Our Tips for Clearer Skin
There's no cure for acne. There probably never will be. But let's shed some light on what factors contributed to our clear skin journey over the years:
1. Decreased Stress: a mostly uncontrollable factor, but an important one. It wasn't until we graduated from college and stopped constantly worrying about deadlines, studying, exams, and the fright of adulthood that our skin finally took the extra step to improve. Cortisol levels play the major role in this factor, and if stress decreases, so does cortisol, which leads to a decreased inflammatory response, thus, less acne.
2. A Minimized Routine: figuring out how to optimize our routines and condense them into a purposeful 1-3 steps after cleansing made an impressive difference in our skin. Think of layering on tons of actives as physical stress on the skin.
3. Aging: it's true! Oily skin in your teenage years turns to a normalized or drier skin type in adulthood, which ultimately leads to less congested skin. That isn't to say that you won't get acne as adult, but the oil content in your skin probably isn't playing the biggest role in this issue. Also, with aging comes the emergence out of the tumultuous time of puberty, when our hormones are all out of whack (including, again: cortisol).
4. Now let's talk ingredients. The single most effective product for our acne is prescription skincare (see our post on the Apostrophe experience for details). Other incredibly helpful ingredients include benzoyl peroxide, azelaic acid, salicylic acid, and OTC retinoids. These ingredients don’t all play nicely, so be sure to read through our posts here and on Instagram that detail how to utilize them to your full advantage.
5. And lastly, the one big thing we've done to help clear our skin is take care of our skin barriers. Pro-healing blends that feature ceramides, phospholipids, and cholesterol implementation have given our skin the strength to withstand acid peels and other treatments targeted for acne.
The important thing to remember is that there's no one product or routine that will cure your acne. It's different for everyone. It's natural. Some may argue that it's even healthy. But it's common. It's a part of growing up. But it will eventually pass.