As this month comes to an end, so does this year and this challenge. To say I finished triumphantly would be a lie. This past week I have been depressed about a number of things, mainly this blessed holiday season. With that depression and added stress, I have broken out horrendously and I have been picking a lot. I couldn’t help myself as Saturday morning arrived and I realized that I was having my first Christmas away from my parents and my plans for it were to go out drinking with friends. I ended up doing a thirty minute spree of popping everything and anything leaving my skin blotchy, bleeding and incredibly tender. I did make the best of that night, and on Sunday spent time with other ex-patriots commiserating about how much we wish were home and how much it sucked that we would be working on Monday. Also, in South Korea Christmas is considered as a couple’s holiday, so trying to find a restaurant to go to is incredibly difficult. It makes you feel extra alone and missing the ones you do love.

I would say in some ways this challenge could be deemed as successful. I know what triggers a lot of my breakouts: touching my face constantly, my stressors and a lack of care. By taking care of my skin though, even this breakout from stress is not as bad as it would have been a month ago. Knowing what triggers my picking leads me to the truth that I have to face my issues rather than scaring my face for it. If it comes to sitting on my hands in order to stop myself from picking at my skin, I guess it is what I need to do to stop it. I truly am seeing how effective my skin care line is and am glad that I am spending the money on it.

Even as I am writing this, I am still picking due to New Year’s Eve and wishing again I could be home with friends and family for it. Really, I’m thinking of buying some gloves to wear when I’m at my apartment so I can’t pick my skin all the time.

I am so thankful for all the suggestions every one has given me as well as the support. I hope some of you had better luck than myself with not picking at your skin for a month and that you are finding better skin care regimens to follow. I feel better knowing others have the same problems with their skin as I do, and I wish you all so much happiness and wellness in the next year.  Always read the ingredients on the products you use on your face! Too many chemicals can cause a lot of harm in your later years even if it treats your acne.

The face in the mirror may not always be perfect and clear, but I know that my face is truly beautiful even with my zits and face blemish. I know my friends and family love me no matter what. How I look sometimes means nothing to who I really am as a person, and if some one were to judge me based on my facial blemish or a zit they are not worth my time.

Thank you for all your support and Happy New Year!

Good old Aunt Flow has come to town, so I have a wonderful display of acne. This acne however is not on my face, I had some small break outs but nothing like the usual  volcano-like zits and white heads. I have had an increasing number of breakouts on my back, legs and chest these past few days, which is something I am not unfamiliar with, but is just as uncomfortable. Because really, who wants to have a zit on their boob? Or a bunch of black heads on their butt? Or a white head sticking out and rubbing against their bra strap all day? Really, this is just getting ridiculous and not being able to pop these suckers, ones no one will see of course, it shouldn’t matter? No, I with held and didn’t pop one, except accidentally the zit that was rubbed open by my bra strap, but that doesn’t count.

This week has gone a bit more smoothly and not nearly as bumpy as I expected it to have been. I worked very hard at not touching my skin and trying to get more sleep in then I was previously. I did though start reading The Hunger Games and that kept me up late for the past couple nights until I finished all of them. Even with lack of sleep I feel that my skin is becoming softer and smoother. Even though I do have a number of black heads around my hair line due to working out and having a head band, the number of zits is not as much as I would usually experience during my period.  I am hoping that not popping and not touching my face helped out a lot with keeping my break outs down to a minimum.

I wanted to let you all know this week about the products I use on my skin. I mentioned in week one that a two month supply is around $150 including the shipping it will cost to have it sent to me from the states. I use REN ClearCalm 3 system for my acne which is 100% all natural ingredients. It uses clay to essentially bring out all the bacteria that resides in the skin and is incredibly calming for my skin. It has helped with my redness too, which is great. What I use as a night time moisturize and in combination with the day time part the REN is Ole Henriksen Nurture Me, which is so incredibly soothing as well as delicious smelling! This is what I have been using regularly for the past six months and I am really loving the products as well as the results I’m getting by using them every day. I have yet to miss a day of using any of these products which is a first for me. These products are all incredibly pricy and it isn’t something to scoff at considering that all over the counter products I have tried have left me with incredibly irritated skin and swollen eyes.

After using these products for the past six months I do feel better about my skin. I started trying new products at the new year and testing new products every three weeks. I went to three different Sephora’s in New Hampshire getting different samples so the sales girls wouldn’t recognize me. It was a little nerve wracking because I went in with the same demands each time, all natural products, reduces redness, fights acne and will help reduce irritation for my skin blemish. The larger the Sephora the more products they had and the variety in that department was greater. I had one sales woman tell me the only way I’m going to get rid of my acne is if I tried this one product and also used the four other products that came with it. I asked if it was natural ingredients, and she said that there weren’t any all natural lines that they carried at their store that would fit my needs of fighting acne. It was really frustrating considering that this had been the third store I had gone to and the other two had met my expectations and went over them by suggesting I mix and match different brands and samples in order to see what combination makes me feel the best. I ended up leaving that store with samples of those products that had Benzoyl Peroxide in it and the next morning after using it my eyes were swollen shut.

Some of the adventures I have taken to finally figure out what works best with my skin has led me to understand how far every one goes for personal appearances. It does matter how you look, otherwise we wouldn’t have millions of different acne products of varying ingredients to fight it. There wouldn’t be medicine that is specifically made for it either. With all of these options we can choose how to treat it, either over the counter, specialty stores, or prescribed creams and prescriptions. I am happy with the choice I made and am willing to shell out the cash for it since it works. My parents noticed an improvement over three months since I was using REN more often and it’s good to know that what I think I see is something others do too.

How is every one else doing on this adventure? What have you been discovering? Also, what products have you guys used?

Something that motivated me to do this challenge was the fear of popping a zit at work and having it bleed as if I had been stabbed. I’m sitting here at work holding a tissue to my face because I absentmindedly popped a zit on my face. What could be more humiliating than that? Having six or seven Korean kids come up and scream “Teacher! You bleeding!”

This first week has been marginally difficult. While not touching my face has not been that hard, not popping any zits has been. Every time I have had the urge to touch my face and I acknowledge that it is happening,  I stop and try to think about what I am feeling. Basically whenever I’m feeling bored, frustrated or down in the dumps, I tend to go crazy with wanting to get rid of the zits as fast as possible. It’s always been that way, throughout middle school, high school and college. I would get in the dumps about something and just start picking away, trying to eradicate the problem by picking away at something I didn’t like about myself.

My friends who have known me the longest have seen the changes my skin has gone through. From the typical pubescent acne to my current “Wow, you have acne and you’re how old?” they have seen the good, the bad and the ugly of it all.  I asked some of them this last week if they noticed my skin when they first met me and I’ve heard a mixture of “Oh, I hardly notice any more.” Um, I didn’t ask if you notice now and you haven’t seen me in four months. My friends all seem to have clear, smooth complexions and the only advice they would give me about my skin is just to not pop the zits.  Well, no sh*t. But when you turn and look at yourself in the mirror and there are zits and black heads spanning most of your face, you just want them gone by any means necessary. Popping has been, for me, the most effective and immediate way to get rid of it.  It also doesn’t hurt that I’ve turned into some sort of stress relief. Getting rid of that puss has turned into a symbolic way of ridding stress in my life, I am physically pushing it out of my body by popping a zit and forgetting by doing so I add more stress and shame to how I look by adding a scab or a new scar or pit.

After a week of trying to not pop any zits, touching my face, and washing my face every morning and night, I think there is a small difference. I haven’t had as many new breakouts in the past week. But it is incredibly hard to resist the urge to pop or prod some of these black heads that have sprung up around my neck and jaw line these past couple days. I believe I’m getting closer to that wonderful time of the month and my skin is becoming incredibly more sensitive. Add those extra hormones to the extra work outs I’ve been doing and I’m sure I’ll be broken out with fresh zits all next week and I’ll be DYING to get rid of them.

Recognizing my triggers, however, helps me to avoid them. I know when I’m bored that I need to occupy my hands with something. I can’t just sit still and blankly watch some YouTube video or be passive in my classroom. I need to move my hands more often. If I’m stressing out, working out will help relieve that tension in a much more constructive manner. When I’m sad though I don’t really know how I should handle it. Constructively speaking I should keep myself busy and try to not focus on how I feel, but when I’m upset about my skin, it seems completely counterproductive to ignore it. Writing has helped to focus the energy to acknowledge what has upset me, but I need another outlet that isn’t writing or working out. Any advice?

I want to say thank you to every one who has commented and been so supportive. It is so wonderful knowing that I am not alone and others feel the same way. Thank you too for the advice and I want to explain to everyone the reasons why you may notice I don’t mention any use of Accutane or birth control as a way to alleviate my acne problems. I know that Accutane can be incredibly useful and great at solving acne and could help with the slight Rosacea I have but the side effects are too much. When I was 17 I had asked my doctor about it and he said there wasn’t enough evidence for him to suggest I would need it. As well, it is more likely that it would cause more harm to the facial blemish, a large purple blotch from a blood vessel, than it would in helping decrease in size that is on my right side of my face. This is the biggest reason why I will never use it because I fear that this mark will always be on my face and it is the most noticeable characteristic I have. I had some friends in high school who used Accutane and some did have great results but for some it didn’t change their acne much either. I feel that with a lot of my acne problems it is from my own doing, continually touching and popping zits.

With birth control, I have never taken it due to family history of it causing ovarian cysts in almost every female in my family and has hindered some of the women in my family from being able to become pregnant easily after they stopped using the medicine for a year. With all medication there are side effects and with medicine that influences my hormones, I am not comfortable. I hate the feeling of not being in control of my own body and it is plausible as one commenter suggested that my acne is caused by a hormonal imbalance and these medicines could be used to help treat and correct that. I would rather try an old fashion approach of eating right, a normal sleeping schedule, and exercise. Again, thank you so much every one for how wonderful and gracious you are all being with your comments.

Allison is a 2010 graduate who is currently teaching English in South Korea. She likes Reese’s peanut butter cups and a good brown ale — two things she cannot find in South Korea. Oh, and she likes to write.

Clear Skin. Perfectly smooth, no bumps, uneven color or blemishes to been seen. This is one thing I don’t think I’ve had since I was possibly 9. I can remember my first zit when I was 10 and my mother used that little contraption that is meant to pop zits with out having you physically touch them. It hurt like a bitch and didn’t really do anything. The next day, the zit was still there and it was bigger. My mother had told me not to pop the zit with my fingers but the thing was throbbing. I looked in the mirror and there it was, glaring back at me with a giant head of puss on the edge of my nose. At the age of 10 I knew I was being mocked and I swear now I could hear it saying “Nanner, nanner, nanner, you can’t get me!” (Okay, it really wasn’t, but it was my first zit) I tried to use the thing my mom had used before but I couldn’t figure out which side to use so I used my fingers. I gently pushed on either side of the zit and then pop! I felt a sudden sense of relief from the pressure the puss had been exerting on my skin.

Since then, I have been popping my zits for 14 years. If you ask me if I’ve tried a specific skin solution, I’ve done it. Proactiv, done it. Clinque, tried it. The New and more Effective Proactiv, yep and had a reaction of my skin swelling around my eyes. Every skin care brand in Target, yes. I have been to a dermatologist and he told me that chances are likely that nothing will completely clear my skin since bad acne runs in my family. I also have a skin blemish that is a busted blood vessel on my right cheek. Most over the counter products are less likely to work because they have harsh chemicals and my skin’s reaction is to fight back back by causing more breakouts.  The doctor told me that my skin should calm down by the time I graduate college.  That was when I was 17 and I am 24 now. My skin has not gotten better and my skin blemish, which he said shouldn’t get bigger than a dime, has swelled to the size of a quarter. Oh and it grows whenever I get embarrassed, upset, frustrated, excited, happy, or really exhibit any emotion.

It got me thinking when I graduated in 2010 about how much I wish I had clear skin. And how I wished I had clear skin back in high school. Oh, and middle school. OH yeah, also in elementary school. Why can’t I have clear skin? What is it that has prevented me from having clear skin? I’ve tried so many different brands but the one thing I have never put much effort into is not popping them.

I want to give up popping my zits because well, it’s about damn time. I need to stop because it’s something I have never really put that much effort into because I used it as a stress relief.  My parents and I, in the past years, have spent thousands of dollar in trying to get rid of these zits. It’s also stupid for me to counteract the current skin care I’m using which has been the only skin care I’ve had in three years that has effectively made my skin more manageable. It’s also around $150 for two months worth of product. And then add on the fact that I’m currently working in South Korea and the shipping fee I am going to pay to have that product sent over…it just isn’t worth it.

This next month I am going to just altogether stop popping my zits and try to limit the amount of face touching I do as well as keeping my cellphone screen clean. Do you know how much bacteria you transfer via your cellphone screen or touch pad to your face? Do you know what kinds of bacteria you can find on your cellphone? You’d think twice about having that touch your face every day. I am going to make sure that how tired I feel, drunk I am, or late it is never keeps me from washing my face and using my products to keep my skin healthy.

I know some of you may think this challenge is superficial. It isn’t about exploring the new place I live or anything that is going to change some one else’s life. But popping zits for me is like biting your nails for others. It’s a stress relief. And it’s not something I can hide very easily.  So, please be kind. Acne is something I have been teased with since I was in third grade and even once my acne is gone I will still have a permanent facial blemish that I can’t even hide under makeup.  I am going to look into what pushed me to spend five to thirty minutes at a time searching my face and body and popping any and every zit I could find. I’m going to confront those feelings and try to reason with myself that, even though this may not be considered by a lot of people, it is physical mutilation and it is not a healthy way of expressing those emotions that cause the action.

As every person knows when you try and do a massive make over, it’s going to get a whole lot uglier before it gets prettier.

Allison is a 2010 graduate who is currently teaching English in South Korea. She likes Reese’s peanut butter cups and a good brown ale, two things she cannot find in South Korea. Oh, and she likes to write.

I wanted to share this golden nugget of awesome with you: Clinique Even Better Clinical Dark Spot Corrector.  Yes, it’s quite the title, but it’s not overcompensating for anything.  I figured what better way to start off the New Year than to erase the dark spots of your past.

Great metaphor, I know!

This product is absolutely amazing! I’ve been using it for two weeks and my spots are already fading.  You all know I’ve been dealing with acne and scarring for a long time, and if you’re facing the same problems, this product is for you.  While it’s above my normal budget ($49.50 for 1 oz), it’s completely worth it.  If you can look past the price, you should check it out.  Watch the vid for all the dirty details and then snag some online at Sephora or Clinique.

Amazing, right? Gah! I love it so much.

Got something you want me to cover? Post it in the comments below. And don’t forget to check out my other videos right here!

Yeah, I guess I’m a masochist.

Crusty: I know that crusty bread can be a good thing, but that’s usually not what I’m thinking about when I hear this word. Hard as I try (and trust me, I try!), I can’t get “crusty underpants” out of my head.

Panties: Ask me how many times I’ve uncomfortably giggled when the older, voluptuous lady at Victoria’s Secret offered to show me where the ’5 for $25′ panties were. Is it possible for a 20-year-old girl to feel like a dirty, old man at the mere mention of the word??

Facial: A big thanks to the porn industry for ruining one of the most relaxing spa treatments known to mankind. Never again will I be able to comment on “the best facial I’ve ever had” without feeling absolutely disgusting.

Moist: “Mmmm, these muffins are really moist.” Shudder.

Supple: If you are writing a super market romance novel, this word is perfect. “The supple young woman walked over to the counter while every men’s gaze was glued to her.” Anything else is just plain wrong.

Wet: This term not only describes something that is covered with liquid but also what is not dry. Yes, wet can be used to describe a counter top, or a plate. But it is also used to describe other things: “Did you hear that slimy, wet fart?”

Ointment: The word itself sounds like an infection. Which makes me think about all the gross, oozing things that you’d need ointment for. Which makes me want to barf.

Yeast: Even seeing it on a recipe card for some yummy homemade bread just makes me think of…. down there. And no one wants to put some fresh jam on that ish. (Editor’s Note: And if they do, well, double ew.)

Pimply: I don’t know if it’s the combination of the “p” and the “l” or if it’s the mental image of some poor soul whose entire face is covered by those juicy pimples, but yeah – I kind of threw up in my mouth.

Tits: Boobs, breasts, lady lumps….they all sound so much more pleasant than ‘tits.’ It’s just so derogatory and ugly. As are the people who would actually use this term.

Chunky: Think about it – is there anything positive in this world that can be described as ‘chunky’??

What words give you goose pimples? (Ew. Pimples.) Share ‘em below and maybe together we can forge a campaign to rid the world of this nastiness once and for all.

Granted, I’ve always been way ahead of the social learning curve but I think most of us would agree.  Forget leaving your twenties behind, I think those awkward early teen years are the ones I’d sooner like to leave in the dust.  Seriously.  Do you remember…

Having not-so-great fashion sense.
I remember being a freshman in high school and wearing an Abercrombie tee for gym class that said “Nighttime Full-Contact Football” across my boobs in sparkly letters.  And I believe I paired that stellar top with some white running shorts and those Adidas sneakers everyone had.  Except mine were gold.  Now tell me, who let me walk out of the locker room looking like such a horrendous mess?

Bad hair.
Maybe you were the brunette who tried Sun-In and ended up looking like Carrot Top.  Maybe you thought pink highlights were a good statement to make. Maybe you didn’t know what a flat iron was. Or were you like me and experimented briefly (but on multiple occasions) with bangs?  And I’m not talking about the cool side-sweepy ones.

Dating idiot guys because they were cool.
You learned to interpret their various grunts because words just escaped these beautiful creatures.  The epitome of high school dating success was having the hunky captain of a major sports team (aka basically any of the teams except golf club) walk you to class.  It didn’t matter if he was a senior taking freshman English for the fourth time or if his drink of choice was Peppermint Schnapps stolen from his parents’ liquor cabinet.  You were in L.U.V.

Braces.  Acne.  Glasses.
The nerd trifecta.  Chances are you had at least one.  If you suffered through all three, then I’m super proud you made it out alive.  You must have had an excellent psychiatrist.

“Dad, can I get a ride?”
Unless you lived in the deep South where they practically hand you a diver’s license along with your birth certificate, chances are you were bumming rides from the ‘rents 24/7.  What’s cooler than getting picked up from a party in a Volvo station wagon driven by a 45 year-old-man in his pajamas?  Pretty much anything.

What do you miss least about your teen years?

1. First things first; after you splash your face with fresh cold water in the morning and smile at yourself in the mirror (damn girl, you lookin’ fine) make sure to avoid these make-up blunders. I think Snooksters should read this…

2.  Acne is the first thing I notice on my face in the morning. For some scary reason I thought the zitty buggers would stop popping up after I endured a brutal awkward phase and puberty. Hmph, not so much. It’s a mine field on your face sometimes. Come morning, take the natural route in fulfilling your wildest clear skin dreams.

3. And most importantly, remember to love yourself.  As you look in the mirror every morning, take this note to your body (personalized for you) and recite it.  Being comfortable in your skin is the best beauty tip out there.

There is nothing like waking up ready to start a new day, only to behold what appears to be a gargantuan pimple on your face. Believe me, I’ve been there. Suddenly, what could have been a pleasant morning heads directly towards Awfulsville.  Instead of looking forward to running into a crush, the goal becomes to walk very quickly in the opposite direction….with your face buried behind your hair. Granted, I do realize that there are infinitely worse scenarios that can be inflicted upon a person, but at the same time us ladies should not have to face the awfulness of pimples amidst all the other chaos in our lives.

Simply put, the world would be a much better place if pimples did not exist.

So the question is: do these loathsome little suckers form haphazardly or can we control their formation?  It used to be that doctors claimed diet has nothing to do with acne. Well not anymore.  Upon doing some investigation, it turns out the medical research indicates that there is indeed much we can do to prevent zits – actions that don’t involve buying hoards of benzoyl peroxide creams and cover up.  In fact, what we eat largely determines how healthy our skin looks.

Welcome to my one-article class on eating your way to healthy skin. Nom nom.

Pimple prevention 101:

1)   The hormones inside our bodies are what cause pimples to appear on the outside.  In particular, the hormone insulin is to blame for breakouts.  Insulin is most commonly known as the hormone for regulating blood sugar and is associated with diabetes, yet, interestingly, it also produces the oils that appear on our skin. Who would have thought?  Insulin levels fluctuate based on what we eat.

2)   Processed foods made with white flour and sugar lead to blood sugar spikes, causing insulin levels to go into the hateful “pimple-producing zone.” Sugar and processed foods are n-o-t good for our skin.

3)   The peeps at Harvard say milk is not a skin friendly food. The Harvard School of Public Health conducted a study in which the diets of 6,084 teenage girls were analyzed.  Girls who drank two or more servings of milk per day were 20 percent more likely to have acne.  Milk contains bioactive molecules that act on the glands where blackheads are formed. William Danby MD, a dermatologist at Dartmouth, noted in an editorial accompanying the study that 70 to 90 percent of all milk comes from pregnant cows and that the milk contains hormones such as progesterone, testosterone precursors and insulin growth factor releasing hormones, all linked to acne.

4)   The foods you should eat for radiant skin? Green vegetables, fruit, beans, nuts, seeds, avocadoes, starchy vegetables, and whole grains. These foods are loaded with antioxidants, substances that help our skin repair damage.  Plant foods also contain an array of phytochemicals.  In my opinion, phytochemicals are just kick ass. They are super foods for your body, not just your face.  They supercharge the immune system’s defensive capabilities and help prevent many diseases, including heart disease and cancer.  Many thousands of these chemicals are found in brightly colored plant foods.  So in regards to the health of our skin, the more phytochemicals that are present, the faster our skin can repair damage, and remove and detoxify waste products and toxic compounds.

So, in summary, consumption of natural plant foods leads to radiant, pimple free skin and processed foods and dairy are blackhead friendly. I know it might seem hard to give up or eat less candy, white bread or milk if you are used to eating them, but it’s really easy to still enjoy eating while on an anti-pimple or anti-acne diet.  I’m a huge fan of Silk soy milk, for example.  To me, it tastes better than milk.  Resisting ice cream becomes pie in the sky when I know I can have a delicious fruit smoothie instead.  Instead of poppin’ M&M’s, I choose to pop blueberries and cherries.

Great skin and tasty food? Check!

As a college student, I’m always on the lookout for bargains. And as a beauty addict, it can be difficult coughing up $30 for products. So that’s why I get really excited when I find amazing products for even more amazing prices. I often scour drugstores for a hopeful product, and every once in a while I find a great one, like Queen Helene’s Mint Julep Masque ($3.95, Ulta).

This product is fantastic and you can’t beat the price! You get an 8 oz tube for under $5! Check out my Quick & Dirty review for the DL.