Cleansers for Oily Acne-Prone Skin

If you have oily acne prone skin, one cleanser probably won’t do. This special skin type is always up and down, some days it’s more normal, dehydrated and some days it’s producing more oil and breaking out all over the place.

This depends on a lot of things like hormones, season changes, environment, food etc… This is my skin type in a nutshell. Food is the #1 thing that affects my skin in a negative way, specifically sugar! Boo Hoo! Alcohol, sugar, bread, all of these give me acne, inflammation, redness and more not so pretty things.

I always keep 2-3 different cleansers on hand depending on what my skin is doing. The GOAL is to be able to use a gentle cleanser daily, an active toner with AHAs (for me that would be Mandelic and Lactic Acids), Serum (usually a Vitamin A) , moisturizer and sunscreen. This is not always the case though with oily skin. For acne prone skin the main objective is to kill bacteria and slow down oil production.

My favorite daily cleanser for acne/oily skin is Mandelic Acid Exfoliating Cleanser by Vivant. This cleanser has tiny circular scrubbing beads in it ant it is extremely effective in removing the top dead layers on the surface.

Non-Inflamed acne responds best to cleansers that have a scrub in them. It really helps to loosen those impacted pores and reduce the amount of dead skin and oil is building up.

Mandelic Acid:
Kills Bacteria
Speeds Natural Exfoliation Process
Anti Fungal
Reduces Inflammation

If your skin is lighter on the complexion scale, you could easily use Salicylic or Glycolic Acid in your wash 2x a day. These molecules are some of the smallest and can penetrate the skin faster but they are just fine for light complexions.

Also good for lighter complexions that suffer with moderate to severe acne is Benzoyl Peroxide. This ingredient is very strong and works wonderfully at reducing inflammation and killing bacteria. I give this type of cleanser to clients on the lighter complexion scale because it can cause hyperpigmentation in darker complexions. If I do prescribe BP for brown skin it is in a serum form and a very small percentage like 2.5 and only left on the skin for about 15mins at a time. Benzoyl Peroxide needs to be monitored and used cautiously.

Although I am not able to use an active cleanser 2x a day because it is very strong and can be a bit drying, I will switch between Mandelic Acid and a Gentle Cleanser. Using this method really keeps my skin balanced, not too dehydrated, controls my breakouts. Of course I have to balance the PH as well as the water content in my skin and I do that with hydrating toners and moisturizers.

Even acne prone skin has good days where it is less inflamed, red or irritated, and on those days you want to be less aggressive with it. Oily skin can be extremely temperamental but we need to take our time and get to know the triggers that cause it to react, there are many, you can find more information about it HERE .

Do you have oily acne prone skin? If you are struggling with this, let me know. I am here to help!

xoxo
Elle