm completely embarrassed & a bit grossed out. Sometimes I would come home after a late night out & sleep in my makeup, lashes & all. I also thought makeup wipes removed everything. I was so wrong about that! 

If I have makeup on I always go in with the Josie Maran argan cleansing oil because going in with your clarisonic right away can stain your brush head. I distribute the oil all over my face & let it sit for a minute, then I wet my hands & massage the oil into my skin further. At this point you can see the oil pulling all the makeup off your skin which is why I prefer the oil over wipes. The oil can also be used on eyes which I do use it on but if I have a stubborn product I go back in with the Make Up For Ever Sens'Eyes which is great if you have sensitive eyes like I do. 

I purchased the clarisonic mia 2 a little over a month ago when my skin was at its worst. I've had the drugstore versions prior to the clarisonic but I decided to splurge during their friends & family sale. I started out on the lower setting, once a day, using the First Aid Beauty Deep Cleanser which has been my favorite cleanser to use with my clarisonic so far. I know a lot of people swear by Philosophy's Purity cleanser but I was never a huge fan of it, with or without the clarisonic. After a month of using the clarisonic on the lower setting I switched to the higher setting and I like that one a lot more. Since I am almost out of the FAB Deep Cleanser & have a ton of other cleansers to power through I switched over to Boscia's Detoxifying Black Cleanser which I also really enjoy. 

After I am done with the clarisonic I sometimes go back in with Sea Breeze astringent if I was wearing makeup, just to make sure I got everything off. 

I let my face dry for a minute & then apply the Sephora acne fighting mattifying moisturizer. Though I don't think it's mattifying like it claims I still like using this to hydrate my skin.