Acne — no matter what the cause, be it hormonal or an oily skin type — can be tricky to navigate. It’s notorious for making some feel self-conscious about their skin, which leaves them searching for the ultimate routine for acne-prone skin to get rid of their blemishes. Lea Alexandra, a self-acclaimed skin mindset expert, host of the podcast “Happy In Your Skin” and brains behind the acne-positive Instagram account, @skinwithlea, thinks about acne differently than most, though. She believes that those who have acne have way more control than they think they do when it comes to getting rid of their blemishes. The secret? A positive mindset, acceptance and ultimate self-love. After sitting down with Lea and talking about the different ways acne affects people, how to cope and how to get rid of it, we believe her message and mission is something everyone needs to hear. Tell us about yourself and your skin. My name is Lea, I’m 26 and I’m from Germany. I got acne in 2017 after going off the birth control pill. In 2018, after a year of feeling like I was the only person in the world with acne, like so many of us do, I decided to start documenting my skin and acne journey as well as spread positivity around acne and the insecurity it can bring on my Instagram page @skinwithlea. Now, my acne is basically completely gone. I still get the odd pimple here and there and have some hyperpigmentation left, but other than that, my acne has cleared up.Can you explain what a Skin Mindset Expert is?I think most people don’t take into account how much your mindset and what you choose to focus on, think about, talk about all day actually influences your body and its healing abilities. I teach my clients, as well as my social media followers, how to take their focus away from their acne and change their mindset around it. I basically help and teach women with acne how to stop worrying, obsessing and stressing over their skin and how to change their entire mindset around it so it can actually clear up. I focus on using your own mindset power and the Law of Attraction (more on that below) to heal your skin and be confident again. So Skin Mindset Expert is the term I came up with to describe what I do because it’s not really something many people do. Can you briefly explain what it means to “manifest clear skin”?The Law of Attraction in the simplest of terms means that what you focus on expands. When you have acne, people tend to let it consume them and how they feel about everything. It dictates their life, they engage in horrendous negative self talk, they stop leaving their house, they spend hours obsessing and stressing over their acne. These are all the things I have experienced myself when I had acne. In my work, I teach people how to take that focus away from their acne, so they can think about and feel what they do want and live their life again so their skin actually has a chance to heal. When you start using the Law of Attraction and you apply mindset tools to your skin-healing journey, it’s not like you will wake up the next day with clear skin. That’s not really how manifesting works. Manifesting isn’t magic or witchcraft, it’s just you energetically aligning with your goal and what you want and it coming to you in physical form. It’s you focusing on what you do want, how you do want to feel, what you do want to happen and actually giving it a chance to come to you instead of subconsciously pushing it away by focusing on what you don’t want. It’s about making that internal and energetic shift and allowing clear skin to actually come to you.What are some of the ways your mindset can affect your skin?When you focus on bad skin and how bad it makes you feel all day, you only get more of that because like attracts like and what you focus on expands. You give out this negative energy and so in turn, that is what you get back. Your brain and the universe will go out of its way to give you more of what is “important“ to you (meaning what you focus on all day) and create more opportunities for you to have that thing you keep thinking about. And if that focus is acne, stress and worries, that is what you get more of because that is the energy you give out. You basically subconsciously push away clear skin or block it from coming to you simply by what you focus on.A huge part is also the stress and anxiety around it that can spike your hormones and break you out. Many times people think certain foods or products break them out when, in reality, it’s actually the stress and worry they feel around it possibly breaking them out, not the food or product itself. That’s not to say that certain foods, products or other things can’t break you out or that products, medications and certain diets can’t help you clear your skin, they absolutely can. But there is no way your skin will ever clear up if you don’t believe it will. There is no way for your acne to clear up if you keep stressing and obsessing over it. What is your podcast “Happy In Your Skin” about? On my podcast I share all things Law of Attraction, mindset, happiness and feeling good in your skin and with your acne. It’s basically your go-to for taking back your power and living your life again when you have acne. I share practical tips and tools on how to use the Law of Attraction and the power of your mind to clear your skin and be confident again. I also share a lot about my own experience with acne and mental health. What is your daily skin-care routine?I wash my face in the morning with just water and apply a moisturizer, sunscreen (wear your sunscreen kids) and an eye cream. At nighttime, I wash my face with a cleanser and apply a serum and vitamin C moisturizer. To be honest, I’m not that big on skin care, I’m pretty boring with it and don’t know much about it. I’m much more passionate about the mental and emotional aspect of acne.How did you get rid of your acne?I stopped letting it dictate my life and started actually living again. I used to wear foundation to the gym, the pool, the beach, to eat breakfast at my parents’ house, you name it. Once I stopped identifying with my acne, let people see my bare skin and stopped obsessing and stressing over it all day, my skin cleared up. It was like my body was finally able to heal itself and take a breath. I basically used the same principles to clear my acne that I teach my clients now.      View this post on Instagram           How has your relationship with your skin changed since the start of your skin-care journey? I used to identify with my skin as the girl with acne. I used to hate and curse my skin for “doing this to me,” but now I look at it in a very different light. I’m so grateful I had acne. I’m so grateful for going through something like that. I’m so grateful for all the times I cried in front of the mirror and told myself how gross and ugly I was. Why? Because I wouldn’t be here without it. I wouldn’t be the person I am today. I love my skin now. It’s not perfect in any way, and it probably will never be perfect, but it’s brought me so much to be grateful for.What’s next for you in this skin-positivity journey?I will just continue to do what I’m doing, teach people how incredibly powerful their thoughts and words and minds actually are. It’s not always the easiest thing, doing what I do, because a lot of people don’t understand. But then I get these messages from people saying I’ve changed their lives and the photos they sent me of their skin and how it’s cleared up since changing their mindset, or just telling me how they went to the mall today without makeup on and how proud they are, and it makes it all worth it. I’m doing it for that one person who needs it, and I will continue to do so.What do you want to tell people who struggle with their acne?Well, first of all, I would tell them to stop saying they are struggling with acne. When you say you are struggling or something is hard, that will continue to be your reality. You are not struggling, you are in the process of healing. The more you tell yourself that, the more that will become your reality. Your thoughts create your reality, not the other way around. Get really clear on what you say to yourself on a daily basis, how you treat yourself, what your habits are and then work on replacing them with love, kindness and positivity. Acne is not fun or glamorous or pretty — no one needs to pretend that it is — but it is not who you are. It doesn’t make you less than, it doesn’t mean you are gross or ugly, it doesn’t mean you are unworthy. And above all, it doesn’t mean you have to stop living your life until it goes away. What does beauty mean to you?I’m going to answer this with part of what I once wrote in an Instagram post because I think it sums it up beautifully:You and your beauty are not about what meets the eye, and I think that is the biggest lie that society is telling us. Your beauty is made of those simple moments that you never get to see on your face. But that doesn’t mean they’re not there. Because you only see yourself when you look in the mirror.You don’t see your face when it lights up seeing someone you love.You don’t see your face when you talk about things that you are passionate about.You don’t see your face while you do something you love.You don’t see your face when you spot a puppy.You don’t see your face when you cry because you’re so happy.You don’t see your face when you get lost in a moment.You don’t see yourself when you talk about the sky and the stars and the universe.You see these moments on other people’s faces but never on yours. That’s why it’s so easy for you to see the beauty in others but it’s harder to see your own. You don’t see your face in all those tiny little moments that make you, you. Have you ever wondered how someone could find you beautiful when you don’t? This is why. They see you. The real you. Not the you who looks in the mirror and only sees the flaws. Not the you who is sad over how you look. Just you. And I don’t know about you but I think that is beautiful.Read More: 5 Acne-Positive Skin-Care Bloggers Changing the Beauty World One Post at a Time6 Products on Amazon's Luxury Beauty Section That Are Worth the SplurgeHow to Use a Sugar Scrub Correctly — And Our Favorite Products to Try
