If your skin breaks out often, surely you have tried out various acne products to improve your condition. Perhaps you’ve managed to find one that is effective for your skin type and condition, or perhaps you’re still looking for one and might even have been committing all these too-common-skin mistakes that you’re unaware of. Below are 3 tips to having clear skin even if you’re acne-prone.
Mistakes #1: Not applying moisturizer or Sunscreen
Most people often get so obsessed with their visible blemishes that they overlook one surprising blemish product- that’s sunscreen! Did you know that not using SPF daily can prolong post-breakout redness and cause scars to take a longer time to recover? The reason is sunscreen helps keep pigment cells calm, so the recovery process can begin more quickly. (FYI, pigment cells stay active whenever your skin is exposed to daylight.)
Similarly, those with acne-prone skin must use moisturizer no matter what to keep their skin moisturized. Skipping out on applying moisturizer disrupts the skin’s moisture levels, and at the same time, the dehydration process stimulates more sebum production. This in turn causes more breakouts, as it encourages the formation of bacteria and the buildup of dead cells deep inside the pores.
Mistakes #2: High Insulin Intake (Sugary food)
An easy way to understand the relation between sugary food and facial woes is that sugar is sebum. Anytime you’re consuming sugary food/drinks you are just adding sebum to your face. All acne is hormonal to some degree so when you eat carbohydrates and especially sugar, it can increase sebum production and skin cell growth.
Oh did we also share that sugar promotes inflammation? Another critical factor in acne. Studies have revealed acne patients experience higher levels of inflammation than those with healthy skin. Sugar consumes antioxidants and leaves the skin vulnerable to inflammation, hence increasing the likelihood of getting acne.
Try avoiding foods that are pro-inflammatory, high-glycemic or high in saturated fats like white bread, candy, fried food, ice cream, packet fruit juice, pasta, ketchup, cream cheese, jam, pizza, sugar (white and brown), packaged snacks and sodas.
We all know that sugar is generally bad for health, but what about the skin? Did you know when excess sugar (natural or processed) reacts with the protein that’s in your body; they produced something called an “advanced-glycation-end-product (AGEs)” which ends up damaging skins collagen and elasticity. Likewise, cause inflammation in skin. Good news is that chocolate isn’t all that bad for your skin as they are packed with anti-oxidants. It’s just sugar that is the sinner. #caringtips #caringskin #igsg #beautysg
A post shared by CaringSkin (@caringskin) on Jul 26, 2016 at 8:02pm PDT
Mistakes #3: Using Spot Treatments Incorrectly
When a blemish appears, the goal is to have it heal quickly-right? That’s why it is rather typical for people to have a variety of spot treatments kit at-home such as acne patches and spot gel kit. While hoping to have the blemish heal and eliminate quickly or almost overnight, most will apply the acne products generously.
Did you know by applying spot treatment generously will actually make the blemish stay longer and likewise lead to a longer recovery time due to scarring? It is important to know that when applying the spot treatment on a blemish, it will immediately dry out the skin surface, and slowly you will start seeing flaky skin appearing. And this is what is preventing the infection/inflammation from getting purged. The longer that infection/inflammation is trapped in the skin, the longer it’ll take for your blemish to fully recover. The results? More damage is done to the skin causing scarring and discolouration.
Need more advanced treatment methods? We have you covered! Our range of acne treatments are available for different stages of acne, as well as certain skin types that are more acne prone.