Not only is the time of the month painful for most women, it can also bring with it dreaded breakouts. Premenstrual breakouts can also result in additional oiliness for your skin and enlarged pores that goes along with that. The skin is the largest organ of your body and during your period you lose up to 12 teaspoons of blood, your skin is just reflecting what’s happening internally.
The week leading up to your period, your oestrogen levels are dropping but your androgen levels (that affect oil production) is increasing. Your oil producing sebaceous glands are getting the message to produce more oil. This creates an imbalance and can mean inflammation and an increase in the skins sebum levels for a few days before your period.
So what can we do to help our skin at this time? Firstly we need to treat the problem not just the symptoms, helping our skin protect itself at this time. A great place to start is to monitor your cycle, there are lots of free apps that help you do this, Clue, Flo Period and Period Diary will all help with getting to know your cycle better. Next a great idea is to keep a skin diary between your facials, make a note of any sensitivity, flare-ups, dry patches, excess sebum or breakouts on a daily basis, you can then bring this to your next facial and we can suggest what could help.
When you do get premenstrual breakouts they are mostly on the chin and jawline as these are the areas connected to the reproductive system and the skin on your face has more sebaceous glands than the rest of your body.
During your facial we would work with products to gently exfoliate the skin, reduce sebum production, calm and soothe the skin. We tend to be slower healing as adults too, so breakouts linger and pigmentation and scaring is common, so microdermabrasion is a great option then.
For your home care routine, switching your products in the week leading up to your period will have a big impact. Maybe just adding one or two extra products will be enough to keep your skin on track. Avoiding anything heavily scented or packed with harsh exfoliants as your skin can also be a bit more sensitive too. Also avoid any excess heat or things like ginger or black pepper in your skincare as your body is already warmer at this time.
The other thing to consider is of course your nutrition, hormones will affect food cravings at this time, you will want to reach for sugary and fatty foods which might contribute to breakouts. Onions and Garlic are a great addition as they have natural detoxing and purifying benefits to your skin. Pineapple and pomegranates are also great because they contain enzymes and antioxidants that help with inflammation. Having good gut health is also important, if your gut is not effectively dealing with toxins it can result in more problems during your period for your skin.
Your basal body temperature fluctuates leading up to and during your period, it can result in broken sleep, which of course can result in break outs. Make sure you turn off your digital distractions and aim to have some chill out time before going to bed. Maybe try a short meditation; there are lots of free apps that can help with this, balancing stress and emotions will help with your skin too. Of course being well hydrated is really important to every system of your body but it really does show in your skin.
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