I've done countless of posts on here about my acne journey. I've included my skincare routines, my medication, how I feel about it, the whole thing. To be quite honest, I feel like I've over done it a bit BUT (and this is a big but), I've finally managed to clear my skin. This is not a joke, I am being fully honest. Do you want to know the even better news? I did it in the space of 5 months!

I've had so much medication over the past five years to try and combat my acne. I have it all over my face, back, arms and legs. This is all cystic acne, unfortunately, I have not managed to clear the acne so much on my body but my face, oh my gosh. I honestly can't believe the progress. The best thing about this, is that you don't have to buy £100 creams or have £800 worth of treatment (which I still am considering for the nasty scars which just won't budge).

Below, you can see my progress. In August 2018 my face is littered with cystic acne and scarring. Believe me, this was painful. I had just come off of Dianette which is a contraceptive used to battle acne. The next step is something called Roaccutane which I had the chance to go on but turned down. Over the months, I put into place a particular routine and diet which lead to where I am today. Just a side note: Please ignore my face in all of these (particularly the recent one, I'd just woken up lol).

The photo shows three stages of my acne over the course of a year and in January 2019 my skin was looking amazing! I included this photo from March 2019 because I didn't take any photos of my skin in January or February without makeup on.

So what did I do to clear my skin if I wasn't on medication? Personally, I feel like the medication was masking the underlining issue. All I have done is substituted dairy products. Dairy. Who knew? I was doing a bit of research one day and came across one of those 'if you have acne here, this is the problem' and thought "well, I might as well". So I found some dairy substitutes and got going. I must stress that if you have the choice to go diary free, do not cut dairy out of your diet completely because it does contain vitamins that you need.

I still eat chocolate, yogurts occasionally, and I cave into an ice cream sometimes. I really shouldn't though. I've come to a conclusion that every time I have some kind of dairy, my acne flares up about 10 days after the dairy is consumed. Now I was having a glass of milk nearly every night, cereal in the morning, cheese sandwiches, my dairy consumption was huge (unintentionally). When I cut it out, I noticed a HUGE difference.

Instead of normal milk, I now have rice milk. I've been through a lot of them: soya, hemp, and others that I can't even remember. Personally, rice milk is the best for me and I use it in my tea, cereal and thinking about it, I need to try baking with it!

I once in a while have normal milk but by making the smallest swap of having rice milk in tea rather than normal milk, has made a massive difference to my skin. I really would recommend this.

My other dairy swap is cheese. I love cheese so I do cave on occasion but this Violife cheese (made from coconut oil) is delicious. I haven't noticed much of a difference really, it has more of a softer texture and when it melts, it's like a fondue which you will either love or hate but it's a great cheese substitute.

I have also recently got my claws on some of the Vegan Ben and Jerry's Chocolate Fudge Brownie ice cream which is delightful. Made from almond paste, the ice cream doesn't taste much different and I can eat it without feeling bad about how in 10 days my face is going to be so bloody painful!

Alongside my dairy cut down, I have been sticking to a particular skincare regime to combat the acne and scarring. I'm going to chat about the main products that I use on a daily basis to help combat any unwanted acne and scarring.

Every morning I use this B. Strong Day Cream which is 'Step 5' of their range. Annoyingly, I can't find this anywhere online. I bought it from Superdrug for about £7 but usually the prices for the B. Day Creams are in the region of £12. Now because I've thrown the box away and I can't find a thing online (well done Sophie), all I can tell you is what I remember about the product.

One of the ingredients in this day cream is Hyaluronic Acid which is good for resurfacing the skin. I use it every morning and have seen a substantial improvement in the softness and smoothness of my skin - even my sister has noticed.

I've worked with B. Beauty before and they always have great products around so it's a shame that I can't find this anywhere!

In the evening's before my shower I take off all of my make up with the L'Oreal Paris Fine Flowers Milk Cleanser which I love. I saw so many blogger recommendations and so got myself some for Christmas. I have really sensitive skin so this is a great and is so gentle. I nice little tip, you can knock off a couple of pounds from the price if you buy this from Wilkinsons (it's only £4!).

With Rose and Jasmine infused, it smell amazing and does a great job of getting rid of all of my makeup. It's a huge bottle as well. I've got about a third left. Rose is meant to help with scarring and even skin tones which is part the reason why I bought it.

After the cleanser, I go over my face with this Nip + Fab Extreme Glycolic Fix Liquid Glow. As a toner, it takes of any makeup that I've missed and targets my acne scarring by resurfacing my skin. Glycolic acid is used in chemical peels by dermatologists so this works wonders.

I bought a lot from this range a while ago and loved it. I've found it hard to keep up the routine though so at the moment I'm just incorporating the one into my skincare routine. I originally got this in a gift set at Christmas and I've just ran out and replaced it. I bought two when they were on offer in Superdrug the other day so I'm fully stocked.

Since this is 6% Glycolic acid, if you are going to use this, you have to do a skin test before to see if you have any reaction to it. Plenty of people I know haven't and they've had to wash their faces immediately. It's a strong acid and doesn't do great for people with hyper sensitive skin so be wary. A 2% product is best to start out with.

Every week I try and use this skin.goo Australia Turmeric face mask. Turmeric is great for brightening the skin and reducing scarring so it's something that I try and use on a regular basis. I can't find any trace of this company online (should I be worried?) but I bought it from TK Maxx back in January.

I swear by Bio Oil, it does wonders for near enough everything and when used long term can dramatically decrease scarring. I use this every night when I'm out of the shower so it can sink into my pores and have it's full effect. I massage it into my skin until my skin isn't very oily and let it sit there overnight. I spoke about this in some of my previous skincare posts. If you have any marks like scars, stretch marks, uneven skin tones, or signs of ageing - this is the product you want on your vanity.

Who's have thought that my acne was thanks to my dairy intake?

Until next time...







Have you read my last post?
Girl on the Train Theatre Review

Keep up to date with me on Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Pinterest | Bloglovin'