In the United States, my face had not seen a pimple in 10 years. My skin shared common characteristics with printer paper. Bright white color and smooth texture it had. Almost immediately once I got off the plane a small pimple appeared on my forehead. I continued my usual skin care routine. However, the pimple invited its friends over to my face and they had a party. Thus began the acne war.
Here in Korea, if you do not like your skin you have many options. You can cover it up with the high quality cosmetics that this place is famous for, you can use many different masks or cleansers, you can even have it surgically modified. I opted for the second mentioned option because it suited by budget, language ability, and tastes.
Using secondhand knowledge that I obtained from various websites, I discovered that my forehead acne was the result of poor digestive health. That made since because every other factor I had experimented with. I always had clean pillow cases, used lotion, exfoliated occasionally, and washed everyday. Nothing seemed to work! Week after week I would try a new face wash or cleanser with no prevail.
Last week I stopped eating at the school cafeteria. I changed my diet. I ate at the cafeteria because it was cheap and convenient. After the exams and moving into my new dorm room, I started buying fresh fruits, vegetables, and yogurts at the nearest store. These items replaced the seaweed soup, kimchi, and spicy things that my mouth loved but skin did not love. As of today, my skin is better. The pimples are gone without new ones moving in. However, discoloration of my skin still occurs. It is no longer paper white, rather a sickly alien grey.
In addition to eating the yogurt, I have been putting it on my skin. Twice a day (before and after bed) I let plain food type yogurt sit on my face for 10-15 minutes after I have used a wash or cleanser. The results are amazing! Redness disappears as well as zits naturally calm down. Below I will have pics of my nasty skin about a month ago, the various cleansers that failed, and some yogurt application photos.
Skin health is a concern for many foreigners in Korea. In my case the Korean food took a number took a toll on my skin. However, other factors such as stress and pollution may be other suspects. I hope this short blog post can help another person that is having the same struggle that I have been having for the past 6 months.
