Skin episode: Dealing with horrible breakouts & inflammation

My face isn't flawless. L-R: Progress from May to present day. it takes a lot of patience and work to get to where I am now.

Ah...

I've never once thought I'd be writing this kind of post again. 

About 4 years ago I dealt with my first-ever major acne problems, and was able to go through it with the help from Paula's Choice Clear Acne kits. Since then, my skin had been at a place where I was happy and satisfied with it. FYI, I have an oily-combination acne prone skin, mainly hormonal acnes, and on my best days my skin would be glowing and flawless. A lot of my friends and colleagues are jealous of it, somehow. My skin is never perfect, but it's never problematic as well. Until that one fateful day in 2019. 

I couldn't recall when it first started or how and why. All I remember was that back in May, I started developing acne in many different areas of my face, not just my chin, and all those acnes never really went away or heal completely before another one resurfaced. The acnes were the red swollen one (similar to nodules) with no puss. Panicked, I started to add some acne-specific products (COSRX centella asiatica blemish cream, The Body Shop tea tree oil, and some other 'natural' acne spot treatments) to help speed up the healing process. One month passed, yet nothing significant happened. 

In June, some parts of my face (forehead, nose, and chin) somehow get redder than the other with itchy tiny red bumps. This kind of breakout was not something I had experienced before. After some googling, I somehow decided that I might suffer from fungal acne, and looking at my skin-care products at that time, I noticed many of them weren't fungal acne safe. Many of my skin care products contain oils and fatty acids or fermented ingredients. I decided to stop using them all and got new products that are fungal-acne safe. I'll later show my current skin care routines in this post. 

Does that mark the end of my worst nightmare? Nope. After I streamlined my skincare routine, my skin calmed down and no new breakouts seemed to appear. Thus, in early July I decided to treat my hyper pigmentation with my trusty old friend, Tamanu oil. This turned out to be the worst decision ever. The next morning I woke up with terrible allergic reaction: my skin was raging red on areas where I applied the oil, and it was utterly itchy and I felt my face was burning. Now that's what I call a great setback. Just when I believed my skin had gotten better, it got so much worse. This was, my friend, the lowest point my face has ever been at. And I was devastated and disappointed at myself. For days I blamed my decision putting that freaking tamanu oil on my face. I got back to the start. 

the culprit behind my contact dermatitis. this isn't my usual tamanu oil. In the past, I only used tamanu oil from treeannsea. This one is from Life-flo. on the packaging, its best before is 08/19, so maybe the product inside is already spoilt, and that's maybe why my skin reacted to it. or perhaps my skin decided it now hates tamanu. whatever it is, this oil is going down the drain. :(

Fast forward to present day, I can say my skin has recovered from its allergic reaction (that might have been a case of contact dermatitis), and is now well into full recovery. I still get blemishes here and there but they aren't severe and normally can calm down on their own in a few days. 

Now, on to the products I've been using these past few months that I believe have greatly helped reduce my suffering!

There's no difference between my AM & PM routine this time, cause I believe less is more when it comes to dealing with troubled skin. I basically started with face cleanser, hydrating toner, ampoule, and end it with a soothing moisturizer. Plus sunscreen in the morning, of course. 

All of the brands featured here are cruelty free (CF), and some products are vegan (V).

1. Toner 

Nusantics Chamomile Power Spray Essence & Tea Tree Power Spray Essence (CF,V)

Nusantics is a local Indonesian brand that focuses on clean beauty. They don't use harmful ingredients and only add what's necessary to their products. Their PSEs, for instance, use only 1 ingredient, with no additional water or preservatives. They believe that by only using their toner/essence, people can already get results. For a week I focused on using the PSE alone, but they weren't enough. Still, the tea tree PSE did help calm my irritation, while the chamomile acts well as the first hydrator. 

Ingredients:

Chamomile PSE: Matricaria chamomilla distilled water essence

Tea Tree PSE: Melaleuca alternifolia distilled water essence

Where to buy: 

Nusantics website (products information & links to various e-commerce websites to purchase their products)

2. Ampoule 

Skin1004 Madagascar Centella Asiatica 100 Ampoule (CF, V)

A steady best-seller from Skin 1004, this ampoule also is made with a single ingredient, centella asiatica. So far, it's the highest concentration of Cica that's available on the market. They claim to use only 100% cica extract and nothing else. In Indonesia, this particular ampoule is hyped up by many beauty influencers, and at first I didn't even pay attention at it. But after trying it myself for more than a month, I can attest to its efficacy. It is clearly the single product that helps repair my skin, making its texture smooth and reducing inflammation. I'm so glad I've decided to give it a go. 

Ingredients: 100% centella asiatica extract

Where to buy:

Official resellers in Indonesia

3. Moisturizer

Benton Aloe Propolis Soothing Gel (CF)

If it weren't for my breakout, I'd have avoided products containing animal-derived ingredients like honey or dairy, but this time I made a compromise since I can't find other moisturizers with similar soothing properties that are available in my country. 

Like its name, the product is light and has a gel texture. It has an instant cooling effect upon application, and is not sticky what so ever. When I struggled from contact dermatitis, the product tingled on my skin, but it didn't worsen my condition. And now it has become a staple in my routine. I know my skin still needs moisture, and I can't add another heavy layer of moisture just yet, so this soothing gel is my life savior in times of turbulence. 

Ingredients:

Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Water, Butylene Glycol, Aqua (Water), Pentylene Glycol, 1,2-Hexanediol, Glycerin, Propolis Extract, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Extract, Betaine, Cucumis Sativus (Cucumber) Fruit Extract, Portulaca Oleracea Extract, Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract, Allantoin, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice Powder, Zanthoxylum Piperitum Fruit Extract, Pulsatilla Koreana Extract, Usnea Barbata (Lichen) Extract, Acrylates/C10-30 Alkyl Acrylate Crosspolymer, Arginine

Aside from those 3 products, I use a topical treatment, The Body Shop Tea Tree Oil (CF). Last month I also started adding a skin supplement from Halo Beauty called Halo Kiwi (CF & V), and I'm on my second bottle. I first purchased the Halo Kiwi because I thought it'd help calm my acne & breakout, but I can't say whether it's truly effective cause last month my skin went from better to worse in a matter of days. I know supplements work differently on different people, so I wanna keep consuming it for at least three months before giving it a final verdict. What I can say is that my skin does feel smoother and now that my worst episode has come to pass, every new blemish somehow heals faster. So perhaps the supplement does work on me. 

Sometimes people ask me, "how do you deal with sudden break outs?" For me, stress management is important. During my worst time, I was so frustrated with my face and felt like a loser. However, ever since I started loosening up a bit and trusted my skin a bit more, I felt better mentally and calmed down. Furthermore, I learned not to rush and introduce new products randomly. Instead, sticking with what definitely works can make a whole lot of difference. In my case, once I stopped applying layers and layers of different moisturizers with calming/soothing properties, my skin started repairing its own skin barrier and showed marked improvements. 

I'm still dealing with acne and acne scars, but I don't mind. Now I know I can keep it at bay, and I'm more confident going out without a heavy layer of concealer. Your skin is a living organ and it can't always be perfect. At least that's what I keep telling myself. It's okay. I trust my own body. It's okay. 

Okay, the final part of this post will show my progress through pictures. I blurred my eyes cause damn I look ugly. lol. anyway, all of the pictures are not retouched. Some were taken under natural lights, and others used camera flash.

First months (may-june-july)

May was the first month I started developing stubborn acne. It gradually got better in the next two months and the picture below shows my face in July (not May like the caption) when I thought I finally managed to keep my breakout at bay. You can still see many acnes and a lot of acne scars especially around my chin and left cheek.

taken on July 7th, 2019

Early July 

This is the month I developed contact dermatitis due to the tamanu oil from life-flo. The pictures showed my face on the first and second day (which were the worst because my face was itchy all day and all the time). The first day photo was taken on July 9th. Can you see how much worse it was from the previous 2 days? Both ends of my lips were cracking and dry like sahara desert. I woke up like this, people. -_- 

Mid-end July

After the first week, my skin got better since I applied topical cream for allergic reaction (Mometasone Furoate 1mg) and continued using the 3 products mentioned before and nothing else. The topical cream greatly reduced the redness but left my skin dry, so I stopped using it after two days. On the fourth day, the redness subsided, but my skin was still flaky, slightly red, and itchy. after two weeks, the redness has mostly disappeared, and it leaves me with some acne scarring.

Present day

Taken on July 27, these pictures show the current condition of my face. All the redness and flakiness from the allergic reaction are gone. Now I'm dealing with post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation (PIH) and occasional zits. Nothing major. and I'm super thankful for that. My skin may never goes back to how it used to be before this episode, but I have slowly accepted that fact. Life must go on!

If you're currently dealing with acne, light or severe, I hope you know that you're not alone. Treat your skin with respect, and don't expect instant result. Acne is just another phase in your life. Don't let it get to you! and as always, get some professional help if nothing seems to work for you. Good luck and stay sane!