During my teenage years I suffered with breakouts, nothing severe, but frequent enough to bother me (I think we all know that feeling of "Oh no, I have a spot!! I am not leaving the house!"). I kept thinking that it could be much worse and I should just be patient and wait to grow out of it. I am now 22 and still get breakouts all the time, especially just before 'that time of the month' we all love :(. I still have the skin of a teenager (and not in the good way), so I recently decided to return to an old favourite- tea tree oil.
Tea tree has a long history of traditional use. Australian aboriginals used its leaves for healing skin cuts, burns, and infections as it has antiseptic and
antifungal properties.
People use tea tree oil for the following conditions:
- Acne
- Athlete's foot
- Dandruff
- Thrush
- Periodontal disease
- As an antiseptic
So to treat a particularly nasty breakout recently I used Body Shop's Tea Tree Oil Blemish stick. Staying at my boyfriend's house in the country, with a very limited bag of rescue remedies, I applied this gel religiously twice a day. It does not smell too strongly and sinks in immediately so make-up can be applied straight away. I was a little hesitant at first as I thought that it would be a little too harsh on my sensitive skin. However, I was very pleasantly surprised as it significantly reduced swelling and redness without drying my skin out and creating that unsightly crust that most blemish treatments tend to leave behind, which in my opinion looks even worse than a spot! Yuck!
If you are having trouble with controlling blemishes I would give this product a try. It really does speed up the clearing process without drying the area out as it contains tea tree oil
(obviously), allantoin to soothe and panthenol to moisturise the skin. This has worked so well that I may try returning to more of my past favourites, why change a good thing right?
What do you guys use for a particularly nasty breakout?
