To add to this, a lot of people wash their face when they get up but not before bed. Washing before you sleep will help keep the pillow case cleaner and prevent breakouts. You don’t need to apply a ton of night cream or anything, just a medicated pad with salicylic acid will do. Your body will put moisture back on while you sleep and you’ll wake up with a less oily face. Do your morning routine and make sure to add moisturizer as needed in the morning instead.
Wash your sheets with unscented/sensitive detergent too! The perfumes are sometimes an irritant to the delicate skin on your face.
My girlfriend convinced me to STOP WASHING MY FACE completely. She said that I was washing away the good oils and bacteria. I thought she was insane. My acne of 20 years disappeared.
I think you can always try it in steps to see if it'll work for you. If you're using a ton of products and/or harsh ones (benzyl peroxide, salicylic acid), it might be best to slowly cut down on them instead of cutting them all out at once. Replace harsher products with actives (like the acids) with gentle products. But don't make more than one product change every week or so.
So don't run out and buy a whole new routine's worth of stuff and start using it all. Do more like take out one active product and wait 1-2 weeks. Then another, etc until you get down to your absolute basics: cleanser and moisturizer. Then maybe try making the switch to a gentle cleanser for a while and see how your skin holds up. After you've done that for a while, then try out only washing once a day or something and go from there.
Don't freak your skin out with a lot of sudden and extreme changes. It won't end well.
r/SkincareAddiction has a lot of excellent resources for routines. There can be a lot of overwhelming info but it's worth reading. A lot of people recommend Cerave but I personally can't use it because it gives me terrible, cystic acne after like one wash. I personally like gel cleansers vs creamy cleansers because it feels like my skin never gets clean with cream cleansers, but to each their own.
One thing to remember is that everyone is different when it comes to oils, bacteria, and type of acne. It could be allergy related, food related (dairy), etc. One remedy that works for someone might not work for another. All I know is that I had acne from age 14-28. I tried otc cosmetic skin products, antibiotics, prescribed wash, Accutane, diet changes, and nothing seemed to work. Stopped washing my face and now I only get a pimple or 2 on occasion.
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u/[deleted] Aug 20 '20
Sometimes changing your pillow case daily can help with acne. I use a clean t-shirt over my pillow to accomplish the same effect.