My regimen- Wash morning and bedtime (with my hands, I never use a washcloth on my face), tone (with a cotton pad; once a week or so, I add TT oil to the witch hazel on my cotton pad), allow to dry naturally, apply shea butter (less is best)
- Take 3 Herpanacines with first meal, 3 with second meal.
- Drink at least 58 oz of water. I will be honest, I really slacked off on this over the summer. These days, I pretty much drink 1-2 bottles of water, which is about 20-40 oz.
- I'm also taking a probiotic for several reasons, acne being the least of them
But this helps to regulate the digestive system so that you're more regularly ridding your body of toxins. Those things really do contribute to bad skin.
Note: it took me a long time to get used to the shea butter. When you have acneic skin, you habitually do everything you can to keep oil off of your face. I spent decades buying only oil-free products, so it took some mental reconditioning (and a lot of asking God if He's sure about this... lol) to apply an oil-based product to my face. But I read up a lot on it (I read up a lot on all this stuff, fwiw), and learned that the less you apply, the better. I have extremely oily skin, and amazingly, the shea butter actually completely eradicated that problem. I use about a kidney bean size, rub my hands together until it's completely dissolved and then apply it to my face. My face (for the first time since I was 12) has a matte look pretty much all day long.
About every 10 days, I get a chemical peel. This is to help keep the acne at bay, and it's supposed to help with the hyperpigmentation. Again, not something I'd recommend for someone with normal skin. Not worth the money. They are VERY expensive (and not fun).
About once a week, I do the mask.
Mask recipe2 tbsp of Bentonite Clay
1.5 tbsp of Milk of Magnesia (if you don't have acne, you can use water)
6 crushed non-coated aspirins (if you don't have acne, you can skip this)
1 tsp of raw, cold-pressed honey
3-4 drops of tea tree oil
I start with the clay and aspirin then slowly blend in the MOM, then the honey. I stir until I make it a good clay consistency, then add in the tea tree oil. From what I've read, it's important to use plastic (bowl and mixing utensil) and not metal because that causes the clay to react adversely. I then apply the mask to my entire face very thickly except eyelids and lips, and lay down with a book or iPad for 20-30 minutes. It's a bad idea to try to talk or eat, and laughing is out of the question. If you relax, you will actually feel the clay pulling the "stuff" out of your skin, and it feels like a face massage. Very nice mask. Not a lot of fun to wash it off... lol... but your skin will feel so baby butt soft that it's worth it. (If you don't like the smell, you can add other essence oils - sold at Whole Foods. My sister hated the smell, but for me, TT oil does the trick).
Yeah, it's a lot. Those that have good skin and don't have to do all this stuff should stop what you're doing right now and give Him some PRAISE!
