Women and Acne Breakouts

                I am speaking to all women here, sometimes it just hard being female. More specifically, it is truly horrible when Aunt Flo comes to town.  You are bloated, tired, and just plain icky. One minute we want to cry, and the other we are so irritated that even a fluffy bunny could set us off. Then the cherry on top, acne breakouts start to appear all over the face. We already feel unattractive and then there is another reason to make these feelings even more pronounced. Acne breakouts during your cycle, it’s just another wonderful gift from Mother Nature.

                The reason for the breakouts during that time of the month is the hormone fluctuations that occur. More specifically, these hormones are called androgens and they directly affect the glands that help in creating acne. This is almost exactly what happens for teenagers who have acne breakouts; it is just that due to their constant raging hormones they are more prone to constant acne breakouts. So for a young lady who just started menstruating, you may be the unluckiest off all. Do not fret though; there are many things that you can do to prevent this from happening, but one of the easiest ways is to combat acne breakouts with your daily skin care regime.

                Washing you face a lot or scrubbing too hard can result in overly irritating your skin or stimulating the oils in your skin to reproduce faster helping in clogging your pores more, which in turn, will allow for acne breakoutsto happen more frequently.  Anything that can make your skin dryer than usual, examples are alcohol or certain chemicals involved in skin care, is to be avoided at all costs. It may dry up the oil, but the redness and irritation will not go away. The best acne breakout treatments for the menstruating women of the world are some products that are gentle on the skin and contain a exfoliate of some kind. Try something with natural additives including glycolic acid or tangerine oil. These ingredients aid in the destruction of acne breakout causing bacterium.

                By changing your diet a little bit, lowering your stress, and changing your skin care routines you will be able to help control the acne breakouts when you are on your period. On top of helping with your acne breakouts, changing these factors in your life will make you feel better all around.  The next time your “friend” comes for a visit, you don’t have to fear, you’ll be prepared.