Breakouts are normally considered to be caused by makeup – and since everyone’s home, this is the PERFECT time to let your skin breathe. However, for some people, their skin is worse than ever during lockdown. With breakouts, blemishes, acne scars and a whole lot of two-tone skin. Why? We have the answer:
Out of many, some of the main culprits are stress, diet, lack of Vitamin D and sunscreen.
Lack of Sunscreen:
A lot of people assumed that they no longer had to wear sunscreen because they were indoors – WRONG. You still have to wear sunscreen because light and UV rays can still filter through the windows in the house. And unless you live in a basement with no windows (or a bunker), better start putting on some sunscreen every day to protect your skin.
Stress:
When our body is stressed, it releases cortisol which is our fight or flight hormone. When cortisol is high, estrogen production is lowered. As our estrogen decreases, our androgen (male sex hormone) is in abundance, and sends messages to the sebaceous glands to produce more oil. As we all know very well, our pores don’t like an abundance of anything, therefore they swell and inflame, creating a spot. And that, is how you get a breakout.
It is understandable to be stressed during the current Coronavirus pandemic, but it’s important for your skin and more importantly for your mental health, to take time out to relax and take yourself away from the current chaos and unpredictability of things.
You can use mindfulness apps, yoga, painting, colouring, knitting, reading or even cooking to help you unwind.
Diet:
Let’s be honest – who doesn’t make a trip to the kitchen every 30 mins? Because you’re bored – there’s pretty much nothing you feel like doing except bingeing on junk food to beat boredom. However, succumbing to junk food will wreak havoc on our guts which in turn wreaks havoc on our skin.
With that in mind, it could be worth sticking to your healthy eating regimes, even though you’re at home all day and have constant access to the cupboards.
Lack of Vitamin D:
Another contributing factor is also the lack of Vitamin D which is bound to get deficient in our bodies thanks to the lockdown. Now we are NOT suggesting that you go out, but you can still get some sunlight by being INSIDE the house.
Vitamin D is important for cell development and therefore essential for healthy skin. A simple way to combat this is make sure you’re getting some sunshine on your skin in the day (WHILE WEARING SUNSCREEN), whether that’s sitting in your garden or the rooftop, or even having a stroll in the street in front of your own.
Remember, to not stress out, take it easy and find peace in knowing that we’re all in this together. Now that you know what’s causing your breakouts – it’s time to fix your skin again!