If your skin feels dry, apply a moisturizer made for acne-prone skin. You'll want to apply the moisturizer twice a day, after washing your face. You also want to avoid using astringents, rubbing alcohol, and anything else that can dry out your skin.
While it may seem counterintuitive, acne-prone skin needs moisturizing too. You should look for a lightweight, non-comedogenic option with gentle ingredients designed to hydrate, and use it after cleansing or anytime your skin is feeling tight and dry.
To avoid over-moisturizing, you should use moisturizer at most twice a day. Any more than that and you risk damaging your skin. We recommend moisturizing once when you wake up and once before you go to bed. Whenever you moisturize, you should generally shoot between 1-3 pumps.
Sometimes moisturizers are too heavy or have ingredients that can irritate your skin and make your acne worse. To guard against that, simply look for bottles of moisturizer that say they are: Oil-free. Non-comedogenic.
How Often Should You Use a Face Moisturizer? Generally accepted advice about the use of moisturizers is to apply it twice daily––every morning and every night. It's the most commonly accepted practice because it ensures that the moisture content of your skin remains constant throughout the entire 24 hour period.
Excessive moisturizer use can cause pimples or breakouts on the skin. Your skin absorbs what it needs and the extra product just sits on top of your face. This greasy layer attracts dirt and bacteria, which then gets accumulated in the pores and causes acne.
Your skin needs moisture to heal and improve its appearance. The top layer of skin alone – the stratum corneum – can absorb three times its weight in water. If you suffer from acne scarring on your body (shoulders and back for example) moisturize with Vaseline® Intensive Care Deep Restore Lotion.
The best overall moisturizer for acne-prone complexions is Murad Skin Perfecting Lotion (view at Sephora), a super-lightweight, oil-free formula that hydrates, heals, soothes, and helps prevent breakouts.
Dermatologists recommend CeraVe Foaming Facial Cleanser for people with acne as it works to cleanse the skin and remove oil, without disrupting the skin's protective barrier. It won't clog pores or dry the skin out, and contains niacinamide and ceramides to help calm and moisturize irritated skin.
Cetaphil products are suitable for cleansing and moisturising acne-prone skin - they will help to remove dirt and oil, hydrate your skin and be respectful to and gentle on the natural skin barrier. All of the Cetaphil moisturisers are non-comedogenic, so they won't block your pores.
Although Vaseline® Healing Jelly doesn't directly treat acne, its protective formula means it could help your skin recover faster from a breakout.
Your skin is very smart; it regulates itself and produces only as much sebum as it needs to stay healthy, hydrated, and youthful. However, when we wash it too much, it first becomes overly dry. This leads to a backup of dead skin, and in turn triggers an overproduction of sebum.
"Skin's oil production peaks at midday, and there is less oil production at night. Therefore, when you lose that protective layer of natural oils, your skin loses more water, so it's important to replenish the water loss with a moisturizer overnight," says Sobel. "While you are asleep the skin goes into renewal mode.
If your skin is still extremely dry after applying moisturizer, it's time for an update. For some, a feeling of tightness in the skin is the first sign of dryness, and makeup that looks "cracked" is another cue.
You should absolutely moisturize your skin even if you have active acne. It's an absolute myth that moisturizing your face will worsen your acne. In fact, moisturizers are necessary to keep acne-prone skin as relaxed as possible.
Most skincare professionals suggest moisturizing twice a day: once in the morning and once at night. This ensures your skin's moisture will remain constant both throughout the day and while you sleep, so you can always look forward to supple, healthy skin.
In short, yes. "A daily moisturizer is necessary to maintain your skin's moisture barrier and to prevent environmental damage to your skin," Weinstein explains.
If you don't get good, restorative sleep, your body might not feel rested and could kick-start that cortisol surge, which could put you at risk for more acne. The fix is simple, but not always easy: Make sleep a priority to give your body the rest it needs and your acne a chance to heal.
If you've already succumbed to benzoyl peroxide-induced dryness and flakiness, slather on moisturizer as often as necessary. Definitely use it immediately after cleansing, just before applying your benzoyl peroxide treatment, and right before bed.
Moisturisers can also stick dead cells to the skin's surface, she claims, and the oils can clog pores, contributing to acne and rosacea.
Overall, there is no clear winner. It just depends on the needs of your own skin. If you experience dry skin, oily skin, acne-prone skin then CeraVe might be the clear choice. However, if you experience sensitive skin the Cetaphil is the better option.