One thing I never quite expected was that I’d be dealing with breakouts and problem spots in my mid-to-late twenties. I know that sounds like quite a privileged thing to say, and, to be frank, it is. I’m someone who’s had to deal with endometriosis since I was 13 years old, so when I was put on a hormonal contraceptive pill to tackle my debilitating period pains, it took years before I realised that it was probably helping my skin, too. While my peers suffered from painful, recurring breakouts during high school, I was quite lucky because that was never really my concern. But then I switched pills and oh, boy did my skin switch up too!

I remember being at university and trying to venture into the then budding profession of beauty blogging and content creation when I suddenly found myself with a constellation on my forehead. And when I finally started having regular periods again, my skin knew exactly when I was at my most vulnerable. Worse still, when it finally cleared up due to some skincare products I was testing out, I did the forbidden thing: I complimented it. I realised then that my skin wasn’t this passive instrument that would play along nicely in the background, and I had to learn about what was going on in my body, what was happening to my face and what all of those words on skincare packaging actually meant. So I did the work and tried my best to stop picking at my spots (nobody’s perfect – I’m still a work in progress, okay!) while I learnt to trust which ingredients were helpful, and which 

ones my skin didn’t like at all. It was all trial and error for me, as beauty content creators and skinfluencers were only just starting to become popular and I couldn’t afford professional dermatology. And that’s why the NIVEA Clear Up Class is here – to help you skip a few painful lessons so that you don’t have to learn the hard way like I did.

This means that a lot of what was happening to my body and my skin in particular had a lot to do with how I was doing internally. And while it is true that a healthier diet is good for your skin, what I actually realised was that my mental health and the strain that it was taking on my body also manifested itself in my skin. Anxiety and stress definitely induced breakouts, and I could tell because I was always picking at my skin when I was up early working on assignments and studying for exams during my varsity years. When you’re stressed, your body produces cortisol, which is known as the stress hormone, and increased levels of cortisol in your body cause your skin to increase production of its natural oil, called sebum. When your skin produces too much sebum, it can clog your pores and lead to pimples breaking out on your skin. You see, it’s all connected! Now that you’ve got the gist of this toxic cycle, here are a few tips on how I learned to manage my stress and anxiety:

Yes, it still is satisfying to safely extract a ripe whitehead, but learning not to try and pop every pustule whenever I’m a bit stressed has done wonders for my hyperpigmentation and pimple scarring. The short-term relief I got from popping a stubborn pimple versus the months, if not years, of staring at the scar left behind were absolutely not worth it.

Once I’d learnt I had to stop picking at my face, I had to find other avenues to release all the stress and anxiety in my body. For most of us, that would mean seeking a doctor’s advice and going on medication, but it may also simply require some lifestyle changes, like exercising and journaling. Decreasing your cortisol levels is one of the ways you can have control over your skin, plus you might just feel better!

I started to look for products which would tackle my current issues as well as help prevent the cycle from continuing. This led me to products with ingredients like hyaluronic acid, which helps with hydration, and salicylic acid, which has exfoliating properties and unclogs pores. These are just two of the key ingredients in the NIVEA Clear Up range. All products in the range also contain 99% pure mineral sea salt with antibacterial properties to clear and soothe skin of inflammation and infections.

One thing I never quite expected was that I’d be dealing with breakouts and problem spots in my mid-to-late twenties. I know that sounds like quite a privileged thing to say, and, to be frank, it is. I’m someone who’s had to deal with endometriosis since I was 13 years old, so when I was put on a hormonal contraceptive pill to tackle my debilitating period pains, it took years before I realised that it was probably helping my skin, too. While my peers suffered from painful, recurring breakouts during high school, I was quite lucky because that was never really my concern. But then I switched pills and oh, boy did my skin switch up too!

I remember being at university and trying to venture into the then budding profession of beauty blogging and content creation when I suddenly found myself with a constellation on my forehead. And when I finally started having regular periods again, my skin knew exactly when I was at my most vulnerable. Worse still, when it finally cleared up due to some skincare products I was testing out, I did the forbidden thing: I complimented it. I realised then that my skin wasn’t this passive instrument that would play along nicely in the background, and I had to learn about what was going on in my body, what was happening to my face and what all of those words on skincare packaging actually meant. So I did the work and tried my best to stop picking at my spots (nobody’s perfect – I’m still a work in progress, okay!) while I learnt to trust which ingredients were helpful, and which ones my skin didn’t like at all. It was all trial and error for me, as beauty content creators and skinfluencers were only just starting to become popular and I couldn’t afford professional dermatology. And that’s why the NIVEA Clear Up Class is here – to help you skip a few painful lessons so that you don’t have to learn the hard way like I did.

This means that a lot of what was happening to my body and my skin in particular had a lot to do with how I was doing internally. And while it is true that a healthier diet is good for your skin, what I actually realised was that my mental health and the strain that it was taking on my body also manifested itself in my skin. Anxiety and stress definitely induced breakouts, and I could tell because I was always picking at my skin when I was up early working on assignments and studying for exams during my varsity years. When you’re stressed, your body produces cortisol, which is known as the stress hormone, and increased levels of cortisol in your body cause your skin to increase production of its natural oil, called sebum. When your skin produces too much sebum, it can clog your pores and lead to pimples breaking out on your skin. You see, it’s all connected! Now that you’ve got the gist of this toxic cycle, here are a few tips on how I learned to manage my stress and anxiety:

Yes, it still is satisfying to safely extract a ripe whitehead, but learning not to try and pop every pustule whenever I’m a bit stressed has done wonders for my hyperpigmentation and pimple scarring. The short-term relief I got from popping a stubborn pimple versus the months, if not years, of staring at the scar left behind were absolutely not worth it.

Once I’d learnt I had to stop picking at my face, I had to find other avenues to release all the stress and anxiety in my body. For most of us, that would mean seeking a doctor’s advice and going on medication, but it may also simply require some lifestyle changes, like exercising and journaling. Decreasing your cortisol levels is one of the ways you can have control over your skin, plus you might just feel better!

I started to look for products which would tackle my current issues as well as help prevent the cycle from continuing. This led me to products with ingredients like hyaluronic acid, which helps with hydration, and salicylic acid, which has exfoliating properties and unclogs pores. These are just two of the key ingredients in the NIVEA Clear Up range. All products in the range also contain 99% pure mineral sea salt with antibacterial properties to clear and soothe skin of inflammation and infections.

Words By: Foyin Ogunrombi