Breakout Alert: Common Pore-Clogging Ingredients to Avoid

What to Avoid in Skin Care Products

When looking for skincare products, it may be tempting to make your choice based on shiny packaging or expensive bottles. While these will look nice on your shelf, they aren’t guaranteed to bring you the results you want. What’s truly important is choosing acne skincare products that don’t contain pore-clogging ingredients and are catered to your specific skin type.

The five skin types (normal, dry, oily, combination, and sensitive) each have different identifiable traits with associated problems. Along those lines, different skin types respond differently to the ingredients within skin care formulas. Staying attentive to the labels of products will help you avoid ingredients that will worsen your acne. Let’s discuss more about which skincare ingredients help and which ones harm. 

Ingredients Matter

Within the cosmetic industry, there are ingredients commonly used that are not suitable for acne-prone skin. Different components of these ingredients (such as comedogenic levels, dyes, and fragrances) have the potential to harm your skin rather than heal it. Understanding how these ingredients affect your skin will help you choose products that prevent breakouts, balance your skin, and improve overall skin health. 

Emollients

Emollients are commonly included in products for their moisturizing properties. They can be extremely helpful for treating dry, flaky skin, but their comedogenic ingredients make them incredibly dense. Dense formulas can clog pores and block impurities in your skin, further irritating acne and preventing it from clearing. If you have an oily skin type, be especially wary of high levels of emollients in your products. 

Common Emollients: 

Surfactants

Surfactants are used in cosmetic products for a few reasons. The main reason is that they contain agents that will cleanse your skin by removing dirt and oil from your pores. While you want to maintain clean skin, using surfactants on acne-prone skin is risky because they can strip your face of its natural, beneficial oils. This can irritate, dry, and, in extreme cases, burn. 

Common Surfactants: 

Silicones

Silicones are used in formulas for their blending properties. They can help a product spread smoothly, improving texture while simultaneously moisturizing. However, silicones are also notorious skin blockers. 

Instead of helping remove dead skin and bacteria, it locks them into your pores by creating a barrier across the top layer of your face. For people with acne, this means instead of improving symptoms, it will further irritate your skin and worsen breakouts. 

Common Silicones:

The Culprits of Pore-Clogging Ingredients

Over the years, researchers have investigated ingredients that clog pores across all skin types. The agents within them have been found to obstruct and weaken skin. Rather than helping clear your pores, the ingredients we’ve listed below trap dead skin, bacteria, and other impurities in your face. 

Additional Ingredients to Avoid:

• Acetylated Lanolin Alcohol: Lanolin is a material derived from a sheep gland. When combined and heated with water, it produces organic acids and alcohol. Acetylated lanolin alcohol is when lanolin and organic alcohol are added to acetate. This substance is harmful due to its high comedogenic rating, which simply means it has a strong chemical tendency to form a barrier on the skin’s surface. 
• Cocoa Butter: While the chemical composition of cocoa butter is not harmful to skin, its thick, dense composition can be too much for your skin. Including it in skincare formulas makes them insanely thick which leads them to clog pores when added to your skin. 
• Sodium Laureth Sulfate: This substance is harmful for a number of reasons. Mainly, it leads to drying and irritation of your skin. It strips away your natural oils and worsens acne conditions. 

Conditional Offenders

Of course, every individual is different. That being said, it’s crucial that you continue to observe how different products and ingredients affect your skin as you incorporate them into your routine. If you think one of the following is causing further breakouts or acne, try getting rid of that product for a week and see if you notice a difference. 

• Argan Oil: While it may have healing properties, it has a very heavy texture. For those with an oily skin type, this can lead to rashes and acne breakouts. 
• Butyl Stearate: This ingredient is commonly used in products as a thickening agent. This can exacerbate acne and potentially worsen breakouts. 
• Colloidal Sulfur: Any sulfur-based ingredients were chosen for their minerals and antibacterial agents. However, this particular ingredient has the potential to further dry out your skin if you have a dry skin type and further irritate acne. 
• Potassium Chloride: While this compound is considered generally safe, it can negatively affect those with dry and sensitive skin types. When combined with other ingredients, it can disrupt your skin’s moisture and alter its pH levels, leaving it dry and irritated. 

Safe Ingredients for Acne-Prone Skin

The good news is that while many harmful ingredients exist, so do many beneficial ones. Below, we’ve highlighted two key ingredients that have been scientifically proven to nourish, protect, and hydrate the skin without causing further damage. Products that contain these ingredients will significantly improve skin health and help relieve acne.

Salicylic Acid

Salicylic Acid acts as a gentle exfoliator. Without stripping away the natural oils from your face, it targets clogged pores and helps clear the dirt within them. Additionally, the gentle cleansing properties will help clear acne lesions and smooth out the texture of your face. This will help your acne heal without creating unwanted scars. 

Vitamin C

Vitamin C is your skin’s best friend for many reasons. The main one is that it’s a natural anti-inflammatory ingredient, helping to soothe irritated skin and prevent further breakouts. It also has many beneficial properties that improve your skin’s overall appearance. In addition to brightening your skin and evening out its tone, vitamin C is a natural anti-aging agent that will help keep your skin moisturized and tight as it ages. 

SoluClear prides itself on providing products that feature natural, exfoliating, and hydrating ingredients. Dedicated to helping you fight acne and achieve the complexion you desire, SoluClear product formulas are crafted to clean your skin of all unwanted dirt and bacteria. 

Take Control Back with YOUR Products

When it comes to skincare, we do want you to judge a book by its cover. Being aware of what’s in the products you’re putting on your face will help you prevent further breakouts and damage. It’s important to invest time in checking ingredients to avoid pore-clogging ingredients that will make your acne worse. 

Don’t waste time and money on products that irritate your skin. Scrutinizing the labels of your products will help you find the best products for managing your acne. 

Check out SoluClear’s Acne Treatment! Using high quality gentle ingredients, it helps clear acne and keep your skin moisturized.