Azelaic Acid and Tretinoin Cream: OK to Use Together?

February 5, 2023February 5, 2023 girlnextdoorLeave a comment

You must have heard these two skincare actives: azelaic acid and tretinoin. But do you understand what these two activities are about? And what are their benefits for the skin? Some actives can be too harsh on the skin used alone, let alone used together in the same routine.Therefore, what can possibly happen to your skin if you use it together in your skincare routine? In my previous post, I talked about my experience with tretinoin and how it helped with my acne. Let’s learn more about azelaic acid and tretinoin cream, and the use in skincare.

What is Azelaic Acid and Tretinoin?

Azelaic acid is a naturally occurring chemical in the skin. According to research papers, Malassezia furfur, a type of fungus normally found on human skin, produces azelaic acid. Azelaic acid has an anti-inflammatory effect and it also is effective against acne by stopping the growth of acne-causing bacteria (P.acne). Other than being anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial, an added bonus is its effect on pigmentation. It helps to reduce hyperpigmentation and therefore can be used to treat melasma as well as to even out skin tone for acne prone skin. Azelaic acid is also exfoliating, it promotes faster skin cell turnover.

Tretinoin is another skincare active that is popular as acne treatment as well as anti-aging solution. It is basically Vitamin A that you can apply topically on the skin. Tretinoin promotes cell turnover, helps to unclog pores hence prevent acne, and also boosts collagen production.

Mixing Azelaic Acid with Tretinoin

Seeing those benefits laid out above, you might think that it’s a good idea to mix azelaic acid and tretinoin together. Both azelaic acid and tretinoin help with acne in different ways. So you will think using both will enhance the benefits for acne even more, right?

You might be right. However, you should do this with precaution. Both azelaic acid and tretinoin cream will increase the cell turnover of the skin. Therefore, a side effect of using both together in the same routine might be dryness, flakey skin or irritated skin. Simply put, both azelaic acid and tretinoin cream when used together can cause over exfoliation that leads to skin irritation. However, for skin that is already well accustomed to these actives, you may not face this irritation anymore. But please be careful when you start incorporating these actives in your routine, start slowly.

How to Use Azelaic Acid and Tretinoin Cream in Skincare Routine?

I am currently trying to use both actives in my skincare routine and let me tell you what works for me. Rather than using azelaic acid and tretinoin cream in the same routine (for e.g. night routine), I split the use of each in the morning and at night.

In the morning, I use my hydrating toner, then Vitamin C serum before putting on Azelaic Acid. After that I put on moisturizer and lastly, sunscreen. It is important to always put sunscreen (and ample amount of them) on your skin if you use exfoliants in your skincare routine. In my case, I use azelaic acid and tretinoin cream in my routine, so sunscreen SPF 50 is imperative.

At night, I use the same hydrating toner, hydrating serum, followed by thicker night time moisturizer. And then I carefully slug under eye areas, creases near the nose and corners of my mouth using Vaseline. Then I put my tretinoin cream on my skin.

Should You Use Azelaic Acid and Tretinoin Cream Together?

In summary, azelaic acid and tretinoin can be used together in your skincare routine. If your skin is not too sensitive and can handle it, you can layer the two in the same routine. However, if you are worried of over exfoliation or overly dry skin, you can use azelaic acid in the morning routine and tretinoin at night. The result that I have from using both actives has been incredible. My skin is so soft and supple, and you can really see the glow. And people actually commented that my skin looks very nice and healthy.

Tretinoin Before and After: Own Experience

January 2, 2023January 2, 2023 girlnextdoorLeave a comment

There are so many questions from everyone about tretinoin and the benefits it has on the skin. People widely associate tretinoin as vitamin A for the skin. There are so many names for this chemical, you might also have heard the name Retin-A. They are basically the same thing. Actually, Retin-A is a brand of a tretinoin that somehow got associated with the chemical substance itself. However, now you know that when someone refers to Retin-A, they are actually referring to tretinoin.

Tretinoin effect on the skin

Why do people use tretinoin? People use this chemical because of the benefits that it gives to the skin. It helps to increase the rate of cell turnover on the skin, also it can help to improve the overall texture and chemistry of the skin, and regulate the oil glands. Other than these benefits, it can also stimulate the production of collagen, hence it helps with wrinkles. Many people got to know about this chemical substance because of the acne problem. And then they realise after that the benefits from tretinoin is not only clearing their acne, but also helping to keep their skin young.

Personally, I started my journey on tretinoin because of my acne concerns. I wrote a lot about pimples and acne in this blog as well, due to my struggle with them.

Tretinoin ideal candidate

As mentioned earlier, if you have acne and you want to clear your skin, tretinoin is one of the best options out there for your skin. However, some people with more sensitive skin might get irritated by tretinoin. Don’t fret, there is an alternative to tretinoin that is as good as tretinoin but less irritating i.e. adapalene (popular brand for this is Differin).

Another group of people who are interested in tretinoin are those looking for anti-aging skincare products. There are many scientific and clinical proofs that tretinoin does help to reverse ageing or at least preserve your skin’s youthfulness. There are so many people out there who are living proof of tretinoin’s effectiveness as an anti-aging skincare product.

Skin improvements from tretinoin

I started using tretinoin because my dermatologist prescribed me one (I need to thank her!). Back in October 2021, I had maskne around my nose and mouth area. I used tretinoin for 4-5 months but I was not consistent, because my skin was peeling so badly back then. I did see a huge improvement in my skin texture and how clear and soft my skin has become though. However, starting March 2022, I made a point to do it consistently after seeing so many women in their senior years having very good skin thanks to tretinoin.

This is my skin in October 2021. Many spots and clogged pores around the mask area especially. Texture of the skin was also not smooth.

A few months after, my acne became much more under control. I was still struggling with the dryness and flakey skin. But I just focused on moisturising my skin more. You can see that my skin is dry in the photo below and there are some flakey area.

This is my skin in January 2023 (see photo below). I’ve been using tretinoin for more than 1 year at this point. With consistent fortnightly use of tretinoin, now my skin has tolerated it better and it does not flake as badly as before. And starting a few weeks ago, I just started to amp up the frequency of my tretinoin from every other night to every night. And if you see some redness there, I did have mini purging in the past few weeks due to the increased tretinoin frequency.

Am I satisfied with the result from tretinoin?

Yes, I am satisfied with my tretinoin before and after. It was a journey and I did not expect instant results. You need to be patient with tretinoin. The more you are impatient with it and put too much, it will backfire on you.

Tretinoin, based on a lot of scientific studies, can change the chemistry of your skin and I can see how my skin improves so far. The frequency of acne/pimple has reduced so much. I don’t get cystic acne anymore except 1 or 2 in the past year. My skin texture due to acne scar has improved as well. I can get glowing skin when I moisturise my skin well now that my texture has improved. This is something that I couldn’t achieve before. Overall, I feel more confident in my own skin and I only wear SPF (and not foundation) when I go out now. I am excited to see how my skin will further improve from here.

Castor Oil for Acne Scars: Is it Effective?

June 18, 2022June 18, 2022 girlnextdoorLeave a comment

Castor oil is broadly used since the ancient time for beauty due to its moisturizing property. Despite the popularity of castor oil as part of ancient beauty regime, many millennials or gen-Z do not know about castor oil and its benefits for skin health, particularly for acne and acne scars. Previously we have talked about other ways to get rid of acne scars: laser acne scar removal and also how to get rid of acne scars on back. This article will delve into the use of castor oil for acne scars.

Castor oil and acne scars

If castor oil is good for acne scars, how does it help with the scars? You need to learn more about the different properties of castor oil below.

Hydrating and moisturizing the skin

Castor oil is rich in fatty acids. Castor oil contains triglycerides, which is the main component of our skin’s natural oil. Its main fatty acid is hydroxy fatty acid, which gives castor oil its emollient properties. Emollient property is the same as occlusive property. This occlusive property helps to seal the hydration in the skin from escaping. Hence, it helps to maintain the moisture level of the skin. When people talk about castor oil’s moisturizing property, this is the reason why castor oil moisturizes the skin.

Castor oil is also a humectant, which means it attracts water. Therefore it can help to hydrate the skin upon application. The hydrating and moisturizing properties of castor oil helps with skin healing. When there is acne scar after the infection, the many layers of affected skin area need to heal completely so that the scar can improve. This is how castor oil helps with acne scar.

Anti-microbial and anti-virus

The specific name for castor oil’s fatty acid chains is ricinoleic acid, an unsaturated omega-9 that occurs in mature castor oil plants. Ricinoleic acid protects the skin against harmful bacteria and viruses. Therefore, it helps with preventing acne as well. According to research, castor oil is also low in comedogenic score (1 out of 6), which means very low likelihood of clogging the pores. The last thing you want to have when you are trying to heal your acne scar is the occurrence of new acne.

Promotes elastin & collagen production

Other than that, ricinoleic acid in castor oil also stimulates elastin and collagen production. Elastin and collagen production helps with skin healing as well as diminishes signs of aging. Because of this, castor oil helps with the healing of acne and improvement of acne scar. If you are interested in anti-aging topic, we also write about age-defying lifestyle and habits that you can start adopting!

How to use castor oil for acne scars

Given its humectant and moisturizing properties, you should use castor oil on damp skin, after you put your hydrating toner. Similar to other humectants in your skincare (e.g. hyaluronic acid), it will give your skin more benefits when applied on damp skin. Castor oil will lock the hydration and moisture on the skin. Hydrated and moisturized skin can heal faster, so your acne scars can improve faster as well.

Other than that, be mindful not to use castor oil too often if you are in a very dry climate. When you apply products like castor oil that are humectants on the skin, they will draw the moisture from deeper layers of the skin. In dry climate, this will cause your skin to be drier rather than hydrated/moisturized.

Castor oil has a very thick texture. When you apply castor oil on your acne scar, put thin layer and massage the oil on the area. Massaging the area will also help with the blood circulation, which will promote faster healing of the skin. Do not apply too thick of a layer of castor oil, as it will not make your acne scar heal faster. Focus on applying the oil consistently, rather than applying a large quantity of it.

Is castor oil good for acne scars?

Yes, castor oil is good for acne scars. However, always test putting castor oil on a small patch of your skin. This is because every skin is built differently. Despite all the benefits of castor oil for skin, some people might have allergic reaction or react badly to castor oil.

There are different types of acne scars. Castor oil might help a lot with fresh acne scars or acne scars that cause changes in skin texture. However, for flat, hyperpigmented acne scars, castor oil might help to a limited extent. Instead of castor oil, you can try to brighten the hyperpigmentation and even the skin tone using Vitamin C. I have done a review on Vitamin C serum for acne and acne scars which you can read here.

Chemical Peel for Back Acne (and Scars)

June 16, 2022June 18, 2022 girlnextdoorLeave a comment

Back acne can affect your confidence, especially when you want to bare your back. It can be when you are going to the beach and want to wear your bikini, or if you want to attend an event and wear a backless dress. Whatever it is, back acne can happen to anyone and you need to learn how to manage it. We have covered the topic of back facial for back acne and whether that works, so make sure to check it out. Now we will cover the topic of chemical peel for back acne and whether that works!

Chemical peel for back acne

A lot of beauty centers offer chemical peel for back acne. Have you ever felt tempted to try this hoping that it will stop your back acne from occurring? How does chemical peel for back acne work?

Chemical peel for any kind of acne is normally using the typical acids that are good for skin. It can be lactic acid (AHA) or salicylic acid (BHA) in higher concentration than what you find in normal skincare products. Therefore, it needs to be administered by professionals in beauty centers. Moreover, the application is only for a short period of time (several minutes). This is in contrast to the home application of these acids via skincare products that you can leave overnight on your skin.

It does help with acne including back acne as it will remove the dead skin layer and help to surface the younger, newer skin underneath. If you have clogged pores due to dead skin cells which lead to acne on your back, chemical peel can also help to mitigate the issue. The chemical peel will help to reduce the occurrence of blackheads and whiteheads too. Since blackheads and whiteheads can lead to acne, this will improve acne condition.

However, having said that, you will still need to take care of your back acne. Take precautions like wear a breathable fabric and maintain your hygiene well. Please follow all the best practices to keep your back clear from acne, as what we mentioned in our article on Sweat/Back Pimples.

Is it effective to get rid of back acne scars?

Chemical peels cannot get rid of deep acne scars on the skin unfortunately. It will not help with the texture of the skin significantly. However, what chemical peels can do for you is to lighten hyperpigmentation. A lot of people with back acne scars see darkened back acne scars which can take a long time to recover. Chemical peel for back acne scars can help fasten the recovery process of this hyperpigmentation.

What will happen after chemical peel?

As the name of the treatment suggests, the chemical peel treatment will peel the skin. It may not happen immediately after your do the treatment, but this can happen a few days after. What you can see visually is your skin flaking away. When that happens, do not pick your skin. Let it flake at its own pace. You can also refrain from going out when this happens because you might see a lot of skin flakes from your back.

With the newer skin coming to the surface, your skin will be more sensitive to the UV ray as well. Avoid the sun for a while, or apply a generous amount of sunscreen to protect your skin during this time. This is especially so if you are treating your back acne scars using chemical peel as well. The increased photosensitivity due to the chemical peel might increase the hyperpigmentation of your back acne scars if you do not protect your back properly.

Should you do chemical peel for back acne?

Chemical peel can really help your back acne and your back acne scars if you have them. However, there are some precautions you will need to take note of before you embark on the chemical peel journey.

Understand your acne type

If you have back acne where it is only surface level and most likely caused by clogged pores or blackheads/whiteheads that are infected, yes chemical peel for back acne can help. However, there are different types of back acne. One of them is cystic acne on the back, which can be caused by inflammation/infection deep in the body system. I would suggest you to find the root cause of this cystic acne, which can be reaction to a certain food ingredient, hormonal imbalance, to mention a few. Personally, I tamed down my back acne a couple of years ago by taking Zinc supplement. Zinc supplement is very good for the skin when taken in moderate amount. A lot of acne sufferers have lower zinc level in their body compared to people with clear skin. Read up more about Zinc supplement for acne in my other post.

Sun protection post chemical peel is necessary

Also, be mindful of sun protection post chemical peel. If you cannot limit your sun exposure post chemical peel for some reason, perhaps wait until you can protect your skin from the sun before you do this procedure. Chemical peels are not cheap and you would want to get the most benefit out of it. You do not want to get acne-free skin in the expense of getting pigmentation or hyperpigmentation.

Cheaper alternative to chemical peel at home

As mentioned, acids used in chemical peels are mainly lactic acid and salicylic acid in high concentration. If you cannot afford professionally-administered chemical peels, you can start by doing it at home by buying skincare products containing lactic acid or salicylic acid. You can try with lower concentration before working your way up. If you can be consistent in doing it every night, you might get as good result from chemical peels at beauty center, at a fraction of the price. The caveat is, you need to do it consistently and perhaps over a longer period of time.

Infected Pimple on Face & How to Treat

June 15, 2022June 18, 2022 girlnextdoorLeave a comment

It can be annoying enough to have one pimple on your face. Not to mention if the pimple gets infected, becomes red and swollen. Have you ever experienced this? Not only that it is painful, you might not want to look at the mirror, let alone meet people. I have experienced bad infected pimples on temples and forehead before and it was frustrating. If you can relate to this, read more about infected pimple on face and how to treat infected pimple.

Infected pimple on face

How can you get an infected pimple on face? First of all, infected pimples can have many looks and there are many possible reasons for the infection.

Infected pimple can be one single pimple that starts as clogged pores and gets infected. Upon infection, it becomes inflamed and swollen with pus inside it. This can happen when you try to squeeze the clogged pores, but the action irritates the pores or damages the skin around it which then gets infected. Or sometimes this kind of clogged pores just suddenly become inflamed and infected. If your body is prone to inflammation, this can happen.

Or you might be referring to a pimple that gets infected when you try to squeeze it. And shortly after you might see the surrounding clogged pores become infected as well. The infected pimple creates a cluster of red, swollen pimples.

How to treat

Do not try to squeeze the pimple until it shows the yellow head. Once the yellow head shows up, you can squeeze it gently to get the pus and blood out. After that normally I will cover the pimple with an acne patch. Acne patch is my best friend in sucking out the excess liquid/pus that I could not squeeze out. Acne patch will also help to cover the wound, so that you will not touch the wound and infect it again. This way the wound can recover faster.

If you have a cluster of infected pimples, be gentle even if you want to squeeze any of them or all of them. You can choose to cover them as well with an acne patch. Or, you can choose to treat them with antibacterial spot treatment or cream of your choice. Many people benefit from using benzoyl peroxide. Some can use a more natural remedy like tea tree oil. Or if you get antibiotic cream from your dermatologist to apply on infected pimples, you can apply that too.

If you have pimple cream that has a strong active ingredient, be mindful to just use it for spot treatment on the pimple. Do not put it all over your skin. This is because some creams can dry the skin. For me, benzoyl peroxide at any percentage will dry my skin so badly that it will flake the next day. You do not want to irritate your skin further.

How to reduce swelling on face from infected pimple

If your infected pimple is swollen, you can use ice compress to calm down the inflammation and reduce the swelling.

However if the swelling has been happening for sometime and there is liquid build up under the skin, you might want to fasten the healing process by bringing the pimple to its head. You can do it by compressing the infected pimple using warm cloth/towel. Do not press your infected pimple in the process, but gently compress the pimple area. This can help with the blood circulation around the area, which will fasten the healing process.

Healing from infected pimple

The most important thing to remember about dealing with infected pimples is to be gentle with yourself and your skin. You need to be patient when your body is going through an infection. You might feel pain in the area where you have infected pimples. If the infection spreads to many parts of your face or your body, you will need to seek professional help. This might require oral antibiotics from the doctor at the hospital. Simple treatment at home will not help.

Not only that infected pimple feels painful physically, it might also affect your self esteem and confidence level. If this happens to you, this is normal and you are not alone. Just focus on recovering from the infection first, and then you can focus on your looks later on. There are many ways to look good again after you experience infected pimples – be it skincare or even beauty treatments!

Learn more about pimples with Skin-pedia!

Fungal Acne Korean Products Recommendations

June 12, 2022June 13, 2022 girlnextdoorLeave a comment

Fungal acne is a type of acne that often affects us, especially those in humid and hot countries. The characteristic of fungal acne is itchy and appearing as clusters of small red bumps. It often appears as spots on your forehead and chin, and the sides of your face. Other than the face area, it can also appear as spots on your chest, back, neck and arms. Normal acne products often do not work on this type of fungal acne. Having said that, there are a lot of skincare products targeting fungal acne. However, the focus of this post is fungal acne Korean products. Previously we have talked about skincare products like best exfoliators for acne and best Paula’s choice products for acne. Let’s find out what Korean skincare products you can use for your fungal acne.

Fungal acne Korean products in the market

There are many fungal acne Korean products out there. However, how do you know what Korean products are safe for your fungal acne and will not aggravate your fungal acne?

The first general role is, avoid products that contain polysorbate as surfactant. Malessezia (the common fungus causing fungal acne) loves this ingredient and can thrive with this ingredient.

Secondly, do not use oil-based products for a while. If a product contains a bit of oil (not as the main ingredient), it is still okay but please try to avoid this ingredient as much as possible for now.

Thirdly, do not use occlusive ingredients and ditch sheet mask for now. Sheet mask works by occluding your face and feed your skin with beneficial ingredients. However, the process itself creates a moist and warm environment on your skin. And remember, fungal acne happens in the first place because of fungus overgrowth in a moist and warm environment.

Korean products for fungal acne

When we suggest products for fungal acne, ideally the products contain anti-fungal ingredients. Or at least, does not contain ingredients that will promote the fungus to grow further. Let’s take a look at some fungal acne Korean products for your skin below.

Fungal acne face wash

An ideal fungal acne face wash is a face wash that is slightly acidic and hydrating. This is because slightly acidic face wash at around pH 5.5 will protect the skin mantle or skin barrier. This pH is close to the natural skin pH level and therefore will help to maintain a healthy microbiome ecosystem on the skin. Moreover, hydrating face wash will ensure the integrity of your skin barrier by maintaining the moisture/hydration level. Face wash that strips the skin from its natural oil will irritate the skin, and might worsen the inflammation of the fungal acne.

Some recommendations for fungal acne face wash from Korean brands are:

Moisturizer for fungal acne

Generally, products containing these ingredients are good for fungal acne. So if you see moisturizers that have any of these ingredients, they will be safe for fungal acne.

Aloe Vera gel
MCT oil
Xylitol
Lactic Acid, Acetic Acid & Citric Acid
Climbazole
Sandalwood oil (source)
Niacinamide (B3), plus dl-panthenol (B6) and glycerin to improve skin barrier

Also, moisturizers containing mugwort are good to soothe the inflamed skin. Propolis and honey based moisturizers are also safe for fungal acne as these ingredients are antibacterial and antifungal. Moisturizers with snail mucin are also good in calming the skin and help the skin or even acne scar to heal faster.

Some fungal acne Korean moisturizers you can try are:

Sulfur for fungal acne

Sulfur as an ingredient is good for removing fungus from the surface of the skin. It can be sulfur in moisturizer or sulfur in face mask.

For moisturizer with sulfur, you can try Wishtrend Sulfur 3% Clean Gel. And for face mask with sulfur, you can try this Innisfree volcanic clay mask.

Should you use fungal acne Korean skincare products?

Yes, you should, especially if you have tried other non-Korean brands that do not work for you. Korean skincare industry is quite advanced and sophisticated. Their R&D capabilities is excellent and they utilize a lot of amazing ingredients in their products. If you see Koreans, they generally have very beautiful skin as well. You can check out this website Skinsort to filter for products that are safe for fungal acne as well.

Pimple on Tattoo: How to Handle It Properly

June 10, 2022June 10, 2022 girlnextdoorLeave a comment

Imagine just having a tattoo and suddenly there is a new pimple appearing on the skin area. Have you ever had this pimple on your old tattoo, or pimple on new tattoo? How did you handle the pimple? Previously we have discussed about pimple on back, pimples on temples – and now we will discuss pimple on tattoo.

Pimple on tattoo

Pimples are mostly due to clogged pores or hair follicles that become infected. And pimples do not discriminate. They can appear on clear skin, they can appear on tattooed skin. You would want to treat pimple on tattoo with more care, simply because any wrong move might damage the tattoo.

New tattoo on skin means the skin has fresh wound. There is open wound on the skin that can increase the likelihood of infection. Having said that, it does not mean that pimple can only appear on new tattoo. Old tattoo can have pimple too as long as there is clogging on the pores which get infected by bacteria.

What you should/shouldn't do on a pimple on tattoo?

You should not pop or squeeze pimple on tattoo, whether it is new or old tattoo. Generally, tattoo ink resides on a deeper layer of skin compared to the one where pimple often appears. If you put topical cream or ointment and let the pimple dry by itself, the tattoo will not be affected. However, if you squeeze your pimple, the infection might actually spread to a deeper layer of the skin. If the deeper layer of the skin where the tattoo ink resides gets infected or inflamed, this might move around the tattoo ink. Hence, the tattoo pigment might get affected by this infection/inflammation. Similarly, cystic acne that stems from deeper layer of the skin has higher risk of changing the tattoo.

If this happens on a new tattoo, the risk of infection spreading to surrounding area and deeper layer of the skin when not handled properly is even higher. Moreover, fresher tattoo may mean that the ink has not set in place completely. Therefore you need to treat pimple on new or fresher tattoo with even greater care.

You should not pick on the pimple wound either, as doing so might fade some of the tattoo ink.

How to care for your skin with tattoo?

Having pimple is not comfortable, and if you have tattoo, you would not want to have pimple on tattoo either for aesthetic purposes. To prevent issue with your tattoo due to pimple, make sure you maintain good body hygiene and give extra care on the area with tattoo. Wash the area and also exfoliate it so that you can avoid clogging of the skin pores and hair follicles. If you want to check out best exfoliator for acne, read up on a dedicated post on this topic!

Clear Skin Affirmations: Do they really work?

June 7, 2022June 18, 2022 girlnextdoorLeave a comment

You might have heard your friend doing clear skin affirmations. Or perhaps you have seen on Youtube people achieve clear skin through affirmations. Then you might be wondering, is this for real? Or is it a gimmick? And if it works, how can clear skin affirmations manifest in the clear skin physically? Learn more about clear skin affirmations here.

Clear Skin Affirmations

You use clear skin affirmations to set your mind into a certain state. That is, a state where you are positive about your body, your skin, and optimistic that your skin will improve and heal. Consequently, these affirmations change the way you see yourself and the possibility of your future self. For instance, imagine giving yourself affirmation that what you are going through is a part of your body trying to heal and your future self will have clear skin again. This will undoubtedly make you more optimistic, happier, less stressed and more likely to take action to work towards this future self that you have in mind.

Whatever you tell yourself, the brain will pick it up. Your self talk will set the way you see yourself and it will determine your mindset. Another way to see it is clear skin affirmations is related to law of attraction (LOA). You are attracting what you are putting into your mind. If you think clear skin, you will eventually get clear skin.

Manifesting healthy skin through clear skin affirmations

How do you manifest clear, healthy skin through clear skin affirmations? There are many ways. The easiest way is to change the way you talk to yourself, especially when you are looking at your skin.

Changing self-perception

Many acne sufferers have low esteem or low confidence because of acne. The reason is obvious, acne does affect the way we see ourselves. We may not look pretty, presentable or good-looking as other people with clear skin. Moreover, we might end up rejecting ourselves and “hate” ourselves and our skin. This is not the way to go to heal from acne.

Instead of being harsh on ourselves, we should talk to ourselves lovingly. Acknowledge that our body is undergoing something and our skin is informing us on what is happening. Because of this, we can take action, be it checking our hormones with our doctors, changing our diet and our lifestyle into a healthier one, etc., which eventually can clear up our skin.

You can manifest clear skin by saying to yourself loving words like:

My body is healing and my skin is clearing up

I trust my skin’s healing process

I sleep enough so that my skin can heal

My skin is beautiful and I love it

I eat healthy food for my skin

I treat my skin gently and lovingly

Tell your brain about your clear skin goal

The statement you tell yourself (i.e. your self talk) matters a lot and the brain hears it. You tell your brain what you want to achieve and your brain will help you to achieve it. By doing clear skin affirmations, you are also reminding yourself of the goal that you are working towards. If you tell yourself that “my skin is clearing up” or “I trust my skin’s healing process”, you will unconsciously do things to achieve this goal. You will eat and sleep better. And you will treat your skin more gently and lovingly. You might drink more water and do exercise to help your body to detox. There are a lot of things that you put into motion when you set your mind at a clear goal. Read more about lifestyle changes for acne and sugar acne relationship in their dedicated posts.

Adding visualization

How to make clear skin affirmation even more powerful? You can combine clear skin affirmations with visualization. When you do this, you are trying to put law of attraction into work.

By telling yourself through self talk the goals that you want to achieve, you are setting your mind into doing constructive things to achieve the goal. A way to make this work even better is by visualizing the end goal itself. When you focus on what you want, what you focus on expands and you are attracting what you want to come true. When you imagine something very vividly, our brain cannot differentiate it from reality.

Visualize your skin is clear and your acne is gone. You can get help from your phone too. Take a photo of yourself and you can remove your acne. Save the photo. Every morning you can look at the photo and tell yourself that “I have clear skin”. Remind yourself of what is possible for yourself.

Also, this visualization will help to deter you from doing things that are bad for your skin. For example, eating junk food. Whenever you are tempted to eat your McDonalds or drink your soft drinks, look at that photo. And remind yourself what you should eat instead to achieve that goal.

Do clear skin affirmations works?

It does help if you do it correctly. You should understand that it will not be sufficient to just chant the clear skin affirmations to get clear skin. Instead, these affirmations are going to put your mind in a good mental state to help you move towards healing and take the necessary actions to achieve clear skin.

You can watch some useful Youtube videos on clear skin affirmations here:

Probiotics for Acne: How does it work?

June 4, 2022June 19, 2022 girlnextdoorLeave a comment

There has been more research lately on probiotics and the benefits of taking probiotics for acne. This is also related to the research on relationship between gut health and acne. Previously we have covered the topic on Zinc supplement for acne and Pantothenic acid for acne. In this post, we will talk more about probiotics for acne and if you should try taking probiotics to improve your skin conditions.

Skin-gut axis: Gut health and acne

What is happening inside your body is reflected on your skin. Our skin is the largest organ in our body. You cannot achieve clear skin if your internal body system is not healthy or balanced. A lot of medical research has shown that one important thing to balance in the gut is the microbiome.

There are different types of bacteria in the gut, healthy bacteria and bad bacteria. We need healthy bacteria to have a healthy digestion system. Having said that, one way to ensure we have enough of healthy bacteria is by consuming probiotics. If you do not have enough healthy bacteria, this can lead to many issues like inflammation which can show up on our skin as acne.

Why do you need to take probiotics for acne?

Our microbiome in the body can be tipped off balance and this is when problems like acne can start to occur. The microbiome becomes not balanced if there are more bad bacteria than healthy gut bacteria in the system. The healthy gut bacteria can decrease in number due to many reasons. One is stress, another common one is consumption of antibiotics for a prolonged period and the third one is sugar.

My experience taking probiotics for acne

I have taken probiotics for acne before, be it orally or topically. I will explain a bit later what I meant by topically.

Taking probiotics orally

Taking probiotics for acne orally is straightforward. You can do it using supplements or by eating probiotics rich food like kimchi or sauerkraut. I also tried to increase my probiotics intake before by consuming more yakult. From my personal experience, it is easier to incorporate probiotics in your everyday life by eating food rich in probiotics like kimchi. I am a big fan of Korean food, so eating kimchi everyday is not a problem to me at all. If you don’t like kimchi or you can’t find kimchi, you can consider incorporating saurkraut instead. These two fermented vegetables are super rich in probiotics.

If you have acne and would like to test how probiotics for acne works for you, refrain drinking too much Yakult. This is because Yakult is sweet and it contains milk, both of which can worsen your acne. Another option for probiotics that you can take daily is kombucha. A lot of kombucha do not have sugar added so you can safely take them if you have acne.

My experience with taking probiotics for acne orally has been great. It helped to boost my gut health and immunity from within. Moreover, my skin felt more resistant to inflammation, infection or redness. Before, my skin often reacted immediately to some food/beverages that my body did not take very well. However, after taking probiotics, my skin is calmer. Despite whatever negative reaction that my body might have to the new food/beverage, the skin remained clear.

Taking probiotics topically

Another way I used probiotics for acne is topically. I used to have a lot of forehead pimples. And what really helped to calm down and dry the pimples was yoghurt mask. The lactic acid and probiotics in yoghurt worked really well for my forehead pimple.

Choose full fat, sugar free Greek yoghurt. Then, you can just slather it on your forehead and rinse after 15-20 minutes when the yoghurt mask has dried up. My forehead pimples were literally gone because of this yoghurt mask. No other masks worked this well for my forehead pimples.

How to choose probiotics for acne supplements?

According to Dr. Axe, a holistic wellness doctor, there are 5 things you should consider before deciding what probiotics supplements to buy:

Brand Quality: look for reputable brands like GNC, Garden of Life, etc.
High CFU Count: choose supplements with high count of probiotics from 15 billion to 100 billion.
Strain Diversity: choose a probiotic supplement that has 10–30 different strains
Survivability: keep a lookout for strains like bacillus coagulans, saccharomyces boulardii, bacillus subtilis, lactobacillus rhamnosus, and other cultures or formulas that ensure probiotics make it to the gut and are able to colonize
Research: find probiotics supplements that contain bacteria strains that can help with your conditions. Since many factors can cause acne, most strains will be beneficial for acne. This is because they will promote stronger immunity in the body, which is important to fight the acne infection and inflammation

Are there benefits of taking probiotics for acne?

Yes, definitely a lot of research has shown that probiotics and good gut health in general helps with acne condition. This is something called skin-gut axis. If you have problem with your digestion system, it is not uncommon for symptoms to show up on your skin. Both of our skin and digestion system are important in keeping infectious organisms from our body.

However, if you have existing medical condition you might want to check with your doctor about incorporating probiotics into your diet. This is because there might be adverse effects from taking it initially, or it might conflict with your other medication.

Learn more about acne, skincare and skin health with me!

At What Age Does Acne Go Away

June 3, 2022June 19, 2022 girlnextdoorLeave a comment

A lot of you with acne might be wondering ‘at what age does acne go away?’. This might be because you wish that it will just disappear on its own with time. However, I am sorry to break this news – acne does not go away just because we reach a certain age. I myself have been fighting acne for the past 12-13 years since I was 19-20 years old. I used to think acne is for teenagers only and I will not have it in my 20s. Boy I was so wrong. Check out another article about my 12-year battle with acne and my acne before after. In this article, we will try to answer the question ‘at what age does acne go away?’, so read til the end!

Age and acne

Many of you might have acne during the puberty years, that is around 12-17 years of age. During that time, the acne is mostly hormonal. Teenagers might suddenly have more active hormones, which contribute to more active oil glands. It is common for teenagers reaching puberty to suddenly feel that their skin becomes more oily. Without proper hygiene routine or skincare routine, this oily skin can cause acne if not treated well.

However, you might think that after we pass that age, we will not have acne anymore. Wrong! There is something called adult acne. Adult acne can affect people 20 years and above. This might be caused by stress, hormonal imbalance, and a myriad of other factors. Personally I did not have acne during teenage years, but I only started to have it when I was about to hit 20 years old.

Even beyond 20s or 30s, people can still get acne and breakouts. I saw older people in their 40s/50s before who have acne. However, this is normally not as prevalent and we will discuss why later.

Skin changes at different ages

When you see young adults, you can see that their skin is more supple, smoother and bouncier. This is because they have more skin elasticity as well as moisture/hydration. The moisture and hydration is also contributed by the natural oil in the skin.

As we get older, our body metabolism slows down and our skin regenerates more slowly. The oil glands also become less active. At the same time, hormonal changes as we become older might make our skin lose hydration more easily as well. Not only the skin becomes less elastic as we grow older, it becomes drier too. Check out my other post on age defying lifestyle to make sure that your skin does not age as fast!

Having said that, the probability of getting acne is lower as we become older. But it does not mean that it is certain for everyone as there are older people with acne too. This is why answering the question at what age does acne go away is not simple at all.

Does acne really stop once we reach certain age?

If you have oily skin in your teens or 20s, you might observe that you have less oily skin in your 30s. And if your acne is due to improper skincare or hygiene routine, yes you might see your acne disappears as your skin becomes less oily. However, there are many factors that can cause acne that can still persist in your older age. For example, many women have PCOS in their 30s or 40s as well, and they might still have acne due to this hormonal issue even at that age. Therefore, there is no guarantee that acne will stop showing up as we get older.

From my own experience though, my hormonal acne started in my early 20s and I did notice drier skin towards my 30s. Now I am 31 years old, I get acne when I am dehydrated from within or if my skin is dehydrated. For example, after those nights when I drank too much alcohol or if I do not put moisturizer a few nights in a row. I still have one or two acne around my mouth nearing my period. However, I thank God that I no longer have massive breakout like what I had in my 20s. It took me ~12 years to reach where I am today.

So, at what age does acne go away?

So to answer the question at what age does acne go away, there is no answer to that as everyone is built differently. Some only have acne in their teens and not anymore after that. Some like myself have acne in their 20s and carry on to have it in their 30s although milder. Whereas some have acne all the way from teenage years to their 30s or 40s. There is no one size fits all for acne.

Explore other acne and skin health topic with me!