Acne-Prone Skin – How to Wash Your Face

Having acne-prone skin myself, I am always on the lookout for information to help my skin.

When I was younger, I didn’t take skin care seriously, and I have paid for it with scarring 🙁 I never knew how important the way I washed my skin was, how important the products I choose was, and I picked my skin (oops).

A very important fact that is often overlooked is, you MUST BE GENTLE when you wash your face.

Any abrasion and rubbing will irritate the skin and lead to clogged pores. And we all know what clogged pores lead to….. Pimples!

How do you wash your face properly?

• Only wash 2 times a day, once in the morning and once at night (any more will cause irritation).
• Wash with a gentle hand (barely touch your face).
• Use a gentle cleanser (no soap!).
• Pat your skin dry (the towel is abrasive).

Always remember the golden word: GENTLE.

Products For Washing Acne-Prone Skin

When choosing products you must keep a few things in mind:

• You don’t need harsh and drying products, these will only make your problems worse.
• Gentle and soothing ingredients will help calm your skin.
• You need to know what ingredients help with acne.

First Let’s Talk About Ingredients:

Many cleansers that are formulated to help with acne contain either chemical ingredients such as:

• Salicylic Acid – helps clear blocked pores and reduces redness.
• Benzoyl Peroxide – exfoliates the skin and kills bacteria.
• Sulphur – removes dead skin cells and eliminates excess oil.

These ingredients can work to eliminate or reduce acne. They can however be drying and irritating, they also make your skin more sensitive to the sun and sun damage.

And/Or they contain plants that either:

• Calm the skin (reduce irritation). Such as Chamomile and Calendula.
• Combat bacteria. Such as Tea Tree Oil.

Ingredients to Avoid:

When using your cleanser, it shouldn’t leave your skin feeling tight, tingly, or oily. Your cleanser should wash off completely without the need for a washcloth. It is recommended that you avoid ingredients that irritate the skin such as:

• alcohol
• arnica
• bergamot
• bitter orange
• camphor
• cinnamon
• citrus (grapefruit, lemon, or orange)
• lavender
• linalool
• anything labeled menthol or menthyl, peppermint
• sodium laurel sulfate and sodium laureth sulfate
• wintergreen
• witch hazel
• ylang-ylang

The above ingredients are often added to cleansers to combat bacteria (such as lavender) and I have used cleansers containing lavender or peppermint with no problems. Check out my Thesis Beauty’s Oily Skin Cleanser Review.

Basically it is all about trial and error, what works for some may not work for others. The key thing to remember when shopping for a cleanser is to find something that is gentle and does not contain harsh detergents such as sodium laurel sulfate and sodium laureth sulfate.

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Recommended Product:

I have found a cleanser that works well at cleansing the face without stripping moisture. It does not contain any of the irritating ingredients above and it is 100% natural.

Indie Lee’s Rosehip Cleanser has only 6 ingredients: Aqua, Sodium Olivate (Fatty Acid from Olive), Glycerin, Rosa Rubiginosa Seed Oil, Chondrus Crispus, Eriobotrya Japonica Extract. It is gentle enough for sensitive skin and offers Vitamins A, E and K.

Do you have a favorite face wash to share? Leave it in the comments below!

Yours In Beauty,
Andrea