stardust☾

Remember when people told you that you'd grow out of your acne? GODDAMN LIES. I'm in my late 20s and I am *still* struggling with acne. 

There was a blissful 12 month time around 2013 where my skin was perfect, but this was because I was on my mother's health insurance and was able to go to a dermatologist. Once health insurance started getting shittier, they decided to not cover the full size of one of the prescriptions anymore, and soon enough I was too old to even be on her insurance. 

This left me with pretty much no options from 2014 to basically now. 

I've tried everything. Ev.ry.thing. Even went vegan for a few enterprising months.

Cut to the middle of 2018. I started getting plagued with what I can only think is cystic acne, covering both cheeks that left me with extremely angry, red scars that, lucky me, make it look like I have permanent acne. 

Enough was enough, so I started looking into other people's journeys. I came across the subreddit Skincareaddiction, where I saw several posts about spearmint tea for clearing hormonal acne.

Now, I wasn't positive that my acne was hormonal, because they always describe it as being only on your jaw and chin, and while I think I break out there the most, I get breakouts everywhere.

But I figured it couldn't hurt. 

Guys.

It fucking worked.

I didn't start seeing actual results until 3 weeks in, but seriously. A gamechanger.

From the semi-scientific and anecdotal evidence I gathered from the internet, it works by altering your hormone ratios so that you have less male hormones, which are responsible for oil production. This does mean that unfortunately, spearmint tea is pretty much out of the question for guys.

Now, any person using a hormonal form of birth control is likely to take pause at this. I chose not to consult with my gyno before doing this, but I'd recommend you do so if you have concerns about it affecting your birth control. I've personally noticed a change in my cycle, because I'm on a form of birth control that pretty much prevents me from ever getting my period. Once I started drinking the tea, it came back about a month later. That part majorly sucks and I'm hoping my birth control is just adjusting and it will go away again.

So, with those caveats up front, here's how you can try spearmint for your acne:

I drink one cup in the morning and one at night. Sometimes when I'm feeling fancy I'll cold brew some tea and then use it as the water base for an iced matcha latte. If you like drinking tea and you have a lot of time on your hands then this will probably work out for you. I'm planning on switching to spearmint supplements instead because I find the process too time consuming.

This is the tea that I buy (image links to where you can buy it on amazon)

These are the supplements I'm planning on getting

If you've tried everything and can't afford to go to a dermatologist, absolutely give Spearmint Tea a try. Give it about a month before you decide whether or not it's working for you.

And everyone out there struggling with their acne: keep going, we're with you <3