Picture this: You wake up in the morning, refreshed from a long night’s sleep, and ready to conquer the world. You stroll into the bathroom, a sheer force of confidence, and look into the mirror waiting to see your gorgeous complexion in the reflection. But wait! What’s that? Gasp! Another breakout. Sorting through the annoyance in your mind, you try to justify how this happened (again), but can’t find a logical reason.
...Well, we’re going to cut off this scenario right now and provide you with a solution to this fictional-yet-relatable story sequence. How? By introducing you to 4 simple acne hacks. This way, you’ll never face the above morning again (or so we hope).
So, if you’re ready to step into a more educated, and reassured version of the “her” in the storyline above, join us and read on.
Hack 1: Know Your Acid Mantle.
Say what? An acid mantle? We know, it sounds weird at first read. Especially since when it comes to the skin this major component is rarely discussed. But trust us, once you get a hold on what the acid mantle is, and how it affects your skin, you’ll find it’ll be one of the best acne hacks you have ever uncovered.
Let’s get a bit scientific. The Acid Mantle, generally put, is made up of your sebum and sweat. This creates a super thin, acidic film over the skin (see where the name comes from now?). The goal of this unique layer is to keep harmful things out and good things in.
Wondering how this relates to acne? Allow us to elaborate more.
To ensure this acid mantle stays in its power, it has to stay at a balanced pH level. For those who forgot chemistry, pH is a measure of how basic or acidic something is, and for your skin, it is ever-important to keep it at a pH of 5 or below. When this is disturbed, it retaliates with breakouts. While that may sound like us being dramatic, studies have been done to show that people with higher pH levels are more prone to acne than people with lower pH levels.
Common things that disturb this ecosphere of skin happiness is scrubbing the skin with less-than-great cleansers (ones that contain SLS or other chemicals) and over-exfoliating.
So, takeaway on hack #1: Use soothing cleansing balms in place of foaming cleansers and keep exfoliating at a normal amount of sessions per week.
Hack #2: Make Linoleic Acid Your Friend
Gosh, if you’ve ever searched treatments for acne, the results are ripe with Benzoyl Peroxide (Are you rolling your eyes? Just us?). Now, while that has its place in some medicine cabinets, it doesn’t have a place in ours (and after today, not yours either!).
Aside from it being shown to introduce free radicals into the skin, the stuff is harsh! There are far better, and gentler options for you. One of which is Linoleic Acid, a personal favorite of ours. ThIs is an essential fatty acid that the body needs, but can’t make itself. In fact, studies have shown that acne sufferers have lower levels of Linoleic Acid in their system than non-acne sufferers.
So, takeaway for number two on our list of acne hacks that actually work? Find products --serums -- that contain naturally occuring Linoleic Acid and use them religiously.
Need a helping hand? Try out our 01 Luminous Face Oil. It has a ton of the stuff in it thanks to powerful ingredients like Evening Primrose Oil and Apricot Oil.
Hack #3: Be Laundry Smart!
Sorry if we sound like your mom growing up, but this is a tip that has to be said. When it comes to doing laundry, some of us but certainly not all of us fall victim to pillow procrastination. It’s one of the causes for acne, since pillows capture all the dirt and grime from your face and then, well, just let them sit there. That means each time you put face-to-pillow you get some seriously gross stuff clogging your pores.
Takeaway for one of the more easy acne hacks on here? Wash your pillowcases every few days, please.
Hack #4: Try Going Dairy-Free
While we’re not vouching for you to completely quit dairy, we are saying that you should try cutting back on it for a month and seeing if that helps your acne situation at all. If you’re wondering how this is even on the list of hacks for acne, let us explain.
Dairy sourced from cows is known to have high levels of hormones that can mess with our bodies own internal hormone system when ingested. This creates a disturbance that in turn leads to our bodies producing more sebum, resulting in oilier complexions ripe for breakouts.
While you may think this is crazy talk, one study showed that there was a higher correlation between participants that consumed dairy and the presence of acne to those that didn’t.
Takeaway from this last hack? Don’t quit dairy alltogether, but have fun experimenting with other types of milk for one month and see if your skin clears up.
Now that we’ve touched on all 4 acne hacks, we’re pretty sure you’re in a great spot to go out and try them! Let us know how they worked out for you.
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