Why Is My Acne So Bad?

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Why is your face pretending like you don’t wash it? You thought you’d worked out a deal. You use a serious-looking product every day and accept the occasional breakout. But your current acne situation feels like a breach of contract. You’re getting the usual night’s sleep, keeping to the same diet and splashing an identical amount of water on your face every morning and night. What’s changed? Here’s a list of things to consider as you look for answers.

What Are You Letting Touch Your Face?

You probably aren’t holding a slice of bacon against your cheek for an awkwardly long time, but when was the last time you washed your pillowcase, wiped down your phone or changed out a face mask? Have you ventured a closer look at the part of the baseball cap that presses firmly into your forehead sweat? Clean everything, and make sure that you don’t have a reaction to whatever cleaning agent you are using. 

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Don’t Let Your Skin Get Under Your Skin.

It might not be your imagination that this pimple flare-up on your neck is happening at the worst possible time. If you’ve been practicing your best man speech in the mirror and notice the ominous signs of a breakout, it might be because stress is a contributing factor in acne. Nobody likes to be told to relax when they are stressed, but grabbing a shower and a bottle of acne body wash might be the best break you can give yourself. And it might give you a bit of time to reflect that the groom won’t be enthused for his mother-in-law to hear that college story after all.

You Might Be Doing Too Much. 

No, seriously. “I have acne because I clean too much” sounds like the sort of thing you say when you are trying to bluff your way through a job interview. But using an acne product more than twice a day might actually be dehydrating your skin. If you aren’t getting the results you need, maybe try a different product, like our charcoal face wash. 

You Might Not Know Your Skin as Well as You Think You Do.

Sure, you could pick that freckle out of a line-up and you definitely check for poison ivy before you play hide and seek. But do you know all the things that your epidermis finds particularly irritating? Do you know if your skin is generally too oily or too dry? Because there are totally different constellations of products for each hemisphere.

Control What You Can.

It might be a hormonal fluctuation, change in medication or a shift in the weather. Some things are out of your hands. But what about your hands themselves? Have you gotten into the habit of touching your face to see if your breakouts are getting worse? Stop it! If you want to feel better about what is sitting next to your sideburns, don a peel-off face mask for blackheads.

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When you first catch sight of a breakout, it can seem glaringly prominent. But try and remember that there are millions of other guys looking at their reflection and thinking the same thing. You aren’t alone and you aren’t without options. Mirrors have come a long way in the thousands of years since humans started posing in front of bits of volcanic glass, and the science of skincare has evolved, too. So put some of that science to work on your face, wrap things up with a final splash of cold water and get on with your day.