Does leaving acne alone work?
Have you ever had an ache somewhere on your body, but then you forgot about it and it just went away? I am pretty sure you have experienced this. However, when it comes to aches and pains we are comfortable leaving them alone. No one can see an ache!
Replace the h in ‘ache’ with an n and it is a whole different game. Acne is such that it brings out the worst in you. Understandably so and it should!! Acne never plays fair.
You see it every time you look into the mirror. All you want, is to get it to leave your face. Without leaving a trace, that it was ever there in the first place. So what do you do? You go to war with your acne. Benzoyl peroxide and various acne creams get slathered on.
You spend so so much time fighting with your skin, that eventually it starts to fight back with you.
Here are 3 things those of us with acne are guilty of doing at some time or the other. If you stop doing these things, your skin will start to heal and clear up.
1. Using Too Many Products
The first instinct is to fight acne with ointments like benzoyl peroxide (BP) and those available in your local drugstore. If your acne heals with BP or anything else, great. If it does not respond, do not increase the amount of product thinking that will help.
In my experience if the acne did not respond to less product, it is certainly not going to respond to more of it. What you will end up with is dry, red and irritated skin. And the acne will still be there. And that is certainly not what you want!
If you are using a product for 6 weeks and see no improvement it’s time to stop. Ideally you should see an improvement in acne in 2-3 weeks. If it does not work stop using the product.
Do not get worried that if you do not use any acne product at night, you will wake up with more acne. Give your skin a chance to do its thing and heal itself. Try it on a weekend and see.
2. Touching Your Face
In addition to using too many products for acne we tend to touch our faces way too often. You feel the need to touch your acne to see if it is healing or not. Our whole faces get examined this way.
A few minutes later, the whole cycle gets repeated again. This tends to be a vicious cycle as this leads to more acne which then leads to more touching. Touching acne will infect them further and this leads to more acne forming around and even under acne. Touching acne also leads to scarring. So keep your hands off your face.
Turn Heads with Your Gorgeous Skin!
3. Squeezing and Picking
Another bad habit, which in my opinion is way worse than just touching and using too many products is picking and squeezing your acne. Just saying it creeps me out now. Though I was guilty of doing it a long long time back.
Guess what happened after that? A bad bad attack of cystic acne which needed cryotherapy and lead to indented scars. If you think your acne is bad now, and you pick it or squeeze it thinking it will heal, trust me on this, bad things will follow.
When I popped my acne, the next day my face was red. Within a few days every spot on my face was covered with acne. It was so bad I had to go to the ER.
Resist the urge to touch your face and let it go.
If you have tried everything else for your acne and see no result it’s time to leave your face alone and see if that makes an improvement. This means no products especially those meant for acne, no touching and certainly no picking and squeezing. You can wash your face as normal. Plain water is often best if you are not using makeup or sunscreen. Ditching the face wash too will be even better.
Leaving your face alone may be the best thing you do for it.
Edit : I’ve had a lot of emails and comments asking me whether sunscreen can be used. The products I refer to are acne products. Let me say that sunscreen is a must if you have acne or not. Please remember to always wear sunscreen when stepping out in the sun.
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Daniel Kaimo Jimenez says
October 19, 2017 at 12:59 pmBut you can still use face moisturizer, right?
Anjali Lobo says
October 21, 2017 at 1:14 amYes, you can still use moisturizer.
Luc says
January 31, 2018 at 4:36 amNo, its best not to. Leave your skin to moisturize itself. Just splash water every morning and leave it be.
Anjali Lobo says
January 31, 2018 at 9:16 amHi Luc
Yes, sometimes it’s best to just leave it alone and let it do its thing. 🙂
Oly says
November 7, 2017 at 9:10 pmI always wonder what would it be if I applied no product on my skin. I have been putting stuff on it since I was 16, but my face looks way worse than some of my friends’s face who never had a skincare regiment. Are we being duped by skincare companies to keep buying more products, but actually doing more damage to ourselves? And the thing about SPF. My mother never put an SPF in her life and she passed away at 74 with the most beautiful skin and no wrinkles. I, on the other hand , have been putting SPF and in my early 30’s started seeing wrinkles and hyperpigmentation. How to know the truth? Could it be that they are pushing SPF creams because it is a big business for them? We need to continuosly buy it if we want to be protected ( or so they market). What is your opinion?
Anjali Lobo says
November 8, 2017 at 2:08 amHi Oly,
You raise an excellent point. When it comes to skincare though, less is always best. When in doubt about something do not use it. Most often than not your skin does not need it. Most skins do not need serum plus moisturizer and face wash and everything else they try to sell you. I think your face will look much better if you stopped using anything on it.
Skin care companies will of course try to sell you their products. That is their job! They will make it seem like you need what they are selling in order to get great skin. More often than not these products do not deliver. it is our job as consumers to look before we buy. If you do not see results after 6-8 weeks of use stop using them. You can experiment with natural treatments made with things in your kitchen.
As for SPF I am not really sure. I feel SPF does help protect your skin from the sun a bit but it is not as essential as the skin care companies make it seem. Again I am not too sure about this. But dermatologists do recommend wearing sunscreen.
Malissa says
December 3, 2017 at 1:20 amHi there so I have a question my checks are always red and burning and irritated should I stop using using any products on my face including moisturizer? And my skin always feels so hot
Anjali Lobo says
December 3, 2017 at 10:19 pmHi Malissa
Yes, you could try that. Sometimes the products we use may not suit our skin. Just stop using everything (including moisturizer) for a couple of days and the redness and burning should stop. You can use an ice pack on your face for a couple of days as well.
Faith says
January 4, 2018 at 2:10 pmHy dear, i have been having pimples for years now and it always leave spots behind and i have used so many product bt it will be gone for some days and come back with full force, i have been indoor for over 2 weeks. What should i do
Anjali Lobo says
January 5, 2018 at 3:53 amHi Faith,
To avoid spots apply honey on your face. Here is a blog post I wrote on using honey to clear your acne.
https://www.yourbeautychronicles.com/one-thing-healed-skin/. Also try and cut out sugar from your diet. It will help a lot in clearing your acne. Try it out and let me know.
Kyle says
June 6, 2018 at 11:31 amI really don’t want to put anymore products on my face but I can’t leave my face unshaved because if I shave I have to put shaving cream and an aftershave. Any solutions for that? I have whiteheads and blackheads on my chin and cheeks but not cystic acne and I really wanna stop using products because I feel like they aren’t doing anything on my face.
Anjali Lobo says
June 7, 2018 at 11:06 amShaving cream should not make much of a difference as you put it on for a short time. As for aftershave either you can skip it or get a mild one. Stopping all products is really a good idea as sometimes your skin just needs a break from it all.
Brittany says
June 24, 2018 at 5:22 amHey girl! What do you use to wipe your makeup off? I have really sensitive skin and want to stop using products, but don’t know what to use to get makeup off.
Anjali Lobo says
June 25, 2018 at 12:19 pmHi Brittany
I use a cotton ball with oil to take my makeup off. After this I use the Oil Cleansing Method to get the remaining bits of makeup off. Olive oil is best as it takes off mascara as well as eye makeup real well.
Use soft cotton as it won’t irritate your skin. Hope this helps.
Lilz says
August 15, 2018 at 6:48 amIf we shouldn’t use spf how should we protect our skin from the sun. I have very fair skin that burns easily and I’ve read that the sun can cause wrinkles and faster aging.
Anjali Lobo says
August 15, 2018 at 9:16 amHi Lilz
When I said do not use products, I meant mostly products for acne. The tendency to try and get rid of acne by using too many products sometimes does exactly the opposite of what we want. Sunscreen is a must. Thanks for commenting though. I’ll update my post to add that note about sunscreen.
Anjali
PS : I’ve now updated the post.
Timi says
May 21, 2019 at 9:51 pmhi l have had many breakouts in the past, treated them and they go l treated it with bp and retinol it went but later came have been thinking of leaving my face to heal on it’s own,,,,,, is it a good idea?
Anjali Lobo says
May 23, 2019 at 6:10 amHi Timi. Yes, it is a great idea. BP and retinol work to heal acne but they do not prevent new acne from forming. Keep your hands off your face and your skin will heal better and faster.
Eliza says
July 9, 2019 at 4:57 pmHello. I’ve been getting so much acne on my forehead and chin. I do not put any products on my face, I simply just wash it and let it be. But every time my skin clears up, new pimples just keep on appearing. What can I do?
Cari says
July 28, 2019 at 12:38 amEliza, I struggle with acne too but not nearly as worse before I vegan. I truly believe it’s not the products that will help you. It really all comes down (especially for the forehead and chin) to hormones and diet. Stress and a lot of emotional factors can really impact your skin I take valerian root pills to help with stress. And diet wise try cutting out the oil, the sugar, and especially the diary, i recommend cutting meat too but if that’s not possible just cut out the top 3. Hope this helps!
Anjali Lobo says
August 17, 2019 at 11:00 amHi Eiza
For pimples to go away completely you need to make a few changes in diet as well. Try cutting out sugar from your diet. Glad you’re letting your skin heal on its own but with diet changes the new pimples will stop as well.