What’s worse than sending your kids back to school with a face full of acne, blemishes, or red, ugly irritated skin? School is hard enough without dealing with skin problems.
The trick is to get the right balance between ingredients that target and treat the acne (bacteria actually, that lies under the skin’s surface and gets mixed up with dead skin cells in the hair follicles…which then leads to infections that are seen as blemishes or acne) without stripping all the natural skin’s protectants, leaving the skin super dry, flaky and sensitive.
Sometimes the really aggressive products are needed if prescribed by a Dermatologist, (Accutane, strong Retinols and Benzoyl Peroxide) but with teens particularly, the skin should be treated carefully and topical products with anti-bacterial agents and gentle exfoliants are generally effective enough. The key is to keep the skin as clean as possible so the bacteria doesn’t build up.
- Keep the hands off the face!!
- Keep the hair off the face too (bangs and long hair that hangs in the face are huge culprits for bacteria!)
- Wash pillow cases weekly.
- Sanitize all surfaces coming in contact with the face regularly, like cell phones and sunglasses!
- Simple and effective skin cleansers, toners, scrubs, masks and serums should incorporate ingredients like: salicylic acid, glycolic acid, retinol, sulfur, clays, anti-bacterial agents, soothing calming ingredients as well to prevent redness, and calm inflammation. Natural anti-bacterial ingredients are plentiful but not always in high enough concentrations to be effective, so read labels carefully.
Try DermaMD’s Wasabi Line for acne –prone skin.
It’s simple, smells great, comes in clean unisex packaging and is suitable for tweens right up to adults. It comes as a pack with a Gel Cleanser, Toner and Serum. You can add on the Charcoal Mud Mask for the complete Anti-Acne Skincare Collection.
Some of the active ingredients in this collection are: Natural Willow Bark, Wasabi Japonica root, Green Tea, Niacinamide (which is comparable to 1% Clyndomycin), Charcoal and Peppermint. These provide anti-bacterial properties, purify and decongest pores, stimulate healing, promote hydration, provide gentle exfoliation and leave the skin fresh and clean without excessive drying.
Mud Masks are great as well. Clays such as Bentonite can be incorporated into Spa treatments like facials and chemical peels. Regarding Chemical Peels, Salicylic Acid is by far the best for acneic-problem skin. In Spa treatments are much stronger (20-30%) than any topical products on the market (usually 2%).
Laser treatments (such as NdYag and Laser Genesis) can also be very helpful in treating acne, especially with homecare products so the skin can be maintained between treatments for maximum benefit and results!
One thing you don’t want to do with open blemishes or active acne is any type of Mechanical Exfoliation, ie Microdermabrasion or aggressive gritty scrubs…these will actually spread the bacteria all over the face!
You won’t go wrong with treating acne or problematic skin (unless it is severe), with products and treatments that target P’Bacteria, decongest pores, maintain the skin’s moisture balance, reduces redness and irritation with anti-inflammatory agents and of course SPF!! Mineral SPF with Zinc will actually help calm the skin as a bonus.