I was blessed with great skin as a teenager, but not great skin in adulthood. The acne on my forehead (along with my income to debt ratio and the dirtiness of New York City) has been the source of all my pain and frustration for the past few years.

To be honest, the last time I remember having completely clear skin would probably have to be my college graduation. I read numerous articles and blog posts, tried thousands of products, and have thus far tried everything under the sun to get rid of my acne. This is my guide with my top 3 tips to help you get rid of acne because I know how frustrating it can be.

everyone knows to exfoliate, but are you over-exfoliating?

This is probably the single most important tip I can provide. I was obsessed with exfoliating when I realized that I no longer had the perfect baby-like skin of my teenage years. Microbeads, at-home facial treatments, clarifying and exfoliating masks… you name it! I tried them all, and I was obsessed.

Unsurprisingly, the more I exfoliated, the worse my acne got. It wasn’t immediately apparent for a very long time that over-exfoliating was the cause of my headache, but I realized soon that there was a fine line between exfoliating just enough and exfoliating too much.

I washed my face in the morning using my Clarisonic with Philosophy’s Microdelivery Exfoliating Facial Wash. At night, I would use Farmacy’s Cleansing Balm, then Philosophy’s Purity Made Simple, then I would use my Clarisonic again with Sunday Riley’s Ceramic Slip Cleanser. This is on top of the clarifying and exfoliating face masks and additional exfoliation treatments I would use throughout the week. My skin caught no break from the constant cycle of exfoliation, leaving it vulnerable to more and more acne.

Now, I know better. I do not need to be using four cleansers a day and using my Clarisonic twice a day. My routine has changed to using my two Philosophy face washes alternatively in the mornings (without my Clarisonic), and at night, I use my cleansing balm and my Clarisonic with the Sunday Riley cleanser. I’m also limiting my harsh exfoliating treatments to once or twice a week at most.

If you want one tip on getting rid of acne, then heed this advice. Do not over-exfoliate. Your skin will not be happy.

invest in a Clarisonic or a similar facial cleansing device

There is one simple reason why I love my Clarisonic: it actually allows me to realize the full benefits of the expensive cleansers I had bought. What I love about the science behind the Clarisonic brush heads is that the gunk behind the dirtiness of your pores are actually cleaned from the brush head. There are different devices with different speed settings designed for delicate cleansing or deep cleansing. and different brush heads depending on what your skin care needs are. I was easily able to get rid of acne because I simply allowed for the ingredients of my cleanser to fully clean my face.

I have to caveat this with the fact that it is very easy to over-exfoliate with a Clarisonic. Because of the two settings in most Clarisonic devices and because of how great the results are from using the Clarisonic just once a day, I easily got carried away. I highly recommend for you to only stick with using the Clarisonic once a day (if you have extra sensitive skin, then I would recommend a more delicate brush head and perhaps only using the Clarisonic once every other day).

The Clarisonic I have is MIA Fit (which is great for traveling because of how condense the size of it is), and I use the deep-pore cleansing brush head. There is a great starter kit from Sephora with all of the essential brush heads.

try out light therapy

Light therapy is a technique that dermatologists use, and Neutrogena developed an amazing at-home light therapy mask for all of us to try out at home. Of course, I highly recommend for everyone to do their research first, but I have found that it works very well for me.

The kit comes with a light-activator that is good for 30 uses to be used daily. That is perhaps the only downside to this mask; once the 30 times on the activator runs out, you will have to buy a new activator. I also recommend for you to close your eyes the first time you use it. Although the mask comes with built-in glasses to protect your eyes, I found that the first time did hurt my eyes a little, and my eyes felt better being closed for 10 minutes instead.

I would love to know what your tips are for getting rid of acne, and I really hope that this helped some of you out! Acne is something that has plagued me my entire adulthood thus far, and I know how frustrating it can get!

Lastly, I want to add a disclaimer that I am not a trained or licensed dermatologist. These are just all of the tips and tricks from what I have learned over the years.