‘How quickly can you cure my acne?’ Jennifer Rock, aka The Skin Nerd, answers readers’ questions

Jennifer Rock, aka The Skin Nerd, sat down with IMAGE group contributing editor Melanie Morris for Week 5 of IMAGE Self-care Sundays, in partnership with Yoplait. 

Everyone’s favourite nerd, Jennifer Rock, has a no-nonsense approach when it comes to skincare.

That’s why the founder of The Skin Nerd, Skingredients and the Cleanse Off Mitt, was our chosen expert for Skin Week of IMAGE Self-care Sundays, where she discussed all things wellness, me-time and why committing to a skincare routine is the very definition of self-care.

Jennifer was in virtual conversation with Melanie Morris last Sunday for Week 5 of our eight-part series, in partnership with Yoplait. If you missed the IMAGE virtual event, you can catch it here.

We’ve rounded up some of the best reader questions that Jennifer answered during the 45-minute session. Don’t miss out on Week 6: Nutrition, where Holly White advises how to kickstart your healthy eating journey.

Register for Self-care Sundays: Nutrition with Holly White here

How quickly can you cure my acne?

Acne is a tough one, it’s medical, I’d always say if it’s truly affecting your psyche to go to a dermatologist or get a referral to go to a derma. However, in the short term, you can cleanse it thoroughly. Salicylic acid is definitely a cleanser to have in your life. Don’t forget about hydrating, because sometimes when you’re in the acne phase you tend to keep the skin as dry as possible but it’s back to what I said about the spritz part, the more hydrated the skin is the less likely it is for those spots to become angry.

I believe with acne there is a lot to be said with looking after your mindset – we spoke about journalling and self-care and I think that’s huge for an acne-prone skin. I was speaking with a psycho-dermatologist of late and she said that’s the part she feels in modern medicine is missing, where people look for medicine or product, but they don’t look at what the root problem is. Why are you getting the acne? Is it stress-induced? Is there some way long-term that you can help it? I think that’s important to consider.

Does chocolate give you spots?

There is sugar within chocolate, and honestly, I think sugar is the enemy to the majority of our problems. It causes inflammation, inflammation feeds bacteria, bacteria is what a spot is. Because you have that beautiful bar of chocolate, will you get a spot? No. But could it cause a cascade? Yes. But I think it’s in concoction with everything else. Usually when you have chocolate, you might have had a tipple or two, some processed food, it’s an amalgamation. And then it could be hormonal, it could be time of the month, I think there’s lots of things. I don’t think I’d blame chocolate as the devil.

Register for Self-care Sundays: Nutrition with Holly White here

What is your favourite beauty treatment?

I didn’t realise I was a diva until lockdown started. I’ve no hair extensions, I’ve no eyelash extensions, I can’t get my brows done, my facials done regularly. I would have said I was a very non-groomed human until I realised [I am] quite the opposite. I would say a beautiful spa day, because I tend to look after the more operational pieces of myself. Peels, IPL I do all of that in myself, but I love a spa day. You can’t beat being completely minded, being escorted to a room, cared for, rubbed. Do I expect miracles from it? No, I’ve married into the fact that this is going to be ‘me-time’ where I’m rubbed and loved.

What’s worse, using wipes on your face or sleeping with your make-up on?

I would rather you sleep in your make-up than use a wipe.

Watch the full Jennifer Rock Self-care Sundays virtual session here

Is there a correct way to use a vitamin C serum?

Vitamin C is quite a volatile ingredient, meaning it oxidises, it evaporates quite quickly, it goes off basically. So when you take it out on the first day it’s lovely, white and creamy and two to six months later it’s turned into a brown pigment. So using it as soon as you get it is definitely advantageous. Using it every morning would always be my go-to because vitamin C is photo-protective, it’s a natural SPF. It doesn’t mean you don’t have to wear SPF, but it helps to boost your natural SPF within your skin. You can use it as a key ingredient, you can use it as boosters and you can use it as a standalone, just make sure it’s somewhere in your formula. How do you know? Read the back of the list.

How can you get rid of a spot on the chin quickly?

I should say never pop it – but no one is going to [listen to] that. Wash your hands, get tissue, do it from the side of your forefingers, don’t go at a spot as if you’re trying to bullet it. Go from the side, I think that’s the key part. See the spot, put both your forefingers alongside it, press down with pressure, wiggle up and down, up and down.

It takes longer, but if you imagine a spot like a volcano, if you go at with your nails at the nib, you’re getting the top of the lava. Think about the volcano, it goes into the ground, so you want to get either side of the lava, wiggle it down, and that force of the whole pressure will allow it to come out.

And then, treat it like a wound. Even if you don’t have anything skincare-wise, don’t just go straight on with your make-up, put something like Savlon on it for half a second and just allow it to be treated like an actual opening that you have created.

Clean your make-up brushes and be aware of the make-up that you’re applying, because there’s a possibility that you will spread the bacteria that’s underneath.

Register for Self-care Sundays: Nutrition with Holly White here

IMAGE Self-care Sundays is an eight-week wellness series, in partnership with Yoplait. Melanie Morris will host eight virtual events – all free to the IMAGE reader – so you can access them from the comfort of your own home. Get inspired to start your own self-care journey and spread Yoplait’s ‘You Time’ message that putting yourself first is a key component in life’s happiness and success.

Register for Self-care Sundays: Nutrition with Holly White here.

For the full Self-care Sundays schedule, see here. Follow #IMAGESelfcareSundays on social.