Stress and bumps are bad enough on their own. But dealing with bumps caused by stress just amplifies everything. You’re already mentally and physically drained from your stressors. Then having physical signs of it all over your face and body in the form of stress bumps only stresses you out even more. It’s not fun.
Thankfully, stress bumps can be treated so you have one less thing to stress about. Finding the source of your stress and eliminating it should be your first step. But since that can take a while, let’s take a look at some ways to at least clear your skin.
Explore emotional well-being with BetterHelp – your partner in affordable online therapy. With 30,000+ licensed therapists and plans starting from only $65 per week, BetterHelp makes self-care accessible to all. Complete the questionnaire to match with the right therapist.
What Are Stress Bumps?
In order to treat and get rid of stress bumps, it’s important to understand exactly what you’re dealing with. You see, regular day-to-day stress is completely normal. Your body is able to cope with occasional traffic on your way to work or accidentally leaving your phone at work one day. Low levels of stress and anxiety generally don’t cause your your body to have a serious reaction.
On the other hand, when you’re under extreme stress and start suffering from bad anxiety, your body’s hormones change. For instance, when you lose your job and don’t know how you’re going to pay your rent next month or even a painful breakup. When that happens, your body’s reacts negatively because your hormones have gone haywire!
In all the chaos, your body may start to secrete excess sebum or oil from your pores. That excess sebum results in oily skin and acne, aka stress bumps.
So the stressful situations themselves don’t cause bumps. Rather, your body’s inability to deal with the changes in hormone caused by your stress and anxiety are actually what causes stress bumps.
Ok, so you know what stress bumps are, so how do you get rid of them? It all comes down to great skincare. Here’s how to do it.
Therapists Specializing in Stress
How to Treat Stress Bumps
Follow these simple steps to get rid of stress bumps on your body. But remember, the best way to permanently avoid stress bumps is to eliminate or reduce your stressors altogether.
1. Cleanse Your Skin Twice a Day
First and foremost, you have to start cleaning your skin properly at least twice a day. You have to remove all that excess oil and the dirt that builds up in your pores throughout the day. Otherwise, not only will the bumps stay there, but they’ll possibly worsen and start spreading.
Since stress bumps often occur on your face and neck, spot treat those areas first. But use the right products! All skincare products are not created equal, and they weren’t all formulated specifically for stress bumps.
Best Products For Stress Bumps on Your Body
For people with non-sensitive skin, we recommend Humane Benzoyl Peroxide for your body. If you have sensitive skin, the 10% benzoyl peroxide might be too abrasive on your skin.
But this product is great because it kills acne causing bacteria right in the pores where it starts, which prevents stress bumps from constantly recurring or worsening.
If you have sensitive skin, try Tree to Tub Soapberry Body Wash. It is specifically formulated to treat oily, sensitive skin so they’re great for stress bumps.
Best Products For Stress Bumps on Your Face
While all of these products technically can be used on your face and body, we suggest going going with a different product specifically formulated for stress bumps on your face. The reason why is your face is exposed to the sun, dirt and other harmful substances the rest of your body doesn’t come into contact to since it’s covered up.
The product we recommend to treat stress bumps on your face is the Neutrogena Oil-Free Acne Stress Control Power-Cream Wash.
You may recall this product was recommended in our stress acne guide as well. It’s because it’s hands down one of the best face washes available for stress-caused skin issues on your face.
Then at night, apply the Neutrogena Oil-Free Acne Stress Control Night Cleansing Pads, especially if you wear makeup during the day.
It’ll keep cleanse your skin plus prevent leftover makeup from damaging your skin.
2. Apply a Skin Toner to Prevent Future Stress Bumps
After cleaning your skin, you need to apply toner to prevent stress bumps from popping up again the future. It’s also a good idea to apply toner if you don’t currently have stress bumps but want to reduce your chances of getting them. You only need to apply toner to the parts of your face where the bumps actually occur. No need to spread it all over.
Once you can washed off your face, neck or hands it is important that you apply a toner to that part. Even individuals that do not currently have bumps can keep a practice of using a toner after washing their face. This will act as a prevention control against bumps that are likely to occur.
Our toner of choice is Neutrogena Oil-Free Acne Stress Control Triple-Action Toner. This toner eliminates surface oil and shine so you don’t have to deal with the embarrassing greasy looking forehead or cheeks.
Plus, the green tea and cucumber extracts do a great job of gently soothing irritation and redness. It really leaves your skin feeling soft and natural rather than oily and greasy.
You also get Neutrogena’s MicroClear technology which has been clinically proven to help unclog pores quicker.
TL;DR: What to Buy & Do
Since we listed a bunch of products, here’s a tl;dr version of exactly what to buy:
- Clean your body twice a day with this if you have non-sensitive skin, or this if you have sensitive skin.
- Clean your face with this in the morning and this in the evening.
- After cleaning, apply this toner to the areas of your skin where you get stress bumps. It’ll stop the bumps from occurring again the future.
There you have it. If you can keep up with that routine, you’ll be well on your way to eliminating pesky stress bumps once and for all!
