Sometimes what you read online isn’t the best advice for your skin type and the lotion your favorite celebrity promised would help...actually made it worse.

It can be difficult to work out exactly why you are experiencing a breakout. Don’t get me started on how frustrating it is to read articles that claim to fix your skin if you follow 10 simple steps.

We’re glad you’re still reading and you’re still online. Stay with me!!!

Everybody is different, what works for one person may not work for the other person! The key to understanding your skin is learning what affect everyday situations and activities can have.

The process of elimination and keeping track of it will take you a lot further.

Jotting down how certain things affect your skin can be so useful.

This will give you a clear road map and help you spot any patterns with your skin.

You’ll know more about your triggers for those seemingly random breakouts or reactions and know what to do to prevent or avoid them in the future.

Keep notes and test??? What on earth you yappin about.

By keeping notes and tracking these things you’ll be able to see what impact external factors, such as stress, environment, and products have on your skin. Likewise with internal factors, such as your diet and hormones.

We recommend you give it at least 4 weeks, but ideally 3 months is best to get a really good overview. Here are some rules and a good blueprint of questions to ask yourself daily and follow:

SLEEP

1. What time did you go to bed?
2. What time did you wake up?
3. How many hours of sleep did you get?

SKINCARE

1. What did you do/use for your morning skin care routine?
2. What did you do/use for your evening skin care routine?
3. Did you use anything else on your body, face or hair throughout the day?
4. What did your skin look like when you woke up?
5. What did your skin look like when you went to bed?

DIET

1. How much water did you drink?
2. How much caffeine did you drink?
3. Did you have any dairy?
4. What did you eat for your meals?
5. Did you eat any snacks?
6. Did you take any supplements or vitamins?

MOOD/ACTIVITY

1. Did you exercise?
2. Rate your stress on a level of 1-10?
3. Where are you in your menstrual cycle?
4. What was your mood like?

ENVIRONMENT

1. What was your environment like? Were you in the sun, rain, wind, beach area?

Take a look at your entries and highlight when you got a new breakout and see what it reveals. You’ll be surprised how much certain factors like sleep, products or diet are affecting your skin.

This won’t treat your skin condition, but it will definitely help guide you on what throws your skin off balance. Do you need to get more sleep, stay away from a certain food, or stop using products that contain fragrances? Now you have more answers!

P.S. Don’t try 5 new products at the same time. Substitute 1 in to your current skincare regimen for 2-3 weeks and see how your skin reacts to it. You’ll know if it gets better, stays the same, or gets worse to toss it or keep it!

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When I did my testing I found a few things out about my body and skin:

I found out coffee breaks me out, so does coke but not sprite- the caffeine in the drinks react with my body and I end up getting 1 or 2 huge flare-ups. Chocolate also has the same effect on my skin, while if I have some cheese and dairy it isn’t so bad. If I have a ton of dairy it could be different, but I eat dairy in moderation now and stay away from caffeinated drinks and chocolate altogether. While many dermatologists have claimed food isn’t the problem, trust me with my body, I know exactly what it is now.

I know to stay away from products that have oil in it, while others do extremely well with lathering that on their face. I tried rosehip oil for a few weeks, and ended up with small bumps all over my skin. Now I stay away from those types of products. (You can read our post on comedogenic oils if you’re sensitive like me RIGHT HERE).

I normally breakout during my period, now however I noticed I get a huge flare-up a week before. Because I track that, I do more facemasks that week to exfoliate my skin and also ice anything that looks like it could pop up.

There you have it, I know my biggest triggers and I know what I can keep doing in order to maintain a healthy balance of beautiful skin!