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All opinions are honest + my own. All products are put through a 2 week test period conducted on myself.
At the 2 week mark of my Test-Avoid experiment, my face was basically clear of new breakouts except for a few near my mouth. Before, I would write these off as classic hormonal chin acne.
But some “hormonal acne” would appear:
- At the center of my Cupid’s bow
- Somewhere between lips + nose
- Near the corner of my lips
(Can I just have a cute beauty mark instead?)
These areas, especially at the center of my Cupid’s bow, seemed a little too outside the normal hormonal acne chin zone.
I decided to take these outliers as a clue.
On a hunch, I checked my toothpaste’s ingredient list + found (*cue swears*) one of my test-avoid ingredients. A light online dig (bada bing, bada boom) unearthed articles noting toothpaste was indeed a culprit for some people.
Ran back to the store + bought the only toothpaste I could get my hands on that fit my test’s parameters:
Those stubborn pimples around the true “hormonal” chin area? Disappeared. In days.
What I was experiencing wasn’t hormonal acne, it was just the SLS in my toothpaste.
Can I experience hormonal acne? For sure, like any human girl. But all the time? Not me once I switched toothpaste.
But seriously who would think of toothpaste re: breakouts?
I just wish I had bumped into that FYI years ago. About a $5 toothpaste investment prevented at least $50 in zit targeting creams + moisturizers. Moisturizers mainly to combat the overdrying + peeling that acne products usually caused on my skin.
What’s that saying? An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure?