How to Prevent & Cure Acne

Video Transcript

"Hi, I'm Kim with Simply Beautiful in Austin, Texas. I'd like to talk to you a little about how to prevent and cure acne. Now this is a large subject that can't really be covered in a short amount of time, but I'm going to tell you the basics. We're going to do a really, really good cleaning on your face. So cleanse, tone, moisturize with an oil-free hydrator. You're going to mask twice a week and you're going to exfoliate. We want the pores to be really, really clean. I'm going to demonstrate on Nancy and we're going to show you exfoliation and masking on her hand. So, the products I'm going to recommend to you are alcohol-free. Now most people - go ahead and put your hand out. Most people who are a little bit oily - those people who are prone to acne - want to get alcohol onto their skin because they feel like they get rid of that oil really well that way. But what really happens is it dries out the surface of your skin. Once the surface layer of your skin gets dried out, the sebaceous glands, or your oil glands, overproduce oil because it wants to compensate for that dryness. So don't use alcohol. You can get your skin clean in other ways. Use a very mild cleanser to begin with. I really like Cetaphil. It's a great cleanser for almost any skin. Okay, cleanser, toner - which is what we just did - alcohol-free. Once a week I want you to use a very, very gentle scrub. Let me see your hand. You're going to get your skin wet with water. Just a little warm water, open those pores. Not hot water because hot water, again, dries out the surface of your skin. This is a really mild seven day scrub from Clinique. Love it, because it's really, really gentle. Don't push really hard - lightly, with your fingertips, in circular motions. This is going to get all the dead skin off the surface. Dead skin blocks pores and if a pore is blocked, that's what's going to create acne for you - a breakout. So lightly, in circular motions. Rinse your skin again with warm water. This is just a little water. Over the top. Once that's done, once you exfoliate, you may as well go right into your mud mask. Any mud mask will do, honestly. Borghese has, what I think, is the best one, but Swiss Ives has one too. We're going to put a thin layer on. What that's going to do is draw the oil and the dirt out of the pores. Now, I'm warning you, as that dirt and oil comes up through the skin, you may find that you're having a little bit more breakouts at the beginning. But once you get through that difficult part, your pores are going to be cleaner and you won't be having as many breakouts. If you keep a good skin routine - keep your skin really , really clean - you're going to reduce the incidents of your acne. Don't pick your skin when you have a break out. Everybody has a tendency to want to pick it. That's just going to break the surface of your skin and cause scarring. Keep a sunscreen on. Use an oil-free moisturizer to hydrate the surface of your skin. Drink lots of water, because that tends to flush out the oil glands, and change your pillow case every night because the oil gets on there and the bacteria does, too."