One of the problems we face nowadays as acne sufferers is that once our acne is gone, there are no guarantees it won’t come back, especially if we have sensitive skin. A lot of things go on inside our bodies that make us vulnerable to a new cycle of acne breakouts. For instance, if sebum; that greasy fine skin coat which – under normal conditions – keeps the skin infection-free as well as minimize loss of water from skin pores becomes trapped inside a hair follicle, it accumulates while mixing with sloughed skin and plugs its opening.
Even if you have normal amounts of sebum on your skin, there might be other organisms that are present on your skin that have the influence of mixing with sebum and creating a product that invites inflammation to the skin which is the major head start for the beginning of a new breakout of acne.
Another key player in the breakout scenario is the accumulated dead skin which is not shed every month by our bodies but – with the help of sebum and bacteria – forms the cementing plug that closes the skin pores and leads to the formation of new acne lesions.
So, according to the above introduction, one would conclude that there has to be some sort of ongoing skin care done by acne recoverers in order to keep their skin’s safety pins at hand. That’s the role of skin cleansers as some sort of makeup that is good for acne prone skin, but we have to ask ourselves some good questions; What are the least but most effective ingredients of a skin cleanser that makes it worth buying?
A skin cleanser is supposed to prevent the occurrence of events that would otherwise trigger new acne lesions, and in the same way, introduces non-harmful materials that would benefit the skin more that harm it. For example, A good cleanser has to have a water base because oil based preparations can clog pores and make acne worse. It should also contain sulfur, a component that plays an important role in clearing up acne, absorbing oil, and speeding up healing time.
Salicylic and glycolic acids are other valuable ingredients in a skin cleanser, as they maintain the keratinization cycle of the skin cells and thus prevents skin pores from plugging up, as well as help maintain a nice skin tone. When you’re up to buy a skin cleanser, make it clear in your mind it should contain benzoyl peroxide, because not only it fights inflammation and signs of aging, it also somehow dries the skin, and thereby it suffocates the bacteria within so it can’t last and initiate another breakout cycle.
One final component that deserves mentioning but with caution is a retinoid. The skin normally replaces itself every month, but in some instances, excessive amounts of dead skin are created and are not shed properly. In addition, the inner lining of skin pore or a hair follicle is made of sticky cells that act like clamps, holding on to the slow flow of dead cells further hindering their outflow resulting in a “block” to the pore. Retinoids encourage gentle cell turn-over. It is only left to say that retinoids should be banned from use during pregnancy, not to mention among fertile sexually active females, unless they agree not to think of having children at least for 2 years after finishing their course of acne treatment with retinoids, because they were proved to be related to offspring malformations and defects if taken without having the 2-year drug-free period.
Natural ingredients like tea-tree oil, green tea extracts and whatever other extracts are beneficial. Also Vitamins that are good to take for acne skin are assets in any skin cleanser, but these are left to the preference of the buyer. I hope I’ve covered the essential ingredients in any makeup that is good for oily as well as dry acne skin. I hope also you take all this information in mind when shopping for the right skin cleanser to keep your acne breakouts off your skin for good.
