Tips: How to prevent pimples

Pimple. What a dreaded word. What's more dreaded is the word "pimpleS". Some people are blessed with amazing genetics and clear skin. While most others can't seem to avoid them. I'm no expert in treating pimples, but I've done enough research and going through my own personal experiences, that I want to offer some advice and tips on how to assess your pimples and find out what could be causing them.

1. Toothpaste
Common area of breakouts: Chin, surrounding mouth area
You brush your teeth every morning and night, but a common cause of pimples is toothpaste. You brush your teeth, your toothpaste is dripping a little or while you are rinsing, you get some residue that later causes you to breakout. Make sure to wash and rinse around your mouth area after brushing. I usually try to wash my face after I brush my teeth so I make sure all toothpaste residue is washed off and won't be causing any unwanted pimples.

2. Cellphones
Common area of breakouts: Sides of cheeks, on the side you mostly use to talk on your cell with
Cellphones are dirty and disgusting. Ok, they aren't that bad, but think about it. You use your cellphone, you rub your face all over it while talking about your latest shopping excursions with your girlfriends, you touch it with your fingers, and how often do we really clean our cellphones? Its likely that we're holding our cellphones up against our cheeks while we talk and rubbing bacteria on our face. Try to be conscious of how you are holding your cellphone and wash your phones once in awhile, even with a slightly damp paper towel to clean it off. You should be able to tell if this is causing you to breakout since the pimples should grow along the direction of the cellphone down your cheek when you hold it.

3. Towels
Common area of breakouts: Anywhere on the face, might be around mouth area
Towels house bacteria because it comes from our bodies and body oils. Some people keep reusing one towel for their hair, bodies, and face. I like to use 3 separate towels. One each for hair, body, and face. Make sure they are in an area where they can dry well and wash them frequently! At least once a week. You may be used to using your body/hair towel to dry off your face, but that could be causing breakouts. Which leads to the next culprit...

4. Shampoo (and other hair products)
Common area of breakouts: Back, hairline, forehead
It took awhile for me to figure out, but I'm allergic to something in common drugstore shampoos. How I eventually figure that out? My breakouts on my back were always the same length as my hair. I switched to sulfate-free, parabens-free, thinking that was it, but it didn't work. Finally I just switched to organic hair products, and the problem went away. I still can't pinpoint exactly what's causing me to breakout in the products before. What's important to note is that you don't want to be drying your face with your hair towel when your hair towel might contain some residue from shampoo and conditioner thats causing breakouts. Even if you aren't breaking out in your back, hair products aren't meant for your face. If you are breaking out around your hairline, take note of the products you are using and maybe switch to something else. Common forehead breakouts are caused by bangs. It can be from your shampoo/conditioner, other hair products, or just natural oil from your hair.

5. Pillows
Common area of breakouts: Sides of face, neck
You sleep on your pillow every night, and though some people might shower every night before bed, you are leaving the oils from your body and hair all over the pillow. Sometimes we sweat and thats being absorbed into the pillow and sheets. Hair oil will also rub off onto the pillow and rubbing our face into it every night can cause breakouts as well. Also we end up sleeping on top of our hair on our sides, which if oily, will cause breakouts. There's a lot of things that go on while we sleep. The best way to to avoid all that is to wash your sheets and pillows frequently. At least change your pillow cases once a week, especially after sleeping on it with oily hair. Try to toss your hair back away from your face and neck to keep it away from your neck and face when you go to bed.

6. PJ's
Common area of breakouts: body
This is just like pillows and sheets. Wash your PJ's frequently or change it up. You don't want to sleep in a shirt you just sweat in the night before, like you don't want to re-wear a shirt you worked out in.

7. Your hands
Common area of breakouts: face
One big thing that most people do when they stress or get bored or just out of habit, is touch their face. When they say your hands house the most bacteria, they aren't kidding. Don't wipe that on your face! Notice, when you can, where you touch your face most out of habit. Are you breaking out there? Stop. Try to wash your hands frequently if you can't avoid touching your face. Computer keyboards and mouse, door handles, elevator buttons, handlebars...nobody wants to know what kind of germs are lurking there, let alone have them lurking on your face.

8. Face products
Common area of breakouts: face
This one is a no brainer. Your face products that you thought are helping you, are breaking you out. Since you are breaking out more, you go and buy more products to try to battle it. This in fact, could be causing you to breakout more. Its a vicious cycle. I had major acne when I was younger and I kept buying more and more salicylic acid products, acne products, you name it...everything with the word "breakouts" and "acne" on the bottle. Then one day, I happen to run out of these products and ended up using a simple, mild soap to wash my face. I immediately noticed my acne decreasing. I stopped using my harsh face products and begin using a light cleanser. My acne went away. Of course this might not be everyone's case, but its worth a try to try to switch to a gentle face wash to see what happens.

I hope these tips will be helpful with anyone experiencing breakouts and hopefully help prevent them. One really great product that's also helped me is the Clarisonic. Gets your face cleaner in case anything above gets in your skin!