Your skin is the largest organ in your body. It’s also the most noticeable. While you can hide an upset stomach, poor sleep, or even excess weight, you can’t hide your skin—it’s out there for everyone to see. Unfortunately, for those of us with problematic skin, it can be a bit of a nightmare. There’s nothing worse than dealing with acne, psoriasis, eczema, rosacea, or even oily skin on a daily basis. Instead of constantly feeling self-conscience about your skin, learn to take care of it.

What Causes Problematic Skin?

Skin problems aren’t only skin deep. In fact, our skin is just a reflection of what’s going on inside of our bodies. Our digestion plays a huge role in our skin. If we’re not able to absorb the nutrients we need from our food, then that lack can be reflected in dry, irritated, and acne-prone skin. Before you start trying thousands of skin products, consider changing your lifestyle first. A healthy diet, drinking Digestive Herbs or Skin Herbs Tea, can be the best place to start.

Beyond our food, hormones can also play a large role in problematic skin. Hormone balance is key for keeping your skin happy and healthy, which is why you’ll breakout or have other issues near your period. Other factors include exercise, your environment, and your skin regimen. Your skin is far too large an organ to be dependent on just one or two elements.

Taking Care of Your Problematic Skin

Now that you know why your skin is problematic, it’s time to figure out what you can do about it. The truth is our bodies respond to what we put on or in it. That means if you have oily skin, and you use products that strip away the oil, you’re doing the exact wrong thing. If you remove the oil from your skin, your body will think it needs to make more, and you’ll make your skin even more oily, which is why you have to be so careful about what you do and what you use.

A few key rules are as follows:

• Remember Your Skin Type: Don’t buy or use products that don’t work with your skin type. Whether you have dry skin or oily skin, you need to buy the right product for you.
• Be Careful Around Fragile Areas: Our eyes and lips are made of very fragile skin. If you’re using a heavy-duty cleanser, be careful around these sensitive areas, so you don’t aggravate other issues.
• Use Gentle Cleansers: If you suffer from acne or other issues, you might feel like you want to and need to scrub your face and body until your skin falls off. That’s exactly what you don’t want to do. Use gentle cleansers so you don’t end up harming more than you’re helping.
• Moisturize, Moisturize, Moisturize: Even if you have oily skin, you need to keep it moisturized. Your skin is made up of 70% water, which means it needs a lot of lotion to stay hydrated.
• Use Sun Protection: While the sun can be good for your skin, it can also be very damaging. If you’re going to be spending any amount of time outdoors, make sure you use SPF protection.
• Avoid Touching Your Face: Particularly if you have acne, picking and popping is the worst thing you can do for your skin. Try to keep your oily and dirty hands away from your skin.