I have always had a tenuous relationship with my skin, at best. I am naturally blond and pale, which means that I sunburn easily. I can spend two weeks in Hawaii, and when I get back people ask me if I hid in my hotel room. To my constant chagrin as a teenager I just don’t tan – or at least not enough that someone who can’t see me naked would notice. (When I’m naked, my tan lines show, and there is some visible contrast.) On top of that, I’ve been prone to break-outs since I was about 10 years old. I remember getting my first pimple. I was in grade four. No one else in my class knew what they were. I was such a trailblazer.
I expected that my skin would clear up when I left my teens behind. It didn’t. I used all sorts of products, which promised all sorts of results, and nothing really worked. I visited a dermatologist one time when I was about 20 because I had a mole that I was concerned about, and she prescribed me something for my face. It worked reasonably well, but then I moved and I didn’t refill the prescription. Plus, Jon complained that it made my face smell bad. In retrospect, it was an antibacterial cream and I’m pretty sure that it contained triclosan, so I’m glad I stopped using it.
When I was pregnant with Hannah, my skin was at its hormonal worst. I never would have posted this photo without running it through Photoshop first. In fact, it’s seven years later and even today I don’t really want to post this photo, but I’m doing it. This was me:
More than five years ago I started washing my face with honey. It was the first thing that really helped to clear up my skin. It wasn’t perfect, not by a long shot. But I think its relative gentleness, coupled with its natural antibacterial and exfoliating properties, helped to calm my skin down. This is when I discovered that the answer wasn’t to beat my skin into submission, it was to treat it with respect. Piling chemicals on it only dried it out and irritated it more, exacerbating the break-outs. Honey was my first answer.
This fall I went gluten-free in an extremely round-about and backward manner. One of the things that sold me on giving up wheat was the fact that I saw a noticeable improvement in my skin. Once again, it wasn’t what you would call an instant miracle cure, but just one more thing that seemed to help. It was also a relatively convincing sign that giving up gluten made a difference. I could be imagining that my digestion is better, and the fact that eating wheat now makes me feel pretty bad could all be in my head. But my skin? If believing that I’d found the answer was enough to stop the breakouts, my first bottle of anti-acne face wash would have done the trick back in 1987.
A week and a half ago another piece fell into place, skin-wise. I had a coupon for a free facial, and after evaluating my skin the esthetician decided to apply a hydrating mask. This was exactly the opposite of what I expected, given my skin’s tendency to oiliness. She believed that applying moisturizer could curtail that, since my skin wouldn’t be working overtime to counteract any dryness. After the facial my skin felt really good, and it looked really good, too. I decided that maybe she had a point about the moisturizer, and I decided to take a page from every other hippie mama and try coconut oil. I’m only a week and a bit in, but I’m quite happy with the results. One more pillar in my skin-care regimen, one more step forward for my face.
Is my skin perfect? No. It’s still sensitive, and prone to redness. It can be more than a little blotchy, too, which just comes with the territory when you’re as light-skinned as I am. If I treat it badly, it will show it. But I’m finally making my peace with it, and learning to treat it gently. I’ll never have perfect skin, but I can accept my skin for what it is, and make the most of it, putting my best face forward.
What’s your skin like? How has your relationship with it evolved? And what does your skin-care regimen look like? I’d love to hear!
My skin LOVES to break out! I thought it would stop doing that by 30, but no. What helps me the most is when my diet is super clean (not usually the case – I love cookies!) and proactive. It is definitely chemicals but it works better than anything else I have tired. Have a great day, Amber!
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I think your face looks beautiful! And I keep hearing about more & more benefits of living gluten-free. Definitely something to be said about that….
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PMS is my enemy. I break out now all the time. Hate it.
It’s sensitive and blotchy and terrible. I just wish it would be better. I tried a really stupid diet that was basically salmon for every other meal and it didn’t help a lick. Now I’m getting grey hairs at me temples and I still have zits and I’m mad about it Amber.
I read something written by a woman who was told as a teen that because she had oily skin and acne, she wouldn’t get wrinkles. She was pissed because now she was 40 and getting zits in her wrinkles. I could SO RELATE.
I had the best skin until my mid-30s. People used to comment on it all the time – I just figured I’d have it for LIFE. Then I went through a stage of intense anxiety and stuckness and broke out in the worst acne ever. Deep, painful, scarring zits. And then I got older and older so added on some wrinkles and freckles. Now I cover up my uneven skin tone with foundation. Other than that I use nothing special. Just plain unscented body lotion, sometimes baby oil and even vaseline for my eyelids.
I can relate to the fair skin and wheat/gluten issues. While I’ve never had too much trouble with acne, I found I had rosacea at 25. Few years later realized my dislike for milk, was really lactose intolerance. Then after some accidental food elimination /reintroduction I realized wheat was a problem too. A Naturopath did some testing and showed the same thing. I have not had a celiac test yet, but I don’t eat wheat if I can help it, I *think* I can tolerate gluten from non-wheat sources.
Anyway…I noticed a lot of physical symptoms that are affected by removing wheat (& dairy) from my diet. My cycles were always on the long side, but about a year post pregnancy when I really removed wheat from my diet, I started being a ’28 day girl’. My rosacea cleared up enough that I rarely use the topical treatment for it. I have endometriosis and cramping is very reduced. And you know those red bumps on the backs of biceps that a lot of people get? Gone. All from removing wheat. I remember one night out at a friends house and I indulged in triscuits & cheddar cheese. My ovulation was suddenly delayed by a week & the rosacea flared up on my nose.
I don’t use anything special to wash my face. Water mostly. I can’t stand it if my skin is the least bit dry, so I love moisturiser head to toe. I try to use stuff that is free of parabens etc, so I tried Burts Bees. It actually gave me a rash on my chin! It took months for it to totally clear up since I couldn’t figure out what was causing it. So for now I use something that is pretty gentle but not 100% ‘natural’.
I have sensitive, dry skin. I get terribly dry hands and feet that has me reaching for the hand cream many times a day. I gave up wheat 5 months ago and it has been much improved. I read just the other day about the amazing benefits of apple cider vinegar for skin problems like eczema, but especially acne. I can’t wait to pick up a bottle at my local organic store. Check out the site “earth clinic” for testimonials from users. Have you heard of its benefits?
Interesting! I had awful skin in high school, in fact was on antibiotics for years (can you believe it! for acne!) and then it got better at some point. I have some scarring. And in my ’20s and ’30s I had this irritating rash / hives that I saw a naturopath about and she made me give up wheat and yeast and dairy and garlic and mushrooms but I didn’t see any improvement. That red irritation just on my nose, came and went for years and hasn’t been around for a while. Since my 2nd kid was born? Maybe? I should look back and see.
I used honey for a few weeks last year and found that my skin was breaking out more so I stopped.
I have been curious about the gluten free thing. It makes sense to me that altering the way your digestive system works would change your skin.
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Ah. Fourth grade trailblazer. Me too. I was 10 years old. Other kids didn’t get it. “Do you have a bug bite?” “no.” “what is it then?” OH it was awful. It was the worst as a young teen, then make up helped a little (or so I’d like to think). I tried lots and lots of “cures”. I am also blonde and pale and still as a young adult (I am 23) I am prone to breakouts. When I got pregnant, I stopped using any chemicals on my skin. It went through a period of revolting against the drastic change (or that could have been the first trimester hormones that did it), but afterwards it has never looked better. I still have big pores, and occasional zits, but for the most part, I wash my face with water and a tiny bit of Dr. Bronner’s tea tree soap, and follow up with coconut oil. Sometimes I just apply coconut oil before a shower and then wipe it off with warm water and a rag in the shower. Whatever I am doing, it is working, and I will not be going back to expensive chemical-laden cures. I might try washing with honey soon! That sounds lovely
I cannot tell you how irked I feel that I spent so much money on stuff that didn’t work, when doing nothing at all probably would have been better. I didn’t figure it out until I was 30 – that’s a LOT of money paid out in face washes, creams, etc.
I have good skin, if a little dry, and prone to some dermatitis/eczema flareups. I exfoliate with baking soda or oatmeal (which made my skin a bit dry). But I think I might try the coconut oil – I use it on my hair once every few weeks when it feels dry, so why not on my skin?
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I have oily skin and I don’t have wrinkles (I’m 41) but I still get zits – not a whole lot, but more than most 40-year-olds. The idea of putting honey or coconut oil on my face makes me want to bathe in bleach, but I have an extreme (irrational) aversion to anything greasy or oily (I can’t even buy ‘body butter’ because of the name). I do moisturize and put sunscreen on my face, which I never liked to when I was a teenager. I kind of want to try going gluten-free, but I’m too lazy and disorganized to do it without a more urgent reason.
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