Free

I found this out at a holistic dermatologist recently:

Swimming in a pool can lead to clogged pores.

I have heard a girl on the team mention this and I was like, ya right! Water? Clogging your pores?

Well my dermatologist told me to wash my face as soon as I get out of the pool (aka in the locker room when I’m washing my hair)

One thing I’m still not sure about: I’m not sure if it is the chlorine thats actually clogging my pores, my skins reaction to the chlorine, or over production of oils from the drying out of the chlorine but washing my face after swimming helped clean up my skin a little.

And as always this goes for working out too…even if you don’t think you sweat. Bring face wash/wipes to the gym.

I’ll have to admit, it was a little embarrassing walking fresh faced out of the gym, but eventually my skin got clearer so I had less pimples to be ashamed of!

Be fierce, be brave. No one is going to judge you about your acne, and if they do, they dont matter :)

I have a lot to update you about with a lot that I have learned recently.

IF YOU WEAR MAKE UP COMPLETELY DISREGARD ANYTHING I EVER SAID.

The method I was using was completely breaking me out, it was absolutely terrible. And I found out, it was because at the end of the day, I wasn’t removing all the gunk I had caked on earlier.

For make up wearers: look for natural cleansers that say they’re specifically designed to remove make up. I currently use burts bees face wash and once that is out I am going to try Bare Essentials Purifying Cleanser. It is specifically designed to dissolve make up naturally and gently since the company makes natural and gentle make up! I can get a review from that as soon as I try it out!

So lets review: you want to dissolve all the make up that you’re wearing, because left overs can lead to clogged pores, but you do not want to strip your face of its natural protection and oils. Its a difficult balance, it truly is! And I find that liquid foundation is much harder to remove completely (even though it smudges everywhere during the day). To make sure my make up is completely removed, I use a 50% distilled water 50% apple cider vinegar + couple drops of tea tree oil toner. After I wash my face, make up will be on my cotton pad! its just a vicious cycle. But when my face is dry, I use Neutrogena Alcohol Free toner. Its amazing, it doesn’t dry your skin out (some times i feel more moisturized after wards) and it removes impurities!

How is your battle going?

Hey everyone,

Sorry I’ve been MIA, I had exam/finals the past 2 weeks :/

So thats kinda what I want to talk about. 

My face is broken out. I look at it and I’m like “oh its just stress from finals” “oh i can eat junkfood because its finals”, etc.

No. I deserve nice skin. I do not deserve what I have now.

I need to stop making excuses for my ways. Good food makes me feel better than the junk food in packages! But I use it as comfort and rewards for studying. Lately I’ve been only snacking on healthy things…until someone busts out the oreos…

Then I thought of a connection to my eating habits. Right now I eat refined carbs and refined sugars because it taste good, ya? Okay, burgers are tasty, chicken wings, steak, meatball on spaghetti, those are all tasty, and I don’t eat them!

So I guess there is hope. Hope I can get out of the habit of junk food. I stopped eating meat because of its impact on the environment, now I know I can’t eat it because it would make me sick. I know the refined foods make my body unbalanced and break me out…so why don’t I stop?

I’m going to try to channel in the energy it took for me to form the habit of a meat free diet and apply it to unbalancing foods. While remembering I didnt switch from cold turkey, cold turkey, it will take some getting used to, but I feel like I am getting way better. 

People look at me like I’m anorexic or watching my weight when I turn down junk food. When that happens i just reply that I’m really full, don’t feel well, or trying to cut out gluten (which is true).

Remember, view foods that make us unbalanced as foods we do not want, instead of “food I can’t have”. Making it seem like a rule makes us want to break it more (like when teachers tell you not to look a page a head in a test…)

So I said I’d update once I ate something more interesting and now that I finally have some time I can cook!

So I’m a terrible cook and very lazy, I’m trying to get better and lately adding vegetables to almost premade meals has been an improvement. I enjoy what I eat, so I guess my recipes will be filed under the “easy” category. Sorry, no gourmet here.

Long grain brown rice

Mexican Seasoning (I bought it premade but I know garlic salt, cumin, and onion gives you the same flavor)

Canned Corn

Canned Organic Black beans

Salsa.

I cooked my rice and while my heat was still on I added corn, beans, and salsa until it was warm!
Now I’m lactose intolerant, vegetarian, and gluten free, so you can add many other things as well! Just try to stay in the organic/free range/additive/ preservative free zone :)

Hey Everyone,

So I had a question, I dont usually wear foundation but I want to for a special occasion, what kind would you suggest?

Okay, so let me start by saying this, I don’t care what brand it is, what the bottle says (no oil, acne reducing, etc), I will NEVER again put liquid foundation on my face. There is a brilliant website called http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/browse/foundation/ cosmetic data base and it rates all beauty products and tells you whats REALLY in what youre using.

I use bare escentuals (http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/product/265693/Bare_Escentuals_Bare_Minerals_Foundation_SPF_15_Sunscreen_Fairly_Light/), in the winter my skin lightens so where I dont match any of their colors so I use L’oreal True match Naturale. Bare escentuals is the most natural and non reacting on the skin. It truely is. It’s worth every cent I’ve put into it.

The l’oreal is very similar, it doesnt have as much coverage but I like using it. It does have more additives in it though, but the minerals are much better on the skin than liquid. It absorbs oil and it doesnt crease or melt like liquid always does. It feels better on my skin too!

what did your regular foundation rate on the cosmetics data base?