Many people who suffer from face acne may also, unfortunately, suffer from acne on their body. Although they are not mutually exclusive, often if you find yourself with one, you might also find yourself dealing with another.
Similar to face acne, body acne cannot be “cured” but can only be treated. And best of all, the effects can be lessened with a few careful precautions and some means of dedicated treatment.
So before you reach for the prescriptions or miracle cures, take a look at the list below at potential irritants and best-known treatments for body acne.
1. Friction
When it comes to acne on your back, chest, and shoulders, friction could be the culprit. Particularly in places where a strap for a backpack or purse rubs against your skin. Another thing you want to avoid is tight clothing. Not only is there a lot of friction when clothes are too tight, but they also don’t allow your skin to breathe. Sweat and dirt can easily become trapped in the pores and cause nasty breakouts.
2. Laundry Detergent
One big thing you can do to lessen breakouts
has to do with how well rinsed your laundry is. Detergent can be a pretty big factor in acne flare-ups. A way to avoid this irritant is to rinse your clothes twice in the washer before placing them in the dryer, or just simply use less detergent. Fragrance-free detergents are the best at helping your skin stay clear, and another good thing to do is change bedsheets and pillowcases at least once a week.
3. Clean shirts
If you’re anything like most people, you might not think twice about throwing a shirt you’ve worn once back onto a hanger in the closet to be worn again. But this exact thing might just be the reason you’ve been having such a hard time calming all the bacne (and various other forms of body acne.)
Try wearing a new shirt every day and even changing into a clean shirt at night before you go to bed, especially if you use treatments and products on your skin that you don’t want to spread all over your bed sheets. While we’re on the topic of changing shirts, do you workout? Because if so, driving home in sweaty clothes probably isn’t doing your skin any favors. Try wiping your body off with some pads soaked in toner at the gym and then changing into a clean shirt after your workout to avoid all that sweat staying on your skin any longer than necessary. And ladies, if you haven’t in awhile, don’t forget to wash your bras.
4. Hair Products
It’s a fact that some hair products have ingredients that can be great for hair but can be comedogenic for the rest of your body (especially your back) once they start running down.To avoid this, buy hair products that don’t have pore cloggers in them and pin your hair up in the shower so conditioned hair is not rubbing on your skin, basically just adding more oil to your pores. Make sure your body wash is acne safe and noncomedogenic and save washing your body for the end of your shower.
5. Exercise
The basic rule of thumb is that if you have body acne, you want to avoid excessive amounts of sweat sitting on your skin too long. This tip is definitely not meant to deter you from working out as long and as hard as you please, just bear in mind that the longer sweat stays on your skin, the more likely you are to break out. It’s important to get the sweat off immediately. A shower isn’t always an option, but having toner pads to wipe off excess perspiration helps a ton.
All of these are great things to keep in mind when considering how best to deal with embarrassing body acne, but nothing is going to help more than some good noncomedogenic products and a set treatment plan.
Right now, during the first week of December 2017, we will be launching our Body Acne Starter Kit! We’re excited to have this opportunity to help our readers and followers gain more control over their stubborn body acne with nonpore clogging products. Included in the body acne kit will be the following:
1-8 oz bottle of our BPO wash
2-1 oz bottles of 10% acne cream
2-1 oz bottles of our Exfoliating Serum #3
1-1.7 oz bottle of our Moisture Cream
1-2.5 oz bottle of our Sun Guard SPF
The first 50 kits sold will also get FREE toner!
The Body Acne Kit also includes step by step directions on how to use the products and lifestyle guidelines to help you get on the path to clear skin. To find more info on this promotion and other acnegrams, follow us on Instagram at @utahacneclinic. If you are looking for a way to speed up the process of clearing your unwanted acne, schedule an appointment at our clinic located in Northern Utah. We will set you up with a deep cleaning and extractions to get your skin more clear and beautiful than you ever thought possible.
Now that summer is finally here, we all get to relax and spend our days stretched out beside a pool or beach, drink in hand. Or at least, that’s what we wish we could be doing all summer. It’s hard to resist outdoor adventures when the weather is beautiful and the days are long and seemingly endless.
Here’s the thing though: not to be a damper on your summer, but you’ve got your skin think about. There is a lot that goes on in the summer sun that you need to be aware of to protect your skin and prevent skin damage or potentially making your acne worse.
But we’ve got you covered. Here is a list of tips to help you get through the summer with happy, healthy skin.
1. Sunscreen
I started with this one because, while it is obvious that you should wear sunscreen while hanging out by the pool or being outside all day, what isn’t so obvious is that you should be wearing sunscreen all day, every day. Rain or shine. Inside or outside. The sun can be tricky, as UV rays can still damage your skin even if it’s cloudy or raining outside and UVA rays can come through your windows when you are inside.
The importance of sunscreen is tremendous, especially if you have acne. Long-term sun exposure can cause extreme dryness and can also cause breakouts.
To protect your skin, find a sunscreen that has a high SPF formula. It is also vital to avoid products that contain ingredients such as shea butter, as they can clog your pores and invite breakouts.
A prime example of a good sunscreen to use would be one like our Sun Guard SPF 30, as it has all the elements mentioned above without the pore-clogging effects of most supermarket products.
2. Occlude Your Skin When You Go Swimming
To occlude means to “block” or “stop up.” When I say you should occlude your skin, naturally that sounds counterintuitive to the first tip in this post, which is to avoid products that clog your pores, but let me explain.
When you go swimming, iodides in pools and salt in the ocean can dry your skin out excessively. Not to mention bacteria and germs floating around just waiting to sink into your poor, unsuspecting pores.
Therefore, you must protect your skin by using products like Aquaphor before entering a swimming pool, ocean, or any body of water containing iodides or salt. This will help your skin stay safe from drying, bacteria, and iodides, which are harmful and can cause acne to flare up.
3. No Sweat
Of course sweating is a natural byproduct of summer. Being outside is one of the best parts about this time of year. But did you know that letting your sweat sit on your skin can cause breakouts? Because it definitely can.
Acne is caused by an overproduction of sebum and dead skin cells. Sexy, right? Especially when you want to look good in a new outfit when you’re on your way to a summer pool party. But when you let sweat sit on your skin, it invites more dirt, bacteria and other unwanted particles to stick and get stuck in your pores.
Do yourself a favor and grab a good acne safe toner. You can take a couple cotton pads soaked in toner with you anywhere and wipe away that sweat and dirt as you go. This is perfect for hikes, working out, or just a day out and about in the sun.
4. Suntanned or Sunburned?
When you’re at the pool or the beach this summer and your friend inevitably hands you a bottle of SPF 14 with coconut oil, you’re going to have a choice to make. You can either take that bottle and throw it into the nearby ocean, or you can slather it on your skin and hope for the best.
My recommendation is that you do neither and bring your own sunscreen. To ensure the health of your skin, you must avoid sunburns at all costs.
It’s imperative for many reasons, but the most important being that sunburns break down the pore, cause extreme dryness, and of course, cause skin cancer.
Don’t make the same mistakes that other people do with their skin; when it comes to sunbathing, you can still get a tan by using a high SPF sunscreen. It will protect your skin and potentially save your life.
But most of all, enjoy the weather and we hope these tips help you stay safe and keep your skin healthy this summer.
For more information and skincare tips make sure to read the rest of our blog under the education section at UtahAcneClinic.com
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