This is probably the second most hated thing after weight. ACNE!! Or zits. Pimples if you're Australian ;) Haha. 

Now... I'm not gonna put pictures up of acne/pimples/zits or whatever coz that'll just gross you out... haha. So yeah ^^

Now, acne. There may be many different causes for acne. It could include things from as tiny as bad sleeping habits to having a bad diet. Usually, they're formed because of a sebum-creating gland (the sebaceous gland) under your skin. As the dead skin cells on your face shed, some gets clogged in your pores by the sticky sebum which accumulates as the blockage continues. This blocked sebum contains a bacteria that lives harmlessly on our bodies, but when the conditions are right, it can reproduce more rapidly, feeding off our sebum. This bacteria produces a chemical that triggers our immune system, which leads to your skin becoming inflammed and spotty. By the way, sebum is an oily substance that the gland makes. 

OKAY! Enough with the science lesson, haha. Here's the part your really want to know. How to minimise and prevent it (if possible). 

There are many causes for pimples and here are a few common reasons with ways to counteract it.

DIET!

Yes... Believe it or not, your diet can drastically affect your skin. Research has been proven that a healthy and balanced diet can help keep your skin healthy, and therefore, lessen breakouts.

MYTH: Chocolates & oily foods cause you to break out like crazy. FALSE! Although it may be true for some, oily foods and chocolate does not directly trigger anything that sets off a wildfire of breakouts on your face. 

MILK! This does cause acne though. Why? Because milk often comes from pregnant cows, there is a high amount of hormone in the milk that we drink and our body converts that into a hormone that signals our body to make more sebum!

Your Pillow Case

Weird, right? That your pillow case could be the culprit of your breakouts. Think about it. You lie on your pillow. The oil from your hair then gets transferred to your face when you turn, and that oil stays on your face for 8hrs straight. EW! And this continues every night till you change your pillow case. GROSS! Your pillow case can be the dirtiest thing in your house, and yet you are completely unaware of it. Well, now you know, haha. 

So change it every week if you can. It'll be done for your own benefit!

Your Phone & Computer Radiation

Another weird cause. But yes, it does cause pimples. For all your phone junkies out there who like to talk for hours on the phone with you best friend who you just spent the whole day at school, have you thought about the screen and surface of your phone, especially touch phones?

It's been in your bag all day, with who-know-what in there (rubbish... wrappers... Stuff like that). And then, if it's a touch phone, you've got all your fingerprints on it, which is basically oil as well. Think of all that dirty stuff and then, BAM! It's on your face for hours while you talk on the phone with your best friend. 

For some, this can be a cause and the way to minimise it... text! Or MSN! Or maybe just... talk tomorrow at school? Haha. But if you really can't resist talking with your friend over the phone, occassionally switch sides of your face that you're putting your phone too. Don't wait till your ear gets too hot. That'll be like, 40+mins. And wipe down your screen often too! It won't get rid of everything, but most of the dirt and oil will be gone :)

As for the computer radiation part, try to turn your computer off when you don't use it and not put it on standby. Although it minimises the radiation, turning it off will completely shut it off and will avoid any prolonged exposure to radiation. Try putting a green plant in your room that absorbs radiation (Yes, they exist, haha)

Sleep, Stress & that Time of the Month

Now, I'm not saying that sleep directly causes acne, but it definitely contributes to breaking out. So the solution? Sleep more!

And for girls... Yes, that time every month... Your period... It's annoying for multiple reasons but let's add another to the list. It breaks you out! Now, this may differ from people to people, but because of the high hormonal levels and estrogen causes imbalance in your body and therefore, your skin goes crazy and BOOM! You breakout. I am part of this unfortunate group and do often break out before my period comes. 

Unfortuantely, nothing much can be done about this, unless you want to buy proestrogen cream to put on. But then again, as how most of you guys are young, it is uneccessary to do so much to your skin. It may actually cause more breakouts. So let nature take its course. But if it does get too out of hand, see a doctor. 

Stress is often a hidden factor and many don't realise but yes, it is a factor. So next time you get stressed,  de-stress yourself by taking some time off and exercise. It'll help clear up your skin ^^

Too Oily Skin

For those of you who has extremely oily you guys are in danger too. I think it's self-explanatory why too oily skin is easy to breakout but dry-oily skin can also be in danger. By dry-oily skin, I mean originally oily skin but have been dried out due to allergies or weather etc. 

When the skin is dry, it will try to replenish the lost oils but producing more. And the dryer your skin is, the more your skin oils glands will try to pump out oil like crazy to help your skin. This is how you breakout. Although your skin is dry on the outside, it is extremely oily on the inside. When this happens, try to help your skin by applying a moisturising cream that allows your skin to soak up moisture and keep the skin moist. 

For those of you who have oily skin and want to wash your face three times a day, don't! You'll just strip the natural oils from your skin the above will just happen and you don't want that. 

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So this is only a short brief of acne-related problems. When I think of more causes, I will put in a part 2 for you guys xD These are just more of common unknown causes that I wanted to share with you guys :)