When it comes to skin health the number one principle is balance… balanced skin pH… balanced sebum production… balanced hormones… balanced skin microbiome.
But one area that is often overlooked is a balanced skincare routine. We often find our acne patients using a boxful of skincare products as they try desperately to fix their acne. And this isn’t surprising because social media feeds push endless ‘miracle cures’ in your face every time you scroll.
The problem with this is you can end up doing more harm than good because not all skincare products are pH balanced, skin barrier restorative or microbiome supportive. Unintentionally disrupting your skin pH, breaking down your skin barrier and disturbing your skin microbiome will make hormonal acne more inflamed, irritated and aggressive.
Exactly the opposite of what you are trying to achieve.
Common Skincare Mistakes That Harm Your Skin
If you aren’t careful with your skincare routine it can be easy to go from helping your skin to harming your skin. Here are the most common skincare mistakes we see –
1. Over-Exfoliating
Nothing can feel better or seem better than to give the skin a good scrub. Exfoliating helps remove dead skin cells, dirt, pus and other built up debris from the skin’s surface to prevent it clogging pores and providing an environment for bacteria to flourish. However, you can do too much of a good thing.
Over-exfoliating strips away the skin’s protective acid layer and scratches the skin. This then allows bacteria to penetrate the skin, triggering an inflammatory response by the body causing more redness and inflammation. So rather than reducing pimple formation, it increases it.
Signs that you’ve over-exfoliated are increased skin redness, irritation, aggravation of existing acne, and appearance of pustular acne.
2. Using Harsh Ingredients
One of the most common topical treatment strategies for hormonal acne is to dry the skin by stripping away its sebum (oil). This strategy is definitely effective in the short term, but using harsh ingredients too frequently damages the skin barrier and becomes counterproductive.
Harsh skincare ingredients include alcohol, soap and benzyl peroxide, but even actives like AHA’s, BHA’s and retinol’s can have a harsh effect if overused. We’ve seen many patients who overused actives and they caused increased skin redness, made the skin feel inflamed and irritated, and increased acne.
3. Skipping Sunscreen
Protecting the health of your skin with sunscreen is a crucial part of a skincare routine because sun damage ages the skin and worsens acne scars. In addition, if you’re using retinols the skin becomes photo-sensitive, so using sunscreen is a must.
However, not all sunscreens are good for your skin. Many contain chemicals that are toxic to your skin and disrupt your hormones, while others are comedogenic. So it’s important to read the ingredient listing and avoid products with long lists of chemical names you don’t understand.
The type of sunscreen you want to use is one that is non-toxic, natural and non-comedogenic. The best natural sunscreen ingredient is zinc oxide, in non-nano form. It acts as a physical barrier for the skin and protects against UVA and UVB radiation.
4. Excessive Product Use
A common trap many women fall into while trying to fix their acne is using too many products. When it comes to your skin and acne, more isn’t always better. There are a number of reasons for this…
- The more products you use the more chance there is that you’ll overload your skin, clog the pores, and trigger pimple formation.
- The more products you use the more chance there is ingredients will interact and irritate the skin causing inflammation, redness and pimples
- The more products you use the more chance there is you’ll disrupt your skin’s delicate pH
- The more products you use the more chance you’ll disturb your skin’s microbiome
- The more products you use the more cleaning you’ll need to do and the greater the chance you’ll over cleanse and disrupt your skin barrier
Understanding Your Skin Type
There are 4 main skin types
Normal skin:
Balanced moisture, oil production, and texture. Neither too dry nor too oily, with few imperfections, making it smooth and healthy in appearance.
Oily skin:
Characterised by excess sebum production, leading to shiny, greasy texture. Prone to acne, blackheads, and enlarged pores, especially in the T-zone (forehead, nose, chin).
Dry skin:
Lacks moisture and natural oils, resulting in flaky, rough, or tight texture. Can feel itchy or irritated, with fine lines more noticeable due to dehydration.
Combination skin:
Features both oily and dry areas, often oily in the T-zone and dry on the cheeks. Requires targeted care to address varying needs across the face.
Knowing your skin type is important because skincare products are formulated for particular skin types. So be careful of blindly using products recommended by someone on Insta or TikTok because what worked for them may not work for you if your skin type is different to theirs.
Here are 3 tips on how to identify your skin type so you can choose the right product for you.
- Observe your oil levels – Check for shine throughout the day. Oily skin appears shiny everywhere, while combination skin shows shine in the T-zone. Dry skin remains matte, and normal skin feels balanced.
- Look out for sensitivities – If your skin feels tight or irritated after washing, you likely have dry or sensitive skin. Use hydrating, gentle products without fragrances or harsh chemicals to prevent irritation.
- Test product reactions – For oily skin, choose oil-free, mattifying products; for dry skin, opt for rich, moisturising creams. Combination skin needs lightweight hydration and targeted products for oil control.
What is Hormonal Acne?
Hormonal acne is acne caused by male hormones like testosterone, dihydrotestosterone and DHEAS. It appears in areas of the body where there are oil glands and hair follicles that are sensitive to stimulation by male hormones. The most common areas for hormonal acne to appear are –
- Chin
- Jawline
- Cheeks
- Neck
- Shoulders
- Back
- Chest
Hormonal acne is triggered in a number of ways. These include –
- Insulin resistance
- Stopping the birth control pill and other forms of hormonal birth control
- Stress
- Consuming too much dairy and sugar
Skincare can reduce acne inflammation, redness, and frequency, but when acne is hormonal, skincare doesn’t fix the root cause. To fix hormonal issues, naturally, it requires lifestyle and dietary modifications, herbs and supplements. But to know what changes are required and what herbs and supplements are needed it’s crucial to test hormone levels first.
Test, don’t guess is the secret to success.
Natural and Effective Skincare Practices
1. Gentle Cleansing
Gentle cleansing is underrated but being gentle with the skin particularly helps manage skin issues like hormonal acne by preventing irritation, maintaining the skin’s natural barrier, and reducing inflammation. Natural ingredients like aloe vera, chamomile, and green tea soothe redness, while honey offers antibacterial properties. Tea tree oil fights acne without stripping moisture, promoting clearer, healthier skin over time.
2. Hydration and Moisturisation
Keeping your skin hydrated is vital for both dry and acne-prone skin, as dehydration can worsen irritation, oil overproduction, and breakouts. Natural moisturisers like hyaluronic acid, shea butter, and jojoba oil lock in moisture, balance sebum levels, and soothe inflammation, promoting a healthy, radiant complexion without clogging pores.
3. Healthy Lifestyle Choices
Your skin reflects your lifestyle and dietary habits. Lack of sleep doesn’t just leave you feeling drained, it leaves your skin looking drained too. Aim for 7 to 9 hours of sleep a night.
Nothing makes your skin look worse than eating poorly. No one has ever promoted a ‘McDonalds’ diet as the way to achieve flawless glowing skin. But in the same breath, you don’t have to eat a raw food vegan diet either. All that’s required is to eat fresh wholefoods like fruits, vegetables, wholegrains, legumes, nuts, seeds and wild or free-range meats, poultry and seafood.
Stress can also have a devastating impact on your skin. But the unfortunate reality is you can’t avoid stress. So the secret is to have daily stress management practices like exercise, walking in nature, meditation and breathwork.
Personalised Skincare Advice from Healthy Remedies
Clear glowing skin can feel unachievable for some people. It seems, that no matter what they do, skin problems like hormonal acne persist and persist. The secret to achieving a picture perfect complexion is to take a personalised wholistic approach, and this is what we do with our patients.
It’s so important to not just treat the skin superficially but to correct the underlying root cause. Which in all cases of hormonal acne is a hormonal imbalance. So the first step is to check hormone levels, both sex hormones and stress hormones.
Test, don’t guess is the right way forward.
Only once your individual hormone imbalances are identified can a personalised holistic treatment plan be created that integrates skin-care and internal-care.
So if you’ve been battling away with skincare only to treat your hormonal acne then now is the time to treat the root cause too. We have helped more than 2000 women fix their hormonal acne naturally so we have the expertise and experience help you.
To get our help is easy! All you need to do is contact us and book an initial naturopathic consultation. To book you can call (+61 2 9524 2471), email (info@healthyremedies.com.au), or click here.
