How I control my hormonal acne

I post a lot about my skin progress on social media, and I thought what better way to kickstart my blog than to go through a step by step process of exactly how I control hormonal acne. It is still not perfect, and I do get the occasional spot every now and then, but ohhhh my goodness is it amazing how far I have come in a year.

These photos below were taken when my skin was at its worst in January 2019.

Ok so I put my clear skin journey down to FOUR main things. I am going to talk about each in detail.

Let’s start with number one – mindset. I have to be honest, when my skin took a turn for the worst, I was not in a great place mentally. I was in my final year at university, which meant I spent all my time studying or working.I didn’t have much time for myself or my friends.

My mind was always focussed on how heavy my workload was no matter where I was or what I was doing. This was very unhealthy and lead to me feeling exhausted and unhappy most of the time. My negative thoughts just then continued to spiral into other aspects of my life. I began to think negatively about where I was. I was at University in Sydney, away from my family, and away from my boyfriend who was in London, I felt very lonely.

But this was only because I let myself feel this way and I kind of created this isolation for myself. In actual fact I was surrounded by some of the closest friends I have ever had. I was in SYDNEY – one of the most beautiful places on the planet. None of this occurred to me though, I would only listen to my negative thoughts, and once you allow one negative thought to get the better of you, they will slowly start to take over.

My advice for this would be to write a list of five affirmations daily, and a list of goals, they can be long term or short term, depending on how you feel and what you want to achieve that day. You will be surprised how much of a positive impact this will have on your mindset, your day, and your skin! I do this now, every morning with a cup of coffee, it’s a ritual for me embedded into my morning routine that just makes me feel so happy, it has now become habit.

My mindset has totally changed, I would even say I have a busier life now with a higher workload – I am living in London, working full time, I only JUST finished my degree, and I am also training to become a PT, so I have a lot on, but I don’t let it affect me negatively. Now I think about all the positives, how lucky I am to be able to have studied an amazing degree, so be able to work and train towards something I absolutely love and am so passionate about. It’s amazing what you can achieve when you have a positive mindset. I know that sounds so wishy washy but seriously its true! I have the clear face to prove it.

Number two is a big one I have to be blunt. It may be on par with mindset, because if your insides are not loved, you’re outsides show it.

Diet and supplements are so important for a glowing face. Let’s look at it this way, I wonder what would happen if you rubbed something like a Dorito on your face every night as your cleansing routine – it would probably be breakout central right. So why put it INSIDE your body, just no. No NO.

You need to be eating whole foods, my philosophy is – if it is in a packet, don’t eat it! Quality food is so important when it comes to your skin. I know there is a belief that good food is expensive. This is simply not true.

You can buy fresh fruit and veg, meat and fish cost effectively and easily. Of course, it takes a bit of time to prep, but there are tons of great recipe books (I love the How Not to Die cookbook – it’s a vegan recipe book but I just like to add chicken, turkey or fish and reduce the suggested serving of carbohydrate per meal).

Please remember, good food = happy body. If your gut isn’t happy, your skin isn’t happy. There is a huge connection between gut and mood as well, so taking care of yourself nutrition wise, will also help you to achieve that positive mindset, everything is intertwined and if one is out of sync, everything is. It is so important to eat well and incorporate good quality supplements into your diet.

And girl, if you are suffering from skin problems – you have probably invested some serious cash into all of the skin-care right? Take that money and invest it into your diet instead! An ideal food day for me looks like this (and I say ideal because it’s just too much to ask for your diet to be on point 100% of the time, aim for 80%):

- Wake up and down a glass of water or three, hydration is key.

- I then take a shot of Bragg's Apple Cider Vinegar (with the mother), I have been doing this for months and I really notice a difference in my skin when I slip up.

- Coffee (black, or with a dash of unsweetened almond milk – I know coffee is inflammatory but I pick my battles ok #coffeeaddict). If you are an avid coffee drinker like myself, opt for an organic bean, and try to avoid soy, cows milk, or oat. Maybe not forever but until your skin is clear.

- Breakfast: usually some form of fish (ideally salmon fillet to get my omegas and fats in) cooked in ginger and garlic for all of the flavoursss, with half or a whole avocado depending on how hungry I am, lots of spinach and asparagus or broccolini and some portobello mushrooms. I like to start my day the right way, and get in all my protein and healthy fats, slightly lower carbs as I feel like these balances my hormones. Healthy fats are SO important for maintaining your hormone levels, so please make sure you have a lot of fat in your diet. Fat does not = fat.

- Lunch: depends on where I am and the amount of exercise I am doing for that day. Lots of cardio means carbohydrates. A favourite for me in the summer is half a cup of gluten free rolled oats, soaked in half a cup of almond milk, with some natural vegan protein powder (I like Tropeaka Lean Protein). Topped with lots of frozen berries, dried fruit and some natural Pro Fusion Hemp Peanut Butter. If I’m not doing any cardio or feel like I don’t really need the energy boost, I’ll go for some kind of salad, usually shredded chicken on spinach leaves with some roast pumpkin, so simple but so yum (there is a good recipe for this on my Instagram page @tashlankester).

- Dinner: recently I have been loving zucchini noodles with homemade vegan pesto sauce and some chicken, and depending on how hungry I am, sometimes I’ll add in a small amount of buckwheat or brown rice pasta too.

I try to keep my carbs reasonably low, and my healthy fat consumption high with sufficient protein for my lifestyle and weight. I find this really works for me in terms of my energy levels, my mood, happiness and skin. It’s all about finding what works for you. Adding in more healthy fats I find helps me a lot as I feel it stabilises my hormones. As well as ALL of the micronutrients, I cannot stress this enough.

Every meal should be predominantly micronutrient based, and I like to get most of my grams of carbs from veggies it helps up my micro game. Micros are antioxidants that help repair the body, if you don’t eat enough, how do you expect your body to heal and get rid of the toxins (aka acne!). If you only take 1 thing away from this, please let it be EAT YOUR VEGGIES (mothers are always right).

On top of diet, some quality supplements can be really effective. I recommend an Omega-3, zinc, some good pro-biotics and a magnesium tablet to take before bed. Magnesium is great if you train a lot as it really relaxes and repairs the muscles too. It is also amazing for a good quality night’s sleep, it’s magic! just another added bonus. It’s a good idea to add in a quality multivitamin as well if you can afford to splurge.

But please, fix the diet before you go onto the supplements, supplements are just that, a supplement – they won’t work if you are starting off in a bad place, but they will work a treat if they are aiding a healthy diet and lifestyle. To give you guys a complete picture, I also took (stopped after 1 tub) Zilch acne tablets, which is an Australian owned brand, the supplements are all natural Chinese herbal tablets that target inflammation, so I feel like they really helped combat the nasty cystic spots that would come up. But obviously they do not stop them from coming up, they just help control the nastiness and pain.

Something that I am sure we all suffer from is stress. I have actually been relatively lucky in this department, and my first proper experience of stress was during my final stages of university. But what no one tells you, is that life will only get more stressful from here. Stress contributes to weight gain, poor immune system, lack of quality sleep and so much more, I think I have barely scratched the surface with these to be honest. Here are a few tips and tricks I use to manage my stress levels:

- Planning; I like to plan out my week ahead every Sunday night, and then every night I write down my plans for the following day. This just helps keep my mind organised and stops me from stressing about disorganisation or worrying about having a lot on my plate. Also, I find if I write it down, I am more likely to complete it. Accomplishing your checklist for the day will make you feel good and reduce the feelings of stress.

- Carve out some time for myself: every week I personally need at least one evening or a whole day if I can, that is just me time. I’ll do the things that I love doing. Cook, bake, workout, go on a walk round the park, put on a face mask, watch some YouTube. Just really have some self-care time, it’s so important.

- It’s also good for my mental health I find, to be comfortable in my own company and allow my thoughts to wander. You’ll be surprised how amazing your mind is and how productive you can be if you listen to your inner-self.

- Go to bed early: Almost every night, I make sure I am in ready and in my bed by latest 9pm. My phone goes off, and I read for half an hour. Having half an hour of no screens before bed has made such a difference on my sleep quality.

- Utilise your support system: If I have periods when I am more stressed, instead of snapping and taking it out on those closest to me, I talk to them about it and try to seek comfort. This is one I am working on because its’ hard, but it makes such a difference.

- Mindfulness Meditation: to be honest I can’t say I do this all the time, but when I do I feel so much better. It feels like my mind has had a shower after I do a quick 15-minute meditation session, which is amazing after just one session. Imagine if I was doing this every day the difference it would make. I just need to be consistent and make this one a habit to see the long-term benefits. I love The Honest Guys on YouTube, they really calm me. Tip: find a tone of voice that relaxes you.

Number four, the final item on my list, is simple skincare. When my acne first started developing, I was using chemical grade cleansers, lactic acid exfoliants, and products specifically targeting “acne-prone” skin. So, you think surely these will work right? NO. I fell into the same web as you. These products completely dry out your skin, which for like a day may help some of the active pimples, but then your skin is just going to start producing more and more oil to compensate. And this is something we do not want as our skin is already producing enough bloody oil on its own. It is so important to keep it simple and use natural products that will encourage the skin to heal naturally, or you will just be trapped in a vicious cycle.

I now wash my face with a cleanser once at night time, sometimes in the morning as well if I have had a really sweaty gym session. I just use a pure castile hemp soap from Dr Bronner. All of the ingredients are natural, I could eat it if I wanted to (probably wouldn’t though). I then use a toner from Juice Beauty and at night, I use Jojoba Oil as a moisturiser. In the morning, I usually just wash with water, and use a light moisturiser from La Roche Posay, as I have had no issues with this breaking me out. Once or twice a week, I will exfoliate and put on a face mask from Sukin, again all natural, could eat, probably won’t. and that’s IT. I am still looking for effective ways to get rid of acne scarring naturally, so bear with me on that one, when I know, the blog will know.

So there you have it, my top tips for clearer skin. If this can help just one person, I went through the traumatic experience of bad skin for good reason J. A list of my takeaways:

- Drink all of the water

- Eat the rainbow aka micronutrients, micronutrients and more micronutrients – antioxidants; your body cannot heal properly if it is not getting these.

- Speed up the healing process with supplementation

- Self-love

- Positive mindset; daily affirmations and goals

- Sleep

- Self-pampering

My motto to live by for glowing skin:

Use, eat, drink natural, wherever possible

This is my skin today, makeup and no makeup. Anyone who has suffered from acne knows even makeup doesn’t cover it, as was seen in the pic I posted above - I still have leftover scars but oh my goodness has it transformed! I am so proud of what I have accomplished all by myself, and you can do it too, acne doesn’t control or define you, you have the power to kick it in the ass

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And please remember, it’s a marathon, not a sprint. This will take time, it’s taken me over a year and I am still not quite there, but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, I would no longer classify myself as an “acne sufferer”. If you have acne, it is your body’s way of communicating to you that something is not right internally. Please try changing your lifestyle before committing to harsh drugs recommended by doctors. I totally understand that for some people there is no other option, but in today’s society, acne issues have blown up in women in their early to mid 20’s, there has to be some sort of common external factor causing this. If you need a support system, please do not hesitate to get in touch with me, I am here to help. But ladies, acne is our bodies way of telling us something isn’t right, listen to it <3.

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