Getting to the Bottom of Mystery Zits!

True acne is a capricious condition that usually has several contributing causes. But acne cosmetica, acne that’s caused by stuff we apply to our face, is easily controlled. It also has some telltale characteristics. If you are already an acne sufferer, you will be particularly vulnerable to cosmetic acne. In this entry I’ll talk about two of the most common sources of acne cosmetica and how you can prevent and treat them.

Forehead, Hairline and Side-of-the-Face Breakouts
A person plagued only by breakouts along the hairline or on the forehead is usually getting those from hair products. It’s a good idea to cleanse your skin after washing and conditioning your hair, to ensure that those products have been completely removed. The surface of your skin is covered with dead skin cells, which are made of the same keratin protein as your hair. Conditioning ingredients especially are designed to bond with the keratin of hair, coating it with emollients and waxes that will smooth down the cuticle.
The other forehead breakout culprits are styling products, particularly hair sprays. Even if you protect your face with a towel when you use hair spray (and you should) the product will rub off onto your skin as the hair comes in contact with it throughout the day. Bangs are a particularly effective delivery system for the acne-causing ingredients in hair products.
Remember, hair products are formulated for your hair, not your skin. I’ve yet to see a “non comedogenic” hair spray! It may take some trial and error to discover which styling aids are least aggravating for your skin, but a general rule of thumb is, “the stronger the hold, the bigger the breakouts.” Sticky lacquers are not skin-friendly.

Cheek Area Breakouts
If you have lumps, bumps, blackheads or pustules in the cheek area only, there’s a very simple explanation: it’s your blush. I’m not talking about breakouts that cover the cheeks and jawline, but breakouts that occur right in the area where you apply blush. With the return of cream and gel blushes, this condition is more common than ever.
What causes these breakouts? F D & C red dyes, used in cheek colors and lipstick, are highly acnegenic. Does this mean that first time you apply blush you’ll break out? Probably not. It can take up to 90 days for a comedone (pore impaction or blackhead) to form. Comedones don’t always turn into pustules—in other words, they don’t always blow up into a full fledged “zit.” You may just have congestion and clogged pores in this area. But many women and girls have full blown acne in the precise region of their blush.
What to do? In years past, we substituted a blushy-looking eye shadow for our client’s cheek color. Eye shadows are not permitted to contain the F D & C red dyes, because of the permeability of the eyeball membrane. Instead, a colorant called carmine is used. Carmine comes from a natural source—a South American insect, the cochineal. (Fun fact: before artificial red pigments were invented, carmine was one of the world’s most precious substances. Today the cochineal is still cultivated, harvested, boiled, dried, and turned into powder. I know, beauty isn’t pretty.)
The good news is that carmine does not cause acne, unlike its artificial red dye counterparts. The bad news is that finding eye shadows that looked like blush got very hard after the creepy pink and red eye shadow trend of the late 80’s was over.
Finally! At a recent cosmetics conference in New York, I was introduced to a new cosmetics company that is producing mineral blushes (talc free) that contain no F D & C red dyes. I nearly kissed the feet of the formulator. Now we have an abundance of blushes, in very lovely colors. Set up an appointment for a complimentary makeup update and see which one will work for you. (This same company is creating gorgeous lip glosses that we’re now carrying, too. If you’re a Nars fan you may spot a couple of “tributes” in the collection.)

Getting Smooth and Clear
Because it takes a long time for a comedone to form, it also takes awhile for the skin to purge the congestive material that is already down in there. Don’t expect an overnight clearing when you get off your old blush.

Here’s how to get unclogged fast:

1. Wash your blush brush. Get all the old dye out of it. Or treat yourself to a soft, fluffy new one.

2. Use a product containing a mild concentration of salicylic acid. Our Botanical Balancer is a perfect blend of healing aloe, antibacterial essential oils like Tea Tree, and Salicylic Acid, which helps to unblock clogged pores by exfoliating them. Yes, your pores are lined with dead skin cells too. Virtually any alpha hydroxy acid (AHA) will help, but Salicylic is the best pore decongestant. This is a great treatment for periodic breakouts, and it’s 100% non-drying. A lot of our very acne prone clients and eruptive teens use Botanical Balancer as their oil-free moisturizer.


3. Get a facial treatment and add a Purifying Deep Pore Session ( $30) an extra 15 minutes of focused extraction work. Or cut to the chase and schedule our Express Cleanse ($70), which is a no-frills session focusing purely on exfoliation and extraction.

Enjoy your happy new skin!