Imagine having clear, smooth skin all month long. How amazing would that be? That’s the dream! But how does anyone actually make that happen, without being genetically blessed?

Your skin health is tied closely to your hormones, so it’s no surprise that your skin fluctuates throughout the month. You might have flawless skin for 3 weeks of the month, but come menstruation, it’s a disaster zone. Or maybe your skin is always experiencing breakouts, but it can worsen at a particular stage of your cycle.

The good news is… (yep there is good news!)

There are many ways to keep your skin looking and feeling amazing, no matter what time of month it is, and all year round too. YAY

Why do I have different skin issues throughout the month?

There are dozens of reasons why your skin might break out. What you eat, how stressed you are, what you use on your body and your environment around you are just some examples. More often than not, it is a combination of more than one. Nothing ever just happens because of one think unfortunately so we need to take a multi facetted angle to why…

But let me share with you that hormones are one of the biggest contributors to breakouts, especially if it occurs around the mouth, jawline and chin. It’s also why many women experience breakouts in the days leading up to and during their menstruation.

Just like everything else in your body, your skin is constantly changing. Cool fact: your skin cells regenerate every 28 days, which is a big hint to discovering if these breakouts could be lined to your hormones and your cycle.

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6 Simple Steps to Support Clear Skin

Let’s be honest. Ain’t nobody wanna break out on their face!

I get it. I used to have chronic cystic acne. In fact, before I found out I had PCOS, I was incredibly self-conscious about my acne. I carried makeup around with me to cover up the acne as it came out, because my skin was constantly changing.

But once I started asking what I could learn from these breakouts, I discovered that bad skin isn’t inevitable, no matter what you’ve been diagnosed with. That’s why I’ve gathered the tips I use to prevent breakouts and balance my skin health.

1. Track Your Cycle

Tracking your cycle is hands down THE best way to get insights into why your body is doing what it’s doing.

By tracking your cycle, you don’t just become aware of what your hormones are doing in general. You can also track and spot patterns with the skin itself; where it’s located, what type of cycle signs are being experienced, and if it’s consistently happening during a particular season of your cycle.

Tracking your cycle is where it all starts and is also the first step all of my clients take too!  Get my Free Love Your Cycle tracker here.
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2. Pinpoint Where and When

This ties in with tracking your cycle signs. You can’t fix a problem if you don’ understand exactly what is happening.

Where are the problem spots, and when are they coming up? Is it the same pattern every month, or are you experiencing breakouts in different areas each cycle?

Once you identify with what is going on, you can work out what the body is trying to tell you. Have a think about what is happening in your body, and why it might be sending out distress signals.

FYI, this is where working with a coach can make a big difference. A coach can see things within your health picture that you can’t yet see for yourself. This allows us to pinpoint the challenges, what you’e experiencing, and how it all contributes.  Followed by an epic plan to rebalance it all back to normal.
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3. Consider other Contributing Factors

Even if your breakouts are hormonal in nature, there can still be other contributing issues. So don’t forget to have a look over what’s been happening since your skin issues began.

Ask yourself:

• Is there a link between my skin and the load I put on my liver? Have I been drinking more, using medications, or taking hormonal contraception that could be increasing that liver load?
• Is there something I’m using on my body that could be causing challenges? Could any of my personal care products contain problematic chemicals and toxins? (Face products, hair products, sprays, lotions, tanning etc.)
• Am I sleeping enough?
• Does my skin worsen when I’m stressed or have other environmental things going on?
• Is there an emotional component going on underneath?

Without going too deep into the science of skin, all of these factors can affect your skin health. So yes rebalancing your hormones, can massively improve your skin. But if there are other unaddressed factors, you may still experience bad skin days.
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4. Eat in Tune with your Seasons

A healthy hormone balance requires different nutrients in different amounts throughout the month. What you need to menstruate is completely different to what you need to ovulate and the same goes for your skin. What our skin needs to stay balanced when one hormone is more dominant in our cycle is different to what is needed in other stages, phases or seasons of your cycle.

The number #1 tip here is tune into your body and discover what it needs to be nourished. To help you get started I wrote about eating for healthy hormones all month long over here on the blog.
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5. Stay Hydrated

We can’t talk about skin health without talking about H20! Staying hydrated is essential for every single aspect of skin health. Preventing infections, removing waste from the skin cells, and even keeping skin firm and plump all depends on having enough water in your skin.

Fancy skin and body products might try to tell you that they hydrate your skin from the outside. But NOTHING hydrates your skin (and body) like actually drinking clean, fresh and chemical free water.

You might want to look at getting cleaner, higher-quality water if you experience skin challenges. Personally I choose to use reverse osmosis water to support my skin and my hormone balance, have for over 5 years now and it made a HUGE difference even just doing this one change on it’s own.

How much should you drink daily, that depends on the person but I always like to say roughly 2-3 litres. But note this will change in each season throughout the year as well as throughout your cycle too. Tune in, and listen!
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6. Consider nutritional products

There are some excellent nutritional products (some call these supplements) that can aid at supporting your body, balancing your hormones and therefore your skin.

I’ll be diving deeper into this in next week’s blog, including which nutrients are best, how to pick the best supplement and why you want a pharmaceutical-grade product (always). But in the meantime, these are non negotiables and what I believe are the best places to start:

• A high-quality multivitamin  (what I use)
• Mercury-free fish oil  (what I use)
• Vitamin C  (what I use)
• Probiotics   (what I use)

 

Struggle with ongoing skin issues? I’m here to help!

Book yourself a Free 20min Health Discovery Call with me where together we’ll delve into what you can do to support your skin, and health goals. Plus you’ll some action steps you can get started with today.