This time of year is the absolute worst for my skin. Unless I moisturize constantly my skin can become ashy, dry, and flakey. Besides being completely dried out from head to toe my breakouts tend to get worse in this weather and because of the overwhelming stress of schoolwork and finals. Most of the time my breakouts have to do with hormones or because of stress. Since I have been experiencing some horrendous breakouts recently I decided to do some research on the matter, so I googled it of course like I google everything. I came up with many reasons I may be an experiencing breakout besides just stress and hormones. I don’t ever wash my makeup brushes, which was the first reason I came across in my research. I learned that if you do not wash your makeup brushed bacteria will grow on them and transfer to your skin. Of course genetics is one of the main reasons behind acne, I wouldn’t call my breakouts acne but I do have a couple blemishes pop up here and there and so does my father. Like I previously suggested hormones is a huge part of breaking out, especially if it is “that time of month”. According to pop sugar beauty “Hormones called androgens over stimulate the skin’s oil glands, which frequently leads to a breakout around menstruation. (If you break out along your jawline, this is the likely culprit.)” I found this to be extremely true because during this time I find my breakouts to prominently be located around my chin area. Another reason I found to be true is picking at the flaws on your face. This is something I actively participate in whether I want to or not. Most of the time I don’t even realize I am attacking my face, however I always regret doing so after because of the inflammation and scarring that occurs after doing so. The cold whether really does a number on my skin, not only my face but also my entire body dries out. When I am away on vacation I never seem to have breakouts because the sun usually clears them and the lack of stress relieves my skin. Lack of sleep could also be increasing your breakouts. “Not sleeping enough inflicts stress on the body, which raises levels of cortisol, the so-called stress hormone.” Therefore cortisol is another reason behind breakouts. Sometimes when I stay out late I don’t end up washing my makeup off when I get home and go to sleep with it on which can easily clog my pores and result in a pimple forming. It is not always easy to take care of tour skin in college, because your diet is poor, there are not many healthy options, you have little time to do laundry so your sheets can end up dirty a lot of the time, and you are extremely stressed because of your workload. All of these reasons are causes of breakouts, and although they cannot all be solved you can be more aware of how to better take care of your skin. Recently I myself have been trying to apply these solutions into my life and for the most part they seem to be working, however stress really is a major reason for breakouts and due to the amounts of stress in my life currently my breakouts have been more prominent than usual.

“7 Ways to Get the Best-Looking Thighs of Your Life.” RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Dec. 2014.

“What’s Causing Your Breakout?” Womenshealthmag.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Dec. 2014.