Do you get pimples over and over again? irrespective of how well you care for your skin? If you do darling… you are not alone. In this post, I share 10 of the most common skincare mistakes that cause acne and make you feel like you are doing absolutely nothing right for your skin.
Acne arises primarily from an increase in androgen levels, excess oil production, dead skin cells, and acne forming bacteria ( cutibacterium acnes)
Other factors that can trigger acne are stress, diet, genetics, wrong skincare practices, and skincare products. Let’s go in-depth into how wrong habits in our skincare routine can cause us to have acne breakouts.
So as usual, grab a cup of coffee, tea, or something… and let’s dive in
Table of Contents
10 COMMON SKINCARE MISTAKES THAT CAUSE ACNE
Achieving that clear and glowing skin free of blackheads, whiteheads, and those painful nodules and cysts can sometimes feel like the more you chase after it the more it runs away from you. really annoying right?
But If you take a breather and assess your skin care routine and habits you may find out that you are making some horrible skincare mistakes and these may be responsible for your chronic acne
So let’s get into them
1. Using the Wrong Cleansers
When you are oily and acne-prone, getting cleansers formulated for oily skin types is very important. with oily skin type, you want cleansers that have gel consistencies. mild gel foaming cleansers will cleanse the skin of excess oils without stripping the skin of its own natural oils. Using heavier creamy cleansers will only clog your pores and leave you prone to breakouts
Salicylic acid is an anti- comedones( blackheads and whiteheads) powerhouse. It penetrates the pores and cleans them out. It is also anti-inflammatory and has exfoliating properties( it does this by breaking down the glue that holds dead skin cells together).
Benzoyl peroxide is the gold standard over the counter medication for acne. It reduces the amount of acne forming bacteria ( Cutibacterium acnes) and helps unclog pores.
This is another common skincare mistake that causes acne. When you are oily and acne-prone, it may seem logical to use products that dry out the excess oils. But this may do more harm than good in the long run. Some ingredients that dry out the skin are alcohol and Sodium lauryl sulfate.
Sodium lauryl sulfate is also known as SLS. It is a surfactant commonly found in detergents and is responsible for making them lather. When they are used in skincare products they cause excessive dryness. and when your oil glands sense this, they go it hyper mode in a bid to normalize your skin’s moisture levels. But remember when you are oily and acne-prone this is just a recipe for disaster. The excess oils clog up your pores and set the stage for an acne breakout.
Another way we dry out our skin is by over-cleansing. cleansing twice a day should do it🙂
Washing the face with hot water rather than lukewarm water will also strip your skin of its natural oils.
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3. Sleeping with Makeup On
Please don’t sleep with your makeup on🙏 . No matter how tired you are.
Makeup products are generally occlusive to the skin, and thick foundations being the major culprits.
So imagine applying a thick layer of foundation, setting powder, highlighters, blush, setting sprays, and the whole shebang, and don’t forget about the layers of skincare products you applied before these. Trust me your pores are already crying out for breathing space. And then you go and leave those on for the whole day, I mean till the next morning? Please don’t.
For days when you wear makeup, commence your evening skincare routine with double-cleansing. This simply means cleansing with an oil cleanser first to remove dirt, makeup, and grime. then follow up with a mild foaming cleanser.
Keeping your hands off your face when you have an active pimple can be difficult. When we pop our pimples we drive the inflammation deeper. Our hands harbor a lot of bacteria and so touching your face can transfer this germs unto your skin
Popping your pimples could lead to deeper infection, and eventual formation of deep acne scars as the body heals itself.
An effective way to handle those pesky pimples is to apply a hydrocolloid patch over them and leave overnight. They absorb moisture and reduce inflammation.
5. Using Comedogenic Cosmetics
If you are oily and acne-prone then it’s important to always do your due diligence when getting cosmetics and skincare products. The ingredient list is your friend. A lot of cosmetics products are made up of oils that are pore-clogging.
Always look out for oil-free moisturizers and makeup products. The key is to look out for makeup products that are mineral-based as these are lighter on the skin. Another way is to get products marketed as non-comedogenic.
6.Using Dirty Makeup Brushes
We can get caught up in the events of life to remember that we haven’t washed our makeup brushes in the past 6 months or should I say…never. I know a lot of us are guilty of this.
Ideally, our makeup sponges should be used once and makeup brushes washed weekly. But I know this is not feasible for a lot of people.
Be that as it may, we still need to wash our makeup brushes regularly.
Makeup brushes harbor bacteria and dead skin cells that just clog our pores and cause breakouts.
Ensure to do a monthly deep clean of your make up brushes to give you a fresh start for the new month ahead.
7. Impatience with Skincare Products
Another common skincare mistake that causes acne is not being patient enough for skincare products to do their work.
We usually get excited when getting skincare products, but sticking to a routine and waiting for the routine to play out is a different ball game.
Expecting a product or medication to work just after a week of usage is not going to work.
Good Things take time
Give a product 4 – 8 weeks before you assess your skin. For Skin Ingredients like Retinoids, their effects begin to manifest after about 3months to 6 months of usage.
With skincare products Patience is key
Trying out too many products at the same can be too much for the skin and can lead to skin barrier damage.
Many people are familiar with the aging effects the sun rays have on the skin. The sun emits UVA and UVB rays.
UVA rays, on the one hand, penetrate deeply into the skin and impair collagen production leading to signs of aging like fine lines, wrinkles, and sagging skin
UVB rays, on the other hand, cause sunburns and when this occurs, the skin barrier gets damaged and there is excess fluid lost from the skin. This leads to dehydration which in turn causes the sebaceous glands ( oil-producing glands in the skin) to produce more oils. This eventually causes clogging of the pores and acne formation
Daily use of sunscreen cannot be overemphasized. Use sunscreens with an SPF of 30 and above.
9. Not Moisturizing Correctly OR Skipping Moisturizing
When you are oil and acne-prone, it may sound counterintuitive to apply moisturizers when you are already a grease ball.
But Oil and hydration are two totally different things. You may be very oily but your skin cells are starved of moisture. and as stated above, when the skin is dry our oil glands will make more oils in an attempt to balance things out.
Moisturizers have a lot of benefits from as simple as keeping the skin hydrated, to delivering essential active ingredients needed to maintain the skin barrier function ( like ceramides, niacinamide, hyaluronic acid, and essential fatty acids like linoleic acid) to sealing the skin and preventing moisture loss.
10. Applying Acne Treatment only on Active Pimples
The act of applying acne treatments only on active pimples is not a skincare mistake in its own right. But if this is your only way of caring for your acne-prone skin … Only slathering anti-acne medications on active pimples? Then this largely inefficient.
With oily acne-prone skin, you need to have a simple skincare routine tailor-made for your skin type. The goal of the routine being to keep the pores unclogged.
You want to have a morning and evening skincare routine. With the morning skincare routine geared towards protection from sun damage and pollutants and the evening routine aimed at repairing and replenishing the skin.
I’m Dr Janet, a medical doctor, blogger, Youtuber and a mother to two awesome kids. I help women achieve their natural hair, skincare and health goals.
Glad to have you here
xoxo
I’m Dr Janet, a medical doctor, blogger, Youtuber and a mother to two awesome kids. I help women achieve their natural hair, skincare and health goals.
Glad to have you here
xoxo
