Beyonce & her flawless skin. |
I'll break this post by severity of issues and how to drastically improve those issues in 7 days or less. But first, we must define what flawless skin means, that way we all have the same idea of what the end goal is. For the purposes of this discussion, flawless (1)skin is free of acne, (2)hydrated, (3)smooth, (4)even-toned, and (5)glows (reflects light). I like to work on my skin in phases. For example, when I was troubled with cystic acne, I wasn't trying to create glowing skin. I had to get rid of the blemishes first. And when I did, I realized that I had work to do to get my skin smooth and even toned. Glowing skin is cool, but if you have discoloration from previous scarring, it takes away from everything.
If you have active acne, clearing it should be your first priority. If the acne is persistent (meaning, it's not some random flareup), you have to do something drastic to clear it in 7 days. My recommendation is to focus heavily on your internal environment. Treating it using only topical methods is like playing whack-a-mole.The name of the game is to reduce/eliminate the inflammation in the most effective way possible. This means you'll cutting out foods such as dairy, sugar, anything fried, and wheat. Basically, you want to starve any internal issues that could be feeding your constant breakouts.
To speed up the cleansing detox process, you want to add lots of alkalizing foods into the mix. Green salads are you friend. And you should be drinking (lemon) water like a freakin' fish. If you want results within 7 days, you've got to get serious with it. When it's all said and done, your skin will not only look better but you'll feel tremendous and maybe even shrink your waistline. It's a win-win.
If you suffer from the occasional break out, you also want to follow the advice that I gave above. Your issue may be because you've slipped a little in your water intake. You've indulged in rich foods more than normal and your skin is gently reminding you of your mishaps. All you have to do is get back on track. You also want to take a few extra precautions like washing sheets/pillow cases, cleaning your cell phone, not touching your face and the other random stuff that create sporadic break outs. I'd also recommend you conduct a couple at home facials to help move the purging process along.
What if you're one of those people who don't really get breakouts but you're skin isn't as fantastic as you'd like it to be. The good news, since you don't have to worry about dealing with visible blemishes, you can skip directly to the step of trying to achieve glowing skin. You've got a couple of options. One would be to exfoliate regularly, removing the surface skin blocking the world from seeing all of your beauty.
Let me tell you two examples of experiences where my co-workers transformed their skin. One had smooth even toned skin but wanted to take it to the next level. Her course of action to was feed her skin by doing a 7 day juice fast. We hadn't seen each other for a few days and when I saw her again, she had the skin of an angel. She couldn't stop raving about what the juice fast did for her skin and it showed.
Another coworker took a leave of absence for a few months and when she returned, the first thing I noticed was her skin. She wasn't terribly attractive and her skin wasn't really her best feature. But when she came back, her skin was suddenly above average. After exchanging pleasantries, I was like "so what are doing differently to your skin." Oh, she responded, I don't use soap any more, "I scrub ever day."
It's that simple ladies and gentlemen, the formula for flawless skin can be boiled down to:
1. Feed the skin
2. Exfoliate to allow fresh skin, gorgeous to shine.
If you're like me and you've got your acne under control but you're dealing with scarring, your options to address this within 7 days are:
1. Find an amazing full coverage foundation.
2. Treat yourself to a facial peel.
My first experience with a peel was awesome and I really need to do it again. Within a week, years of stubborn scarring had reduced drastically leaving behind baby smooth skin. Since then, I've been taking the slow and steady approach to reduce acne scars but, in all honesty, I need to get serious and do a peel again. I'm thinking of doing the VI Peel that claims amazing results, regardless of skin type.
In all honesty, the peel experience wasn't my favorite, watching the top layer of your skin peel off is somewhat unsettling. My ultimate advice is to maintain regular habits that give you great skin. For instance, a powerful daily routine will do wonders for your skin (see Korean layering method post). And I can't tell you the number of people who left comments on the blog and on Facebook about how much their skin improved after jumping on the "drink your water" challenge. Anytime you talk to someone with incredible skin, they will likely tell you about their high water intake.
Long story short, do the right things for your skin on a regular basis and you won't have to worry about creating a total transformation. Don't be that person who has to work frantically to address skin issues, be the one who's known for always having great skin.