Getting into gyming is a blessing for anyone. Like, you’re
not going to enjoy it at first, probably not after a while either. But, eventually,
you start craving it like, say, a Maccas cheeseburger. The thing about gyming
is that it’s the best addiction to have: a healthy one. All you want to do is
obey your body’s needs and make it better. You become your body’s bitch, and
it’s a great sort-of-messed-up relationship to be part of. You treat your body
well by working out and suddenly you’re getting eensy beensy muscles popping up
everywhere, you’re staying more hydrated, you’re making better snack decisions
(knowing damn well a bowl of chips is going to kill you on the treadmill
later), and your skin becomes increasingly smooth and glossy like a
good-quality magazine. However, there is always going to be too much of a good
thing.
With me, it’s my skin. My damn, sensitive, crybaby, ‘ooh, I
don’t feel like it’ skin. Working out is a joke for skin like mine. The rest of
my body absolutely adores a good ol’ workout, but my face: absolute chaos. My
skin is that kid from primary school that cried during thunderstorms and faked
sick to get out of Phys Ed (okay, I did that). You kind of hated them, even if it
was just how they were.
Two years back, when I used to gym every day, my skin had
taken it as a personal insult. From what was originally just left-over teenage
acne, become full-fledged pizza-face and people coming up to me on the street asking
if I ever washed my face. For the record: I did and still do. My skincare
routine is so damn developed, I could host a three-hour lecture on it.
Let me recite it to you:
·
Following the resulting chaos gyming had caused
my skin, I completely admonished junk food from my diet. I was as healthy as it
got for someone who could barely cook. I was constantly looking up what
antioxidant-rich food there was out there to save my skin. My shopping cart was
loaded every time. I even tried getting rid of dairy for two
months, figuring it might be secretly aiding the hormones that were causing my
acne.
·
I woke up every morning with Benzac’s dermatologically-tested face
wash, proceeded then by a tiny dab of skin serum (Estee’ Lauder’s skin serum), and then finished with a pea-sized
amount of Benzac’s dermatologically-tested
face moisturiser. This is repeated at night as well. In addition, I also
exfoliated my face once a week and applied a face mask twice a week.
·
I absolutely detested people touching my face
and would wash my hands immediately if I was ever to touch my own.
·
I would change my pillow-case every week.
·
I would wipe my face immediately after every
meal I ate.
·
I would shower immediately after gym.
·
I would eye the shower head, nervously wondering
if maybe the water was polluted.
·
I avoided makeup like the plague, only wearing
it on particularly bad days when I knew I couldn’t handle people asking about
my face.
|
Taken back in 2014. One month on Isotretinoin.
Lips are swollen and acne has
intensified into clusters from pills. |
Absolutely none of this changed the way my face looked. Eventually,
a miraculous change that saw my face go from millions of pimples to none was seeing
a dermatologist for a shot at Isotretinoin: a hardcore pill that dried the holy
berries out of my face and eventually had the skin completely change in a
matter of six months. It was then I divulged myself into the world
of junk food and absolutely zero gym. God, it was bliss. And my face, for the
next entire two years, did not change back to its formerly dotty state at
all. Not even a single zit.
|
Taken in 2016 after gyming (hence redness). No filter. |
Moving back to the future, I start gyming again. I remember
how much I loved it. The beauty of a good sweat came back, and, wouldn’t you
know it, I started breaking out again. Nowhere near as bad as it had gotten
before, but a few pimples did arise. Luckily, this time I was able to narrow
down the causes with a simple question typed into Google:
‘Why have I started breaking out now
that I work out?’
And, oh, the answers came. It wasn’t that I was dirty and
not washing my face well enough afterwards. It wasn’t because I wasn’t thoroughly cleaning the
equipment before use. What finally occurred to me was that my breakouts were radicalised…
by heat rash.
Ah, yes, heat rash.
For some people, gifted like me, you have been blessed with
the good ol’ skin condition known as ‘heat rash’. What this basically means is
that when you work out, you get so damn overheated, that you’re literally suffocating
your face from air (often, your body too). The rush of heat causes the sweat to
get in your pores and then clog them, making them itchy when you workout. Lovely.
Dovely.
|
Taken immediately after working out. Evidently,
I have become a tomato. |
Now, I won’t say this is the sole reason behind my previous
skin problems. Really, heat rash was just aiding and abetting it. Most of my
acne problems were just related to hormonal issues. This was obvious when,
after finishing my Isotretinoin treatment, I never saw another breakout again —
no matter how poorly I ate. And I was eating Maccas and HJs up to
five times a week. Sorry, health gurus.
|
After one month of gyming, little dots began to show up |
|
A week or so into changing up my routine to
combat heat rash. |
For anyone else who might suffer from heat rash. Here are my tips
for preventing breakouts:
1. Bring a spray bottle filled with cold
water. I felt a little dumb at first spraying myself while running at the
gym, but the effects were almost immediate. They toned down the redness in my
face as well as helping to even out my body temperature.
2. Splash face with water immediately after a
workout. I go to gym for about an hour every day, but I find my face only
starts to itch when on the treadmill. Possibly because I get a little too
competitive with myself and keep going even when my breath begins to struggle. I’m
not washing my face after every workout I do, only the ones that have me going
so hard that I can feel my face begin to itch and redden like a diseased
tomato.
3. Wash face towel after every use. If you sweat profusely during a workout, you don’t want to be wiping your face with
yesterday’s dried-up sweat. For all I know, that could be intensifying the effects of heat
rash. Get a clean towel.
4. Don’t just wash face after coming home from
the gym. Have a shower. If you get
heat rash, it’s likely not just happening on your face, but on your chest area
too and maybe your back. To prevent yourself from breaking out in these areas,
it’s best to wash yourself immediately after. Including your hair.