Managing your sensitive skin which is more prone to acne breakouts requires efforts to achieve a balanced holistic care. When you are dealing with frequent breakouts you need to be a lot careful while selecting your skincare.
Even the wrong choice of your routine cleanser could strip the barrier of your skin and make it more exposed to breakouts as the skin gets inflamed, red and starts producing rebound excess sebum due to which acne could worsen. That is why you need to move away from harsh or strong cleansers for reducing your acne.
You need to opt for a gentle skin cleanser with mild and non stripping cleansing agents along with low concentration of anti-acne agents. Such a cleanser won’t strip the skin barrier or cause more skin problems, instead it would lift off the impurities from the skin along with fighting acne breakouts.
This type of cleanser would also prevent any future breakouts on the skin. It would be able to soothe and calm the skin which helps a lot. Look out for ingredients in your cleanser in order to protect your skin along with acne control.
The need for extra care in acne-prone sensitive skin
When you already have sensitive skin, dealing with frequent acne breakouts becomes even more difficult. The skin gets so easily affected by random factors and could lead to breakouts. When the skin barrier gets compromised, it loses moisture and gets dry, inflamed and flushed.
Due to this excessive dryness on the face sebaceous glands start producing sebum in excess as a defense in order to reduce dryness. The excess sebum on your face when gets mixed up with dead skin cells and dirt could result in acne breakouts.
Moreover using unsuitable face products could make the skin more compromised. That is why you need to opt for gentle cleansers which have shorter contact time with skin instead of leave-on products which might cause skin irritation in some.
Why not opt for traditional cleansers for acne?
Most of the traditional cleansers are formulated using harsh surfactants that might give you squeaky clean skin but they are not an ideal choice. These cleansers strip away the moisture barrier of the skin along with essential natural oils. When the moisture gets lost from the skin it results in even more sebum production in order to compensate for the loss.
This excess sebum and other buildup makes skin more prone to breakouts. This damaged skin can also be easily affected by bacterial infections that cause acne in many individuals. Also the concentration of acne fighting ingredients could be strong in such cleansers which might irritate the skin more and cause breakouts and other skin problems.
Texture of cleanser you should look for
For a better and smooth skin cleansing you need to look for a suitable texture of your cleanser which feels light on the skin. So it is better to look for gentle cleansers.
Gel cleansers could be used as they are lightweight and non-sticky. These cleansers do not strip the skin. Instead it glides over smoothly on the face, clearing out all the impurities from the skin.
Cream cleansers are the most suitable cleansers as they are formulated using emollients or skin soothing agents which do not strip the moisture barrier of the skin and when mild concentration of acne control ingredients are used in these cleansers they become more ideal.
Foaming cleansers use harsh surfactants to produce foam and can strip the moisture barrier but some foaming cleansers rely on mild cleansing agents so they could be used but with caution.
Soothing and active ingredients for acne control
Salicylic acid: It is a beta hydroxy acid with oil soluble molecular structure and gets derived majorly from willow bark. This chemical exfoliant works wonders for deep pore cleansing.
It dissolves bonds of oil, dirt and dead skin cells from the pores as well as clearing them out. It prevents acne breakouts. A concentration of about 0.5%-1% should be suitable for sensitive skin.
Niacinamide: This vitamin B3 helps in regulating the oil production in the pores and helps in controlling the excess production of sebum. It helps in supporting the skin barrier and repairs it as well.
Neem: A natural alternative for acne control which helps in fighting the acne causing bacterial infections by killing the bacteria. It also helps in reducing the signs of inflammation and irritation on the skin. It works best for acne and oil control but a very mild concentration of neem must be used.
Ceramides: These are the barrier supporting agents which helps in keeping the moisture barrier intact by supplying ceramides to hold the barrier. It helps in keeping the moisture in the skin and prevents any damage to the barrier. It also soothes the compromised skin.
Allantoin: It majorly helps in soothing the skin along with providing additional benefits like moisturizing and preventing the damage to the barrier. It works well for sensitive skin and prevents breakouts.
Glycolic acid: Glycolic acid face wash helps in clearing the buildup of impurities from the surface by chemically exfoliating the skin as it is an alpha hydroxy acid.
Ingredients you can avoid
- Harsh stripping surfactants
- High volatile alcohols that make the skin tight and dry
- Fragrant ingredients that could be irritating to skin
- High concentration of active ingredients
- Sulfates as they cause skin irritation
Final thoughts
Finding the right balance for an acne prone sensitive skin is important to keep the skin protected in both ways. Any trigger could result in inflammation or worse acne breakouts. So choosing a gentle cleanser with mild agents would help in fighting acne problems and irritation. Just be cautious while selecting active ingredients.
