Hey friends, how is life? I hope it’s good for you. Things are actually going pretty well for me, especially compared to the dumpster fire my life was just a few months ago. Hooray! Hooray for storm clouds clearing out. They do that you know. No storm in life lasts forever. Because no storm in nature lasts forever. Except on Jupiter, where a dust storm has been raging for over 340 years. This is my attempt at being motivational, is it helping?

Anyway, during that time when life was a particularly stressful vortex of stupid, I experienced a problem that I know a lot of you struggle with too. But then I fixed it! And I’m going to tell you how. (This is non-sponsored by the way, just me sharing my random solutions with you). They are easy and affordable and totally doable, well most of them. There is one weird thing. We’ll get to that in a min.

Oh wait, I haven’t even told you what my problem was. The problem was adult acne. Like, barf.

When life gets stressful, my face is the first one to tell you about it, and it was sending the message to everyone loud and clear. Thanks face. Way to be a pal. It got really bad, friends. Really bad. Found-excuses-not-to-leave-the-house bad.

It was so painful, so bumpy and cystic, just horrible. Something was always brewing on my face and under the surface. I tried every solution on my never-ending quest to fix it. Every chemical concoction, every natural remedy, diet changes, thoughts and prayers, like, everything. I became a vegetarian, (PS that didn’t work), I drank carrot juice (zero stars), and then one day …

One day … it just kinda stopped. Did my stress level decrease? No, not really. Was it the carrot juice? AhahahHA. No. Did I spend a thousand dollars on products that promised to reverse the space/time continuum itself? Nope again.

I contribute it to a few very, very simple products. And then possibly one not-so-simple procedure.

So here’s what worked for me. I’m not promising it will work for you, but if your face is being a major jerkbagel like mine was, you already know it’s worth a shot.

Ok, obviously you should get enough sleep and water and whatever and eat healthy and stuff, and try to not stress out as your life is sucked into the darkest oblivion of despair, but everybody knows that. So do that stuff.

But then also try this:

(affiliate links ahead)

Yes to Cucumbers face wash – Have you heard of ’empties?’ This is one of my empties. That’s a name for a product you consistently use ALL of, because it’s just so good. It’s the only face wash I ever use anymore. So mild, so effective, and you only need a tiny bit. And it’s less than $7! Lots of reviewers also say that it helped clear up their acne too. Bonus: smells lightly and pleasantly cucumber-y.

Microfiber face cloths – Girl. I will sing their praises until the day I die. Maybe even from beyond the grave. “Miiiicrofiberrrrr faaaaace clllllothsss girrrrl …” They remove everything, right down to waterproof mascara with ease, but are so gentle on your skin. I have a stack of about 10 and take one with me whenever I travel. I forgot one on a trip once and had to use a hotel washcloth and felt like I was sandpapering off my entire face. #garbagerag #neveragain I’ve given this particular set out as gifts many times, and everyone reports back that they don’t know how they lived without them. When you wring them out in the sink, you can literally see how much makeup/grime/etc it pulled off your face. If I follow up with a cotton pad/toner, there is never a trace of residual makeup left behind. Sometimes if I’m particularly lazy, I’ll just use it wet without any cleanser and it still works great.

The Cure – I’ve talked about this exfoliator before. It will blow your mind every time. But one caveat: it’s really powerful. Use it once a week, mayyyybe twice. It’s addicting, because your face literally feels brand new afterwards, but too much and you are headed into Irritation City. Can you handle the responsibility? The power? I hope you can.

Daily Exfoliator – some people don’t need to exfoliate daily … but I notice a major difference when I don’t, so I do. This one has been around forever and it’s great, but honestly, I don’t even use this exact brand, I use the generic knock-off version from the grocery store and it has worked well for me. It costs like $2. Shhhh.

I always moisturize morning and night, but I’m constantly switching those up and don’t have a recommendation there, other than to say if you’ve been using the same products for years and still having trouble, you should obviously experiment with something else.

And that’s it! That’s the routine I’ve sworn by for the last year and it seems to have made a huge difference for me. It will cost you less than $50 and last a long time too.

And now, here’s the weird thing that is maybe not so doable for everyone. I have no earthly idea if this truly made any difference with my skin, the but timeline matches up, so perhaps yes??

It involves lady parts, just FYI.

Around a year ago I had a hydrothermal ablation done. I’m not going to get deep into the details, but basically this is a medical procedure that mitigates heavy periods by removing the lining of the uterine wall. I’m not having any more kids, so my doctor and I discussed this as an option to stop or dramatically lessen my periods. Um yes, sign me up. So he was like, K, you’re all signed up, and that was that.

It really was that easy. I had to go under, which is the worst part for me, (it takes me literally 9 billion years to come out of anesthesia), but the actual procedure was very simple, maybe 20 minutes. Pain was hardly noticeable. I was back to normal as soon as the anesthesia wore off. Periods essentially stopped. Cramps, what are those? PMS who? Side effects … none so far, other than MY SKIN CLEARED UP??! My periods always seemed to coincidence with the worst of my acne … but my acne was pretty much a 24/7 problem, so who can say.

Was this the magic cure? Or did the stars align at the right time and I found my holy grail of skin care products? I don’t know! But it worked for me, and I couldn’t be more grateful. I hope that info helps someone else out there, or if you’ve had a similar experience, please share!

Now to solve my next mystery: “The Case of the Hair and Nails That Absolutely Refuse to Grow.” Stay tuned.