If you thought you were done with pimples and breakouts once you passed puberty, only to have your skin act out during certain times of your monthly cycle, you may find yourself frustrated! The good news is, we’re here to help! So keep reading to get the full disclosure on hormonal acne and how to treat it.
Hormonal acne typically runs concurrent with your monthly cycle and can cause your skin to break out, cause oily patches, and sometimes can even make your skin dry. Basically, it checks all the skin-problem boxes!
Thankfully, you’ve got a complete arsenal of products to treat hormonal acne holistically and help get rid of bumps before they start. Rael offers the best in holistic, hormonal acne treatment, and you can depend on us to give you treatments that are free from harsh chemicals that could dry or irritate your skin.
Let’s cover what causes hormonal acne, how you can treat it, and how you can feel your best every day of the month.
What Causes Hormonal Acne?
Hormones regulate nearly every process in your body, not just your monthly cycle. It’s no wonder that when our hormones are unbalanced, we experience unpleasant side effects. Everything from sweating, gastrointestinal issues, hair growth (and loss), to acne are affected by our ever-changing hormone levels.
Hormonal acne that happens during your monthly cycle can be a special challenge! You can experience hormonal acne from adolescence right through your 40s and 50s, although it tends to peak between the ages of 20-29.
You experience acne before your period due to a decrease in the hormones progesterone and estrogen. When these hormones decrease, it can make your skin drier. In response, your sebaceous glands begin to overproduce sebum, the natural oil that keeps your skin hydrated and moisturized.
When your skin begins making too much sebum, it can clog your pores and leave you with pimples and breakouts.
Unfortunately, the party doesn’t stop there. Toward the end of your period, your testosterone levels increase, which can also trigger the sebaceous glands to produce more oil. You’ll also experience a fluctuation in hormones the week after your period when you ovulate. This, too, can produce bumps and blemishes.
Where Does Hormonal Acne Appear?
You can get hormonal acne anywhere, including on your back, shoulders, chest, and even on your most sensitive regions. However, hormonal acne most commonly develops on your jawline, especially on your chin and lower cheeks.
You may have noticed you get different types of breakouts, too. Hormonal changes can trigger blackheads, whiteheads, and painful, under-the-skin cysts.
How To Treat Hormonal Acne
Your monthly cycle makes you powerful, and you don’t have to let acne stand in the way of feeling confident and fabulous no matter what time of the month it may be. Here’s how to deal with hormonal acne, soothe your skin, and feel better.
Before Your Period
The week before your period your progesterone and estrogen levels will drop, causing your skin to become a little drier. Send the message to your sebaceous glands that they can relax by using a hydrating sheet mask a few days before you start your period.
Giving your skin a little extra hydration can keep your sebaceous glands satisfied so they don’t produce as much pore-clogging oil.
Another way to enhance your skin’s natural moisture levels during your premenstrual week? Adding a potent hydration treatment to your skin care routine. Rael’s Moisture Melt Snowballs are a great way to give your skin a surge of moisture when it needs it most. Just one treatment keeps your skin hydrated for over 100 hours!
During Your Period
The week of your period usually means bumps and blemishes, which can lead to picking, prodding, and making a small issue a bigger one.
The first rule of dealing with period-week acne is to leave it alone. Resist the urge to pick, pop, or otherwise touch your skin. You’ll only make it worse and you could potentially cause scarring if you aren’t gentle with your skin.
If you have trouble keeping your hands off, try using pimple patch stickers. These stickers are clear, flat remedies that cover your bumps and help to erase them in a matter of hours. Rael offers two kinds of pimple patch stickers to help you fight two very different kinds of hormonal bumps.
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For visible bumps. If you’ve developed a whitehead or red, raised bump, don’t squeeze. Apply an Invisible Spot Cover patch to the pimple and forget about it. The combination of hydrocolloid covering and tea tree oil will help pull the pus and oil from your bump, leaving behind smooth, clear skin.
Got an entire patch of little bumps? Try using the Spot Control Cover, designed to invisibly cover an entire area and help reduce irritation, swelling, and redness while making bumps disappear.
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For under the skin bumps. Those hard cyst-like bumps you feel on your cheeks and chin the week of your period will never pop, so stop trying. Instead, get rid of those painful lumps by using a Microcrystal Spot Cover patch.
These hydrocolloid patches specifically target under-the-skin bumps by penetrating deep below the surface of your skin to break up and dissolve the irritation. Bumps shrink to nothing under the patch.
For Ovulation Week
The week of ovulation is a great time to practice a little self-care, and using the right skin treatments during this week can help you fight off any hormonal acne bumps that might feel like making a guest appearance on your face.
We recommend tea tree oil sheet masks to help keep your skin clean, clear, and radiant. Tea tree oil has antiseptic properties which make it ideal for the week of ovulation. Tea tree helps keep the healthy bacteria levels on your skin balanced and fights off bad bacteria which could trigger a breakout.
Tea tree oil is also great for keeping your skin’s natural moisture level balanced. Rael’s tea tree oil sheet masks contain a concentrated dose of tea tree oil and also soothing cica extract and healing chamomile to keep your skin hydrated and help it stay free from irritation.
For the Rest of the Month
Obviously, acne bumps can crop up anytime during the month, not just the week before, during, or after your period. For the remainder of the month, taking good care of your skin will pay dividends and help you avoid random hormonal breakouts.
Looking for a great way to build an acne-busting skin care routine? We can help. We’ve got 3 ways to build a skin care routine that will help you look radiant and experience less bumps.
1. Cleanse
Any great skincare routine starts with a great cleanser. Our calming cica cleansing water and oil-to-foam cleanser are great ways to cleanse your skin deeply and keep your pores clear and ready for additional treatment.
These cleansers won’t strip your skin of moisture, triggering your sebaceous glands to overproduce and make your skin more oily. Instead, ingredients in our cleansers will keep your skin hydrated all day which can help you avoid acne breakouts.
2. Apply a Serum
Every skin type should make use of a quality serum. A serum is a concentrated dose of skin essential ingredients delivered deeply to your pores. Our Glow Chemistry Advanced Antioxidant Serum contains fullerene, a powerful antioxidant that helps protect your skin from external stressors and helps keep your skin hydrated.
Pro tip: Use serum after you moisturize. Serums can contain ingredients that form a protective seal on your skin, locking in moisture and helping the ingredients penetrate deeply. If you apply your moisturizer after your serum, it may not be as effective.
Moisturize
Our Daily Restoration Nourishing Gel Cream is a great way to deliver moisture to your skin and help you avoid dryness. Even if you have skin that is normally oily, it could be because your sebaceous glands are responding to dry skin by overproducing oil.
Using a great moisturizer can help you avoid blemishes and keep your skin radiant and hydrated. Be sure to apply your moisturizer morning and evening so you can keep your skin hydrated all day long.
The Takeaway
Hormonal acne can happen during any time of your life, but it is especially common as a younger adult. Resist the urge to pick, prod, or further damage your skin by using skin care essentials that can help you avoid hormonal acne in the first place.
If you do get bumps and blemishes, we’ve got you covered (literally!) with acne patches that can help you get rid of them quickly. Rael is your go-to source for natural, holistic period care to help you feel amazing all month long!
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