All my life, I thought I had perfect skin. In fact, when I think back on my high school years, I can probably count the number of breakouts I experienced on one hand. Don’t hate me yet—a BUT is coming.

But (there it is!) it was all an illusion. Like many ladies of our generation, I was on the pill before I really understood what kind of hormones I was putting into my body. And I stayed on until I was twenty two. Enter my rude awakening. When I stopped taking a slew of hormones on a daily basis, things changed: my true skin identity came to the surface.

First, my forehead became a minefield of micro-pimples. They appeared in clusters that spread to my temples and, at some point, the sides of my cheeks, my chin.

I robbed my skin of moisture, hoping the pimples would dry up. Tea tree oil became my signature scent. Terrified and uninformed, I didn’t change my skincare products. I thought: I guess I just have bad skin now. And forever. My skin got really, really dry. Like, painful cracking and splotches of eczema dry. But the pimples didn’t disappear. After a few years of suffering through bad skin, I decided to get proactive and make drastic changes.

I researched and tried everything. Without fail, each routine—all-natural, ultra-gentle, harsh exfoliants, oil cleansing—didn’t work. So I decided to go a different route: rather than treating my skin’s symptoms, I’d learn about the root of my skin problems from the inside out.

Today, after three years in skin prison, my skin is fairly balanced. A lot of beauty myths I’d taken as gospel were shattered along the way. Here’s what I learned:

Always moisturize.
Even if you have a big ol’ pimple brewing, don’t soak your face in alcohol-based toner. Don’t skip moisturizer in your acne-prone areas. Your skin needs moisture to repair and protect itself.

Use products for sebum control.
Excessive sebum (the oil naturally produced by your skin) can be a symptom of hormone imbalance. You might not have visibly oily skin everywhere. Like me, you might have dry patches or eczema issues. But if you’ve got lots of blind pimples under unhealthy skin—either too oily or too dry—you might have a sebum problem. Consider using products with Vitamin A or green tea to balance your oil production.

Eat well and sweat.
Sweat is not acne’s enemy, as long as you cleanse thoroughly after each workout. Your food choices and exercise routine affect you inside and out. Remember those hormone problems I was talking about? Those can be exacerbated by your food choices. By eating whole foods that are low in sugar and refreshing your skin with a daily sweat session, you’ll set your face up for success.

Don’t exfoliate with scrubs.
When your skin is dry and pimply, it’s tempting to scrub off a layer or two, but this will result in skin tears, excess sebum and a damaged moisture barrier. Try a chemical exfoliant that contains alpha hydroxy acid instead. The acid will eat up your dead skin—yum—so you won’t have to scrape it off with abrasive cleansers.

Pop the pimple.
Pimple popping is a Cardinal Sin, right? Wrong! I have acne scars from popping, but some of my worst scars are the result of letting a giant pimple do its thing for way too long. But never pop a cystic pimple; if a particularly stubborn whitehead is threatening your sanity, kill it with a come done extractor, not your fingers.

Your skin can glow post-pill, you’ve just got to learn how to let it.