Goodbye Milk, Hello Clear Skin

 

Today’s post is slightly different than the usual- it’s more lifestyle and a few changes that I’ve made recently. In mid September I started noticing small spots on my cheeks, a place which is usually totally clear (it’s my t zone that’s the pain) but I took no notice of them as they were fairly inoffensive. By the first week of October there were quite a few more spots all around my lower cheek and jawline, and this time they were cyst like, red and incredibly sore ie. offensive! I couldn’t for the life of me figure out what was going on, I upped my exfoliating toners and ditched any products which were deemed to be too harsh for my skin, yet the spots still persisted and got even worse. That’s when I started to consider my diet and whether my newly introduced (around early September) daily lattes were the culprit of my horrible breakouts. After doing some research and reading this very helpful post from Ruth Crilly on the connection between acne and milk I decided to go cold turkey and give up my hot, creamy, delicious cup of morning coffee. After a few days my skin started to clear up dramatically, that was until I had a small cup of tea (with just a splash of milk!) and I started using Pixi Glow Tonic (to help rid my face of the scars) and things got really really bad again. I’d overdone it on the milk and now my body was rejecting even the smallest amount, which also meant that even a bar of chocolate (one thing which never had an effect on my skin prior to milkgate) would cause the most sore and tender breakouts. It was time for a serious overhaul.

I realised that as my skin is especially sensitive at the moment I should stick to the most basic of basic skincare routines- really boring for a skincare junkie like myself! So goodbye fragranced cleansing balms and cool serums and hello to simple cleansing milks and a light non fragranced moisturiser. I’ve also ditched chocolate (although I will allow myself a little bit of dark chocolate from time to time) and cake and am trying to stick to a healthy diet. I’m going to allow myself the odd treat like a rice milk latte or maybe a little bit of cake but that’s it. No pizza, no fries, no burgers. No crap basically. After just a few days of eating better I’m feeling more energised, my skin is calmer and my stomach is flatter. I know that people like to say that the correlation between what you eat/drink and your skin is a myth, but for me I see instant results. When I was on  my gap year I acquired a Diet Coke addiction and my skin (especially my forehead) was horrifically bad, I ditched the sugary drink and everything miraculously cleared up.

For those of you who are apprehensive on giving up milk, I’d like to point out that milk alternatives are delicious- almond milk works wonders in porridge and rice milk is a good neutral taste which is brilliant in coffee. Try and avoid soya as it has just as many hormones as cow’s milk and therefore could just exacerbate any skin flare ups further.

I’m no dermatologist, and I don’t want to scare anyone into a boring diet but it’s probably the cheapest option if you’re skin is acting up- ditch dairy and other overly processed sugars and see if it makes a difference. It saves time and money at dermatologists and on expensive skincare products. I’ll let you know in tomorrow’s post my new super simple skincare routine!