A Practical Guide to Acne

As someone who's had acne and who's researched it a whole lot, this is my straight forward, no nonsense guide to acne.

Myths

• You can dry out Acne. It doesn't really work like that, if you dry out a spot, you're not drying what's inside the spot, your drying out the skin around it. This can make it more angry and more prone to scaring.
• A daily scrub will help. Imagine the grain of sand in your scrub and compare it to the size of your pore. There's no way it can possibly remove the dirt from it, and if it was big enough how would it get back out of your pore?
• It's sugar isn't it? This is where people split. Acne can happen for a number of reasons, I'm not saying sugar is or is not a trigger for breakouts, but a healthy lifestyle never hurt anyone.
• Baking soda, Apple cider Vinegar and Lemon Juice will solve all my problems. Never put any of these things on your face. Constant use of any of these things will make your face irritated as they are not the right pH for your face. Stick to properly formulated products.

Treatments

The ones that work the Best:

• Benzoyl peroxide: Anti-Bacterial. Recommended to be used at 2.5 - 5%, I recommend only at night and always where sunscreen of SPF 30 and above.
• Salicylic acid: Acid exfoliant + Anti-Bacterial. Recommended to be used at 2%, if you find you skin sensitive to it you can use 0.5 - 1% and work your way up to 2%. Recormend product: Stridex. 

The ones that don't work as well:

• Tea tree oil: Anti-Bacterial. Not as good as Benzoyl peroixde.

Skincare Routine

What should skincare routine be made up of? I break it down into 3 Steps.

• Cleanse, day and night: Cleansing is very important and must be done twice a day. If you wear make-up you can use a wipe but always cleanse after. Never use a scrub. Cleansing will not rid you of acne on its own, but if you don't cleanse any thing you treat your acne with will be much less affective.
• Treat, day and night: Use benzoyl peroxide at night and Salicylic acid at night and day.
• Moisturise and Sunscreen, day: Use an SPF of 30 or above in the day, every day, all year round. This is very important as Benzoyl Peroxide can pose a skin cancer risk if you don't use sunscreen. Even in winter. Moisturise if your skin feels dry, if your worried about breaking out from the moisturiser don't go oil free, opt for some thing like Simple's spotless skin moisturiser as it also has acne fighting ingredients.

La Roche-Posay

The great thing about french brands is they offer good value for well tested products. La Roche-Posay is no exception. I think the main thing you'll notice if you upgrade your skincare routine from supermarket brands to mid-range pharmacy brands is, other than the price, all over face treatments (as appose to spot treatments) and alcohol free toners.

Effeclar Duo [+]

One thing about french bands are the confusing names. It takes a while to get used to each name for each range for each brand. Effeclar is La Roche-Posay's answer to acne. Effecalr Duo is a full face treatment (in the UK, its a spot treatment in the US). This is something you don't really find in cheaper brands, but there is a spot treatment if you feel you need it, and I feel it really makes a difference from blemishes and larger acne to scarring. Although I don't feel this will clear moderate acne unless another cream is used along side like Benzyl Peroxide.

Serozinc

Again weird name, its a spray toner or spray onto cotton pad if you don't like being sprayed in the face. As I mentioned earlier: alcohol free, which means you can probably apply as much as you want without drying your skin. I think this complements effeclar duo, but if I could only pick one, it would be effeclar duo. 

A Few Things From: The Body Shop

I went into the Body Shop as I do quite often and picked up a couple items. Here are some quick reviews.

Tea Tree Toner

I'm I fan of toners, I think even the simplest skincare routine should include a toner. What is often overlook especially in cheaper ranges is leave on products and I think a toner offers a light weight leave on.


I like the tea tree toner from The Body Shop because although it contains alcohol, its not much, not enough to feel it when you use it. I think its a good price as it's 400ml for £5.50. This places it well between cheap alcohol filled toners and the alcohol free toners like lush's' tea tree toner.

One thing that's sets it apart from other toners is the mattifying powder it contains for which you have to shake up to use.

I don't think this product alone is going to give you clear skin, but it sure will help. If your looking for a lighter alternative to benzyl peroxide this would be a good consideration but won't be as affective.

Blackhead Remover

If you've not seen one of these before it might look like a surgical instrument buts its not that scary. Buy placing pressure around a blackhead it pushes them out like squeezing with you fingers never could. If you don't believe me then check out all the videos on youtube.

That aside, I've used blackhead removers in the past three times the price, this being £4, and there really is not difference. I like this one because it has a square handle meaning it doesn't roll around.

Its easier to push out larger blackheads but once you get a good technique your be extracting like there's no tomorrow. It works best after steaming or placing a hot cloth on your face. I like to do it after I've cleansed my face using hot water till I can feel the ends of the blackheads poking out.

Natural vs Chemical

Often the word natural is used to make a product more appealing but is it really better? The answer to that is complicated so I shall first go over each product in your routine then go over some specific ingredients.

Chemical means something made in a lab.

Organic vs Natural: what's the difference? Products that say they're natural most of the time don't mean they're 100% natural. In fact very few are. To be called natural they don't even have to contain much of a natural ingredient. Some products show what percentage of something is natural. Organic on the other hand means 100% natural unless its referring to a specific ingredient. Be careful when reading packaging. I will be using the word natural to refer to products that use natural ingredients for their main purpose such as active ingredients.

Cleanser

I don't often recommend using an acne cleanser unless you can pay a bit more to get something better formulated. In this case it doesn't matter whether its chemical or natural.

Moisturizer

This one can be controversial. Personally I use natural moisturizers as they break down on the skin unlike chemical ingredients although shea butter is best avoided as it takes longer to break down. A natural moisturizer is also good for supplying nutrition to the skin.

Treatment

In this category I'm grouping toner/liquids and serums/gels. Here are some ingredients that I like. Most natural and some chemical . I like them not because of their source but because of how well they work.

• Salicylic acid sometimes called Beta hydroxy (BHA) acid is natural as it come from willow tree bark. This is best as a leave on as will have a minimal amount of affect in a cleanser, especially a cheap one.
• Glycolic acid and Lactic acid sometimes called Alpha hydroxy acids (AHAs) are natural. The most important one for acne is Glycolic. They both help to fade and eventually can  remove acne scarring. This is also best in a leave on.
• Benzyl Peroxide is chemical. It work much better than Tea Tree and leaves your skin less drying. 2.5-5% works best. Not great for a cleanser as it can bleach clothing.

Nip + Fab pads are great as they contain Glycolic, lactic and salicylic acid.

Not sure where to start when looking for products? Follow my Blog for great tips that actually work.

Acids on the Cheap

If you're new to the concept, acids may sound scary but they're not. The right kind of acid can do great for your kind and they are a much better exfoliant than sand or plastic beads.

Glycolic acid

This is a great ingredient for acne and acne scaring. It smooths out complexation and can make you look more radiant. The main problem with budget skincare is that it can contain smaller amounts of glycolic acid and the amount often isn't specified. Also many cheaper products contain alcohol.

B. Revealed: Glycolic Cleansing Peel £7.99

Despite the name this product is neither much of a peel or great a cleansing. Despite that I still really like this product. It recommends using it for 3 minutes 2-3 evenings a week although I use it more as a mask every other night for about 10 minutes. I find that's enough to prevent a breakout the next day. Don't worry about using it too much as its a small dose of glycolic acid. I would go on how your skins feels, if it irritates your skin use it less. I would recommend this.

Naturally Radiant: Glycolic Overnight Peel £5.99

Again this is not much of a peel. As you can probably see this comes in a small 30ml tube. I bought this in the home that it meant it had good ingredients and lots of glycolic acid. I was a bit disappointed to find it contain alcohol can be drying. With constant and continued use I'm sure this will fade marks but I feel if you just spent more money you'd get a longer lasting more effective product. So I don't really recommend this.

Salicylic acid

This is a great ingredient for acne and is a must have to any acne skincare routine. Its the best acid for acne as it gets deep into the pores. Can be more irritating in cheaper products.

Deep Action: Pore Cleansing Pads x 40 £2.68

First of all don't use these to cleanse with. Much like wipes it doesn't properly emulsify and remove oil like a cleanser and water. I use these in the toning stage and these are greater for acne. I guarantee your will see at least a reduction. The down side is the amount of alcohol which will the skin and make it irritated easier. Always use a moisturiser after this. I would recommend this.

About me

Hi,

I'm new to this, so forgive me if I'm not the best at it.

I'm a skincare lover, I love the way products make my skin feel, look and how it gives me confidence. Like many I have acne. This blog will mostly be about how I learn to keep it at bay. The thing about acne is your get told so much and a lot of its just not true. I've bought products that I now know are a load of crap, so I though for anyone with the same struggles I'll cut the crap. Its been a journey but now I pretty sure it can help you.