My Pillow made me Breakout

Breakouts are a normal occurrence in my life I have combination oily skin so it is something I have learnt to live with and manage but over the last few months my breakouts have been getting worse and worse,  BUT just on one side of my face, I know it sounds crazy but this had me quite confused.  

Lets start at the beginning 
A few months ago I did away with my satin bonnet,  I started using a satin pillow case, I have never been a fan of satin bonnets,  the ones I seem to always end up with were either too tight or they just fell off when I slept; so I opted for a satin pillow case. 





The Breakouts

The first breakout I got was a serious case of blackheads on the side of my face I sleep on more (the right side),  I thought nothing of it and I just introduced a new scrub to my skincare routine and for a few weeks it worked to clear the blackheads. The next breakout was worse, I got slightly big pimples which were quite sore and angry, so I went for the facial from hell in the hopes of trying to clear this. However my  problems seemed to just get worse after that.  I changed my cleanser, toner, moisturizer, exfoliator, face masks, sunblock foundation, make-up brushes but nothing seemed to work.  I even  did a 7 day juice detox trying to clear my system of any toxins and still the right side of my face just looked angry with big red bumps, the left side was glowing and beautiful so I was at a loss as to what was going on.

After this had gone for long enough I  made an appointment to see the doctor because clearly I was "dying".  A few days before my appointment I decided to google "pimples on one side of my face" and all sorts of information popped up,  some of it quite outrageous but one thing that made sense was the "PILLOW theory",  the more I "researched" the more I was convinced that my pillow was indeed a "Bloody Agent" sent here to destroy my skin. What I discovered was that my pillow was probably harboring all manner of bacteria, dirt, oil and dead skin cells and all that was coming into contact with my skin for 8 hours a day.  Even though my pillow case was been changed every 3 days, this stuff was getting trapped in there. 

Okay so been the drama queen that I am,  I went home and I threw away my pillow with the pillowcase and I got myself a brand spanking new pillow took out my satin bonnet,  put back my cotton pillowcases and started a vigorous regime to clear my skin (I will post a video on what I used), 7 days later my skin is looking far much better. 

Conclusion 
Was it the Satin pillowcase?  Well from the information I found on the internet,  there isn't any scientific evidence that supports the claims that it might be the satin material. But MY breakouts started when I started using that satin pillowcase. I am not a scientist but my skin changed for the better 2 days after going back to my bonnet and cotton pillowcase.  I have a few scars (okay I squeezed the pimples I know I shouldn't have but hey I am human) I have no new pimples on my face and my blackheads have been reduced by 70%.  

So in my humble unscientific opinion the satin pillow case was largely to blame,  I use a lot of styling products on my hair, which are a bit oily and can be greasy and all that oil rolling around my pillow case just wasn't healthy. The success I have with the cotton pillowcase is that my hair is in the bonnet, all that grease and oil is kept away from my pillowcase by the bonnet so it doesn't touch my skin.

Will I use the satin pillow case again, probably not I think my skin has suffered enough. 

Have you ever had unexplained breakouts?  How do you treat your blackheads if you have any? 



Love yourself beautiful 



Mzansifro