Healthy skin manufactures its own beauty elixir to keep itself radiant: sebum. This lipid-rich mixture locks moisture into the skin and guards against environmental assaults. But what happens when your sebaceous glands produce too much? Let’s find out.
What Causes Oily Skin?
All healthy skin has sebaceous glands with tiny cells called sebocytes. They fill up with lipid droplets before they reach maturity. The cell disintegrates eventually, and the oily mixture releases into your pores. Some people produce too many of those lipids, particularly in the oily T-zone. This might happen due to hormonal flux, menstruation, pregnancy, and even genetics. Humid climates can also stimulate excess sebum. If you’re an acne sufferer, this probably isn’t new information, but there’s another, lesser-known cause of oiliness: Overwashing. When you strip your protective barrier, your skin will overcompensate by trying to rebuild it.
This excess oil isn’t particularly problematic in itself, but when it binds with dead skin cells and traps bacteria against the skin surface, blackheads and pimples develop.
Common Myths About Oily Skin
- Oily skin doesn’t need moisturizer: Oil and water perform different functions. Just because your skin is oily, doesn’t mean it’s hydrated. And since hydration is a crucial part of the skin barrier, skipping moisturizer could make your complexion even oilier.
- A greasy diet causes acne: Your skin produces its own oil. It doesn’t take it from the foods you eat. That said, sugar and dairy can worsen inflammation and thus breakouts.
- Using your daily cleanser more frequently will treat oiliness: Aggressive cleansing will upset your oil balance and cause invisible microtears that introduce bacteria.
- Sunscreen worsens acne: Sun exposure will dry out your skin, upsetting that infernal imbalance even more. You should avoid pore-blocking SPF lotion, but replace it with a lightweight, non-comedogenic product that won’t block pores.
- Acne only happens to teenagers: Acne is certainly more common in adolescents. Up to 90% of teens experience it, but adults account for almost 20% of acne sufferers. Around half of young adult women experience the condition.
Daily Skincare Routine
Your oily skincare routine must focus on several key pillars:
- Stop punishing your skin with astringents, alcohol-based toner, and chemical scrubs.
- Instead of focusing on eradicating oil, support your skin barrier.
- Instead of cutting out important steps, choose gentle noncomedogenic products.
- Encourage your skin’s natural de-shedding process to eradicate blackheads and pimples.
- Give your skin the nutrients it needs to stay healthy.
Every morning should start with a light wash. Choose a gentle cleanser capable of dissolving sebum in the pores. While oil is capable of achieving that, you don’t want to introduce more of it. Fortunately, there is an ingredient that does the same job: Salicylic acid. Noncomedogenic oils and mandelic acid will also do the trick.
Choose products with niacinamide, which helps regulate sebum production. Vitamin C will address inflammation.
Follow with a serum to address your primary therapeutic concerns. Retinol and salicylic acid will help reduce the appearance of pores by dissolving the bonds between dead cells and sebum. Glycolic acid is another gentle alpha-hydroxy acid worth considering.
For your hydration step, choose a formula with humectants like hyaluronic acid and glycerin. These are lightweight active ingredients capable of absorbing moisture without clogging pores. Check the comedogenic rating of your product, even if it’s a light gel moisturizer. Everything from your facial cleanser to your moisturizer should have a rating of zero to one.
Over-exfoliation will exacerbate acne, worsen redness, and increase the risk of infection from breakouts. A gentle exfoliator like Sabon’s two-in-one Face Polisher will encourage cell renewal while exposing you to the purifying talents of lavender.
Your skin heals itself at night, so this is the perfect time to introduce your nourishing ingredients. You might benefit from a double cleanse, starting with an oil-based cream cleanser before following with a water-based gel. Exfoliation and nourishing serum are best reserved for the evening, preferably with a chemical exfoliator rather than a mechanical one.
Weekly Treatments
Your daily wash won’t penetrate your pores as deeply as you might like. A weekly mask like Sabon’s Dead Sea Salt Mask & Scrub will refine your texture, address blackheads, and eliminate pore-blocking dead skin cells. We bring you the nourishing, mineral rich salts and clay from the Dead Sea to heal and purify for a radiant, polished aesthetic. You can perform this step once or twice a week.
Oily skin needs moisture to stay balanced, so we recommend a weekly hydrating treatment like Sabon’s Hydrating Rose Water Face Mask. This ultra-light jelly treatment takes its hydrating powers from comforting Rose of Jericho and rose water. This gelee texture encourages absorption so your skin can get all the nourishments it needs. Perform this step two or three times weekly after cleansing and before moisturizing.
Ingredients to Avoid
- Heavy oils and butters will congest pores and trap bacteria. Avoid highly comedogenic ingredients like coconut oil, cocoa butter, avocado and olive oil.
- Heavy occlusives like Vaseline and lanolin.
- Harsh surfactants that will irritate skin and disrupt your skin barrier. Sodium lauryl sulfate is a prime offender.
- Benzoyl peroxide and retinol: Using both ingredients together is intensely dehydrating and irritating.
- Phthalates: These common ingredients disrupt your delicate hormonal balance and trap oil and bacteria beneath the skin barrier.
- Silicones trap oil and sweat, so don’t be fooled by their initial mattifying effect. They can congest pores and lead to breakouts.
Oily skin is a delicate thing. It needs careful polishing and nourishment, so Sabon’s collection goes all the way to the cause of pesky breakouts. Our products are formulated to restore skin health because healthy skin can balance its own oil-production if you treat it well. Even acne sufferers need a luxurious and indulgent extravagance.
