banish winter breakouts

the challenge

Deep hydration is such an important part of caring for dry skin. I was always attracted to thick creams and balm moisturizers, simply because those seemed to be the obvious options to condition and protect my sensitive, flaky skin. However, especially when dealing with acne-prone skin, it’s preferable to incorporate moisture throughout your routine instead of attempting to get it all from one product and risking clogged pores. At the very least, you don’t want to strip moisture from your skin as you attempt to clear it up. Let’s cover how to best achieve those goals, step by step.

1: careful cleansing

Removing makeup, pollution, and excess oil is the first step in preparing your skin for the rest of your routine, but ingredients in certain cleansers formulated for acne-prone skin can be much too harsh for skin that becomes dry in winter. For example, salicylic acid is a great ingredient for cleaning pores and preventing irritation from blockages (aka our friend the pimple), but it can be a drying way to start your skin care routine, and salicylic can be especially drying to the eye area. In addition, it simply doesn’t work very well in a cleanser– it doesn’t stay on long enough to do much before it’s washed away.

Instead, reach for a face wash with no active ingredients and zero fragrance, because fragrance (even if it comes from essential oils!) irritates the skin, triggers excess oil production inside the pore, and breaks down your skin’s barrier. Your face should feel clean after cleansing, but not dry and tight. I recommend our cleansing creme to achieve those results, as the camellia seed oil carrier deeply conditions dehydrated skin. Use tepid to cool water to gently your rinse cleanser off and pat dry with a clean cloth. Hot or even warm water stimulates excessive oil production (like any type of irritation) and dries out the skin's surface.

2: gentle exfoliation

Exfoliation is a skin care step that must be practiced with caution by sensitive and acne-prone skin types, especially if skin is already stressed by dry, cold weather. Flaky surface skin can be maddening, not to mention hard to cover with makeup, but it is as important as always to avoid physical exfoliants like scrubs and rough washcloths. Yes, you may be removing dead skin (and trust me, I know it looks satisfying), but you’re also likely killing some healthy skin cells with that method.

Instead, use gentle chemical exfoliants to dissolve dead skin that might otherwise enter the pore and lead to blemishes (the p. acnes bacteria thrives on oil and dead skin!). If you’ve been using temperature extremes, fragrance, essential oils and scrubs, it might take some time to balance your skin. Irritated skin can be dry-looking on the surface yet strangely prone to oiliness underneath.

To address exfoliation on the surface only, a low-concentration glycolic treatment (like our glow exfoliant) can do wonders; for exfoliation inside the pore (to dissolve trapped oil), lactic acid is ideal if you’re rosacea-prone or if you’ve got milia–those tiny hard white bumps that never seems to go away. Salicylic or mandelic acid can also be a solid choice if you’re especially breakout-prone. There's a chemical exfoliant for almost everyone-- check out our selection here.

When applying exfoliants, be aware whether you can feel tingling or stinging. Ideally, you’d only feel a mild amount that dissipates quickly. If you feel nothing at all, you can probably handle a little more. Keep in mind, oilier skin can handle more acidic and stronger formulas than dry skin can. If you’re like me with dry patches and oily blemish-prone areas, you might try using glycolic over your entire face and lactic, salicylic or mandelic specifically in areas prone to clogged pores.

Bonus tip: if you’re dry and still want to try a stronger exfoliant, apply a light, non-comedogenic oil to the skin before sweeping the exfoliant over your face. The oil acts to protect the skin against potential irritation while still allowing your skin to access the benefits of exfoliating acids! I’ve been using this all winter, especially when other factors such as my hormones are making my skin more sensitive than usual.

3: targeting bacteria

If gentle, target exfoliation alone doesn’t start cleaning up your skin, you might need to incorporate an antibacterial ingredient like benzoyl peroxide or azelaic acid (the main active ingredient in our spot solver!). Bacteria don’t tend to exist only inside the blemishes you see, but in general areas. Knowing this, you can actually prevent blemishes by applying these treatments to areas where you tend to see breakouts. For my sensitive skin, spot treating is of course a great way to take care of individual pimples without irritating skin that doesn’t need that specific ingredient.

4: the right kind of moisture

Everyone’s skin has different needs (shameless plug for our routine finder based on your skin type), but we can absolutely make informed recommendations for acne-prone skin in the winter. Once I knew which emollients, or moisturizing agents, worked for my skin, the selection process became much more straightforward.

Moisturizer is of course essential for dry, winter skin, but we need to be careful to not over-do it! In fact, over-moisturizing wreaks havoc especially on acne-prone skin. Our skin cells are constantly turning over and smothering them in moisturizer will slow this process, thus impeding the healing process of blemishes.

Not only will over-moisturizing keep zits around for longer, I learned the hard way that anything overly thick and chock-full of certain oils is bound to bring about bumpy clogged pores and won’t effectively treat dry skin in the long term. Here are some specific ingredients that we avoid for that reason exactly (and some better options).

You could start by using a lightweight moisturizing serum after you exfoliate. Look for a formula with ingredients that provide all-day hydration such as hyaluronic acid and soothing extracts (cucumber, camellia, green tea, marshmallow). These are perfect for skin prone to acne and redness because they also have wonderful anti-irritant properties! I've been using our moisture milk, sometimes mixing it with a couple drops of 7 seeds oil blend on my drier skin days.

We breakout-prone folks really need to resist the urge to use thick cream moisturizers in favor of a more liquidy, gel-like consistency, even when our skin feels its driest. You can always layer lighter products until you achieve the level of moisture your skin needs. Lightweight, non-comedogenic seed oils like camellia seed and cucumber seed can soothe and protect your barrier without blocking pores.

extra tips for extra hydration

There are other ways to ensure that your skin stays clear and moisturized this winter. For example, I switched my usual non-comedogenic daily SPF (yes, every day. Trust us, your future self will thank you) out for a formula which contains hyaluronic acid and other ingredients that work to hydrate my skin alongside my moisturizer. I love Rain or Shine SPF 50, it's super lightweight and non-pore-clogging!!

Something else you may want to look into is taking a zinc supplement to help prevent breakouts from the inside-out and bonus, it can help your immune system fight off winter germs. Though they may be tempting, avoid any supplements with biotin, which can trigger cystic acne, rosacea, and increased oil production.