by Dr Tiina Meder
Being a bride is wonderful, your dreams are about to come true and you can’t wait to walk down the proverbial aisle. Putting a wedding together is another matter though. Preparations take weeks, sometimes months, and this time can be stressful. Any bride wants to look perfect on her big day, radiant and dewy eyed, without a blemish in sight.
Can we achieve that?
(The short answer is yes, with a bit of effort)
Here’s the long answer. Stress does cause acne breakout and plays a big part in the development of acne in general. The science is simple: stress hormones increase sebum production and activate inflammation process in the skin, put these two together — you get pimples. Even one week of stress can provoke acne breakout, especially in young people.
(And who has ever organised a wedding in a week?)
How do we prevent stress acne? Should we just stay zen amidst the tidal waves of all things going wrong?
I don’t know about you, but I am a realist. Let’s face it, none of us are Dalai Lamas. Do what is in your power — help your skin out.
First thing is the most important: moisturise. Drink enough water, try to get enough sleep and apply calming moisturising masks more often — twice a week will work and in the last two weeks before your wedding go for the big guns, use your favourite mask every day. You’re only getting married once as many times as you’d like, you deserve it.
Out of our range try these
Gentle exfoliation once a week helps keep the skin smooth and radiant, because it prevents the clogging of pores and the appearance of comedones. I always recommend using enzyme peels at home because they’re safe (unlike acid peels) and very effective for all skin types, including sensitive skin.
We only have one peeling in our range (because seriously, one is quite enough)
If your skin has a tendency to greasy shine, you have got to get that sebum production under control. Here’s where avocado is good in things other than your toast. What you need is avocutin (butyl avocadate), which is extracted from avocado pulp, and has absolutely amazing effect on the skin decreasing the sebum production by 30% in the first 2 weeks of application. It would be good if your face cream with avocutin also had balancing prebiotics, microbiome-friendly composition and pore-tightening ingredients.
Yes, we have the whole thing right here:
If your skin is normal, great. You might still want to opt for day cream aimed at sensitive skin during this stressful time. Skin sensitivity often manifests during stress, and your chosen flower supplier has just emailed you a revised quote which is about 2.5 times more than you’d budgeted. Ouch! Are these angry blotches or is your skin as stressed as you are right now?
Let’s not risk it, go for calming prebiotic and moisturising cream, designed with sensitive skin in mind.
We’ve got you
The last week before your big day is a great time for a facial. Not just any facial, you need a proper Red Carpet treatment. See if you can find a clinic offering Hydra-Fill treatment in your area. Trust me, you won’t regret it.
And here are the DON’Ts (if you’re not making any changes to your skin care routine, we understand! But please do try and avoid these, because it may cause some upset on your perfect day).
PLEASE DON’T
- Book chemical peels, laser resurfacing, dermabrasion any later than 4 weeks prior to the wedding. Anything goes wrong, at least you’ll have time to heal!
- Same goes for injections — MAJOR infection risk factor. Just say no!
- Sunbeds: BIG NO.
- Self tan products: tempting, but be very careful as a lot of them are comedogenic (as in, cause breakouts). Less is more!
- Coconut oil: maybe on your hair, but please PLEASE not on your face. A major pimple culprit!
- Makeup rehearsals, etc: make sure your makeup artist disinfects their instruments and brushes.
- Skin brushes, brushing devices, etc: stay away from those, they damage the skin barrier.
- Finally, make sure you clean and disinfect your own makeup instruments, sponges, brushes.
There. You can do it! Have a perfect wedding day and a happy life together with your chosen one.
