6 Tips On Surviving a Breakout

If you are surviving a breakout, let me give you some acne skincare tips and tricks to calming your skin down. I know that when one pesky zit decides to pop its head up, a whole army seems to come along with it, am I right? If you are like me, when a breakout occurs, it’s a struggle to refrain from getting a magnifying light/mirror out and popping them one by one. We know this doesn’t help the swollen red pimple mess, but none-the less, we do it.  My husband usually catches me mid “pick sesh,” and he always seems to give me a friendly little reminder that I do tell people to refrain from picking as I am an esthetician.

So here are a few tips to calming down a current breakout:

1. Don’t Touch: I am preaching to the choir here, the best thing to do when you see a red bump forming on your skin is to leave it alone. DO NOT pick at your zit! Picking can spread bacteria causing more blemishes, leave a scar, or make the blemish last even longer. If you are desperate, see your esthetician for some proper extractions.
2. Zit Skincare: Use Benzoyl Peroxide to kill the acne causing bacteria, and a salicylic to exfoliate inside the follicle, clearing built-up debris. Don’t go overboard with this though, think rice size amounts otherwise you can burn your skin. Check out these skincare essentials for acne prone skin.
3. Hands Off: Pay attention to how often you are touching your skin. Try to make a habit of leaving your hands off of your face. There is no need to add any unnecessary oils to skin that is breaking out. Also, be sure to clean your cell phone as it can acquire lots of acne-causing bacteria.
4. Makeup Free: If you really want to survive a break out, you need to give your skin some space; avoid piling on the makeup to cover up the breakout. Try giving your skin a two-day break to heal and don’t add anything that could potentially cause your breakout to get infected and your zits worse. If you must wear makeup, you can check out these makeup essentials for acne prone skin.
5. Ice it: Just like you would apply ice to anything else that was swollen, use an ice-cube wrapped in a paper towel for one to two minutes twice per day to bring down the severity of the pimple.
6. Pamper Yourself: Depending on how bad your breakout is, going to see an esthetician and getting a chemical peel or an acne focused facial could be the trick to help you survive your breakout. My only caution would be to ask your esthetician to avoid using oils and giving a massage because the last thing you want on your face is extra oil.