How to Clear Acne in Simple Ways

Are you wondering about how to clear acne? You’re not the only one. In the US alone, there are over 60 million people who all want to clear up their acne problem.

Clearing up and treating acne is a serious business. Just one person out of those 60 million Americans can spend upwards of a thousand dollars in his or her search for the holy grail of acne treatments. If you combine all those people and all that money together, then you get the hundreds of millions of dollars that are being poured into the massive market of acne treatments each year.

Clearing up your acne problem doesn’t have to cost you hundreds of millions of dollars. In fact, it doesn’t even have to cost you anything. There are some small, simple things that you can do or avoid doing that can greatly improve your acne condition. Here is a list of some of those seemingly ordinary things that are actually great and effective ways of how to clear acne.

1. This might be a no-brainer, but keep your hands off of your face! Most especially if your hands are unwashed and dirty. Excessively touching your face with unclean hands transports dirt and bacteria to that area and can cause and aggravate acne.
2. Do not pick, squeeze, rub, or prick existing acne lesions. Doing so may leave deep acne scars. Finding out how to remove acne scars can sometimes be much harder than finding out how to clear acne.
3. Change your pillowcases often. Unseen acne-causing dirt from your face, the air, and from other places can accumulate on your pillowcases and transfer back onto your face.
4. Keep hair strands out of your face, especially if you use hair gels, hairsprays, and pomades. Hair with products on it can also irritate facial skin and cause acne.
5. In that same line of thought, keep your hair as clean as you would your face. Use gentle formula shampoos and conditioners.
6. For women, always remove makeup before going to sleep. Use a good makeup remover to completely clear your skin of all traces of makeup. Residual makeup is one of the top causes of acne in women.
7. For men with acne prone skin, it would be a better idea to shave in the same direction of your facial hair growth. Not shaving the hair close to the follicle will lessen the chances of ingrown hairs that can block skin pores and cause acne.
8. Drink water. Lots of it. Water cleanses your system of toxins that not only can cause acne but are also harmful to the body.
9. This may sound like an odd way of how to clear acne, but you need to get the right amount of sleep. Not getting enough sleep causes acne by overstressing your body. As it is commonly known, stress is one of the major triggers of acne.
10. Washing your face at least twice a day is one of the simplest ways to prevent acne.

How to clear acne is as simple as changing a few things in your usual everyday routine.

Tips for Makeup Removal

Removing makeup every day is a tricky process as you don’t want to pull or tug the delicate skin around the eyes nor do you want to cause your skin to dry out by using a harsh cleanser and/or makeup remover. Let’s take a look at six important points to keep in mind when removing your makeup each night.

First of all baby shampoo is an excellent way to remove mascara that is resistant to other kinds of removers. Waterproof mascara can be one of the most difficult mascaras to remove as it is designed for staying power and a little bit of baby shampoo applied to a cotton ball or your finger tips should do the tricky nicely. Baby shampoos contain lower concentrations and softer detergents than other shampoos which makes them less irritating to the eye area. Baby shampoo can also be used to remove makeup on the face but use a very small amount as too much can be drying to the skin.

Another option for the removal of waterproof mascara is extra- virgin olive oil. Olive oil is very gentle to the skin and ideal to use in the eye area as it is a natural anti-oxidant and does not contain any harmful substances. All you need to do is apply a few drops to your fingertips, a tissue or a cotton ball, and while keeping your eyes closed massage the eyelashes in a gentle motion until all traces of the mascara are gone. Then use a mild soap or cleanser and water to clean up further.

The majority of cosmetics are oil-soluble which makes baby oil an excellent way to remove all traces of eye makeup, blush, foundation, and concealer and so on. All that is needed is to apply a tiny bit of baby oil to a tissue and then gently wipe it all over your face until the makeup is all gone. After you finish there is no need to use soap of any kind, simply rinse your face with cool water and your skin should feel soft to the touch.

The fourth tip is one that can never be stressed enough - never ever go to bed with your makeup still on! Not only will you stain your pillowcase but also you will be contributing to the clogging of your pores that can lead to acne, breakouts, splotchiness and a host of other potential skin problems. No matter how tired you are, take the time to remove the day’s makeup and grime off of your face and let it breath and regenerate while you sleep!

The fifth tip is to always use a mild makeup remover - nothing harsh or drying to the skin- and never use makeup remover that is specifically for your eyes on other parts of your face. This is particularly important if you suffer from oily skin as this can lead to break outs. Pay attention to what the label says as it specifies these things for a reason!

The sixth tip is to not remove your eye makeup with any kind of cleanser. Keep in mind that the eye area is very sensitive and delicate and you don’t want to injure it in any way or cause an allergic reaction to take place. Also some people are prone to oily eyelids and you don’t want to encourage an overabundance of oil in this area. If oily eyelids are not a problem you might to consider using petroleum jelly (such as Vaseline) to take off your eye makeup but remember to be gentle! Use a tissue or cotton ball to take off your eyeshade and a Q-tip to get rid of the eyeliner.

It’s best to always start by removing your eye makeup first. Always choose a facial cleanser that is meant for your particular skin type and if possible purchase one that has been tested to both breakdown and remove makeup from the face. All cleansers are not designed for this purpose and some soap as well does not thoroughly remove makeup from the face. Go over your face gently more than once but be as precise as possible. Do the same thing when you rinse, rinse a number of times to remove all traces of both cosmetic and cleanser residue.