Picture Ready: Complete Regimen to Combating Acne
Acne. That unsightly skin blemish as uncomfortable as it is embarrassing. Worse still, acne seems to have a knack for knowing just when to attack! Got class pictures in the morning, or an important interview? The horror you feel when you wake up to see embarrassing acne in a place you can’t hide can be devastating.
Fortunately, you can fight back. Products like Murad’s suite of clear skin kits are the secret weapon in your war against acne. These products can help clean and clear your skin, giving acne no foothold to ruin your day. Using these products with a complete skin care regimen is the best way to keep acne under control. If you do experience a breakout, they can help you reduce and minimize the effects.
Take a look at our guide to making sure you’re always picture ready and never have to worry about acne ruining that photo op or first date again!
Diet and Acne
Many questions and myths surround the role that diet plays in acne. Some say chocolate causes acne. Some say greasy foods do. Here are a few of the more common ones and the truth about their role in acne breakouts.
Does Milk Cause Acne?
Milk, sadly, can worsen acne, but scientists are still trying to figure out exactly why. Surprisingly, it’s not tied to the amount of fat in the milk, at least in the way you think—skim milk is among the worst!
Does Peanut Butter Cause Acne?
Oily foods cause acne, or so it is said. But truthfully, studies haven’t shown much if any link between oily foods and acne. Peanut butter is no exception. In fact, some of the healthier nutrients in peanut butter can help fight acne!
Do Eggs Cause Acne?
Eggs by themselves don’t cause or worsen acne. Inflammation due to overeating eggs, especially eggs of the non-organic variety full of unnatural things like antibiotics, altered hormones, and so on, can definitely worsen acne.
Does Chocolate Cause Acne?
For some reason, there is a link between chocolate and acne that is sadly no myth. Many scientists feel it’s because of the presence of milk in chocolate, which is why dark chocolates, considered healthier for many reasons than their lighter cousins, are recommended for those who need their chocolate fix without the acne.
Foods to Avoid
Of course, with this information, you want to reduce or at least closely monitor your intake of certain foods. Milk and dairy, in particular, can be bad about acne. While it can be difficult to cut them out of your life entirely, if you need them, try to spring for the organic kinds. It seems that most of the unhealthy effects of dairy are tied to artificial hormones and other things that we put in the cheaper varieties.
You’ll also want to avoid fast food as much as possible. It’s not so much the oily foods that are the problem—Mediterranean diets use a lot of natural oils and are perfectly fine with regards to acne—the fatty grease and the hormones in the meats make fast food bad for the skin.
They’ll also expose your skin to the grease through touch, which clogs pores and hair follicles, causing acne.
Gluten-heavy and wheat products can cause inflammation, as well, which seems to be a leading problem with diets and acne.
To summarize, eat foods that aid in digestion and help fight inflammation and you should have no trouble avoiding acne breakouts based on your diet. Low-quality foods, especially those with hormones or hydrogenated oil, tend to contribute the most to acne problems.
Oily foods aren’t an issue, and in fact, some foods with healthy fats, including using coconut oil, can actually help you manage your acne.
Caring for Your Skin
To avoid acne, you want to keep your skin clean and clear of unhealthy oils. This means washing every day, but you don’t want to use hard soaps that leave a residue, either. Cleansers are great for keeping your complexion clear; Murad offers a variety for all kinds of skin types because not everyone has the same complexion. It’s important to identify your skin type and its issues to get the most out of your cleaning products.
Exfoliating skin cleansers help keep your pores clear of clogs that produce acne. Make sure to liberally apply control mattifiers to your skin to help keep it clear or as a primer for your makeup (making sure that the makeup won’t later cause you more acne!).
Try serums that will help your skin retain that youthful, healthy glow and purify it against excess oils and toxins.
The Retinol Youth Renewal Serum is a good choice, helping to smooth out and keep skin clean and clear. Something like the Murad Advanced Blemish and Wrinkle Reducer serves multiple purposes, minimizing lines and skin stress while also reducing breakouts.
Skin-soothing serums do exactly that, helping to refresh and hydrate your skin, which helps prevent a lot of what causes acne breakouts. The important thing is that you must keep your skin hydrated and clean so that your pores can properly breathe, and oils don’t build up into acne.
High-potency serums can then go even further and enhance your skin’s natural glow so that you will look better than ever while being free of the fear of breakouts.
Create a Regimen
It’s important to stick to a skincare regimen. Incomplete or uneven skincare efforts can leave you breaking out at the worst times, and end up doing little to help. You want to stay on a good routine to make it easier on yourself, as well.
For example, if you are on a daily routine of waking up, washing your face, applying cleansers afterward, and then serums later in the day to protect you throughout the evening and night, you don’t have to wonder if you missed a certain treatment.
A clear regimen combined with a healthy diet will help keep your skin looking good and feeling good long after acne is just an unpleasant memory!
