There comes a time in everyone’s life when they become better human beings. It came for me too. I have always been a rather smug about winning a gene pool lottery which made sure that for most of my life, I never had any skin, hair, weight or serious health issues. Combined with my inherent complacence, it turned me into a cocky little sparrow with a careless attitude towards the earth shatteringly important issues of health, skincare and beauty.
Then, last year, I turned 20 and intensified the point-and-laugh campaign that I had started 4-5 years back against friends suffering from what I called “the funny little red zits issue.” This is how my thought process went – “Hooray! Teenage over and so is the threat of ever getting any acne! Let’s call up pimply friends and ask them how their pus boils are doing.”
Then, karma caught up, cuffed me by my neck, gave me its own version of what school teachers call “vunnnnn tiiiite slapp!” and ran away guffawing. Last December, I woke up one morning and discovered (for the first time in my life), a whole gang of big, fat, cherry red pimples hosting a raucous party on the entire left side of my face. Except for a momentary shock-and-scream reaction accompanied by various unmentionable profanities, I was very stoic in my approach. My friends, like all true friends, were utterly unsympathetic and downright sadistic. Here’s the reaction that I received, by the way – “HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Serves you right!”
Clearly, it was a battle that I waged alone and for the next three months, one of my life’s priorities was – “Get rid of the goddamn acne before face develops Om Puri’s craters.” My biggest problem was that I have dry skin and none of the usual acne remedies (recommended by my friends with oil fields for faces) could work without making me shed my skin like a mad Basilisk living in the Chamber of Secrets. It wasn’t easy especially with my parents pointing and laughing at me every other day (my family is not big on sympathy over “minor issues” like 5 million mammoth pimples on the face) and classmates asking if I had just recovered from chicken pox.
After a seemingly endless period of denial, anger, frustration, existential crisis, lots of research into skincare issues, discovery of IMBB, stick-tongue-out-at-mocking-mother episodes, mirror-avoidance, anti-acne Ninja training and similar yada yada, I finally won my war against the enemy. What’s more, there are no ugly scars on my face either to act as relics of that war!
If it is hard to battle zits on oily skin, it is doubly so when you have dry skin. So, the reason why I recounted that introductory sob story was because I’ve decided to create a comprehensive acne-battling-tactics-for-dry-skin guide for fellow victims and share tips and sympathy.
The Whys:
The first thing that popped in my mind (after “Oh, CRAP!”, of course) was “Why the hell?”. The moment I recovered some mental stability, I sat up and analysed the living hell out of this issue. Normally, you would not expect acne on dry skin. Well, incorrect assumption. Here are all the reasons that I believe can cause acne even on sandpaper-like skins.
1.) Temperature is an important factor for dry skin acne as humidity affects skin health. In summers, dry skin is easily sunburned and it also produces more sweat and oil to cool down, thereby giving a chance to evil little bacteria to grow. Winters are even worse because frost, harsh winds, and heaters cause more dryness leading to flakes and itchiness. “Cracking” of the skin is common, opening the door for bacteria to creep in and create havoc on the face. In the winter, pores also become drier and more irritated and aggravate problems.
2.) Dryness itself can be a cause of acne. Oily-skinned people are usually advised to use a light moisturiser so that their skin doesn’t over-produce oil for moisturisation causing more oiliness. That is precisely what happens with dry skin. To compensate for extreme dryness, skin starts producing oil/sebum leading to clogged pores and later, acne.
3.) Smoking is also a major factor of acne. Many people don’t realize how harmful even passive smoking can be for the skin and the lungs. People who hang out with smokers or just tend to smoke occasionally (aka. the I’ll-just-have-a-few-drags syndrome) usually suffer from acne. What is worse is that those smokers (passive or otherwise) who kick the butt have to face a purgatory called “quitzits” – acne caused as a side effect of quitting smoking. Classic example of “damned if you and damned if you don’t.”
4.) Stress is also acne’s dearly beloved friend. Basically, this is how the mechanism works: You get pissed off —> you want to punch someone and break their nose —> you remember that your mommy told you that it might get you into trouble —> you punch a pillow and let out a volley of certain words instead that mommy wouldn’t approve of —> your urge to punch may be satisfied but the wish to break a nose stays unfulfilled which makes your adrenal gland go bonkers leading to higher androgen levels —> result = red little buggers on the face —> you get more pissed off —> and so the vicious circle continues.
5.) Do you remember Bugs Bunny? Have you ever seen him with pimples? No, right? That’s what carrots, or rather, Vitamin A can do to you. One of the major causes of acne can be vitamin deficiency and besides the Bugs Bunny Vitamin, other vitamins and minerals for an acne-free skin include B, C, E, chromium and zinc. If you’re a poor eater or are best friends with the McDonald’s/Pizza Hut Staff due to your delusionally healthy eating habits, you will definitely be attacked by pimples, even if your skin looks so dry that you practically resemble a scaly lizard. Lack of vitamins and minerals does not allow your body to flush out the harmful toxins from your body whose results are directly visible on your skin.
6.) Dandruff and flaky scalp could also be the culprits. Your scalp health is directly related to that of your facial skin and if it’s snowing on your head, mini volcano eruptions are bound to take place on your face.
Then, last year, I turned 20 and intensified the point-and-laugh campaign that I had started 4-5 years back against friends suffering from what I called “the funny little red zits issue.” This is how my thought process went – “Hooray! Teenage over and so is the threat of ever getting any acne! Let’s call up pimply friends and ask them how their pus boils are doing.”
Then, karma caught up, cuffed me by my neck, gave me its own version of what school teachers call “vunnnnn tiiiite slapp!” and ran away guffawing. Last December, I woke up one morning and discovered (for the first time in my life), a whole gang of big, fat, cherry red pimples hosting a raucous party on the entire left side of my face. Except for a momentary shock-and-scream reaction accompanied by various unmentionable profanities, I was very stoic in my approach. My friends, like all true friends, were utterly unsympathetic and downright sadistic. Here’s the reaction that I received, by the way – “HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Serves you right!”
Clearly, it was a battle that I waged alone and for the next three months, one of my life’s priorities was – “Get rid of the goddamn acne before face develops Om Puri’s craters.” My biggest problem was that I have dry skin and none of the usual acne remedies (recommended by my friends with oil fields for faces) could work without making me shed my skin like a mad Basilisk living in the Chamber of Secrets. It wasn’t easy especially with my parents pointing and laughing at me every other day (my family is not big on sympathy over “minor issues” like 5 million mammoth pimples on the face) and classmates asking if I had just recovered from chicken pox.
After a seemingly endless period of denial, anger, frustration, existential crisis, lots of research into skincare issues, discovery of IMBB, stick-tongue-out-at-mocking-mother episodes, mirror-avoidance, anti-acne Ninja training and similar yada yada, I finally won my war against the enemy. What’s more, there are no ugly scars on my face either to act as relics of that war!
If it is hard to battle zits on oily skin, it is doubly so when you have dry skin. So, the reason why I recounted that introductory sob story was because I’ve decided to create a comprehensive acne-battling-tactics-for-dry-skin guide for fellow victims and share tips and sympathy.
The Whys:
The first thing that popped in my mind (after “Oh, CRAP!”, of course) was “Why the hell?”. The moment I recovered some mental stability, I sat up and analysed the living hell out of this issue. Normally, you would not expect acne on dry skin. Well, incorrect assumption. Here are all the reasons that I believe can cause acne even on sandpaper-like skins.
1.) Temperature is an important factor for dry skin acne as humidity affects skin health. In summers, dry skin is easily sunburned and it also produces more sweat and oil to cool down, thereby giving a chance to evil little bacteria to grow. Winters are even worse because frost, harsh winds, and heaters cause more dryness leading to flakes and itchiness. “Cracking” of the skin is common, opening the door for bacteria to creep in and create havoc on the face. In the winter, pores also become drier and more irritated and aggravate problems.
2.) Dryness itself can be a cause of acne. Oily-skinned people are usually advised to use a light moisturiser so that their skin doesn’t over-produce oil for moisturisation causing more oiliness. That is precisely what happens with dry skin. To compensate for extreme dryness, skin starts producing oil/sebum leading to clogged pores and later, acne.
3.) Smoking is also a major factor of acne. Many people don’t realize how harmful even passive smoking can be for the skin and the lungs. People who hang out with smokers or just tend to smoke occasionally (aka. the I’ll-just-have-a-few-drags syndrome) usually suffer from acne. What is worse is that those smokers (passive or otherwise) who kick the butt have to face a purgatory called “quitzits” – acne caused as a side effect of quitting smoking. Classic example of “damned if you and damned if you don’t.”
4.) Stress is also acne’s dearly beloved friend. Basically, this is how the mechanism works: You get pissed off —> you want to punch someone and break their nose —> you remember that your mommy told you that it might get you into trouble —> you punch a pillow and let out a volley of certain words instead that mommy wouldn’t approve of —> your urge to punch may be satisfied but the wish to break a nose stays unfulfilled which makes your adrenal gland go bonkers leading to higher androgen levels —> result = red little buggers on the face —> you get more pissed off —> and so the vicious circle continues.
5.) Do you remember Bugs Bunny? Have you ever seen him with pimples? No, right? That’s what carrots, or rather, Vitamin A can do to you. One of the major causes of acne can be vitamin deficiency and besides the Bugs Bunny Vitamin, other vitamins and minerals for an acne-free skin include B, C, E, chromium and zinc. If you’re a poor eater or are best friends with the McDonald’s/Pizza Hut Staff due to your delusionally healthy eating habits, you will definitely be attacked by pimples, even if your skin looks so dry that you practically resemble a scaly lizard. Lack of vitamins and minerals does not allow your body to flush out the harmful toxins from your body whose results are directly visible on your skin.
6.) Dandruff and flaky scalp could also be the culprits. Your scalp health is directly related to that of your facial skin and if it’s snowing on your head, mini volcano eruptions are bound to take place on your face.
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