Weddingbee boards

A couple months ago I decided to try to stop my normal face treatment.  My skin was decent looking (I still had the occasional breakout though and was never totally pimple free) but I was so incredibly tired of all of our towels and bed sheets getting dyed.  I was on a program similar to Proactiv and even when I made sure to let the treatment dry before bed and wash my hands really well I still ended up with our things getting dyed.

This was (initially) a terrible idea.  I broke out tremendously bad, like I was back in middle school bad.  I was in tears and embarrassed to go out because of these massive red bumps on my oil slick face.  I tried different cleansers and an exfoliating system (like clairsonic except cheaper lol) and it was just making it worse.

Finally I said F it to all of that and decided to try to be a bit gentler with my skin.  I switched to Purpose face wash (by Johnson and Johnson) which has a PH balance almost identical to water.  I don't use a cloth to wash my face anymore, just a gentle rub with my hands.  

And then I discovered my secret weapon...green tea.  I had read about using green tea as a toner but didn't really believe it.  I decided to try it anyway.  The first week was bad, I'd make a cup of tea let it stew for a bit and then rub the tea bag over my face very lightly.  This brought up a bunch of impurities.  However, my skin seemed to be glowing so I stuck with it.

About a month later now and I'm acne free and my face is glowing!  My 'treatment' now consists of Purpose+tea and a oil free moisturizer in the morning and just cleansing before bed at night. I do have a tiny tube of bp that I spot treat with if I see anything coming in but I really don't foresee that bottle getting even close to running out in a year!

Plus there's all the benefits of drinking green tea!

Yay for small victories!

@lunathea:  OMG.... That's awesome and I'm so going to try this but want to make sure I do it right. Sorry but can you spell this out for me?

Morning wash with Purpose then steep green tea and rub tea bag on face, then rinse and use oil free moisturizer (what are you using?)

Night just washing with purpose? what's bp?

Thanks so much I'm freaking out about my acne for the wedding!

@Snow2bunny:  No not a problem at all, just keep in mind that what works for me may not work for you and it took a month for me to really see results I was happy with!

KK first off I want to give you an idea of my skin type just so you have a starting point.  I have EXTREMELY oily skin, like I blot and half an hour later you could fry an egg on it.  I have big pore with blackheads on my noise.  I'm prone to just standard pimple breakouts anywhere on my face, there's no real area they skin to.  Now for what I do...

This is my morning to a t:  I get up and immediately put a cup of water in the microwave for 1min20sec.  Then I throw the tea bag (I use Bigelow Green Tea, I've heard you shouldn't used the caffeinated one but mine is and I don't have a problem with it) in the cup and let it steep (thanks Future Mrs. Martin!  I could not think of that word to save my life lol!).

While the tea is steeping I was my face with the Purpose Cleanser for about 2min.  Just a gentle rub is all you need.  Cleanse it off with cool water.

Then I make sure the tea bag is cool enough and just gentle rub it over my face.  The tea will probably run down your face a little so just be careful around  your eyes.

I let that dry while I eat breakfast and drink my tea and then I apply my moisturizer (Neutrogena Oil Free Moisturizer, I'm not in love with this but I'm going to use it until the bottle runs out).

BP= benzoyl peroxide.  I use Clean and Clear 10% Treatment, it comes in a little tube.  I use it just where I see one potentially coming in though, and I haven't needed it lately.  I only do this at night also.

Thats it!  Just keep in mind what I said above about the fact that it may not work for you and I really had to stick with it to see results.  That first week was TERRIBLE lol.

I can see where it may be overdrying for super dry skin, and I also drink a TON of water to keep my system cleansed.

@lunathea:  Thank you so much! I agree what works for you may not for me but really..... what do I have to lose? I've tried everything! I too am way oily and have horrible blackheads on my nose and breakout everywhere no paticular place. So I'm going to try it! Thanks again!!!

@sara_tiara:  That's great to know as well and kinda makes sence. Easy enough to moisturize more. Thanks!

Good luck!! I really really hope it works for you!

@ Sara Tiara:  What moisturizer do you use?  I'm looking to switch after mine runs out and wouldn't mind some suggestions :)

@mcweiss:  Awesome I'll have to check it out, thx!