NHS key worker, Rachel shares her struggle with acne over the last year, and how it was made worse by wearing a mask all day at work. She documents her journey using 47 Skin for 4 weeks.

Hi, I’m Rachel, and I wanted to share my skin care journey with you. I never really suffered with spots until I got pregnant with my first child, and it hasn’t really calmed down since.

It’s got particularly bad over the last year. I work for the NHS as an allied health professional, so wearing a mask every day at work has made it so much worse, giving me constant breakouts on the skin around my chin and lower cheeks.

I’ve really struggled with this over the last year as it just got worse and worse. I got myself into a vicious cycle of caking my skin in foundation and concealer to hide it, which just caused more spots.

At Christmas, it was so painful, I just cried all the time about the way that I looked. Even though I knew there were so many worse things happening in the world - for me, looking at my face and how my skin felt at the time, my confidence was at rock bottom.

I was so embarrassed to be 32 with a spotty face. I know lots of other people have spots and it’s ok to get them, but I still found it hard. I just wanted to build my confidence back up.

So in January I decided to pack all the make-up away and see if that made a difference. But it didn’t. I still kept getting spots. I just felt like I had no control over them.

I spent so much money on different skin care products, but nothing seemed to work. I eventually went to the GP and started a course of antibiotics, which finally started to calm the blemishes.

But, it left me with a lot of dark scars, dead skin and old spots, which I still felt really self-conscious about.

I just wanted to be able to go to work or do the school run without make-up on, and feel good about myself.   

So that was my goal for this year – to get rid of my scars and feel confident in my real skin again.

When I came across 47 Skin on a Facebook advert, the thing that really appealed to me was the unique formula which repaired scars, so I was excited to see what it might be able to do for my skin.

I decided to document my progress in the first few weeks.

Day 3

I started using the cleanser and anti-blemish and scar repair serum, once in the morning and once in the evening. I loved using them –they made me feel so refreshed and smelled amazing.

Even though it had only been a few days, I felt like I was already seeing a difference. My skin was softer and brighter, which gave me a bit of a confidence boost, as my skin didn’t feel as naked when I wasn’t wearing make-up – it even seemed to give it a little boost of colour.

 

Week 2

Even though I still had some blemishes, I couldn’t quite believe the improvement to my skin since last week. Especially on the right side of my face – I noticed the scars starting to lighten and be less prominent. The dark marks around my chin were massively reduced. I felt like my skin was glowing all over and I was excited to see what would happen when I kept using it!

 

Week 5

I can’t believe how far my skin has come in the last 4 weeks. I’m so happy with the results and I wish I’d found 47 Skin sooner. The blemishes have died down, and they are no where near as bad as they were before.

If I do get the odd blemish, they are much smaller and heal more quickly. I’ve seen my scarring make so much progress as well – they are not so dark and some of them are disappearing. I’m excited to keep using these products – they make me feel like I’m going to the spa for a facial every day.

I would urge anyone who is struggling with adult acne or is getting breakouts from wearing their mask all the time, to give 47 Skin a try. It’s been the only and first product I’ve used that has given me any real results.

I feel like things never work for me and I thought it was just me and that maybe this would be the same, but it really has made such a difference. I’m so happy in my real skin now and am excited to keep seeing improvements. I just wanted to thank 47 Skin – I’m so grateful I found you – you’ve changed my whole outlook on skin and how my real skin should look.

My top tips

If you’re currently struggling with your acne or scarring as I was, I understand how difficult it can be, especially when you feel like nothing is working.

Here are my top 3 pieces of advice:

• Talk to someone about it. Talking it through with someone I trusted, I found really helped me to deal with the emotions behind it.

• Remember that spots are normal. No one has perfect skin and lots of other people have them. You don’t need to feel embarrassed or ashamed, whatever your age.

• Give 47 Skin a go – it’s worked so well for me, when I thought nothing would, and it might work for you too!