How Often Should I Wash My Face if I Have Acne
Have you ever experienced looking in the mirror, and watching a red pimple right staring back to you? Your very first action will be running towards the bathroom to scrub your face by using a strongest Cleanser till it feels clean.
This will give you the feeling of just magically removing the acne as well as wash away all that grease and oil present on your skin surface. But the truth is that the over-washing of your face can leave more worsened breakouts.
So, just in case you are the one who is fighting with pimples, then tracing your face wash frequency pimple count is as important as your active ingredient. Hence, you must know that washing your skin too little will eventually leave an accumulation over your skin dermis, whereas washing too much will eventually strip away the defense mechanism of your skin.
This comprehensive blog will help you deeply understand the optimal routine which needs to be followed in order to get clear skin without causing any external harm to your skin.
Key Takeaways
- Washing your face twice daily will help you in removing oil and impurities from your skin without causing any dryness.
- After heavy sweating or vigorous workouts, you should wash your skin immediately for the better prevention of forming pore clogs.
- Cleansing too frequently can also lead to destroying your moisture barrier which can further cause panic situations in your sebaceous glands which will make them pump out even more oils causing breakouts.
- Avoid the use of standard double cleansers or harsh scrubbers unless or until you are cleaning your heavy makeup whereas you should depend on delicate Anti-Acne Face Wash which contains proper active ingredients required for your skin.
Why Is the Effect of Face Wash Frequency for Acne Prone Skin?
In order to understand why this matters the most, you need to first look into the process of acne formation. There are small pores containing sebaceous glands present in your skin that produce natural sebum oil. This secreted sebum will help you in protecting as well as keeping your skin hydrated.
The major reason behind the formation of acne is the combination of:
- Increased sebum production
- Accumulation of dead skin cells
- proliferation of acne-causing bacteria
If you don't wash your face thoroughly as well as properly, it can cause formation of a thick plug like structure due to the mixing of dead skin cells and surface oils along with environmental pollution and sweat. This plug will further trap the bacteria inside your pores which will become a leading cause of many blackheads, whiteheads as well as some painful inflammatory pimples.
While on the other hand, over cleaning of the face can also leave you with some severe issues. Your skin barrier requires a good balance of lipids and moisture in order to prevent trapping of bacteria.
So the Stripping away can make healthy oils send a distress signal to your sebaceous glands. Then your skin overcompensates with fresh sebum in order to protect your skin but this will make your skin more oily which can trap many skin bacteria onto the skin.
How Often Wash Face Acne?
The dermatologists have recommended that individuals who are having acne prone skin should wash their face twice daily.
1. Morning routine
While sleeping, the sebum from your sebaceous glands will start secreting due to the active shedding of your dead skin cells. You will be waking up with a newly formed layer of waste products resting right on the surface of your skin even if you slept with a perfectly washed face.
This layer can be easily washed out with cleaning your face thoroughly which will also help in creating balance onto your surface oils as well as prepares your skin to absorb morning topical treatments or some lightweight sunscreens.
2. Evening routine
Throughout the day, your face will act as a dirt magnet which can include microscopic airborne pollution, dust, bacteria from your hands or cell phone as well as layers of sunscreen or makeup. This mixture on your face for eight hours will leave you with guaranteed clogged pores while sleeping.
3. Gym routine
This is a routine in which you will have a third wash after a workout or heavy physical labor. Due to the heavy workout, the wet sweat secreted along with the structural skin oils will lead to the formation of a sticky film. If you let this film dry without washing your face, it will start trapping bacteria deep inside your pores.
So, you must take a bottle of cleanser and wash your skin immediately right after exercising. Just in case a full sink wash isn't possible, then you can just thoroughly rinse your face with lukewarm water rather than leaving sweat to sit onto your face.
Is Double Washing Your Face Actually Ruining Your Acne Prone Skin?
You may have seen beauty influencers explaining as well as recommending a double cleanse method with the use of an oil-based cleanser followed by a water-based gel. In order to understand how to target double wash acne, you should be able to understand all the pros and cons of this technique.
Double washing is incredibly effective just in case you are wearing heavy, waterproof makeup or layers of thick water-resistant sunscreen. In this technique, the first oil-based cleanser will cause surface cosmetics breakdown while the second medicated cleanser will help in deeply cleaning of your skin pores. But if you do not wear any of the heavy cosmetics,then technique can be harmful to you as it can over-strip your acne-prone skin.
In order to categorise it you should know that if after cleansing your skin feels tight, dry, or looks visibly flaky this clearly indicates that your routine is too aggressive for your skin. So, you can just skip the double wash for daily maintenance of your skin as well as you can have a highly targeted treatment wash which will do its job perfectly in one go.
What Are the Steps Which You Should Follow in Order to Wash Your Face in a Proper Way?
The way you wash your face matters just as much as how often you wash it. So the Rough scrubbing of your skin can severely rupture active acne, multiplication of bacteria as well as causing deep skin cells scarring.
Step 1: Warm Water preparation
This process starts with properly damping your face with the use of lukewarm water as hot water can directly strip away your natural moisture lipids. Similarly, cold water will prevent your cleanser from breaking down hard oils present on your skin surface in an effective way.
Step 2: Fingertips application
Squeeze out a small amount of your anti-acne wash onto your clean fingertips without using any rough washcloths, loofahs, or even vibrating facial brushes as these can directly cause irritation on your inflammed pimples.
Step 3: Massaging in a gentle as well as circular motion
The proper massage of the cleanser must be done using circular motions softly with your hands. The main focus must be the acne-prone zones such as your forehead, nose, as well as the T-zone along with your jawline.
Step 4: Penetration of active ingredients
In case of using face wash constituting salicylic Acid or Benzoyl Peroxide, you should not wash it off immediately and let it rest onto your skin surface for approx 30-60 seconds. During this time, the active ingredients will be able to penetrate deep into your skin pores as well as can easily dissolve into your deep skin blockages.
Step 5: Rinsing your skin properly
The final step is to rinse your skin properly with lukewarm water until no cleanser residue remains onto your skin. After this, gently pat your skin dry with a fresh clean towel by keeping in mind not to rub your face roughly as the friction formed can lead to increased active inflammation.
What Should Be the Major After Wash Steps Which You Must Not Forget?
After properly washing your face using the above described steps, what you can do immediately will eventually help you in determining whether your skin will heals or breaks out.
1. Moisturising
Due to worrying about making your skin more oily, many people will just not apply moisturizer after washing. This can be proven as a major mistake as when you use an acne face wash, your skin will eventually start losing your skin surface moisture.
So, in order to lock in hydration without clogging your skin pores, you will have to apply a lightweight, oil-free, non-comedogenic gel moisturizer right after washing your face.
2. Never Skip Daytime Sunscreen
Acne-active ingredients like salicylic acid can chemically exfoliate your dead skin cells resulting in making your skin look more fresh which is vulnerable to UV damage. So, a broad-spectrum, matte-finish sunscreen must be used in order to protect your skin from sun exposure as it can darken acne scars as well as turn the temporary spot into a long-lasting dark spot.
Some Recommended Alite Products are:
1. Anti-Acne Face Wash:
Key activities:
- Encapsulated Activated Charcoal (deep-pore detoxification, 3x targeted delivery)
- Sebum Control Enzyme™
- Ceramide (barrier replenishment and protection)
- Spiraea Ulmaria Flower Extract / Meadowsweet (natural salicylates, antibacterial, gentle exfoliation)
- Aloe Vera Leaf Juice (soothing, hydrating, anti-inflammatory)
- Glycerin (humectant, moisture retention)
This face wash uses Encapsulated Activated Charcoal which is a carbon micro-spheres and will act as a microscopic magnet for your skin, and gets deep into blocked pores to safely pull out the trapped static dust particles, as well as oxidized sebum.
2. Alite Anti-Acne Foaming Face Wash
Key Ingredients:
- 1% Salicylic Acid
- 4% Glycolic Acid
- Aloe Vera
Sweeping away your dead skin cells from the skin surface will be done by Glycolic Acid further resulting in preventing them from remaining inside the pore while the Salicylic Acid will help in maintaining opening of pore exit, in order to make sure that underlying sebum will not come again in the form of a new pimple.
3. Anti-Acne Gel
Key ingredients:
- 5% Niacinamide PC™
- 6% Silanediol Salicylate
- 1% Contacticel™
This gel is designed in a way to provide a more clearer as well as smoother skin along with the power of three working together with various mechanisms whether you have occasional pimples or persistent acne.
Conclusion
The proper management of acne prone skin will require patience as well as consistency rather than aggressive scrubbing. You will be able to prevent oil buildup without causing any destruction to your skin barrier only if you will follow a strict washing twice daily routine with a good quality Anti-Acne Face Wash. So you must stop overwashing, and should give chance to the targeted formulas to gently heal your acne from both inside as well as outside.
