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I love doing case studies for skincare issues, and today we are sharing a simple skincare routine for acne prone skin.
My friend Megan gave me permission to share these photos of her skin she sent me. She has been struggling for years with bad acne problems, dull skin texture, and just overall roughness.
She asked me to look at her skincare products back in November, I looked through what she was using. It turns out everything she was using, although “natural”, was causing major breakouts.
I made her stop all these products quickly, and recommended starting off with a few simple products to help her skin recover.
Simple Skincare Routine For Acne Prone Skin
Before We Start:
Make sure to use discount code chemistrycachet30 on the Purifying Face Cream and Purifying Facial we mention this post. In fact, you can use this discount code for ANY Good Science Beauty Products.
A Little Background To This Post:
For Christmas, I bought my friend Good Science Beauty’s Purifying Face Cream. I was so excited for her to start using it because she was really struggling with acne.
I also changed up her skincare routine. She was using natural skincare products, but they were all oil-based. Her skin was congested and continued to breakout. She was buying so many natural products targeted to clear up acne and blemishes. But her skin just got worse!
In November, she reached out to me about this.
I gave her the purifying cream when we exchanged our gifts in early December. She started using it shortly after.
A month later, she sent me a close up of her skin and she said for the first time in SO many years her skin looked so pretty. Most of her acne was clearing up and no new blemishes were popping up! She texts me photos everyday of her skin because she is proud of how it looks now. This makes me really happy for her because it has really boosted her self-esteem as a SAHM to a toddler. This is what good skincare is all about. It is to help nourish, protect, and keep your skin in good shape as you grow older or aging gracefully as I like to call it 🙂
Here is the Simple Skincare Routine For Acne Prone Skin I Recommended For Her
Resurfacing Wipes
Every two nights, I told her to use these wipes without any other serums. Gently wash face, then use these wipes. Top with the purifying face cream (code chemistrycachet30).
Bakuchiol Serum
Instead of using a retinol which can irritate your skin more, I recommended she use a bakuchiol serum (30% off right now with code alexisroch) on the days she doesn’t use the resurfacing wipes. This serum works well for acne, aging, skin texture, and more!
Good Science Beauty Purifying Face Cream
The key to this routine is this purifying face cream (use code chemistrycachet30 at checkout)! In fact, if you do one thing for your acne prone skin, I recommend this! The reason behind this cream being so successful is the ingredients and delivery method. Good Science Beauty uses Good Silicon+ technology as the delivery method, and the Purifying Face Cream combines Willow Bark with Niacinamide and Oligopeptide-10, which makes it super effective in preventing blemishes and unclogging pores.
Willow bark is a natural source of Salicin, the precursor to salicylic acid. Not only is it a powerful anti-inflammatory, but it can also help with aging.
If you have been a reader of Chemistry Cachet for awhile, you know how much I love Niacinamide. This heals and minimizes pores, but also helps with fine lines and wrinkles.
You might not be as familiar with the ingredient Oligopeptide-10. Oligopeptide-10 is an anti-microbial peptide derived from plant amino acids. It’s able to deactivate acne bacteria, but also boosts the efficacy of Willow Bark and Niacinamide. This is why the purifying cream is so successful for those with blemishes and acne prone skin.
Good Science Beauty Purifying Facial
I also recommended she treat any new blemishes that pop up with this purifying facial (code chemistrycachet30).This is a clay mask that doubles as a facial in a jar. The kaolin base gives it a texture like whipped cream (picture above). It won’t leave your face dry or tight, but instead moisturizes your skin! This is a really important factor for those suffering with acne. When you use products that dry out your skin too much, it can make blemishes worse.
The Purifying Facial features the power combination of Willow Bark and Niacinamide to help control blemishes and minimize redness and pores.
This is perfect for sensitive skin. I keep this on hand for myself for when I have a blemish pop up. I also love how soft it is plus it works for closing pores and blackheads too!
What She STOPPED Doing To Help Her Acne Prone Skin:
This is another very important part of this post you want to read! We talked about what she started using, but here are some things she stopped doing too. It doesn’t matter how good your skincare products are, if you continue to use things that are aggravating your skin, the good products won’t work as well.
A very crucial aspect for acne prone skin is to stop using oil-based products. When I looked at her skincare products, all of the “natural” products were oil-based. She was using an oil-based make-up remover, oil-based moisturizer, and then an oil on top! She was using these because they were all labeled as natural and targeted for acne. However, she suffered with horrible breakouts for two years using these products and just believed it was her skin. Not all oils are created equal, but there are dozens of oils involved in skincare. It can take years to figure out what your skin can tolerate, so it can be easier to eliminate them all together until you get your skin healed.
The minute she stopped all of this, she had an improvement in her skin. Adding in the products above has healed her skin and stopped her breakouts. She said she only has a few small blemishes left for the first time in so many years.
What about hormonal acne?
Acne can be caused from many things, and you might even have a combination of acne causes. Hormonal acne is definitely an issue many women have. My friend who inspired this story not only has acne prone skin, but she also has hormonal acne after her son was born.
All of these tips have been helpful for her hormonal acne too!
Stay tuned for more information on hormonal acne which I am currently researching in-depth. I will share a blog post in the coming months to dive deeper into this. For now, I will say her hormonal acne has improved drastically. She doesn’t get as many monthly blemishes either!
What about acne due to food intolerance?
I wanted to add this information before concluding our post today. Sometimes, you can be suffering from breakouts due to food sensitivities or food intolerance. My friend actually did food elimination and went to the doctor to get checked on this. She learned she was not having acne due to any health issues, so this is why she decided it must really be skincare related for her. I always recommend checking with your doctor or dermatologist if you think you might be dealing with a food intolerance.
With that in mind, this type of skincare routine will still benefit ANY type of acne due to the ingredient list. If you already see a skin doctor, you can always mention these products to them to see if it can benefit your personal situation.
This simple skincare routine for acne prone skin has changed her skin’s health for the first time in many years! If you suffer from any type of blemishes or breakouts, hormonal acne, or even just rough texture, you will benefit from a simple routine like this.
I texted my friend the other day just to see how her skin was doing and handling breakouts. This was her reply and it made me so happy to hear!
Review From Other Friends
I have recommended his routine to other friends too! My friend Jessica has switched to this regime, here is her results:
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Hi Alexis, thanks for the product recommendations, but I’m a little confused about using products with oil. All these products you recommend have oil in them—is that different than being oil based? Because you mention that your friend needed to stop using oil based products in order for her skin to clear up. Thanks!
Yes, oil-based products are different than products containing oil. If you look at the product ingredients, you can tell the base by the first few ingredients listed. She was using things like jojoba oil, sunflower oil, and a variety of oils targeted for “acne” but it was really just clogging her pores. I hope this helps!
What do you recommend for WASHING my face? What do you think of the idea I’ve seen to wash your face twice using 2 different products? I suppose what I get is “acne” but it isn’t a normal pimple. It is red, hard and is extremely difficult to make go away! I bought the niacinamide and I think it helps but still takes a long, long time to make the “knot” go away. I tried the tea tree oil but it scalded my face as if burned. I’m fair and blue eyed and understand that is a common reaction for us. It seems any moisturizer I try causes this!!! I try to moisturize the rest of my face and keep out of the “T zone” because that’s where the red, hard, ugly knots appear! Any suggestions are much appreciated. Thanks in advance!!!
I think double washing is way too harsh for sensitive or acne prone skin! I think people are actually using too harsh of products that are causing more irritation, which can increase skin redness and blemishes. My friend uses FRE foaming cleanser because it so gentle. All of their products are formulated for acne prone and sensitive skin, so it is great for anyone with that type of skin. Since you deal with moisturizers causing this for you too, I think you would really benefit from the Good Science Purifying cream in this post. My friend had the same issue you did and she is blue -eyed and very fair skinned too. It seemed everything was making her poor skin worse! I always recommend to people with very sensitive skin to try doing the minimum when it comes to products. Gentle washing, then finding one or two good products like the ones in this post to treat and heal the skin too.
Thanks! I’ll give both those a shot. Shoot, I’ve tried everything else!!
You advise against oil and the first ingredient is Argan oil! It also has rose flower and ylang ylang flower oil. So this is okay?
These are not oil-based products. The first ingredient in the FRE bakuchiol is water, it’s a water-based product which contains several different oils in the formula. I recommend not using a lot of oil-based products. For instance, my friend from this post was using several serums that contain a base of jojoba oil. The first ingredient was oil. Not all oils are the same, but starting off with less “oil-based” products is a good start for acne prone skin. I hope this helps!
Thanks. I’m struggling with determining which oils, how much, how close to the top or bottom of the ingredient list, etc. Believe it or not this is all rather new to me and I’m 71!!! I’m not accustomed to breakouts. Thanks for your help.
No problem! This is why I love to share products that work. The first ingredient listed on skincare is the base 🙂 All of the products in this post are specifically for acne prone and breakouts on skin. You will have success using these as we have tested them and researched them thoroughly before sharing.
Raw honey applied on the blemished heals them, takes away the pain, and heals the spot. Put is on at night and sleep in it. The ancient Egyptians used it for medicine.
I have never had luck with that method 🙁 I tried it many years ago over the course of a few months for some hormonal blemishes I was dealing with (in 2016). I used raw honey straight from my FIL’s beehives. I also tried the manuka honey. I do love honey for many other anti-inflammatory benefits.
Well duh on me! Thanks for the clarification and of course the 1st is the base. What is your opinion on Cetaphil and original Noxema for cleansing acne prone faces?
My friend has used cetaphil, but it seemed to dry out her skin too much. I used to use Noxzema years ago, it has been awhile. Some say it can cause irritation to acne prone skin or sensitive skin.