Clear skin? This is what’s in
IF clear skin for many wasn’t as elusive as actually finding gold at the end of a rainbow, the beauty industry wouldn’t be tasked to come up with new products to treat skin issues, nor would we spend so much money yearly in search of this ideal. But like death and taxes, flare-ups are one of those sureties in life that we’d rather not experience, but mother nature blesses us with anyway.
Many of us will search and experiment, sometimes for years, for products that will help. For some, a product may work now, then fail to work down the line, and others spend time scouring social and other media for solutions that have been tried and proven.
Want to know some of the things that people have been using that they say work? We put the question to women and men, and here are the products, herbs, or foods they swear helped clear their skin best.
Sasha, 30:
I have cystic acne and not even prescription creams worked. A rasta man who sells plants down the street from my yard told me to use aloe vera, and though sceptical at first, I did, and it cleared. That’s the miracle plant — aloe vera. Strip it, mash it up, place in a jar and apply to your skin nightly. I saw results in about a week.
Maureen, 43:
Pears soap — it’s about $160 in the supermarket, and has been better than any other product I’ve used on my skin. I get bad breakouts around my period, and since I started using this soap, I no longer have them. It’s amazing, because I tried everything, including prescription creams in the past, as I also had bad acne as a teenager, and imagine that this cheap soap has been the miracle I needed.
Latoya, 35:
Jencare products — especially the little tubes of spot remover. I had horrible spots on my face that made me embarrassed, and my sister bought some of their products, and I would borrow that spot remover. It worked so well — without lightening my skin like other products — that I’ve been a convert ever since.
Kashauna, 24:
There’s this moisturiser called Fruit Of The Earth Vitamin E Skin Care Cream that I saw in my in-laws’ medicine cabinet last summer — they had probably half-dozen tubs of them. I started using it during the summer, and then when it worked so well, I bought my own on Amazon. It’s pretty affordable, and it has helped my problem skin so much. I’d recommend it to anyone.
Kecia, 31:
I use rose hip seed oil as my moisturiser at night. It has improved all my acne scars, and because it was working so well, I started using it on my C-section scar, and even that, which had formed a keloid, is shrinking. It’s a miracle!
Steve, 38:
For my razor bumps I use my teen daughter’s prescription Deriva-C gel. Sometimes it’s best to use professional-grade creams. I plan to ask my doctor to prescribe some for me too, but I’m going to continue testing it for a bit longer first. But I must say that my stubborn bumps have reduced or are totally gone since I started using her stuff.
Sophie, 27:
I stopped eating dairy products and that was the potion. I originally stopped drinking soda for three weeks, but there was no change in my skin. When I resumed soda, and then cut out dairy — milk, cheese — it was amazing as I saw results immediately. Within a week my pimples had cleared. Now I’ve switched to soy, and in addition to my skin clearing, I’m less bloated and gassy too, so that’s a win-win.
Daniel, 37:
Monthly facials keep my skin problems regulated, and keep my skin nice and soft. I also use sunscreen daily, even when it’s cloudy, and I moisturise at night with cod liver oil. I don’t have hair bumps or even ingrown hair anymore, and trust me, a year ago my skin was really bad.
