Why do we get spots? How come they suddenly appear? Sometimes our skin is great in the morning but by bedtime, we’re covered. I will talk about why you might be getting spots, plus simple, easy but effective ways to reduce them. This is from my own experience as a 36-year-old millennial who made small changes that have made a world of difference to my skin.
- Oily skin – exfoliate dead skin often
- Pillows – how often are you changing your bedding?
- Clean your hats or caps
- Don't use your towels to dry your face
- Make up products – be careful with ingredients
- Make up brushes – how often do you clean yours?
- Sleep mask
- Skincare products (and my favourites)
- Touching and cleaning your face
- Food – notice acne after certain foods/drinks?
- Final thoughts
- Dermatica – more info on my favourite skincare brand
I’ve written this article in order of my personal priority (from an oily-skin, acne-prone gal)
Oily skin – exfoliate dead skin often
I’ve got oily skin, especially on my forehead and chin. I recently got Botox, and the lady there looked at my forehead and immediately told me what I was doing wrong with my skincare.
She told me she could see the build-up of dead skin cells and the congestion on my forehead. She washed my skin with acids and for days after, my skin felt SO MUCH better – less heavy if that makes sense.
When you have oily skin, your dead skin cells don’t fall off like what happens with dry skin. The cells stay on your skin, causing a build-up which evitably makes the oil worse and causes spots.
The skin literally cannot breathe.
Using acids in your skincare helps to take off the dead skin cells: glycolic and citric acid (AHA), plus Salicylic acid (BHA). If you’ve heard of The Ordinary (£7!), you’ve probably seen the red vampire-like skincare that’s amazing at exfoliating. This is due to it containing both AHA and BHAs to detoxify and clean your skin. You leave it on for 8-10mins and it removes all the crap and build-up.
So that’s my biggest tip – to exfoliate (but not too much!)
Pillows – how often are you changing your bedding?
How often are you washing your pillows? If the answer to this is every 2 weeks or month– and you have spots– you need to either start washing more often or buy more so you don’t have to wash so much.
This is what I do. I have a stash of pillows so I can change without having to quickly wash.
I have at least 8 pillow cases and change them every 4-6 days. This ensures I only ever sleep on each side 2 or 3 times.
Clean your hats or caps
If you wear a hat or cap for either out and about (bobble hats included for when it’s cold) or working out, how often are you washing them?
Seriously. I bet you never have right? No guilt here, but get them in the wash. Buy duplicates if you can, so it’s not a rush to dry it.
Don’t use your towels to dry your face
When you have a shower, do you dry your face with your towel? Yeah I thought so. Just have a think about this for a second. If you go days using the same one, it’s likely to be covered in dust, dead skin cells and all sorts you don’t want going on your face. Your partner might even have used it to dry off – gross.
Unless it’s a fresh one, I never use a towel to dry my face. I use Clean Skin Club Clean Towels XL. They are small, disposable soft wipes that I use a few times to dry my skin then throw away.
Make up products – be careful with ingredients
Do you notice when you’ve used a certain makeup product breaking out? If so, replace it and buy a new one or better yet, have a look around for something with minimal ingredients. People have makeup in their kit for years and years – because it’s a favourite – but just think of how much dirt is in it! It’s worth replacing if your acne is troubling you. If you have fungal acne, I’d suggest using a few websites which can check the ingredients for you – especially oily, pore-clogging ones.
Make up brushes – how often do you clean yours?
I think we’ve all been guilty of not cleaning them enough.
If you’re covering up your acne with makeup and brushes, they’ll collect dirt you’ll be putting back on your skin the next time you use them! You can use soap and hot water to clean them, but I use ISOClean, which gets rid of the germs. I do this every week or so, depending on how much I’ve used my brushes.
If you’re applying make-up daily, you must wash them at least weekly!
Sleep mask
This is an easy one to forget about. I wear one every night, and have a spare for when it’s in the wash. I wash each one every week, but you might need to have more spares so you can change more often.
Skincare products
Do you notice when you’ve used a certain beauty product breaking out? If so, replace it and buy a new one or better yet, have a look around for something with minimal ingredients.
I’d also write a list of everything you use on your face. It might surprise you just how many products you’re using. Give your skin a rest. Are you using too much retinol? Or acids? Or oils in makeup remover? It’s easily done.
Also, be aware of using soap – it can change your skin pH.
Fungal acne
If you have fungal acne, I’d suggest using a few websites which can check your skincare ingredients for you.
Stay with me here… I use Head and Shoulders shampoo on my skin. I use it with another product called Nizoral. They’ve kept my fungal acne at bay and also reduced the number of times I’m getting sore, chapped lips. I won’t go into it here, but make sure you do your own investigation before using either of them. Using these products with a combination of stopping using oily skincare products has transformed my skin.
My favourite skincare products
- Dermatica tretinoin for melasma (hyperpigmentation), face wash, Vitamin C and SPF (I’ve written more about my Dermatica melasma experience here)
- Malzeia; is a daily moisturiser for fungal acne. I’ve got their new face wash but I haven’t used it yet. I’m being good and waiting for the Dermatica one to run out.
- I use The Ordinary AHA BHA once a week for a deep exfoliation and The Ordinary Glycolic Acid 7% Exfoliating Toner a few times a week when I feel like my skin needs a gentle exfoliation.
I don’t use anything oily on my face. This includes the highly-rated Elemis makeup remover (see my article on Elemis here). This has 13 ingredients in it that are pore-clogging. If you use it, keep to your eyes only! I use The Body Shop camomile balm for my eyes only, then use a face wash for the rest of my face. I use nice soft cotton bamboo face wipes – either washable or the Clean XL or ISOClean disposable ones – to dry and wipe my skin to get a very light exfoliation. Never be rough on your skin, especially around the eyes.
Touching and cleaning your face
It’s easily done, but how often are you touching your face? You have no idea the germs on your fingers. I don’t want to come across as a germaphobe here but you should be aware of this.
Make sure to clean thoroughly at the end of the day. I cleanse twice, with a gentle face wash (I use and love Dermatica) just to make sure all dirt is off. This gives you a lovely base to apply your evening moisturiser.
Food – notice acne after certain foods/drinks?
Notice more acne at the weekend? This could be from excess sugar from drinking or other naughty things you eat at the weekend. I love cider (the non-alchy kind) but they’re horrendously full of sugar and make me bloat. Instead of having 2-3 each day at the weekend, I now have one. It’s made me appreciate them more.
I haven’t noticed skin issues with food, but certain foods (and as I’ve mentioned, cider) make me bloat terribly. It makes sense they could also be causing issues elsewhere, like producing extra oil so my skin is even worse.
Final thoughts
I hope these tips help you get on top of your acne. Even if it doesn’t get rid of them completely, these tips will hopefully get you looking after your skin more.
Do you have any tips? Feel free to send them to me and I’ll add them here.
If you want to see foundations that say they are non-comedogenic (not pore-clogging), take a look at my article: top 10 non-comedogenic foundations.
Dermatica – more info on my favourite skincare brand
I’ve mentioned Dermatica a lot in this blog. It’s my go-to for skincare. I’ve previously had quite bad melasma (hyperpigmentation) on my face and from using Dermatica’s tailored skincare, has gotten mostly rid of it.
See my full Dermatica article review here >
Thank you for reading my article. I wrote it in December 2024 and last updated it in December 2024. It's tagged with the category Skincare if you'd like to read more.
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