Find Balance With an Anti-Acne Routine
Developing great skin may seem like a constant battle. You might find yourself constantly searching for some magical elixir that will keep those breakouts under control. Your mother might have told you’ll be fine if you simply wash your face every night. It turns out that she was on the right track.
Experts agree that you receive the best skin care results by sticking to a daily routine. Consistently cleansing, treating, and moisturizing your skin keeps it in repair mode. It allows your products to work as they were designed to work.
Does Skin Type Matter?
Unless you are blessed with balanced, beautiful, and normal skin, you fall into one of four categories:
- Oily skin has a shiny, slick surface, and creates large pores. Makeup slides off oily skin, and oily skin makes it hard to keep sunglasses from slipping off of your nose.
- Dry skin is rough, flaky, and often itchy. It is hard to cover with makeup without creating a scaly appearance on your face.
- Combination skin is a combination of oily and flaky skin. It is both oily and dry at the same time.
- Sensitive skin becomes red and irritated by most skin cleansing products, and traditional acne treatments leave sensitive skin feeling raw and irritated.
Many products target specific types of skin. These products can put you on an endless cycle of product switching — you may end up buying something for oily skin until it dries your face out, leading you to buy a product for dry skin, and the reverse occurs. The chemicals in many over-the-counter products are often unnecessarily potent and so can sensitize people’s skin in one way or another.
A daily skin care routine using mild, natural products can get you off the product merry-go-round and help you attain balanced, normal skin. Many gentle, natural products won’t strip all the oil from your face or cause painful irritation. Instead, they work to find balance for your skin.
What Products Do You Need?
You don’t need a cabinet full of product for acne-free skin. If you overwhelm yourself with a routine that takes an hour every day to complete, you will never stick with that routine. The key is to build a routine that you can easily follow.
Basic products for acne-free skin include:
- A gentle cleanser or face wash
- An astringent or toner
- An anti-acne serum
- An oil-free moisturizer
You can add in extra acne treatments, such as weekly face masks, but they are often not necessary. Establishing a facial care routine for gentle skin care will balance your skin and help it to repair itself.
How Often Should You Wash Your Face?
Experts agree that you should wash your face every night before you go to bed to remove the day’s grime, oils, and makeup. This process can be hard after a long day, but this is the most important time to cleanse for people with acne-prone skin. You should also wash your face every morning to allow your anti-acne serum and moisturizer to absorb into fresh, balanced skin. If you workout or become sweaty during the day, refresh your skin by washing, treating, and moisturizing before continuing your day.
What Should I Do?
A consistent routine removes the need for fancy methods or treatments. Keep it simple, natural, and gentle to balance your skin and allow it to heal itself.
Step 1 – Gently wash your skin using your fingertips. You don’t need to scrub — just massage the cleanser into your skin. Don’t rush: Take the time to thoroughly clean your jawline, neck, and hairline.
Step 2 – Rinse well. Just a few splashes of water may not remove all of the product’s residue. Take an extra minute to thoroughly rinse.
Step 3 – Use an astringent to remove excess oil from your skin. Gently swipe it over the skin using a cotton ball or pad. If you thoroughly cleaned your face in step one, you shouldn’t see any makeup or grime on the cotton. If you do, wipe until it’s gone and then wash more thoroughly next time.
Step 4 – Apply an anti-acne serum to give your skin the needed boost to heal existing acne and to prevent future breakouts.
Step 5 – Moisturize using an oil-free product. While it may seem like your already oily skin doesn’t need extra moisture, moisturizers actually help to balance your skin. Consistent moisturizing will help prevent oil slicks from taking over your skin.
How Do I Make This into a Habit?
The key to establishing a consistent skin care routine is to be consistent every day for three weeks. To help create this habit, set a reminder alarm on your phone, leave your products out on the counter, or have yourself a treat every day that you stick with your routine – do anything you need to establish the routine. After three weeks, your improved skin will be the reward that keeps you on schedule.
Try our Tamaru Oil to help treat acne and acne scarring, promotes the growth of new, healthy skin, soothes sunburns, and is gentle enough to prevent diaper rash and skin inflammations on babies.