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How to Control Breakouts During Midterm Season

This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at U Ottawa chapter.

The university student is no stranger to killer breakouts, especially around stressful times. With midterm season upon us, it’s important that we make sure to take the utmost care of our skin. Here are a few things a collegiette can do to ensure that her skin is in great shape and to cure stubborn breakouts!

1. Figure out what’s causing the breakout!
Breakouts can happen for a variety of reasons, and your diet and lifestyle can be huge contributors to problem skin. Figure out why you’re breaking out in the first place. The location of your breakout is useful as it can indicate the root of the problem!


According to skincare expert Leanna Tambay from The Body Shop at the Rideau Centre, the type and placement of acne you’re experiencing is essential to decide the course of treatment. Stress is the leading cause of breakouts around the temples, whereas, breakouts on the forehead are a result of poor digestion and diet. Finally, your breakouts around the chin area are the result of hormone fluctuation. Therefore, it’s important to determine the root of your breakout before deciding how to treat it.

2. Eat well!
Your diet plays a large role when it comes to the condition of your skin! During midterm season, it is especially difficult to stick to a healthy diet, and this could easily be causing your skin to breakout. Tambay explains that ensuring that there is a sufficient amount of fiber in your diet is VITAL. Fiber is important as it aids in cleaning out toxins in your system. She further explains that it’s important to make sure that you’re eating lots of fruits and vegetables and providing your body with good quality, lean proteins to help promote healthy skin, hair, and nails!


Another helpful tip from The Body Shop’s skincare expert is to avoid, or at least limit your intake of dairy and meats with a lot of hormones. These food products in excess can lead to hormonal breakouts on the chin and along the jaw. Pay attention to what you’re feeding your body, as insufficient nutrients could very well be the culprit behind your breakout!

3. Treat your skin right and avoid the breakout to begin with!
It’s important to know what your skin needs from the beginning. Everyone has a different skin type and must customize their skincare routine to meet their specific skin needs! For example, if you have oily skin, it isn’t necessary to be using a highly moisturizing facewash. Instead, try an oil-controlling face wash or gel. The ingredients will help balance oil and prevent future breakouts!

It’s also important to make sure that you have a facial moisturizer that is formulated for your skin type! Tambay explains how an effective moisturizer will help control the oil on the surface of your skin that could be contributing to your breakouts. Even if you have oily skin, you must still use an effective moisturizer. This will help to stop your skin from overproducing moisture on the surface of your skin, which acts as a moisture barrier to protect from environmental toxins.

4. Prevention through lifestyle!
A huge contributing factor to breakouts and acne is stress, therefore minimizing stress is one way to prevent breakouts. This can be done through yoga, meditation, working out, or anything else that you find enjoyable!


 

5. Use treatment products!
As much as you try to avoid it, breakouts will still happen. But that doesn’t mean that you have to put up with your stubborn pimples! Try a treatment product like Tea Tree Oil directly on the culprit. Applying effective, antibacterial products such as this one will help to kill that pimple in no time!


Skincare expert Leanna Tambay also suggests trying out the Himalayan Charcoal Mask from the expert facial masks range offered at The Body Shop! This mask, which also conveniently contains tea tree oil, will help to pull out extremities and exfoliate the skin. As your skin is an important part of the process of releasing toxins from your body, this mask would become a girl’s best friend during breakouts and midterm season!

All that being said, midterm season doesn’t have to mean that your skin will take a beating! Just follow the above steps and your skin will thank you for it! Now go ahead and tackle those midterms with confidence! 

Comment below and let us know what your tips and tricks are for fighting breakouts! 

 

Sources: 1

Alexandria is a fourth year student at the University of Ottawa with majors in Communications and English. She is passionate about animal rights, advocating for mental health, writing, and napping. In the odd occasion that she does have spare time, you can find her crying over cute videos of puppies, devouring a tub of chocolate peanut butter ice cream, reading, or playing with her cat.