You might have noticed that I haven’t been posting any pictures of myself for a while. I haven’t been doing makeup ‘looks’, because my face hasn’t been looking that great. I’ve been suffering from postpartum acne: acne after pregnancey and delivery. The glow of pregnancy has been replaced by acne. 
It started about 2 months ago (my son is now 7 months). I attribute it to hormonal changes that go on during pregnancy and lactation (yes, I’m still nursing and this does crazy things to your hormones) and not getting any or enough sleep at night.
It’s really bad. I’ve always suffered from occasional breakouts, but this is so much worse. During my pregnancy my skin looked really nice (smooth, glowing…), now my face is covered with these suckers, especially around my jawline. I wish I was brave enough to show you a picture, but I can honestly say that I’m not…. maybe in the future.
Meanwhile, I’ve been researching possible solutions/remedies and the only recommendations I’ve come across (on different websites) that I think might for me are the following:
- Wash your face twice a day. Don’t overwash. Drying your skin out makes the flare ups worse.
- Overscrubbing doesn’t work. Scrubbing may make acne worse because it can make the skin tougher and further clog pores.
- Exfoliate daily with a treatment containing glycolic or salicylic acid. This will open up some of the blocked pores.
- Use a toner without alcohol.
- Make sure you moisturize well with a non-comedogenic moisturiser.
- Keep makeup to a minimum and use a foundation that is oil-free.
Of course I’ve adjusted my skin care routine. During my pregnancy I stopped using certain products, like retinol and benzoyl peroxide, (I wrote about that in this post) and now I’m extra careful with what I put on my skin. I’ve shown you my current vitamin c moisturiser here and I’ll share my complete skin care routine in a few days.
I’ve read that for a lot of women the postpartum acne disappears within a few months when their hormones get back to normal. If you know of any suggestions to speed this up (or how to ‘control’ my hormones) and make my skin be smooth again, please let me know! Being a beauty blogger I’m usually the one giving advice, but this time I need your help! 
