My Skin Care Battle

Through my recent pregnancy, I was unfortunate enough to get hormonal acne. It was so horrible, it was really severe, and did nothing to help my mood swings, and I always felt so self-conscious and unhappy because of it. When it ended up getting unbearably bad, I decided to try a huge bunch of different skin care brands, all to try and combat oily skin and breakouts, as that seemed applicable to me. I couldn't try any hormone control pills as obviously it could have affected my baby, and of course, he was always the priority.

I started by trying (not pictured) Superdrug's Tea Tree range. When that didn't work, I tried Clean and Clear for two months, and it made my skin so much worse, it stripped all the natural oils, and made it so painful and red-raw. From there, I tried Clinique's Anti-Blemish range as Clinique's products are irritant free, and that did make my skin better but didn't fix it completely. As my skin did get better from using that, but was still a little too harsh, I then used products from Clinique that were designed for normal skin, which made absolutely no difference to my skin, positive or negative. 

I was then dipping into a book one day, The 21st Century Beauty Bible, and was reading a part (page 67, if you have it), that read, "The temptation with oily and problem/acne-prone skin is to strip away oil almost as fast as it is produced. But what happens then is that oil production whirrs into overdrive, producing even more to replace what you've swiped away.

We've spent hours, while promoting our books in beauty stores, diverting oily-skinned women (and men) away from harsh toners and anti-bacterial cleansing washes and in the direction of very gentle products instead. 

Many have later told us that their skins have been 'miraculously' rebalanced by following this advice."

I then decided to try this, after further reading that rosewater is a natural anti bacterial skin healer. After all, I'd tried everything else, so what did I have to lose?

I made a conscious habit of using this as a cleanser every single day, and having many makeup-free days at home, in an effort to clear up my skin. Let me tell you - it has worked so, so, well. I won't be trying anything else now as I just don't need to. I just drench a cotton pad in Glycerin and Rosewater (£2.47 from Boots), and use it in the morning, and night, and whenever my skin just feels a bit dirty/sweaty/tired. Your skin goes through a lot in one day, and as Rosewater oil is also moisturising as well as cleansing, it keeps my skin soft and spot-free! I absolutely love it and I don't use anything else. I don't even need to put makeup on my skin now (which is great, because as much as I love makeup, I hate the feeling of foundation on my skin. I like to adopt a more natural approach, and embrace my features rather than hide them). 

It has made my skin so much better, and has gone from spotty, and red, to much calmer and better! I will also mention that this is the only beauty product I am using, but I am also using Marvelon too, which is a contraceptive pill that controls your hormones and keeps your breakouts at bay. However, I started using the Rosewater previously and saw results, but I did want to really make sure that my bad skin wouldn't come back, by using a medicated pill too. 

Completely makeup free, this is what my skin looks like. I have pencilled in my eyebrows and applied a bit of mascara as this is how I'm going out today! Makeup-free is scary stuff after feeling so self conscious about it! My forehead was my problem area and it still is a bit dry but now I've got it fairly clear I don't use chemical scrubs on it, just a hot washcloth to gently wipe it away. 

It's so nice to feel comfortable enough to go out makeup free! I can't believe I'm about to post a makeup free picture on a makeup blog, but it's all in the name of skincare! I would also like to add that if you are suffering with unsightly skin that makes you self conscious, definitely try both rosewater, and Marvelon! I didn't think anything would work for my skin but this did! Hope you're all having a lovely day, wherever you are! 

Sammii-Jane x