Published: August 30, 2023
If you find yourself battling breakouts more often than not, it’s time to take back some control. Although acne may be the most common skin condition in the USA, people often make the wrong choices when trying to beat their breakouts, which only exacerbates those pimples in the long run.
So, what should you be doing if you have acne-prone skin? These eight tips from Bionyx are a great place to start:
1. Keep Your Skin Clean
While nobody should allow dirt to fester on their skin, keeping your skin clean is even more important if you’re prone to acne. It doesn’t take long for dirt on the surface of your skin to start collecting in your pores. Once this mixes with sebum and bacteria, it triggers inflammation, leading to a breakout. Preventing that dirt and oil from gathering in your pores to begin with will go a long way in putting a stop to the appearance of acne.
When searching for a cleanser, people with acne-prone skin tend to reach for the strongest and most powerful acne-busting foaming cleanser available. However, that’s not always the wisest move…
Many of the foaming cleansers designed specifically for acne can actually be overly harsh and drying. They may eliminate pimples in the short run but they can often increase sebum production in the long run. This will leave you even more susceptible to breakouts.
Instead, go with a mousse cleanser, like the Bionyx Rhodium Mousse Cleanser. It provides the same thorough cleanse as a foaming cleanser yet without drying the skin out. In fact, this cleanser is infused with glycerin and amino acids to leave the skin feeling hydrated and moisturized while keeping the skin’s protective barrier feeling intact.
2. Regularly Exfoliate
Unfortunately, cleansing on its own isn’t enough to ensure that the pores remain free of blockages. You’ll need to exfoliate too.
Exfoliation is a great way to pull impurities, sebum, and dirt out from within your pores. However, just like when choosing a cleanser, make sure that the exfoliant that you pick isn’t too harsh. Ideally, acne-prone skin should be exfoliated two to three times a week. This is only possible if you pick a gentle exfoliant. Anything too potent will leave your skin dehydrated and even oilier when used at this frequency.
So, rather than going for an overly abrasive scrub or strong acids, consider the Bionyx Rhodium Complex Facial Peeling instead. Although inspired by professional chemical peels, this formula is extremely gentle. At the same time, it’s also highly efficient at pulling excess sebum and impurities away from the skin, leaving the skin feeling refreshed and purified.
3. Use a Toner
Did you know that acne can be caused by the skin’s pH being off balance?
Acne-causing bacteria thrives in an environment with a pH of 6 to 6.5. Ideally, the skin’s pH should sit somewhere between 4.7 and 5.5. When it falls to the acidic end of the scale, acne becomes far more likely.
Sadly, there’s so much out there that can disrupt the skin’s pH level, and the cleansing process is one of them. By removing some of the sebum that coats your skin, you’re interfering with the skin barrier, and therefore its pH.
What can you do about this? It’s simple – add a toner to your skincare routine. Toners are great for keeping the skin’s pH feeling balanced. They’ll also hydrate your skin, minimize the look of enlarged pores, and leave your face looking bright and dewy.
The Bionyx Rhodium Facial Toner would be a great choice for acne-prone skin. It’s super hydrating and also contains niacinamide, which, as research confirms, can reduce the appearance of acne lesions.
4. Keep Acne-Prone Skin Hydrated
Many people don’t realize that dehydration causes the skin to ramp up sebum production. This makes the surface of the skin even oilier, increasing the chances of clogged pores and acne breakouts.
What causes dehydrated skin? For starters, harsh skincare products, like the dedicated acne-fighting cleansers and exfoliants we talked about earlier. Sun exposure, your diet, hot water, and the weather can all also contribute to dehydration.
Since acne-prone skin usually looks oily, it can be difficult to determine whether or not the skin also happens to be dehydrated. So, to play things safe, make sure that your skincare routine contains at least one hydrating serum.
Thanks to how lightweight they are, serums are able to dive deep down into the skin. They can leave the deeper layers of skin cells feeling hydrated in a way that thicker products aren’t able to do. Plus, you don’t want to be using any heavy hydrating ingredients as these could potentially clog your pores, making a lightweight serum the best way to hydrate acne-prone skin.
Our top pick would be the Bionyx Alloy Platinum Synergizing Serum. It’s a super silky formula that feels weightless when applied. However, it’s packed with several proven hydrating compounds, including sodium hyaluronate, glycerin, collagen, and peptides. It also contains vitamin C, which not only helps with hydration but also brightens and tightens the look of the skin.
5. Dial Down Your Skincare Routine
It can be tempting to go overboard with your skincare routine when you have acne-prone skin. There are so many products out there that promise to eliminate pesky pimples. It only makes sense to want to try as many as possible in the hopes that at least one of them will work!
However, this is the wrong approach, and it could potentially be the reason why breakouts are still an issue. When working with acne-prone skin, ‘less is more’ is a much better motto to keep in mind.
The more products you have in your skincare routine, the greater your chances of clogging your pores, triggering inflammation, disrupting your skin’s pH, and irritating your skin’s microbiome. All of this can, as you may have guessed, lead to acne.
So, when it comes to your skincare routine, keep things simple. Your daily routine only needs to consist of a few steps. Start with a cleanser, follow on with a toner, use a serum or two, and then apply a moisturizer and some SPF.
A few times a week, you should add in an exfoliant. If you have some extra time to spare, a clay mask would also be a good bet. The Bionyx Platinum Transformative Thermal Mask contains kaolin clay, which is revered for its oil-absorbing effects.
6. Protect With SPF
If you’re trying to clear up your complexion and keep breakouts to a minimum, SPF is non-negotiable. Not only do UV rays dry out the skin’s natural protective barrier, which causes dehydration and increased sebum production, but they also trigger inflammation in the skin. The more inflamed acne-prone skin is, the more likely breakouts are.
With that said, choosing a sunscreen for acne-prone skin can be difficult. Some of the ingredients in certain chemical sunscreens can irritate skin that’s susceptible to sensitivities. On the other hand, mineral sunscreens tend to be much thicker, making them more likely to clog your pores and leave a white cast behind.
When it comes down to it, trial and error is the best way forward. Test out a variety of different sunscreens until you find one that works for your skin’s unique needs.
7. Be Consistent With Your Skincare
When it comes to your skincare routine, it’s so important to be consistent. This is true for everyone but it’s also the only way in which you’ll finally be able to beat those breakouts.
What does skincare consistency mean?
To start with, it means following your skincare routine religiously twice a day. There will always be days when you’re too tired in the evening or too busy in the morning but, even then, it’s vital that your skin still receives some care.
You may find it easier to create two skincare routines; one short and basic one that you can follow when you need to be quick, and another longer one that you can carry out when you have an extra few minutes to spare.
Consistency also refers to not giving up on your skincare products if they haven’t produced results after a couple of weeks. Many skincare ingredients need more time than this to work. Before they can produce results, they need to accumulate in the skin. Plus, the skin’s own regenerative cycle can take a month, or even longer. This means that you’ll often need to wait at least a month to see a product’s longer effects start to take hold.
If you’re hoping for your skincare products to make a difference when it comes to your acne breakouts, then be patient and make sure that you’re using them consistently.
8. Assess Your Hair Care Products
Many hair care products contain oils. These oils serve to moisturize and hydrate the hair and they usually do a great job at this.
However, as you probably know, many oils can be bad news for acne-prone skin. Sure, some oils are non-comedogenic but chances are that there are plenty of comedogenic oils that have been used in your shampoo, conditioner, and styling products.
Why does this matter if you’re only going to be using these products on your hair instead of your skin?
Because all of those products, including their oils, will come into contact with your skin each time you wash your hair. In fact, even when you don’t wash your hair, the ingredients from the styling products that you use can still transfer over onto your skin over the course of the day.
If your breakouts tend to be concentrated around your hairline and any other areas that have likely had contact with your hair care products, then it could be time to seek out some new formulas to add to your hair care routine.
Summary
There’s no denying that acne-prone skin can be a challenge to deal with. Even the smallest mistake could leave you dealing with angry breakouts, making it vital to understand how to give your skin the care that it needs. Follow the eight tips above and you’ll be on the right path – remain consistent with them and it won’t be long before your complexion starts to clear up and pimples are a thing of the past!
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