My acne years

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It’s not an easy thing looking in the mirror when you’re a teenage girl. By the time your teen years hit, puberty is in full swing, and the daily battle against acne begins.

First pimple

I got my first pimple when I was ten years old.

Little did I know that single red dot pushing up from my forehead would be joined by an army of cohorts, all trying to get the best spot on my freshly mottled skin.

It was a harsh reality that slowly crept its way into my life, as it has for most every teenager.

acne zits

So began a futile attempt to banish acne from my face that would last well into my late teen years.

Every morning involved a heavy dose of anti-acne medications, a thorough face wash and moisturizing routine, and a breakfast wholesome in foods that supposedly prevented breakouts. Nothing seemed to work; I was at my wit’s end.

I was getting tired of spending what seemed like hundreds of dollars on acne products and seeing no results.

Self esteem issues

If acne does anything well, it’s lowering your self esteem.

How are you supposed to catch the eye of that cute boy at your school if your face looks like a badly baked pizza?

You walk around the school like you’re some sort of leper, turning away from people’s gaze like Dracula hissing at dreaded rays of sunlight.

Those cute fuzzy mirrors you had on your locker door are gone, stuffed under the mound of books that you use to shield your face while in class.

You don’t actually read them, but they make good cover.

Senior year calmed down a little bit.

Happy end with my acne

By that time, I had learned how to properly use makeup to cover up most of my blemishes. Hormones were beginning to settle down, giving me some reprieve from massive breakouts and embarrassing trips to the school nurse.

I even had a couple dates with a guy from my math class who had asked me to prom. I slowly started to gain my self esteem back and realized that my acne didn’t define me. By graduation, my stress levels had lowered, and I noticed my skin starting to clear up a bit. It was time for college.

My college years saw a further decrease in acne levels, as well as an increase in dates as my confidence grew.

Now that I’m 25, my skin is all cleared up. Simply because I stopped trying to fight it, using harsh products with high doses of peroxyl benzoyl. I wish I had read those acne reviews with zenmed or exposed sooner because I did use proactiv skincare in my teens years. These reviews confirmed my hunch about acne. Using very agressive treatments is not always the best way to handle it… It can even backfire….

My advice to teenage girls is to be patient; acne won’t go away overnight, but it does eventually get better with proper acne skincare.

Just remember that it’s a natural part of life. It sucks, but it’s something you have to go through. Your teenage years don’t have to be defined by acne. There’s much more to the best years of your life than that, so do the best you can in the meantime. Your adult self will thank you.

Homemade body wraps to do yourself

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towels for spa wrapHi, if you read my article about microdermabrasion , you know I fell in love with another beauty blog run by 2 awesome people, myawesomebeauty.com. I subscribed to their newsletter and  found out they published a super post about body wraps. I had always heard about them but never really took the time to dig deeper.

well, I did this time and I am thrilled and absolutely want to talk about it.

You know that relaxing spa trips can rejuvenate your body, mind and spirit, but they can also drain your wallet, especially it is already very thin….

It’s hard to relax when you know that a detoxifying mud bath is going to cost you more than your monthly mobile phone bill.

Luckily, there are at-home solutions for treatments that help to reinvigorate you just like at a professional spa. One of the most popular and healthful treatments is using a body wrap. What seems like a self-mummification technique is actually a great way to heal your body while having a relaxing afternoon in your own homemade spa space.

Body wraps are essentially herbal treatments that are applied your skin for a certain purpose, such as detoxifying the skin, healing or slimming the body.

The most common way to do a body wrap is to apply your herbal mixture directly onto your skin and then put wrapping over it, but you can also soak the wrappings in the solution before you apply them. This method saves you time, but it can also be much messier. Either way, the effects will still be the same when using the body wrap.

There are essentially three different types of body wraps: 1) Detox wraps, 2) Healing wraps, and 3) Slimming wraps. Each has their own function, and the types of ingredients for each one vary.

  • Detox wraps are meant to cleanse the body of impurities and toxins, drawing them out with ingredients like seaweed and mud, which absorb those impurities. After using these types of body wraps, users often feel that their skin is smoother and softer. Detox wraps are also very helpful when it comes to treating acne and blemishes on the skin that are caused by bacteria.
  • Healing wraps work really well for when you’re feeling sick or a bit under the weather. Achy backs and sore muscles can really dampen your day, so these wraps come in handy. Healing body wraps can soothe those sore muscles and relieve stress, leaving you feeling better and more rejuvenated. A commonly used ingredient in these types of wraps is lavender, which has a naturally calming effect.
  • Slimming body wraps help to promote weight loss. Slimming body wraps essentially squeeze your body into the shape it should be while also slowly drawing out residual water weight. These effects are temporary, but you’ll definitely notice a slimness and firmness in your shape after using these wraps. When used in conjunction with other weight loss techniques, these body wraps help to speed up the body slimming process.

Body wraps use a few healthy ingredients that are easy to find and easy to use, so instead of going to the spa, you can make your own at home. You can find loads of recipes on the internet for the different kinds of wraps; here’s one recipe for a body wrap for you to try out at home that I got from myawesomebeauty.com ! They have plenty of them.

Ingredients :

1 cup bentonite or green clay
1/4 cup sea salt
2 tbsp. olive oil
2 cups water

Instructions:

  1. Boil the water and add sea salt until it is dissolved.
  2. Add the remaining ingredients and stir. Adjust the water if necessary to form a wet paste.
  3. Rub the mixture over your entire body and cover yourself with thin towels or a clean white sheet. Most salons will recommend that you use bandage wraps, as the compaction helps to squeeze the tissues together for greater results. Lay in the tub for a minimum of 45 minutes to one hour.

My sister tried it with me, it was super fun to do ( a bit messy ) but we love the results. it is like a mini sauna to detox. we bothe felt very “light” and relaxed. My skin was super smooth and clean. it is basically a mask for your body that I will do probably every week.

if you try it, please share your results 😉