Does dirty skin make acne worse?

The answer to this common myth is a big No. Dirt does not cause blackheads and other acne lesions but poor skin hygiene does. On the other hand, over-washing can actually do more harm to our skin.

In fact, using drying, harsh soaps on our skin on a regular basis can strip away our skin's natural, healthy barrier and leave it more vulnerable to infection and irritation. Worst still, it leave our skin red and may cause a rash that mimics acne.

The important of proper skin hygiene is that it not only helps control our acne from the acne clear and acne care perspective by working from the outside to help reduce buildup of skin cells around the pores, it actually helps to keep our skin healthy and looking its best even at the deeper layers.

It is advisable to choose a soap-free cleanser for our acne face. Unlike soap, soap-free cleanser does not contain “sur­factants,” (i.e. chemicals that are often used in soaps and detergents to lower the surface tension of a liquid to allow for easy spreading) which give the soap its marvelous lather. But the problem is that they often remove more oils than we need to have removed.

Instead, we should use a gentle exfoliating cleanser at night to remove the dirt (which shall include makeup too). When comes to the morning, it is better for us to use a gentle soap-free cleanser, one that may not even create any lather and then followed by our usual morning routine of sun­screen as well as other regimen that we may follow.