Everyone knows feeling good about your skin gives you an overall great feeling.
We get it! We know that your skin can often really impact your self-esteem. Feeling confident in your natural skin can be really empowering, especially for young Australians.
But sometimes, pesky blemishes still come through. You might do what you can to clear it up, only for another one to crop up in exactly the same spot.
It is an extremely irritating cycle you can get caught. These repeat offenders can arise because our skin's moisture levels are thrown out of whack. Your skin likes a delicate balance of moisture — throwing that balance off can leave your skin dehydrated, tight and, annoyingly, with more breakouts.
What exactly is a blemish cycle?
Picture this: you get a blemish. Skin that's prone to blemishes can be linked to a lack of ceramides in the skin, which help build up our skin’s moisture barrier.
You go ham on that blemish. Maybe you use a cleanser that's a bit too rough or strong on the skin, or you rely on a leave-on blemish treatment and go about your day. The problem is that these products can disrupt your ceramide levels even more, and really dry out your skin – even if your skin tends to lean on the oilier side!
To try and correct this dryness, your body goes into overdrive to produce excess oils. Unfortunately, going into overdrive often means too much oil is being produced, which leads to — you guessed it — even more blemishes and breakouts. On and on the dreaded blemish cycle goes.
How do we disrupt the blemish cycle?
Well, if you've found yourself stuck in the cycle, don't fret! Not only are you not alone, but you're not doomed either. There's actually a super simple way to disrupt this cycle — it just requires you to focus on what exactly you're putting on your skin. Remember that skin moisture barrier we mentioned before? This is really the key here, we want to try and disrupt the blemish cycle, without disrupting the skin moisture barrier.
Oh, we know you know, but AVOID trying to pop your pimples! It’s a difficult temptation to resist sometimes, but the after-effects of popping, like spreading bacteria and scarring, will last far longer than the fleeting satisfaction you’ll feel with that *pop*.
Find a cleanser that really gets into your pores, but doesn’t compromise your skin moisture barrier.
What you're looking for in a cleanser is something that balances active ingredients that target blemishes, while still supporting the skin moisture barrier. CeraVe’s Blemish Control Cleanser is a great option here, as its formulated with both 2% salicylic acid and 3 essential ceramides. Basically this means that it will penetrate your pores to help reduce oiliness and prevent any future breakouts, while still supporting the skin moisture barrier with those skin-loving ceramides!
Once you’ve cleansed properly, you can then apply products that will help actively target those blemishes and exfoliate the skin. Now, be careful — these products often contain active ingredients that, when used in concentration, can leave the skin dry and dehydrated.
Therefore, it’s important to make sure these products are also made with ceramides and niacinamide — which can help soothe the skin and of course, support the skin moisture barrier. ’
CeraVe’s Blemish Control Gel, for example, ticks all these boxes – it contains those powerful active ingredients, like AHA and BHA, but is also formulated with niacinamide, to help soothe the skin, as well as 3 essential ceramides to support the skin moisture barrier. If you haven’t already, give this one a go. It can visibly reduce blemishes in just 3 days!*
*Cosmeto-clinical study, 51 subjects
And get a handle on any of those post-blemish marks.
Once the blemish itself has cleared, you still might find yourself dealing with the aftermath of post-blemish marks and hyperpigmentation. It happens! But we know it sucks – these marks can make you feel like the blemish is haunting you. Sometimes these marks can disappear on their own, but other times you need to call in reinforcements.
CeraVe’s Resurfacing Retinol Serum uses the incredible power of retinol to help visibly reduce blemish marks and the appearance of enlarged pores, while smoothing out skin tone and texture. Want to know more about what retinol can do for your blemishes and breakouts? Check out more here!
Figuring out what type of ingredients, and how much of them, your skin can handle can be difficult. It's always worth consulting a health care professional so you can get a professional opinion on what will be best for your skin type.
To learn more about ceramides and the blemish cycle — and how to disrupt it — head to CeraVe's website.