In this episode of Clean Beauty School, I chat with Boakye about why it’s so important to find a skin care pro (or team of them!) you trust—plus all the lifestyle habits she tells patients to adopt for clearer, more youthful-looking skin. “If you don’t manage your stress levels, then you’re always gonna have some form of acne. And acne is a spectrum—these breakouts could be whiteheads, blackheads, cysts, and everything in between,” she says. “So it’s really key to manage stress levels—and managing stress levels also helps with other skin conditions too.” Some of her favorite ways: monthly massages if you can afford it, acupuncture, self-acupressure, and 4-7-8 breathing. It’s worth noting that the latter two are totally free: “There are a lot of things you can do to manage stress,” she says. “Yes, there are things that you can pay for, but then there are a lot of things that you can just do on your own that work too.” She says that it’s best to keep it simple elsewhere in the routine, and then use your strong acne-fighting ingredients (like retinoids, AHAs, and BHAs) as tolerated. “Give your skin rest days,” she says. Take it from the derm herself: “I can only tolerate a retinoid once or twice a week,” she says. “I eat lots of fruits, legumes, and vegetables throughout the day and try to eat a diversity of plants Monday through Friday,” she says. “It’s really not that hard if you think about it: In a day I’ll eat cilantro, parsley, garlic, onions, and tomatoes. I do this five times a day with different plants—five times six days, and you’re already at 30. That’s not too bad.”
