Skincare Habits That Are Making Your Acne Worse 

After spending nearly 2/3 of my life living with acne, I have finally learned that skincare products alone cannot and will not give you clear, glowing skin if you are prone to acne.

And often times, the skincare products themselves are partly to blame for your acne and dull looking skin. Go figure.

Whether you’ve suffered from acne most your life like I have, or you’ve always had flawless skin until you started a skincare routine you saw on TikTok, one thing remains the same: acne f*cking sucks.

After tons of research and personal experience, I have found these skincare habits to be the worst for acne and changing them has made a huge difference for my skin.

This post ended up way longer than I anticipated so sorry in advance!!

Related: Acne-Causing Foods: Top 6 Foods to Avoid for Clear Skin

Skincare Habits To Quit for Clear Skin

Using too many products, especially active ingredients.

You know how most men literally don’t have a skincare routine yet their skin is somehow flawless? Well, I think they’re on to something….

I think for a lot of us, what started out as a tiny little pimple in middle school quickly transformed into lifelong acne and horrible skin texture simply because we threw too many harsh ingredients at it too quickly, leading to a damaged skin barrier.

And because we didn’t realize the reason it kept getting worse was because our skin barrier was compromised, we threw even more at it, and we’ve just been stuck in this vicious loop ever since.

The skin on our face is very sensitive. When we’re constantly throwing a million different chemicals and ingredients at it, it’s going to get overwhelmed. And that shows up in the form of redness, dullness, oily complexion, dry flaky skin, inflammation — and ultimately acne.

We think we need more products, more active ingredients like BHAs and AHAs and benzoyl peroxide, when in reality, our skin needs the opposite.

So what do we do? We use even more 😭

In the wise old words of Einstein, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

When it comes to skincare, less is truly more.

Your skin needs time to heal!! Give your skin a break.

For a month, try sticking to this simple routine and see how things change.

Morning:

1. Rinse with warm water or use a gentle cleanser. Pat dry.
2. Apply hypochlorous acid spray.
3. Once spray is fully absorbed into skin, apply your serums (optional).
4. Once serum is fully absorbed, apply oil-free moisturizer.
5. Once moisturizer is fully absorbed, apply sunscreen.

Evening:

>>1-2 hours before bed so your products don’t just wipe off on your pillow.<<

1. Wash with gentle cleanser and warm water. Pat dry
2. Apply hypochlorous acid spray.
3. Once spray is fully absorbed into skin, apply your serums (optional). I have been using this blackhead exfoliant toner to help reduce clogged pores.
4. Once serum is fully absorbed, apply oil-free moisturizer.

I often spritz the hypochlorous acid spray on throughout the day to help fight off any bacteria that may be a-brewin’.

Trying new skincare products every week/month.

We’ll do anything for clear skin except have patience 😂 I know I know, when you’ve been suffering from acne for over half your life, patience is hard to come by when it comes to skincare.

However, this is one of those things that really does make a difference.

You’ve probably heard your dermatologist say to stick with a product for 4-6 weeks before you start seeing results. That’s because the outer layer of our skin takes, on average, 28-42 days to regenerate.

So if you’re trying a new skincare line, or even just a single new product, stick with it for at least 4 weeks. And don’t add or change anything during that time.

Even if your skin seems to be getting worse. This may be a sign the product IS actually working, and your skin is just purging all the nastiness that’s been trapped in your pores.

Now there are some products you know right away don’t work for your skin, like a moisturizer that makes your skin even greasier, so by all means stop using those. But for everything else, give it time.

And look at it this way: you’ve been dealing with this for years already, what’s waiting another couple months, especially if it might be the answer you’ve been looking for this whole time? In the grand scheme of things, 4-6 weeks is nothing.

Using toxic, hormone-disrupting ingredients. 

You’ve probably heard a lot of buzzwords like “clean beauty,” “natural skincare products,” and the like.

Conventional beauty products (aka most of the skincare, body care, makeup, and hair care products sold in stores) contain ingredients that are known to harm our health.

Things like:

• Fragrance
• Sulfates
• Phthalates
• Formaldehyde
• Sodium laureth sulfate (SLS)
• Parabens
• Aluminum

The list goes on.

Many of the ingredients used in your everyday personal care products are known endocrine disruptors — which as we all know, hormones play an important role in acne — and have been linked to cancer.

Major health issues aside, switching to clean products is an overlooked step in getting to the root cause of acne and goes a long way in treating it.

There are so many clean brands and products on the market these days, making it really easy to find clean, safe products that also work well.

The EWG SkinDeep database makes it easy to look up a product or ingredient and see how “safe” it’s rated. They even have an app so you can quickly scan products and see their score.

I recommend going through all your products and seeing how they’re rated and why (it gives a breakdown of each ingredient). That way you can make an informed decision on the products you’re putting on your body.

Using pore-clogging ingredients.

You would THINK skincare companies would never use pore-clogging ingredients in their products since they’re supposed to help improve skin health, not make it worse!! But nah, many companies still use ingredients known to clog pores. *sigh*

The products you physically put on your skin matter, but so do the products you put in your hair (shampoo, conditioner, creams, sprays, etc) because they come in contact with your face, neck, shoulders, chest, and back (and knees and toes) as well.

Instead of looking up each individual ingredient in every single product you use, you can make your life easier by using this pore-clogging ingredient checker. Simply copy and paste the ingredients and it will highlight any that may be of concern.

Aside from the usual skincare, makeup, and hair care products, there may be other products that come into contact with your skin that you might not think to check. I noticed after getting massages my back started to break out from the massage oil they were using, so I actually started bringing my own to use instead.

Using chapstick with pore-clogging ingredients.

This one deserves its own heading, because wow.

If you keep noticing breakouts around your lips (that are not cold sores), and you’ve been using chapstick, it’s probably your chapstick!!

I would go long stretches without any breakouts near my lips and then out of the blue, they’d be back. And then it finally clicked — the moment I started using my chapstick is when they’d attack.

So don’t forget to take a look at your chapstick ingredients.

Using ingredients your skin doesn’t like.

This is a very personal thing based on your skin, but I have seen a lot of people doing all the right things but still not seeing a change in their acne.

Just like with food, our bodies react differently to different ingredients we put on it.

Having oily skin, I personally cannot tolerate any products with oil in them (except for essential oils).

Common inactive ingredients that can aggravate acne include, but are not limited to:

• Silicones
• Oils (jojoba, rose hip, coconut, argan, mineral oil, etc.)
• Alcohol
• Fragrance
• SLS/SLES
• Parabens
• Propylene glycol
• Phthalates
• Shea butter

There may be other ingredients that you find make your acne worse, but this list is a good place to start.

Also pay attention to your hair care products, since they come in contact with your skin.

Touching your face.

Touching your face spreads bacteria, dirt, and oil, all of which clog pores and cause acne.

Whenever I touch my face, I notice acne popping up in that same exact spot.

So don’t touch your face!!

Popping pimples and picking at your face.

Popping and squeezing pimples is tempting. We all do it. Who wants to walk around with a giant blob of pus visible for all to see? Nobody.

I know you just want it to go away, but unfortunately, popping zits can end up pushing the nastiness (bacteria, dead skin cells, oil, pus) deeper into your skin, making things worse.

You’re also creating an open wound and introducing more bacteria to the mix, making it more susceptible to infection.

So instead of doing that, there are a couple things you can do to help with the looks and speed up healing.

1. Spray hypochlorous acid on your face multiple times a day. It naturally kills bacteria (among other things), which can help prevent acne from forming in the first place. And if you already have acne, it can help it heal faster.
2. When you do have a breakout you want to squeeze to oblivion, try covering it with a pimple patch instead. This girl in my pickleball league wears them and honestly, I love the idea of covering them up with a little patch instead of people staring at my pimples. Definitely helps with confidence a bit!

Not changing your towel frequently.

Because towels hold moisture, they’re the perfect environment for bacteria to thrive in.

They also are full of dead skin cells, oil, and bacteria that transfers from your body to the towel when you dry yourself off.

At the very minimum, you should be changing your towels out every 2-3 days and allowing them enough space to fully dry. Changing them out after each use is even better.

Sleeping on dirty bedding.

I’m going to sound like a broken record here, but your bedding is full of dead skin cells, oil, and bacteria, all of which fuel acne.

Sheets should be changed roughly every week, and pillowcases should be changed every 1-2 days, especially if you have active acne.

Wet hair touching your face and back (and pillow).

We already touched on the importance of using non-comedogenic haircare products due to the fact your hair comes in contact with your skin, and what’s on your hair rubs off on your skin.

But wait, there’s more.

When your wet hair is hanging on the sides of your face and draping down your shoulders and neck, it’s creating a humid, damp environment that bacteria thrive in.

Going to sleep with wet hair is even worse, because the wet hair is now getting pressed up against your face and pillow. This makes your pillow wet (and is just naturally a dark environment), creating another space that bacteria love. And your face is right up against that for 6+ hours every night.

I know it’s an extra step, but I’ve started blow drying my hair after showering unless I know it will air dry very quickly (aka outside in the summer). I pull it away from my face when I let it air dry.

And on those nights I get home from pickleball after 10pm and can’t be bothered to blow dry my hair, I throw it in a bun after showering. But I try to keep that to a minimum, because it still makes my pillow wet.

Using products that don’t work with your skin type.

❌ Not all skincare products work for all skin types. ❌ 

Some products are meant to target dry skin while others are meant to target oily or combination skin. You don’t want to use a product designed for dry skin on oily skin because that could just add more oil to the mix, which you don’t want.

So know your skin type and what skin type a product is for before you use it!

Skin types:

1. Dry: Face is dry, no oil secretion, may feel tight.
2. Oily: Whole face has oil secretion, looks and feels oily and greasy.
3. Combination (dry/oily): Face is oily in t-zone, but cheeks are dry.
4. Normal: Face is neither oily nor dry, not tight.

For example, I have oily skin and have found oily creams and serums to make my skin much more oily and worsen my acne, so I use oil-free moisturizers.

Using exfoliating scrubs.

Exfoliating scrubs that contain mediums such as beads, sugar, or mini pieces of plants (like walnut shells and apricot pits) cause micro tears and inflammation on the surface of your skin, damaging your skin barrier.

It took me a while (like, years) to realize my face scrubs were making me break out more instead of less. That’s because they were damaging my skin barrier, making it harder for my skin to fight off acne.

If your skin isn’t exfoliating well enough on its own (due to lifestyle factors like diet, sun exposure, age, alcohol consumption, etc), then opt for chemical exfoliants instead. Chemical exfoliants use acids (like salicylic acid) to exfoliate the skin and remove dead skin cells instead of rough substances.

I have tried many different chemical exfoliants, and the one that’s worked the best for me is this CosRX blackhead toner.

While quality chemical exfoliants are less likely to damage the skin barrier, if you are overusing them, they can lead to a compromised skin barrier.

So make sure your skin barrier is healed beforehand, and use them sparingly.

Not layering your skincare products properly.

There is a right and wrong way to layer your skincare products for proper penetration and effectiveness. It all depends on molecular size, absorption rates, and whether the product is water or oil soluble.

How to layer your skincare products properly:

1. Cleanser
2. Toner
3. Serum
4. Spot treatments (acne, dark spots, etc)
5. Eye cream
6. Moisturizer
7. Face oil
8. Sunscreen

It’s important to allow each product to fully dry before layering on the next. And it’s even more important to note, you do not need every single step in this routine.

Over-washing your face.

There is such thing as too much of a good thing.

Logically, we assume the reason we have acne is because our face isn’t clean enough. While that is *part* of the equation, over-washing your face is actually counterintuitive.

Our skin naturally produces oil to protect and hydrate the skin. So oil is good (just in moderation). There are many factors that influence how much oil our skin produces, like genetics, environment, diet, sun exposure, a damaged skin barrier, and you guessed it, over-washing your face. 

When we wash our face too much, especially if we’re using harsh cleansers, it ends up stripping our skin’s natural oils, causing it to overproduce oil, which leads to an oily complexion and clogged pores.

At most, you should wash your face twice a day. You may even find just once, in the evening, it sufficient.

Skipping the moisturizer.

Using a moisturizer when you have oily skin may seem counterintuitive.

Au contraire, mon frere.

If you have oily skin, yes, your moisturizer may be making your face more oily. But instead of completely swearing off moisturizers, you probably just need something that’s oil-free (this one is my fav).

Otherwise, your skin will start overcompensating for the lack of moisture, making your skin even more oily.

So don’t skip the moisturizer.

Using fluoridated toothpaste.

Okay, this isn’t technically a skincare mistake, but I thought it was worth mentioning.

Fluoride has been linked to acne. It is also an endocrine disruptor that has been shown to depress thyroid function (not great for girlies like me with Hashimoto’s disease).

One of the most common uses of fluoride is in dental hygiene products, like toothpaste.

A month after I switched to fluoride-free toothpaste, I realized most of the acne around my mouth, chin, and jaw had finally disappeared!!

It’s definitely worth a try to see if it helps. 

Drinking and using unfiltered water.

If you live in the US and have city water, you most likely are also consuming fluoride through your water.

In addition to fluoride, a lot of water sources contain chlorine, heavy metals, and other contaminants that can be contributing to your acne.

I personally noticed my skin became less dry and irritated when I installed a shower filter, and a large majority of the acne on my face went away once I started drinking filtered water.

If you don’t have a whole home water filtration system that filters out fluoride, I recommend this NSF-certified gravity fed water filter.

Sleeping in your makeup.

We all know wearing makeup to bed is a big no-no for clear skin.

First and foremost, when you don’t wash your makeup off before you go to sleep, you’re not washing away all the dirt, oil, bacteria, and dead skin cells that have accumulated throughout the day. Strike #1.

Then you’re going and pressing your face against a pillow, pushing all that gunk (including the makeup) deeper into your pores. Strike #2.

As if that wasn’t enough, you’re also preventing your skin from breathing properly, which ends up trapping dead skin cells that are shed during the night, leading to more clogged pores and acne. Strike #3.

If you want clear skin, washing off your makeup before you go to sleep is important.

Not cleaning your makeup brushes regularly.

Makeup brushes are a breeding ground for bacteria, oil, and dead skin cells. Aka acne heaven.

Yes it’s a pain, but you should be cleaning your makeup brushes once a week and leaving them out to fully dry.

It’s The Little Things That Matter

There is no “one-size fits all” when it comes to treating acne. One thing that works for one person may not work for another.

But after years of trial and error and countless hours spent reading other people’s personal experiences and tips from dermatologists, one thing remains very clear: all of these skincare habits contribute to acne. 

So if you have even *one* of these habits that could be contributing to your acne, quit it for at least a month and see if it helps. 🙂