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. Read More »

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. Read More »

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.

So summer’s officially here which means it’s time to pack away those close-toed shoes and always flattering turtlenecks and pull out the short sleeves, the rompers, and the summer sandals. Worried that your toes aren’t trendy enough to go out so exposed? Read up on all the latest nail polish trends that will have everyone throwing compliments at your feet.

And don’t stop there! Get your face summer ready by making sure your eyes are popping and your face is clear. Just keep in mind to keep the summer make-up on the lighter side or you risk ending up looking like Heidi Montag…

I went from cracking jokes about Jessica Simpson’s ProActiv ads to wanting to be in my own acne treatment ad basically overnight. I never had acne problems as a teen. Even buying something as simple as face wash seemed like a foreign concept to me-after all, I had perfect skin. Of course I’d have the occasional tragic zit that would drive me up the wall — but that was as far as my derma-traumas were concerned.

Until I switched my birth control.

Once I switched my birth control my hormones went completely out of whack. A few months ago, after the switch, I started breaking out ALL OF THE TIME. I felt uncomfortable going outside without makeup on. As a singer, I didn’t want to be on stage. As a model on the side, I stopped showing up to interviews. I felt gross and about as far from pretty as a girl can possibly feel without having to be a D list Hollywood drunken starlet.

I wasn’t about to give in to a bleak marriage with acne. My skin’s future needed to be free and happy, not tied down to bullsh*t anxiety.

I finally got to that breaking point where I caved and decided I would try ProActiv-or something like it. Something like it is what I went with when I saw Acne Free at the drug store. It was right there in front of me and for much less than what I hear ProActive goes for (it was $20 for the package). I rationalized with myself for a while before the purchase.

“Elizabeth…you spent $20 at a bar on drinks in an hour. You can chance it for better skin…”

And so I did. Read More »

Call me jaded or skeptical, but I firmly believe that being poor while young is a rite of passage. It is the seed that pushes us to grow in the future.

You know what else is a rite of passage while young? Wanting to be beautiful.

We don’t want to be beautiful in the way we wanted to in middle school. For example, I no longer believe that I will transform into Angelina Jolie one day. However, as you become older and more embracing of your natural features, you also become more interested in how exactly to highlight them and make what you were given work for you.

So lets talk skin. We all want clear and firm skin. Many of us already know that the answer to this is a regular face mask. However, did you know that you can make your own face masks with ingredients straight out of your kitchen?

That’s right. No wasting time at the drug store trying to figure out exactly what sort of classification of screwed up skin you have. And no wasting money on a mask you could make in a matter of minutes from crap you already have. On top of all of that…in my experience…I have found that these homemade masks actually work better than the ones I buy from the store. Go figure.

So here are some ideas for you: Read More »

Anytime you get to dress up in college, it’s a big deal. Everyone is so used to rolling out of bed and going to class in sweats while hungover that we tend to forget that we all actually clean up quite nicely.

This past weekend, I had a formal event and it was the last big hurrah marking the end of our senior year… tear. We’ve been talking about it since february. Every girl wants to look perfect for these kinds of things … because we all know that pics will be up and tagged on facebook within 24 hours. So it’s very important to look your absolute best.

Well, out of nowhere last week, a zit popped up on my roommate’s forehead, right between her eyebrows. Not okay. She started stressing about what to do days before the big event. Another friend told her to use Visine on it the night before our formal. Visine? Yes, the stuff that is for dry, red, itchy eyes. It claims that it “gets the red” out, and apparently this works on pesky pimples too.

Let me tell you, it was a miracle. The morning of the formal, after applying Visine, her zit was pretty much gone. 

Read More »