Ever since I was in middle school, and those first little breakouts would occur, they happened in the t-zone area… specifically the nose (I’d get a nice big one right on the tip, so nice, especially in middle school….) and chin areas. When hormones started to simmer down a little, and breakouts became much less frequent, I’d still get the occasional mountain of a zit on my chin around my period. Then, when I got into my early 30’s, started doing acupuncture for fertility issues (more about that in this post), and had Harper my random zit appearances seemed to go away. I was no longer prone to those “once a month” breakouts, and my skin seemed to stay relatively “normal.”

But (and there is always a but, or there would be no post…), about a month ago I noticed that my chin was starting to breakout, pretty heavily. A couple small patches on my chin, and I had no clue what was happening. I thought maybe it was a new product I had tried, so I eliminated it. Acne still there. I thought maybe it was that time of the month. No, that had just passed. I thought maybe it was from face masks. I still wasn’t going out much, so only wearing face masks very infrequently (on those rare outings), that wasn’t the culprit….

As I did my research, and looked back to when the breakouts started to happen, I was quickly able to identify that these breakouts were likely due to stress. So I went about treating them with a mind + product approach……

4 WAYS I TACKLED MY STRESS ACNE

GET MY STRESS UNDER CONTROL: Most of my stress was coming from a place of not being able to control situations happening around me (I’m sure a lot of people are feeling something similar these days…) so I realized I really needed to start there, at the root cause. I started reading my morning devotionals again, practicing the stress + anxiety relief skills I had taught so many others (see post here), and began limiting time on social media to specific times of the day.

FACIAL STEAMING: I did some research on the benefits of facial steaming in skin complexion and I was sold (I guess the steam opens up the pores and loosens up any buildup of dirt so you can get a much deeper cleanse). I purchased this facial steamer (and I’ve been super happy with it) and began using twice a week (Monday + Thursday or Friday). Not only has my skin felt softer, but it also has given it a much healthier glow…

APPLIED A DETOX MASK AFTER STEAMING: I’ve been using charcoal masks for several years now but hadn’t used one in several months (so mine had dried up….). After some investigation, I decided to try Beauty Counter’s charcoal detox mask. It had great reviews + is non-toxic. After steaming my skin, I immediately apply this mask.

SPOT TREATMENT: I started using a spot treatment to apply directly onto the areas that were breaking out. Since I’ve always been such a huge TULA fan, I decided to give their spot treatment product a try. It really helped to dry up the area, but didn’t irritate my skin or leave it feeling super dry. If you want to try it ITSYBITSY for 15% off.

After doing all 4 of the steps above for about two weeks I noticed a huge difference in the complexion on my skin. Of course, everyone’s skin is different, but these 4 things really helped me to tackle my stress acne!