Hi Brandon!
You know when you get those nasty-looking bumps all over your face? You know when it gets so irritating that you just want to pick them off but you can’t? Well, that’s happening to me. AAAHHHH!
Please help me by telling me how to get rid of acne!!
Pimple Problem
Hey Pimple Problem,
Oh man. Zits. Pimples. If I knew how to get rid of them, I’d be the richest teen you’ve ever met!
If it’s any consolation, I get them too. So do most people I know. Because they’re pretty much due to hormones. And we can’t really stop them—they’re at their peak in our teen years.
But, there are some things you can do to take care of your skin that could help. Here are a few things I learned while researching how to answer this question:
- Wash and moisturize your skin in the morning and the evening. I know it seems like a lot of steps. But washing is important because it gets the grime and excess oils off your face. And moisturizing is important, too—sometimes people with acne don’t moisturize, because they’re afraid their skin already has too much oil. But if you don’t moisturize, your skin freaks out and produces more oil.
- Exfoliate a couple times a week. Exfoliating is important because it clears dead skin cells off the top layer, so they don’t trap grime and cause spots. But too much can irritate your skin, so don’t do it every day.
- Change your pillowcase regularly. Think about it. You sleep with your face smashed on your pillowcase. If it’s got weeks of grime and sweat and body oils on it, then all that washing your face is for nothing.
- Drink lots of water. There are lots of good health reasons to do this. I can’t explain why it’s good for your skin, but I believe the internet doctors who tell me it is. ☺
- Keep your phone screen clean. Phone screens can get super dirty, from all the touching and swiping…and then you hold the phone up against your face…yeah, that’s a recipe for zits.
- Keep your hands off your face. You might be noticing a theme here. But basically keep dirty stuff away from your face. And even if you wash your hands at all the normal times, your skin has natural oils in it and mushing the natural oils from your hands into your face is not great for your skin.
- If a zit is really bugging you, definitely don’t pick at it. But ice or a cold compress can help relieve the urge to itch or pick AND make the inflammation go down at the same time.
So hey, thanks for asking about this! What a great question.