How to Restore Your Confidence After a Bad Breakout

It’s easy for a person’s confidence to take a knock during and after a bad breakout, with multiple studies showing that acne has a significant impact on self-esteem. This has far-reaching consequences, with acne being to with higher rates of anxiety, depression, social isolation, and suicide attempts. Shockingly, research also shows that people with acne experience higher rates of unemployment than those without. With all of this in mind, it’s hardly surprising that a bad breakout can quickly lead to a downward spiral.

Wondering if there’s a way to prevent acne from affecting your confidence quite so much? Read on as Lionesse shares some top tips on how to restore your self-esteem after you’ve experienced a bad breakout.

Stop Obsessing Over Your Skin

It’s easy to start obsessing over your skin when you know that your next bad breakout isn’t far away. However, spending all of that time scrutinizing every inch of your skin in the mirror isn’t going to do much for your confidence.

How can you stop doing this?

Although easier said than done, practicing positivity will go a long way. Each time a negative thought enters into your head, replace it with healthy self-talk. While many may scoff at the idea of having a mantra that you can turn to whenever your mind starts to spiral, don’t knock it until you’ve tried it! Find a positive phrase that motivates and inspires you and repeat it to yourself whenever your skin is getting you down.

Finding something else to occupy your mind when you start to obsess over your skin can also work well. This is a great time to try out a few hobbies. If possible, look into doing something active. Research shows that many people experience a decrease in acne breakouts when they exercise regularly. This is largely down to how exercise helps to lower inflammation in the body, including the skin. With inflammation being what triggers acne, exercising more could very well help you prevent your next bad breakout.

Show Your Skin Some Love

Chances are that you’ve spent a lot of time hating on your skin. However, all of that negativity will only sap away your confidence even more. As we explained above, positivity is what you need!

So, instead of cursing your skin the next time you look into the mirror, find ways in which you can show your skin some love. Remember, although it may feel as though your skin is letting you down by breaking out so often, it’s still carrying out a number of other vital roles that keep your body functioning properly. Your skin is your body’s largest organ, after all!

How can you show your skin some love?

Face masks are a great way to do this. Not only will a relaxing masking session leave your skin feeling utterly pampered but choose the right mask and you could also potentially put a stop to your next bad breakout.

Take the Lionesse Black Onyx Mask as an example. It’s a clay mask, featuring kaolin clay. Kaolin is a fantastic ingredient for people with acne-prone skin because of how it absorbs excess sebum. This can leave the skin feeling significantly less greasy. As a result, you’ll be less likely to notice the appearance of clogged pores and the pimples that they cause. In this formula, kaolin is combined with a number of other beneficial ingredients, including vitamin C, vitamin A, aloe vera extract, and coffee seed extract.

What makes this mask even better for giving your mental health a boost is its self-heating effect. It slowly warms up as it’s massaged into the skin, making it feel as though you’re indulging in a spa session. It’s an amazing way to de-stress, which, as you’ll later find out, is another way to restore your confidence.

Work on Fading the Look of Acne Marks and Scars

While the visibility of your acne marks and scars will eventually fade on their own, knowing that you’re doing something to help speed the process up can give your confidence a kickstart. Again, this doesn’t mean obsessing over them. Instead, do your research, find a few ingredients and products that look promising, and add those to your skincare routine. Understand and accept that this will be a long-term game rather than being disappointed by the lack of instant results.

With acne marks being a form of hyperpigmentation, there are plenty of ingredients out there that can help to even out the look of your skin. Vitamin C is known for being one of the best, which is why vitamin C serums have soared in popularity. Products like the White Pearl Vitamin C Serum offer up a pure form of skincare’s most-loved antioxidant, which is exactly what your skin needs. This serum in particular also contains orange peel oil. This botanical is an incredible natural source of vitamin C, giving your skin double the benefits.

What about your acne scars?

These are a little trickier to deal with. The best way forward would be to speak to a dermatologist about a topical retinoid. They’ll be able to prescribe a product that’s powerful enough to make a difference to acne scars, which are deeper seated than acne marks.

Develop a Strategy to Prevent the Appearance of New Breakouts

If you’re constantly worrying about when your next bad breakout is going to appear, you’ll struggle to properly get your confidence back. Plus, all of that worry will only lead to obsession, which you definitely don’t want to encourage!

So, to put your mind at ease, build a skincare routine that will help you prevent new breakouts from developing. Following your routine twice a day will leave your skin feeling healthier, increasing your odds of enjoying another day with a blemish-free complexion.

What should your new routine consist of?

A good cleanser is a must for anyone with acne-prone skin. Allowing excess sebum to linger on your skin’s surface will quickly lead to clogged pores and breakouts. Instead, cleanse this away twice a day with a gentle, skin-loving product, such as the Lionesse White Pearl Facial Cleanser. It’ll leave your skin looking clearer and brighter! 

It’s also vital to use a good exfoliant a few times a week. This will clear out any blockages from your pores to prevent the appearance of breakouts. Lionesse’s White Pearl Facial Peeling is a popular choice because of how it effectively clarifies, de-greases, and deeply refreshes the complexion.

Hydration is also key if you want to prevent the appearance of acne. The thirstier your skin is, the more sebum it will produce. So, prioritize hydration by finding yourself a hydrating serum. The Morganite Transforming Serum from Lionesse is packed with peptides and humectants to bump up your skin’s moisture levels.

Finally, don’t forget to moisturize and apply SPF during the day. A lightweight moisturizer and sunscreen are essential. To save yourself from needing to apply an extra product to your skin, find a moisturizer that contains SPF and you’ll be able to multi-task!

Have a Plan in Place For When Your Next Bad Breakout Arises

Even if you’ve found some amazing new acne treatments to try, chances are that you’ll still experience a few breakouts before they begin to take effect. Unfortunately, there’s no miracle product that can completely get rid of acne overnight! 

So, rather than allowing your next bad breakout to take you by surprise, have a plan in place. Put together a breakout survival kit featuring products that you can turn to when you need to soothe and calm your complexion. Whether this may be pimple creams, pimple patches, or anything else, bring together your favorite formulas to arm yourself against your next breakout.

One product worth including in your breakout survival kit is the White Pearl Skin Toner. It’s incredibly hydrating, which, as we explained earlier, can actually leave your skin feeling less oily. At the same time, it also contains witch hazel extract. This botanical is revered for its astringent properties. It will help to de-grease the feel of your skin while also minimizing the look of your pores, which can go a long way in raising your confidence!

Learn How to De-Stress

Research shows that stress can be severely detrimental to a person’s self-esteem. Well, guess what? Stress spells bad news for acne too. Whenever you feel stressed, your body releases a hormone called cortisol, which stimulates the skin’s sebaceous glands. The more stressed you get, the oilier your skin will be, meaning the more likely you are to experience a bad breakout.

So, not only does stress chip away at your confidence, but it will also amplify your breakouts. This will, again, have a negative impact on your confidence.

It goes without saying that one way to restore that confidence is to cut all of that stress out of your life. Again, this is something that tends to be easier said than done, especially to start with. However, there are plenty of stress relief methods out there that have been scientifically proven to be effective. Give some of these a try to see what works for you!

Need a starting point? Try meditation, or even just deep breathing. It’s a great way to clear the mind. Listening to music can also be a great stress reliever, as can spending time in nature. Studies have found that even a short stint in nature can be a huge mood booster.

What happens if you aren’t able to immediately take some time out to try one of these stress-relieving methods? Pop some chewing gum into your mouth. Over the years, numerous studies have pointed to how chewing on gum can help to reduce stress and anxiety. It won’t completely eradicate your stress levels but it can certainly help to lower them!

Summary

If a bad breakout has left your confidence feeling shaky, it’s time to turn things around before your mental health starts to worsen. Try following the tips that we’ve shared above and not only will you be able to give your self-esteem a boost but you’ll also be giving your skin some extra attention in a positive way, which should help to reduce your chances of experiencing yet another bad breakout in the future.

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