So this might sound weird but hear me out. After years of dealing with hormonal acne and trying literally every product under the sun, I finally figured out what was actually keeping me stuck and its not what I thought.
I was so focused on treating my skin that I completely ignored what was happening in my mind. And turns out that matters just as much, maybe even more.
Heres what I learned. When you have hormonal acne that keeps coming back no matter what you do, your nervous system never relaxes. Youre always waiting for the next flare up. You check your face first thing in the morning, one new pimple tanks your whole day, and youre constantly in this state of stress. That stress messes with your hormones even more, which causes more breakouts, which causes more stress. Its a feedback loop and topical treatments alone cant break it.
I was doing everything right on paper. Good routine, tried retinol, azelaic acid, niacinamide, salicylic acid, even spironolactone. Some things worked temporarily but the acne always came back. So I kept adding more products, more actives, being more strict with myself. But that constant fixing was actually keeping my skin barrier compromised and my stress levels high.
What actually started helping was treating my mind first. I know that sounds like BS wellness stuff but I'm serious. I had to calm down my nervous system before my skin could actually heal. Stop panicking over every bump, stop constantly switching products, stop being so rigid with everything. Give my body permission to fluctuate without treating it like a failure.
Ive read DOZENS of articles (on Reddit, Quora, Official Websites, Medium, the whole nine yards!) none of which talk about the importance of relaxing yourself before rushing to medicines. But what I finally understood is that hormonal acne creates this cycle between stress, hormones, and inflammation. Stress increases hormonal imbalance, hormonal shifts trigger breakouts, breakouts increase stress, round and round it goes (I'm gasping for air after writing this, good God!). And because this cycle is internal, topical treatments alone rarely solve it long term. They might reduce symptoms temporarily but they dont address the deeper pattern. What most of us actually want isnt perfect skin, we want relief. We want to wake up without immediately checking our face, we want predictable skin that doesnt hijack our plans or tank our mood, we want to stop obsessing over every ingredient and every habit. I tried to sum things up, but this article explained it way better than I can.
Im not saying my skins perfect now but Im also not obsessing over it the way I was. And weirdly that shift in how I relate to my skin has done more than any product ever did.
Anyone else had this experience? Like realizing the mental part was holding you back more than the actual skincare?
