Action Plan!

So every good picker needs to feel that they are physically doing something to help the process of healing. And why wouldn't we? We've been very physically involved in the destruction process, we should be equally physically involved in the healing process!

I'm going list all the things I'm doing differently in my routine and health. They all seem to be helping me... not only my skin, but also my overall health and happiness.

I was lucky enough to have a friend that went to a natural aesthetician for her skin and who gave me a list of things I could do to help regulate my skin's balance.

1.The first and I believe the most important thing to kick start the healing... she gave me a list of ingredients to avoid in my skin, hair and nail products.

They are as follows:

1.Triethanolamine: mimics estrogen in the body and binds estrogen receptors so men get enlarged prostates and nipple and breast enlargement and erection problems and women have weight struggles and increased risk of breast cancer and menstrual probs and PMS.

2. Sodium Lauryl Sulfate and Sarcosinate: is a cell membrane irritant that destroys protein therefore causing skin and collagen damage and aging. Contributes to hair loss and is a carcinogen.

3.Propylene Glycol-Petroleum derivative. Very inflammatory and irritating to skin and organs, toxic and inflammatory.

4. PEG- carcinogenic, toxic and inflammatory and aging.

5. All Parabens (THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT FOR ME! Noticed an immediate difference in redness and swelling by eliminating these from my products.) Methylparaben, Butylparaben, Ethylparabeth, Propylparaben, Isobutylparaben and any other cheap antimicrobials, toxic and inflammatory and aging.

6. Ureas-Release formaldehyde- toxic and inflammatory.

7. Any of the forms of acrylates, methlacrylate, etc. Carcinogenic.

8. There are many others like Triclosan and most of the alcohols and synthetic fragrances, are all toxic, inflammatory, carcinogenic, aging.

9. Mineral Oil is like Crisco for the pores, from petroleum- toxic aging and inflammatory.

10. Petrolatum- is inflammatory and is Crisco to the pores- causes acne

Now when you start looking at your labels, you're gonna freak! Cause this stuff is in practically everything! I almost had a heart attack! Don't panic! First of all, I started gradually phasing out products I was using and then replacing them with products free of these ingredients. If you have a Trader Joes near you, most of the products they offer are free of all of these ingredients.

As for makeups, primarily foundations, I use Lo real Bare Naturals now. An affordable alternative to Bare Essentials. And Bare Essentials Mineral Veil actually has parabens in it. Aveda has great hair products that are free of most of these ingredients and won't make your hair look like straw! And Whole Foods carries Alba sunscreens which are chemical free and great! That should help get you started!

2.The next thing and again hugely important. I simply stopped washing my face so much! I now wash my face only once a day at night before I go to bed. I use Desert Essence Thoroughly Clean Face Wash (Trader Joes, Whole Foods). Cheap, chemical free and naturally effective. Simple as it gets.

3. In the morning when I wake up, I drink about 3 oz. of Aloe Juice. (Trader Joes, Whole Foods). Great health benefits including skin. I then use this same aloe juice as a toner on my face skin before I apply sun screen or moisturizer, morning (after my shower, not washing my face with soap) and night after I wash my face.

It gets blood circulating up and my face turns bright red, but fades about 10 minutes later. No burning or pain, just flush.

4. I stopped exfoliating so frequently. I kept thinking if I sloughed off my skin it would help it release the acne. But in truth it was damaging the collagen that was rebuilding my skin. I now exfoliate once every 2 weeksish with Kimberly Fayer Jojoba Bead exfoliate....very very mild and chemical free. (I am now, June 16th, going to exfoliate with baking soda (see #19)... although I'm going to wait until my breakouts are gone to start this... exfoliating seems to aggravate them and causes new eruptions. I may just cut out exfoliating all together. Still to be determined.)

5. I'm taking the following vitamins: Some are from Perricone's plan and some are from this aesthetician. They all seem to be helping. With the exception of the DMAE which I buy at Whole Foods, all the vitamins can be found at Trader Joes and are very affordable. I just take them once a day with food.

Vitamin B Complex, Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Spirulina, Calcium, Magnesium, Zinc combo pill, DMAE, Alpha Lipoic Acid

(A little side note here, if you take a Vitamin B complex and experience a burst of red hot rising under your skin, your ears feel like they're on fire, your elbows and knees are red, etc.... don't worry, it's called a Niacin Flush and it's a sign of your capillaries opening. Google search Niacin Flush and read up.)

6. I moisturize my face well in the evening and use Alba sunscreen during the day. Moisture is key!

7. I drink a lot of water! Not excessively, but a lot! The guideline I go by is 1 Quart of water (4 cups) for every 50 pounds of body weight.

8. Now what to do about those pesky white heads that keep popping up! Get ready. This may not be the case for everyone, but for me, part of the healing process has been that once I stopped picking, my skin started forcing out every single bit I had pushed down into it for 4 years! 4 years can accumulate a lot of bacteria and cells and dead skin! I made a promise not to pick, but those white heads are pretty hard to deal with. So here's what I do.... if I wake up and have them, I just make myself wait until I get in the shower. I try not to touch them at all. Usually they will just release themselves under the shower flow. But if they are still there I just gently rub a cotton ball with the aloe juice on it, GENTLY!!!!!!!! and they will usually release. The ones near my mouth are amazing, if I push my tongue on the inside and run with the cotton ball on the skin, often times I can literally see the pore unplug itself and push out a little ball! It's incredible! And it's something I didn't know was possible for all those years, because I was too busy thinking I was making it better by picking! All along my body just wanted to push it up and out and reseal behind it! So that's what it's doing now! Wish I had known that years ago!

9. I change or flip my pillowcase every single night! Think of your pillowcase as underwear for your skin! You wouldn't want to wear your drawers twice. Well, your face doesn't want to be crammed in the same oil, skin cells, bacteria and drool night after night either.

10. I walk! A lot! I walk for at least 30 minutes a day, and in my worst moments of picking I would make sure that I walked for at least an hour. Being out in nature works wonders on releasing my need to pick. It reminds me that I am a smaller piece in a big beautiful healthy functioning world. And when I get home I'm usually tired enough to not even want to pick.

11. I read a lot! The act of reading is so different from the non-act of watching TV or playing on the computer. It is an active process while the others create passive behavior which can trigger an episode of picking.

12. I limit my use of the computer to 30 mins. a day in the evening and watch TV only in the evenings. It has helped me a lot in the moment by moment focus on not picking to have peaceful quiet reflective time in my day. Instead I read, journal, meditate, think, walk, cook, knit, practice yoga etc... It has increased my overall quality of life and just makes me feel happy!

13. I separate my picking habits from all other activities. So basically I say, if I'm watching TV I will not be picking. If I'm on the computer, I will not be picking. If I want to pick, I say, I'll set special time aside to pick. What ends up happening of course is that I don't want to pick in the time that I've consciously set aside for it. I also ask my body, "Body, do you want me to pick at you?" and I usually hear a very clear internal answer of "NO!" This is a key thing in breaking habit. Separate the habit from the habitual places and make the habit the sole focus. It will go away on it's own.

14. I have distanced myself from my social group and have focused my time and energy on healing of myself.

15. Once a week, before I get in the shower, I give myself a gentle all over body massage with sesame oil. Sesame oil is Nature's wonder. It is anti bacterial and soothing and has a million other qualities that I'm not even sure I know. So I start at the top of my scalp and rub about a tsp. of sesame oil in at my scalp level and then gradually progress down the rest of my body ending at the tips of my toes. I then let it soak into my skin for 5 minutes before I get in the shower and wash up. This little act of self love has put me back in contact with my skin and body in a healthy way and has replaced mean angry self picking touch with loving and soothing and caressing touch.

16. One of the latest things I'm doing is owning to myself and others... those who are concerned with my skin and see it as a dermatological issue... I am simply allowing myself to say, "Thank you for your concern. I am actually recovering from a mental health disorder rather than a physical ailment and I am in the process of healing." This owning of being in a state of healing and shifting the focus off my skin and on to a more whole view of me and what I am recovering from, opens the doors to compassion and love and more complete understanding from the people around me.

17. The last thing is that I am just giving in and surrendering more and more to my own body's function, healing and time table for doing so. I am trying to not rush the process, but rather let my healing and recovery unfold before me in the now!

18. I'm adding this! I read that Karen Allen loves Witch Hazel for her skin and then after doing a little research I saw that it would be a great thing to add to my routine. So for the last week (I'm adding this line June 7th) I've been using Thayer's Witch Hazel Toner with calming Lavender! I use it following the aloe juice toner and before I mosturize! Important note here! Any Witch Hazel will do, but make sure there is no alcohol in the ingredient list! Thayer's offers 3 different formulas, but one of them contains alcohol.... so just read the labels. Among it's positive properties, Witch Hazel is said to be a powerful anti inflammatory agent, a bruise and scar reducer, a pore shrinker, a moisturizer and a skin tone evener! In one week I already notice a huge difference!

19. June 16th, I'm adding this. I am now adding a baking soda mask to my regimen. I googled it after hearing it may help in acne and found many positive reviews of it. One suggested mixing water and baking soda to a consistancy resembling milk and patting it over the skin and then allowing it to dry for 30 mins. As it dries it forms a white mask that sucks stuff out. In just 4 days, it has dramatically reduced my breakouts and is bringing stuff that was lurking under my skin to the surface without overdrying my skin. The reviewer was so positive about it and encouraged that it will help even the cystic pimples, it just needs a longer time to penetrate them... so small breakouts clear within one to two days and cystic in a week or so. So far that has been about my experience with it. I am doing it twice a day to begin with and will cut back to once a day as breakouts heal. I am also steaming my face after washing it in the evening for 15 minutes to help my pores open and release. I apply the mask immediately after this and it is really effective at not only pulling stuff out, but softening the hard black heads and my skin texture overall. It feels like a miracle product! I'll continue to update on progress with it. (Little update, it did end up overdrying a bit, but helped so much in clearing. So I'm going to just use it once a week from now on. June 23)