Perspective
Hormones have long been the enemy of good skin, but can biohacking your cycle actually battle breakouts? One writer found out
It was my first period in over a decade. Yep, I was 27 going on 14, after swapping my progesteroneonly contraceptive pill – which comes with the handy side effect of never having that time of the month – for the combined pill, which requires a week-long break to bleed. I was having my ‘period renaissance’, if you will.
I don’t know why my contraceptive pill turned on me. We’d been getting along so well. Then, one day, we weren’t. As randomly as a switch being flicked, I was plagued by constant spotting, and this went on for months. Change was clearly needed. I knew swapping to a new pill could come with different side effects, but I was so busy worrying about how my mood would react to this new pill, that I hadn’t considered the physical toll it would take on my body – mainly my skin. My mood has (fingers crossed) been okay, but my skin? That was a different story. Okay, I had my fair share of acne while on the mini-pill, but nothing quite compared with the volcanoes my new period started to produce.
My period spots couldn’t be contained by acne stickers and they refused to be camouflaged by full-coverage concealers, so in my desperation, I was willing to try anything. And that’s when my late-night TikTok scrolls introduced me to a concept known as ‘cycle syncing skincare’. If you’re unfamiliar, the hashtag has 459m views (and counting) and involves switching up your skincare to align with your menstrual cycle to help tackle the skin troubles that typically erupt at each stage. But would it actually work? Or is it just another TikTok fad? I tried it to find out…
A menstrual breakdown
Despite my Clue app’s best intentions, up until recently, I knew very little about my cycle. Well, aside from it lasting between five and seven days (within the average length of two to seven) and it making me crave a 12-box of Krispy Kreme doughnuts. So, I went looking for answers.
‘Your cycle is divided into four parts,’ explains hormone doctor Sohere Roked. ‘There’s menstruation (your period), followed by the follicular phase, which is when the follicles on the ovaries start to mature and hormone levels start rising. Then there’s ovulation, which is the release of the egg into the womb, with a surge in oestrogen. Finally there’s the luteal phase, with a surge in progesterone that thickens the lining of the womb so a fertilised egg can implant. If an egg doesn’t implant, hormone levels drop, menstruation occurs, and the cycle repeats.’ She adds that while the phases will be the same for all, the lengths of each phase may vary. To put it mildly, there’s a cocktail of different
