Acne. Boy do I hate it. Those pimples popping up all over my face back in my teenaged years. Even now, I do get acne outbreaks when I am stressed, or use the wrong skin care product. I’ve been to many doctors who are able to clear my acne, until the next outbreak.

Part of the reason is oily skin. Greasy skin that traps dirt and skin debris clogging up pores make your skin pores an excellent breeding place for bacteria. The bacteria multiplies and voila. You have acne.

All is not lost. If you have oily skin that is prone to acne, here are 7 beauty tips to help keep the pimples away.

1. Keep your HANDS off your face.
You hands, after touching so many things, opening the door, picking up a bag, things we do everyday, are covered with bacteria. The last thing you want is to put that bacteria on your face. Touch your face often with your hands, or worse still, pick those pimples with your fingers, and you will see the pimples multiply.

2. Keep your HAIR off your face.
If you have oily skin, you probably have oily hair. Oily hair brushing against your face adds to the oil. Oil, sweat and skin debris are a great way to clog the pores in your skin, leading to more pimples. If you notice pimples appearing on your forehead, or your cheeks and chin, typically where your hair might brush against, your hair could be the culprit. Wear a hairband, use hair clips to keep your hair off your face, tie it into a pony tail, or get a hair cut.

3. Wash your face 3 times a day with a good acne cleanser.
I got that tip from a doctor. I washed my face when I woke up, at lunch time and at bedtime with a cleanser that is meant for skin that has acne. My skin cleared when I stuck to the routine and used only skin care products meant for skin with acne. A bar of soap meant for washing your face does the trick just as well.

4. Stick to acne skin care
Every time I stray from that point, I end up with a major acne outbreak. Always. Everytime I see my pals with exceptionally radiant skin, I want to use whatever they use. I would switch to richer, anti aging skin care as a preventive measure, worried about wrinkles appearing when I get older. That backfires every time. I end up with more pimples. Stick to good acne skin care products.

5. Relax
Did you notice how pimples tend to appear more before a stressful event. Exams. A big date. A presentation. Stress wreaks havoc on your skin. Ok, pimples can also pop up due to hormonal imbalances, like just before your period.

6. Sleep
Your skin heals itself when you sleep. Your entire body heals itself in your sleep. A night without sleep may lead to more pimples. Make it a habit to leave your worries behind and get a good night’s sleep. Work out more earlier in the day. Get some exercise before evening. It helps.

7. Stay away from pressed powder compact.
Yup. You heard me right. I got this tip from a friend. Her friend used a pressed powder compact to hide her acne. Instead, the more she used it the worse it got. Just think. By mid day, your skin gets oily. You take out the powder compact, and use that powder puff to apply pressed powder on your face. Now, your face would already have dirt, bacteria and oil on it. Pat your face with that powder puff and now that puff picks up the dirt, bacteria and oil. You put it back into the compact. The bacteria happily breeds in there. Then you take out the compact again and pat more powder, mixed with oil, dirt and bacteria onto your face, picking up more gunk, putting in more gunk into your compact. The cycle goes on. A better bet would be to use blotting paper to blot off the excess oil instead. Then you can throw the paper away after use. Use the blotting paper meant for your face like the ones found at http://www.everythingbeauty.info/blotting%20paper.htm

About this powder puff thing, make it a point to wash your powder puff and all your make up brushes regularly, with soap and water. Then dry them completely before you keep them. Guess that would make it an 8th tip right?

Oily, acne prone skin needs a lot of care. The bright side is that oily skin is slower to show signs of aging than dry skin. Take care of your skin and you’ll probably look younger than your peers as the decades go by.