Hello, sweeties! Today I am going to share with you my current simple and easy skin care routine for oily and acne prone skin.
My skin got really bad during my teenage years ( with comedons and pimples ), then I almost cleared it ( only the comedons stayed ) and now, a few months ago, it got even worse than it was before… Now I’m having a lot of pimples and blackheads on my cheeks. Some of them are already scars which I’m currently trying to get rid of.
In my teen years, I used Zineryt and it helped me a lot. Because of that, I tried it over the last months but this time it didn’t help me at all. So I started to read a lot about acne and its treatment. Also, because I studied dermatology in medical school, I went back to my teacher’s lectures and started using every ingridient for acne. So, now I’m going to share with you the absolute must use active ingridients to treat your acne and scars – and they are doctors approved! But, I advice you to go to your doctor before using anything. There are different types of acne and they first have to diagnose you.
Here are the active ingridients that everyone should have in their acne prone skin care routine:
Lactic acid
The first thing I use, day and night, is a lactic acid gel cleanser. This must always be the first step in your skin care routine, no matter your skin type. What lactic acid does is that it eliminates accumulated dead skin cells on the epidermis and it increases cell turnover. That way your skin gets cleared and ready for the next products to go deeper in it and therefore more active. The cleanser I’m using is with oxygen which is great for the anaerobic bacteria ( the bacteria which live without oxygen, so when it gets to them they die ).
Azelaic acid
My other cleanser is a foam with azelaic acid. I use it every now and then and alternate between these two cleansers on different days. Azelaic acid is great for acne because it has comedolytic, anti-inflammatory and depigmenting effect on the skin. You can find this ingridient in a lot of creams as well such as Skinoren. If you use it in cleansers it is best to stay a few minutes on the skin so it can work better.
Niacineamide
Niacineamide, also known as Vitamin B3, has anti-inflammatory properties and it helps with reducing swelling and redness which acne causes. It also regulates the sebum production and helps with treating acne scars and post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation. Read more about this serum here.
Benzoyl peroxide
My absolute favorite ingridient ever! Benzoyl peroxide kills the bacteria underneath the skin and eliminates dead skin cells and excess sebum. It has keratolytic effect and affects the bacteria that causes acne – Propionibacterium acnes. It also affects the resistent bacterias in your skin that don’t get affected by Zineryt ( which is an antibitoic ). The benzoyl peroxide is a topical treatment – you use it only on the pimple or blackhead in very little amount because it can be very drying to the skin. Before using it, you can use a hydrating cream so you don’t dry or irritate your skin very much. But, I’m telling you, this ingridient is super strong and your pimple will be gone the next day!
Salicylic acid
Salicylic acid is good for eliminating dead skin cells from the top layer and it helps with the reduction of swelling and redness. What is more, it can reduce pores, but be careful with that – you should first clear your face and pores and then apply the salicylic acid.
Retinol
Retinol, also known as Vitamin A which you must have heard of, is the absolute best active ingridient in your skin care routine for acne. I learnt about this ingridient’s acne properties in medical school. Before that I only knew its anti-wrinkles effect on skin. So the retinols and retinoids have keratolytic effect on the skin. They help with the reduction of comedones and the growth of P. acnes. Also, the have an anti-wrinkles effect so you get a bonus result for your skin! 😀
SPF
The last thing on my skincare routine, and one of the most imporant, is, of course, using an SPF. I found a great SPF which includes Vitamin E – it is an antioxidant and it provides extra protection against cell mutation caused by sun and pollution exposure. The ingridients that I’ve shown you in this post, can make your skin more sensitive to sun, so it is absolutely a must to use SPF every single day of the year.
So, here is my morning and night skincare routine:
Leave me a comment and share this blog post if you found it helpful. ♡ Thank you!
And tell me what helped you heal your acne and what your acne prone skin care routine is!
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