Submit your skincare questions to Dr. Agnes, CEO of Herborium and natural medicine expert
When it comes to acne, it seems like the most common piece of advice given is “Just wash your face!” as if that solves every single cause of acne - hormonal, diet, makeup, whatever. However, if it were really that simple, no one would have acne - ever.
What matters is what you actually wash your face with. There’s no denying that our skin is affected by what we use on it, so why would face wash be an exception?
A lot of face washes claim to treat acne with added ingredients like benzoyl peroxide and salicylic acid, just to name a few. But do these ingredients actually help your skin? When it comes to acne, it’s tempting to go all-in and attempt to raze your acne to the ground in all-out warfare. I know I’ve had thoughts of attempting to literally scour the acne off my face with harsh scrubs that promised to clear acne - but at the end of the day, this kind of hardcore treatment is awfulfor your skin and downright unnecessary.
Your skin has a natural barrier called the acid mantle. Everyone has one, and keeping it intact and healthy is crucial when it comes to resolving any skin concern - including acne. This natural barrier helps the skin to retain moisture and defend it against contaminants like bacteria, which could cause acne. It can easily be damaged by using the wrong kinds of cleansers, making problems like dryness and breakouts even worse.
The ideal face wash is non-stripping, pH balanced, and doesn’t have any extra treatments in it - it’s only job is to literally cleanse your skin. Bar soap is too alkaline and upsets the naturally acidic skin barrier. Good examples of simple, appropriate face washes for skin that don't upset the acid mantle include Cetaphil Gentle Cleanser, Neutrogena Ultra Gentle Daily Cleanser, and Cerave Foaming Cleanser.
The number one priority for all skin types, acne-prone or not, is healthy skin. Choosing an appropriate cleanser for your skin does more than just help with acne - but we’ll get to that later.
There’s also no denying that there’s a link between cleansing your skin properly and acne. Like in a previous blog post, there definitely are external causes of acne - one being makeup not being removed properly. While there’s no problem with opting to wear makeup on acne prone skin - just make sure it’s non-comedogenic, like our Miracle Dual Concealer and Foundation. No matter what you choose, it’s critical for it to be removed properly for clean, healthy skin.
A skincare buzzword that you may have heard of is of double-cleansing. No, that doesn't mean cleansing twice with the same product! To put it short, it's the idea of using an oil-based cleanser to dissolve and rinse away makeup and grime before using your regular cleanser. It's an incredibly gentle way to ensure that there isn't a speck left of makeup, grime, or pollution on the skin - ensuring that you can cross improper cleansing off your list of possible acne causes. If you're not comfortable using an oil-based product on your face, try micellar water - the science on how they work is really, really cool. Anything but makeup wipes - did you know those are actually terrible for your skin?
When you have the perfect skin care routine - that includes the perfect face wash - you lay down the groundwork for an anti-acne product like AcnEase to work effectively. AcnEase works to heal acne from within and isn't drying to the skin like acne-targeting face washes are.
If you’re at that stage where you don’t have any acne anymore, congrats! I’m sure it’s been a long journey. But, it’s not over now that you don’t have any active breakouts - depending on the severity of your acne, you might have what’s called post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation, aka PIH.
This pigmentation is directly caused by overproduction of melanin in inflamed skin, and while a raised scar might not be left behind, a tiny patch of darker skin might be. Some of this can be avoided by avoiding picking at and popping pimples - but some people are just naturally more prone to it than others, even if they leave their skin alone!
Just as it was critical to choose the right face wash for acne-prone skin, choosing the right face wash also helps after acne. Luckily, it’s not always necessary to change it - if you’ve chosen a good face wash that helps maintain a healthy skin barrier, it will also help your skin heal from PIH even faster. Sounds good, right?
Other than a face wash, there are two key products to a post-acne skincare routine - a serum like Rejuvel 3D and a high-spectrum sunscreen. Why both?
Rejuvel 3D focuses on nurturing and healing the skin as much as possible. It boosts collagen production and provides essential moisture to the skin. Collagen is the tissue responsible for healing skin, helping to boost the skin’s own healing abilities. While effective, it does need some help - and that help comes in the form of sunscreen.
Sunscreen is critical for more than one reason. Because the PIH left behind is basically very new skin, it's more prone to being damaged by UV exposure. The more this new skin is exposed to UV exposure, the harder it is to fade them away - even with the best skin care possible.
When it comes to a skin care routine for acne-prone skin, ensuring that using a gentle cleanser is key to having good skin - for life. It helps support the skin’s acid mantle, the barrier our skin naturally has to help protect it from acne and keep it healthy. It always pays to keep skin gently, but thoroughly cleansed to ensure that you’re boosting the power of any anti-acne treatment, including AcnEase.