Acne Myths

Tempting as it may be, it is never a good idea to pop your pimples. Squeezing a blemish may actually drive the p. acne bacteria deeper into the pores. More importantly, by popping pimples you are increasing the chance of leaving damage, sometimes permanent scars in its place.

When it comes to acne, the sun is not your friend. It may feel like it’s drying up your pimples, but, at best, a tan or mild sunburn only camouflages the breakout.

The sun can actually inflame the skin further, something you want to avoid when treating acne, and the long term damage you are doing to your skin by sunbathing is irreversible, leading to premature ageing and skin cancer.

Acne always seems to appear out of nowhere but it can actually be weeks in the making before it appears on your skin. It’s not just one thing that has gone wrong, but can be up to four interrelated steps;

+ Excess dead skin cells clog the pores
+ Overproduction of oil (sebum)
+ Overgrowth of p.acnes bacteria in the pore
+ Inflammation (swelling) as a reaction to the bacteria and its by products

As you can see it takes a while for that pimple to reach your skin’s surface. That is why it is so important to maintain your skins health before acne starts. A consistent daily acne treatment routine can help to break the acne cycle.

Acne is the underlying condition that creates your present and future pimples. Treating one pimple at a time, is not the most effective route to take and won’t help to prevent new breakouts from forming. We instead recommend taking a preventative approach by treating all of your skin twice a day to help limit new breakouts.

You’ve probably heard that you can steam open your pores with hot water, and close them with cold water but this is not true. Pores are passageways that house hair follicles and sebaceous glands. They allow sweat to cool you and sebum (oil) to condition your skin but they do not have a muscle that allows them to open and close.
Pores are a physical trait and thus, mostly determined by genetics. However, oily pores do appear larger and dryer, while clearer pores appear smaller. While steam cannot technically open a pore, it can help to loosen the sebum that builds up in the pore, allowing it to exit more easily. Using an exfoliating cleanser daily, like Your Deep Cleanse can loosen dead skin cells, decreasing the crater like build up around a pore. This action will help to make your pores look smaller.

The good news is that acne is not caused by dirt. The bad news is that the bacteria that cause acne (p. acnes) are already on your skin and feeding on excess oil. Washing your face twice a day will help reduce bacteria, remove surface oil and help exfoliate dead skin cells. On the flip side, excessive washing can in fact make your acne worse so it’s a fine balance.

This is one of the oldest myths out there, and while you should probably keep your consumption of greasy foods to moderate amounts for other general health and wellbeing, greasy foods have little to no effect on acne.