Breaking the Acne Cycle

The problem I have found with a lot of acne products is that they are very harsh on the skin. Ingredients such as glycolic acid, benzoyl peroxide, retin-A and salicylic acid can be effective for a spot treatment, but after a few days of use, you find that your skin gets worse. The stronger the product, the more drying. When the skin gets too dry, it produces more oil to lubricate and protect the skin. So, you use more of the product to try to control the oilyness....The skin's natural oils help to protect against bacteria, too much oil will clog the pores causing acne.

Somehow we just seem to get stuck in a never ending cycle.

A couple things I have found that help to break the cycle include: using a clean wash cloth to wash the face - this helps to gently exfoliate the skin and helps to keep it clean. Changing wash cloths after each use prevents the spread of bacteria; cleanse the face with either Cetaphil gentle cleansing bar (not the acne bar or the lotion, they don't work as well) or Neutrogena sensitve skin bar. Deodorant soaps are too harsh, again the excess oil cycle, and many others are too gentle and won't clean the skin well; I use jojoba oil. Just a drop or two and spread it over my skin after cleansing while it's still wet. The oil (it isn't really an oil -another story), sort of tricks the skin into thinking it has enough oil, and helps it not to produce more. Jojoba oil is very similar to our natural body oils and doesn't clog the pores; and I use a zinc-sulfur based product called Acne-ltd to treat the spots and pimples. It helps to control the oil and red-tones (I think that's from the zinc) and the sulfur is a natural anti-biotic and helps reduce pimple breakouts. And it sounds crazy, but I drink lots of water. At least five 20 ounce bottles a day. Water helps to flush out toxins from the body and works to balance out all the sweets, and other acne causing foods.

~~Anna