It's all over your face

O hai. I have a non-relationship question, if you please. I want to know about skin care because I'm decidedly challenged in almost all aspects of womanly body maintenance.

So, about a year ago I stopped taking birth control pills after over a decade of hormone consumption. I'm enjoying this except that it has resulted in some mild acne, especially on my cheeks and temples. I blame this on the fact that I tend to sleep on my side with one half of my face jammed hard into the pillow. I've tried making a point of falling asleep on my back, but I always seem to end up on my side by the time I wake up.

My current beauty regimen involves using an exfoliant "for oily and acne-prone skin" in the shower in the morning followed by some toner applied with cotton balls. Before bed, I wash my face using just warm water and a clean wash cloth, and then I wipe it with some medicated pads. All of this is so far not very effective. Also I have combination skin featuring an oily T-zone and normal-to-dry rest-of-face. My acne's not crazy like it was when I was a teenager, but I'm pretty self-conscious about it, to the point that I avoid putting my hair in a ponytail. This is a terrible shame because I otherwise look really cute with my hair in a ponytail. HALP.


I, too, recently took a break from hormonal contraceptives.

(Sidenote: A lot of doctors tell you there’s no reason for you to do this, and some will say you can use the pill or the patch or what have you to avoid having periods, uh, period, because your body doesn’t need to have a period when it isn’t trying to conceive a child. There’s apparently not much risk in taking these hormones as long as you’re a non-smoker without heart problems and you have your doctor’s approval. O.K.: I’m not a doctor, but I feel that I may benefit from a one or two-month break every now and then. That’s just a personal choice, I don’t necessarily encourage everyone else to do it, and I don’t pretend to be qualified to dispense medical advice.)

I, too, noticed an increase in facial acne, mostly on my forehead. Mine was pretty much explosive though, because besides being off hormones for the first time in a year, it was also around Christmas, meaning I was eating a lot of junk, and also meaning that the weather was super harsh. Terrible.

The fact that your current beauty regimen does not include a moisturizer pretty much shocks me. Not because I’m disgusted by your manliness, but because I’m pretty sure my own face would fall off if I did what you’re doing without regular moisturizing.

Your skin will produce an excess of oil when it’s fooled into thinking it’s too dry, -- rough weather, hormones and excessive cleansing are things that can fool it -- and this will produce stuff like acne and/or greasy hair. Being vigilant about washing the oil off (i.e., washing your face and hair often and avoiding things like moisturizer and conditioner) doesn’t really help that much, because it just provokes the skin into greasing itself some more.

For your acne, you can try washing your face less and washing your hair every second day and using conditioner, because hair and scalp health can be a factor in breakouts (I try to shampoo and condition every third day, myself, and I only heat style twice a week at the most, and you'll find a lot of the high end hairdressers and colourists think this way too), but moisturizer sounds like what you need. It might not work right away, and your spottiness might even worsen for a day or two or three because your skin will need some time to stabilize, deal with the new moisture and ease up on producing its own, but you’d likely notice a difference of the good kind in a week or two.

You can’t just put any old moisturizer on a face, let alone a broken-out one. The store-brand body lotion you find at Wal-Mart or whatever and even the more expensive body lotion you might have from like The Body Shop would likely have a comedogenic (pore-screwing) effect on your face. This is my usual stuff, and I would recommend this version for what you’re telling me about your skin. If you’d rather not spend $30 on this stuff (though I find it lasts me three months), there’s this stuff, for combination skin, which you can get at pretty much any pharmacy for not much money. There is a moisturizer out there for everyone. I'm a pretty big tightwad these days, but I think face cream is something people of all conceivable genders and ages need to invest in.

And, you may not find these helpful, but I just want to express my love for these damn things. They’re little packet facials, $2 at pharmacies everywhere, and after one of them my skin looks about a million times better than normal. They are most definitely not meant for regular use, but when you want your skin to look extra dewy once in a while, why the Hell not?

Someone else wrote in to comment:

so another problem with this girl's skin routine might be her over-exfoliation, especially if she is doing it every day in the shower like she said. That's far too often, and basically her skin is going to be producing even more oil not only because it is dried out, but because it is trying to protect itself after being rubbed raw daily.
I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that she's using St. Ives Apricot Scrub, just because it is quite popular. It's a great product, but not for every day use. I'd recommend some of their regular face washes, if she's looking for something that isn't too harsh.
Another good and economical moisturizer I'd recomend is Garnier's Fresh series - they make a really nice eye make-up remover too :)

Good call, stranger! Over-exfoliation can be a problem, too! I tend to forget about that possibility for others because I am the very rare person who needs to exfoliate nearly every day. Some people find even just using a wash cloth has enough of an exfoliating effect for them. Definitely look into a non-scratchy cleanser. I use this foamy one.

And another adds:

In picking a moisturizer, it's important to look for something that's water based and ph balanced.
Balanced ph is mega important, especially for people who tend to break out a lot.

Yup! Try that, if you like! That info will be on the label.

Other than that, I don’t know if your sleeping position would affect things much. Change/wash your pillowcase once a week if you feel like it, and definitely see if you can sleep in a ponytail, as it could be your hair between your face and the pillow causing things.

Something else to consider: What is your diet like? When you had the hormone crutch keeping your acne in check, you might have been able to get away with more vitamin imbalance. When I’m eating a lot of B12-heavy foods (bacon, eggs, cheese, most good things) and not balancing it out with green veg and antioxidants, I acne up real good, especially on my temples. I don’t think I’d recommend trying to reduce your B12 intake unless acne is not your only problem, because it’s very important for your immune system, but make sure you’re eating your damn broccoli and red, blue and purple fruits and berries (pretty sure RED WINE COUNTS, if you’re into that sort of thing), and drink a lot of water. I don’t really buy into the 12 glasses a day thing, and some experts do say the amount people need will vary. I’ve read more than once that you should drink so often that you never let yourself feel thirsty. So, there you go? Drink that much?

Thanks for being my first non-dating/relationship question asker ever! Glad to suspect your love life is probably O.K.!