Acne-prone Skin Care Routine with Gluta-C

Do acne breakouts seem like a never-ending affair for you? If you are acne-prone, skin care solutions and suggestions can feel endless and overwhelming.

In all honesty, having an acne-prone skin care routine doesn’t have to be complex or difficult. You don’t have to try every serum, cream, or spot treatment on the market. Often, it’s all about finding the best products available in your grocery store and incorporating them in your simple skin care routine for acne-prone, sensitive skin.

In this article, we help you navigate the best routines and tips for treating acne-prone skin.

Know Your Skin Type

Before you plan out your acne-prone skin care routine, it pays to know your skin. Why? That’s because skincare products aren’t magic potions where one product will suit everyone.

Knowing and understanding your skin type is the first step in discovering an effective acne-prone skin regimen. After all, if you misdiagnose your skin type, you can end up using the wrong products, causing excess oil, irritation, and yep — continued breakouts.

While everyone’s skin is unique, there are five common skin types:

• Dry
• Oily
• Combination
• Normal
• Sensitive

To identify your skin type, you can start with this simple test:

1. Use a gentle cleanser or soap to wash your face and get rid of all the oil, dirt, and makeup residue.
2. Pat your face dry and leave it bare. Don’t use any skincare products yet! Wait for an hour and refrain from touching your face.
3. After an hour, observe your skin’s quality closely. What do you see or feel?

• Dry – feels itchy and tight with some flaky patches
• Oily – looks shiny and feels greasy, especially in your T-zone area
• Combination – oily in the T-zone area but dry and normal on the jawline
• Normal – not too oily or dry, feels good and even
• Sensitive – looks red and sometimes gets itchy, irritated, or inflamed

Know Your Acne

All acne is not created equally. Simply knowing the type of acne you have can put you ahead in the clear-skin curve and help you come up with an effective acne-prone skin care routine.

Hormonal acne

With this type of acne, you will usually see an unexpected number of pimples on your chin and around your jawline. They typically appear around the same time each month — a week or a few days before your period. Thanks to your hormones, your oil production can go into overdrive. The result? An overabundance of oil settling in your pores and causing acne to pop up.

Hormonal acne can be treated with a basic acne-prone skin regimen.

Papules

These are patches of tiny, red-colored pimples that look like small, raised bumps. In terms of acne, they’re actually inflammatory and caused by bacteria. When the bacteria grows on your skin, it causes inflammation and results in red acne bumps that tend to be painful.

To treat papules, you will need to wash your face with products that contain salicylic acid or benzoyl peroxide.

Pustules

These are inflamed red pimples with white or yellow liquid. While they look like whiteheads, they’re actually a bigger and more inflamed version. They’re pimples that have come to a head, forming bubbles on top filled with pus.

Small pustules can heal on their own without any intervention, but an acne-prone skin care routine will definitely speed up the process.

Cystic Acne

These are multiple, large, and infuriated zits. If your pimples are big, red, and painful, you’re most likely experiencing cystic acne. It’s one of the more severe types that are typically caused by genetics or hormones. They lie deep within the skin, making them slow-healing and painful.

To treat cystic acne, you will need to add topical creams to your skin care routine for acne-prone, sensitive skin.

Basic yet Effective Acne-prone Skin Care Routine

When it comes to an acne-prone skin care routine, consistency is key, as well as ensuring you’re using the right, quality products. Below are our recommendations for your morning and evening acne-prone skin regimen.

Step 1: Cleanse away the impurities (Morning and Night)

Regardless of your skin type, cleansing should be the first step in every skin care routine for acne-prone skin. It’s important to cleanse your skin effectively twice a day, especially if you’re prone to acne. This helps eliminate all the oil, dirt, and impurities which clog pores and result in pimples and blemishes.

Contrary to popular belief, you don’t actually need to use a strong acne-fighting cleanser. Those are harsh and drying. Instead of healing your face, they can make your skin more susceptible to breakouts.

You need to wage a gentle war against your pimples with a mild cleanser such as the Gluta-C Kojic Plus+ Acne Control Facial Wash. This oil-control face wash deeply cleanses and removes impurities without drying or irritating the skin. It is formulated to give 4X whitening action so you achieve a more holistic skin whitening regimen alongside your skin care routine for acne-prone skin. This is the face wash for oily, dry, or sensitive skin – its gentle formula is perfect for all Filipinas!

If you prefer to use soap, try the  Gluta-C Kojic Plus+ Whitening Soap. Its non-drying formula gently cleanses and brightens your skin — dissolving bacteria, excess oil, and dirt without stripping your skin of its natural moisture and leaving it irritated.

Step 2: Toner (Morning and Night)

The next step in your acne-prone skin care routine is applying toner to open up your pores. Toners will help prep your skin for the next steps, helping it absorb the products fully.

Toners also help in removing excess oil, hydrating your skin, fighting blackheads and pimples, and minimizing the appearance of acne scars. Simply take a ball of cotton, apply a few drops of the Gluta-C Kojic Plus+ Acne Control Toner (Alcohol-Free) toner, and gently apply all over your face and neck.

It is the ideal toner for oily, acne-prone skin as it contains two active anti-acne ingredients: Azelaoyl Diglycinate and Kojic Acid, which have antimicrobial and skin lightening properties. It also has two powerful antioxidants: Glutathione and Vitamin C, which stimulate cell growth and regeneration and help restore your skin’s natural glow.

Step 3: Moisturize (Morning and Night)

Hydrated skin is happy skin! A moisturizer in your skin care routine for acne-prone, sensitive skin will help restore, hydrate, and protect your skin.

If you have oily skin, moisturizing may seem counterintuitive. On the contrary, all skin types need daily hydration. You shouldn’t neglect this step in your acne-prone skin care routine.

When you don’t moisturize, your skin glands will have to compensate for the lack of moisture and end up producing excess oil, resulting in overly shiny skin and clogged pores.

After you cleanse your face, your skin will be thirsty for moisture. Applying a light moisturizer, once in the morning and once at night, will reduce the occurrence of dry and peeling skin. 

You don’t need a separate cream for morning or night. Mixing matching too many active ingredients on your skin may make the products ineffective and cause irritation, especially if the ingredients don’t play well with one another.

Step 4: Sun Protection (Morning)

Regardless of your skin type, applying SPF application to your acne-prone skin regimen every day is a non-negotiable. While you can skip this step at night, it’s a must during the day.

Yes, sunscreen and sensitive, oily, acne-prone skin don’t have a good history together. Many people don’t use sunscreen because thick SPF is known to clog pores and cause more pimple breakouts. But if this is the reason you avoid putting on sunscreen, it’s time to reconsider.

Applying sunscreen is an essential part of any acne-prone skin care routine. Why? It’s because acne treatment medications can make your skin vulnerable to sun damage. It also makes your skin more susceptible to signs of skin damage, premature aging, and development of skin cancers.

Fortunately, sunscreen products have come a long way from the thick and greasy creams of the past! Today, there are plenty of lightweight options available. For instance, the Gluta-C Kojic Plus+ Whitening Face And Neck Cream With SPF has a non-greasy leave-on formulation that provides continuous protection throughout the day. It’s great for all skin types!

Step 5: Spot Treatment (Night)

Now, this is the step where the magic truly happens in your acne-prone skin regimen — spot treatment! Include treatment products formulated with active ingredients such as calamine, centella, and zinc oxide to expedite the demise of acne. These potent ingredients can also lighten acne scars and pimple blemishes.

Skin Care Habits that Can Worsen Acne

Reducing acne goes beyond following a simple yet effective skin care routine for acne-prone skin. You also need to improve your skin care habits! Here are skin care habits that can worsen your breakouts and tips to help you change those habits.

1. Trying new acne treatments every week or so.

It can be tempting to try out new products, especially trendy ones. However, this approach can irritate your skin and lead to more breakouts.

Give your acne treatment products time to work! You will need to use certain products for at least 6 to 8 weeks before you see improvement. Complete acne clearing generally takes 3 to 4 months.

2. Using acne-causing makeup products

Some makeup products contain oil and other ingredients that can cause breakouts. If you continue using them, you’re just wasting the products in your acne-prone skin care routine.

Instead, use only makeup products labeled \”non-comedogenic\” so they won’t clog your pores and cause breakouts.

3. Sharing makeup brushes or applicators

Even if you use non-comedogenic products, sharing makeup brushes or applicators can lead to breakouts. Acne isn’t contagious but when you share makeup brushes, oil, dead skin cells, and other acne-causing bacteria can wind up in your makeup and on your skin. These can clog your pores and cause acne.

Make sure you’re the only one using your makeup brushes and applicators. It’s also good to clean them at least once a week.

4. Drying out your skin.

Many people with oily skin suffer from breakouts, so it can be tempting to apply astringent to your acne-prone skin care routine. Don’t do this as it will dry out and irritate your skin. Any time you irritate your skin, you risk getting more pimples.

Instead, use acne treatments as directed in our simple acne-prone skin regimen. If your skin feels dry, apply a gentle and soothing moisturizer.

5. Popping or squeezing acne.

When you pop or squeeze your pimples, you’re pushing some of what’s inside (e.g. pus, bacteria, or dead skin cells) deeper into your skin, which increases inflammation. This leads to more noticeable acne with some pain and scarring.

Resist the temptation to pop or squeeze your pimples. Opt for spot treatment instead.

6. Scrub your skin clean

You may be tempted to scrub your skin during your care regimen. Don’t do this! Scrubbing irritates the skin, causing acne to flare up.

Be gentle when you wash your face. Apply your cleanser lightly all over your face with your fingertips in a circular motion. After massaging your skin, gently rinse off the suds with warm water using only your fingers. Then, use a clean towel to pat your skin dry.

Say Goodbye to Pimples! Follow Gluta-C’s Simple Acne-prone Skin Care Routine

Great skin doesn’t happen overnight. Your daily habits and acne-prone skin regimen play a crucial role so you achieve pimple-free, blemish-free skin. You know the basics: follow a healthy diet, get enough sleep, drink plenty of water, and use the right products in your acne-prone skin regimen.

Remember that when treating acne, less is more. Using too many products will dry out and irritate your skin. There’s also no instant fix. Treating acne is a process which requires consistency and patience.

Give your skin ample time to adjust to your new skin care routine for acne-prone skin. Use the products for at least six weeks and twice daily to fully reap the benefits.

For more information and inquiries on our acne-prone skin care routine and products, don’t hesitate to contact Gluta-C today.