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Hi everyone! It’s Lily here again :) today, we’ll be focusing less on ingredients and actual products, and more about mental health and it’s impact on our skin, specifically when it comes to those of us dealing with anxiety.
Before we start, we’d just like to get a better understanding of how many of our Spottie Hotties deal with the following MIs. Twitter polls are 100% anonymous! Mental health is *really* important to us. We’ve donated thousands to date to mental health orgs and will continue to.
So when it comes to dealing with anxiety, something that we see often is that when people are having episodes of severe anxiety, this impacts their skin because their skin also becomes a source of anxiety for them. Especially those who deal with inflammatory conditions like acne.
Something that’s really common when experiencing anxiety is picking. Picking at any actively inflamed breakouts, whiteheads, or blackheads. Unfortunately, this can be quite dangerous to the skin because it increases the risk of scarring, since picking increases inflammation.
When you’re experiencing an episode of severe anxiety or depression, what changes do you notice in how you treat your skin?
Personally, I’m hyper aware of my PIH and pores and become really obsessive about getting rid of them.
In depressive episodes, I skip my routine fully.
Personally, I’m hyper aware of my PIH and pores and become really obsessive about getting rid of them.
In depressive episodes, I skip my routine fully.
We can’t ignore the role of hormones when it comes to anxiety. Specifically, when we’re anxious, we release more of a hormone known as CRH. This triggers our sebaceous glands to be overactive. So, you’re not overthinking if you feel like you breakout more when anxious. You do!
Sebaceous glands are the glands that produce sebum, or oil, in our skin. And this increase in breakouts and excess oil from overly active oil glands can make you more self conscious about your skin, which can in turn worsen your anxiety. It’s essentially a domino effect.
So what should you do for your skin when you’re anxious? Honestly, as far as your daily routine goes, do what you can. That’s really our best advice. Stressing yourself to do your full routine when you lack the energy to do so, isn’t helping you. Do the bare minimum, if you can.
The bare minimum can be as simple as:
- Cleanse
- Moisturize
- SPF (AM only, try to still reapply if possible, but it’s not the end of the world if you don’t)
When you strip your routine to the bare minimum, you want to skip exfoliants for now to avoid a damaged barrier.
- Cleanse
- Moisturize
- SPF (AM only, try to still reapply if possible, but it’s not the end of the world if you don’t)
When you strip your routine to the bare minimum, you want to skip exfoliants for now to avoid a damaged barrier.
We recommend using a cleanser with gentle surfactants to protect your skin’s barrier. Oil cleansing with an emulsifying balm is what I personally prefer to do as my sole cleansing step during episodes. I’ll then follow up with an occlusive moisturizer, such as Like Butter.
Like Butter will ensure that your barrier remains healthy because of it’s barrier-repairing ingredients, but it’ll keep your routine extra short. It’s an easier way to maintain healthy skin and prevent inflammation, than forcing yourself to do your full routine twice daily.
Also, if you’re experiencing more inflamed breakouts (due to CRH) and don’t quite have the energy to exfoliate or do treatment steps such as Faded, you can ice your face instead to reduce the inflammation present/forming.
Here’s our thread on how to ice: https://twitter.com/mytopicals/status/1283948000155402244?s=21 https://twitter.com/mytopicals/status/1283948000155402244
Here’s our thread on how to ice: https://twitter.com/mytopicals/status/1283948000155402244?s=21 https://twitter.com/mytopicals/status/1283948000155402244
To reference picking again, it almost feels impossible to *not* do when you’re anxious. I find myself scavenging for ingrown hairs and whiteheads all over my body when I’m anxious and picking each one of them out! It literally will leave nail marks in my skin sometimes.
To avoid picking, we recommend incorporating a stress ball or something that can keep your hands occupied when you’re tempted to pick. And if you still slip up and pick, that’s fine! You can and will recover. Even if you get some PIH/PIE from it, it’ll all be okay. We promise.
The good thing is that PIH and PIE are treatable. It can take some time, yes. But we’ve seen great results in some of our hotties who’ve used Faded for just a few weeks to treat their PIH/PIE. So, luckily it’s never really 100% permanent for most people.
We have a thread on what you need to know about hyperpigmentation and treating it successfully, and the same ingredients/tips apply when treating PIE as well. https://twitter.com/mytopicals/status/1245875116606656514?s=21 https://twitter.com/mytopicals/status/1245875116606656514
So if you happened to pick at your skin, you really want to focus on reducing the inflammation since, again, picking increases inflammation.
Right after picking, rinse your skin (with cleanser if necessary, don’t rinse more than twice daily) and follow up with Like Butter.
Right after picking, rinse your skin (with cleanser if necessary, don’t rinse more than twice daily) and follow up with Like Butter.
Here’s our post-picking/anxiety routine recommendation:
- Cleanse (emulsifying oil or traditional non-stripping cleanser)
- Ice (if you have any inflamed breakouts present)
- Thin layer of Like Butter all over face/eyes
- Rest, because that’s really the most important thing here
- Cleanse (emulsifying oil or traditional non-stripping cleanser)
- Ice (if you have any inflamed breakouts present)
- Thin layer of Like Butter all over face/eyes
- Rest, because that’s really the most important thing here
To wrap this up, what really matters most is your overall wellness. And if doing your routine contributes to that, then do it. If resting and just focusing on getting through the episode in one piece is what contributes to your wellness, do that. We just want you to be well. 
