Ladies, who really loves having PMS?

Sure, some of us don’t have those symptoms when starting a new menstrual cycle. The rest of us deal with cramps, bloating, fatigue, and oh yeah, breakouts.

On the bright side, we can manage our PMS symptoms and reduce the impact on our skin with a little planning and as always, consistency.

Stay ahead of your cycle

The best way to fight breakouts during PMS is to know when they’re on the way and be super consistent with your skincare routine in advance. There are several free menstrual cycle tracking apps that can help you pinpoint when you’re most likely to start getting breakouts and get proactive instead of reactive.

Focus on your diet

Once you see the patterns in your cycle you can better plan when to avoid breakout-causing things like fast food, processed foods, liquor, and stress. I know, I know. It’s especially hard to avoid your cravings and not have mood swings when PMS is happening. That’s why it’s important to make healthy lifestyle choices. It’s like building muscle. It takes time, repetition, and consistency to get stronger, and the same goes for creating healthy habits. That way you’re always creating the best environment internally for your skin to thrive externally.

Stay consistent with your routine weeks in advance

Listen, breakouts can happen during PMS even for ladies who don’t have acne. It’s part of the deal. The ideal outcome is to not have dark spots from the breakouts every month. This is why you can’t afford to take a day or night off from your skincare routine, especially the few weeks before your cycle starts. We know our cycle is happening throughout the month so we need to treat every day as if we are prepping for those hormonal changes and their impact on the skin.

Don’t stress, baby!

Again, we know it’s coming so why not give ourselves grace and plan our favorite stress relievers around our menstrual cycle and maybe not so much the stressful things. Stress causes breakouts, and stress on top of your cycle makes double the chances of breakouts and dark spots. Give yourself grace during this time–you and your skin deserve it!

Every lady’s cycle is a little different but most of our skin challenges during that time, but if we stay ready for breakouts by adopting healthier skin habits, we won’t have to treat them as much.