10 Easy Steps for a Clear Complexion on a Budget
It’s college. We’re 20-somethings and we’re in our prime! Wait, what about all of those pimples? I thought adults didn’t get acne?! Let’s just admit it right now; we’ve all been on that 24/7 McDonald’s dollar menu diet, occasionally mixing it up with Tacobell. We don’t have the time or the energy to fix healthy meals every night, and I’ve got 3 exams and 2 papers due this week! This is just a formula for bad skin.
Stress + greasy food = complexion disaster!
Let me guess, you’ve tried Proactiv and all of those knock-off brands that guarantee a clear complexion in just a few easy steps, but at what cost? Literally, the cost is expensive! College students don’t have the extra $70+ to spend on a treatment, which is only effective for so long.
I’m here to give you a cheaper, alternative option. However, this is not 100% guaranteed, everyone’s skin and body are different, but it wouldn’t hurt to try!
- Drink more water! Nice and simple. Drinking more water and less sugary alternatives (pop/lemonade), will make a significant change in your complexion, and will also make you feel better! Double whammy!
- Eliminate greasy/sugary foods from your diet. Try to incorporate more fruits and vegetables into your diet. Vitamin A & D are shown to eliminate acne and produce clearer skin. Some foods with Vitamin A are lettuce, carrots, or cantaloupe and Vitamin D foods include salmon, milk, eggs, or mushrooms.
- If you don’t have the time to prepare meals with these ingredients, try taking a daily vitamin! I recommend One-A-Day Women’s! Buy a bottle at your local convenient store for about $9.
- Wash your hands before you wash your face. It may seem annoying and ambiguous, but if you think about it logically, there are so many things you touch with your hands every day. Your hands have a constant layer of oil, which protects from the elements and the different things we come in contact with on a day-to-day basis. This is why your body produces pimples on areas of the face that you touch with your hands constantly without noticing, such as your chin or your forehead.
- Wash your face 3 times a day. Once in the morning, once at midday, and once before bed. Seems a bit much, but if you’re working an 8-hr. day, you have 8 hours worth of sun, wind, rain, sweat, make up, and whatever else, all accumulating on your sensitive skin. Ever notice how your skin feels or looks oily only hours after you have showered? That’s what I’m talking about!
- When you wash your face, use hot water to start and cold water to rinse. The hot water opens up pores, so that when you wash, you clean out your pores to the best of your ability. Then, the cold water closes pores, and this prevents any dirt from entering after you have washed.
- Use a clean towel every time you dry your face. This may become hard to keep up with, but if you wash your face and dry it on something dirty, it reverses all of your hard work!
- Use Neutrogena’s Fresh Foaming Cleanser. This is $5 at Walmart and $7 at your local convenient store. It leaves your skin feeling clean, and you don’t have to worry about that dry feeling that usual soaps leave. Another plus: it’s also a make up remover!
- After you wash your face, apply Olay’s Complete All Day Moisturizer- for Sensitive Skin. ($7) Even if you may not think your skin is sensitive, this moisturizer is oil-free and leaves your skin feeling hydrated. It protects your skin from UV rays, because whether it’s winter, spring, summer or fall, those UV rays are constantly upon us! It is also non-comedogenic, which means it doesn’t clog pores.
- If you break out or get that volcano pimple, use Clearasil Acne Treatment Cream. This is $6 at your local convenient store. After you wash your face at night, apply the cream on any blemishes. Go crazy with it, you’re going to bed so you won’t be seeing anyone, and overnight is when your face develops the most oil.
- If you want to cover up, use Almay’s Clear Complexion Concealer with Blemish Heal. ($6) Sometimes those pesky blemishes will break through with almost anything we try, but instead of clogging it and making it worse with foundation and powder, try this concealer. It not only hides unwanted blemishes or redness, but also acts as a treatment to eliminate existing imperfections and prevent future ones!
The total cost of this remedy is around $24, and if you add vitamin supplements $33. I understand that this may not sound like a bargain at first, but all of the products recommended will last you longer than 5 months, some may even last a year – and that’s including daily use! It’s worth a try compared to $70 of treatment, which lasts no longer than about 2 months. If all else fails, always keep in mind — you are beautiful! — no matter what acne army conquers your skin.