Tips for Healing Hormonal Acne
I only struggled with occasional acne as a teenager, so I was shocked and frustrated when hormonal acne started to routinely pop up in my late 20s. My skin is dry and sensitive, so a lot of the acne-specific products are too harsh, and my acne naturally turned into scabs/ cuts that took forever to heal. After months and months of zero progress, I saw a few estheticians and a dermatologist. While I didn’t get cure-all answers, I synthesized all of their advice and came up with a routine and protocol that finally helped me heal my hormonal acne. It’s been a few months, and I haven’t had a breakout since, so I’m confident in this routine and hope that these tips and tricks help you, too.
tips for healing hormonal acne
Don’t pick or touch. It’s hard, but this is the one habit I really needed to break, and it made a HUGE difference in my skin. Just touching your skin can spread bacteria or oils, cause breakouts, and prolong the healing process. My skin felt like it wouldn’t heal and stagnated for weeks, so I decided to go 48 hours without touching it at all. That’s what really turned the tide, so if you’re studying your skin in a magnifying mirror or just casually touching your skin at your desk, try to quit that, too.
Use a barrier-balancing face wash. You might gravitate towards acne-specific face washes, but they can be incredibly drying, especially when you follow-up with more acne-specific products later on in your routine. Stick to a cleanser that will protect, heal, and restore your skin barrier. This will prime your skin for the rest of your routine and help make those products that much more effective. This is the only face wash that I feel like really helped my acne; even hydrating or “gentle” cleansers seemed to prolong the acne.
Use lukewarm water. It’s gentlest and actually does make a difference. Water that’s too hot is damaging and drying, but keeping it slightly warm (versus cold) helps open up your pores for a deeper clean than cold water.
Continue to hydrate your skin. You might think hydration = more oil and breakouts, but that’s not true. I do recommend avoiding facial oils because that kept my acne scabs from healing, but an acne-safe, calming moisturizer will help heal your skin and preserve the barrier.
Skip oils. Hot take and I’m sure many estheticians/ dermatologists will disagree. I was a facial oil lover for so long, but with hormonal acne, they really just prolonged the issues. The oil would hydrate my skin, but would keep my acne in a breakout/ scab/ open wound cycle that never healed. Once I ditched the facial oils and switched to calming moisturizers/ Neosporin on the wounds, everything healed really quickly.
Go makeup-free if possible. Even if you clean your brushes and have an acne-safe makeup routine, you want to let your skin breathe and heal. Not covering acne feels insanely vulnerable, but even 1-2 days can help your skin breathe and heal. PS: no one is staring at your spots like you think!
Use sunscreen. Sunscreen will help any acne scars/ pigment heal quicker. I really like this one; it’s lightweight so my skin can still breathe, doesn’t sting my eyes, and doesn’t irritate (or cause) acne.
For dried-out acne that scabs/ won’t heal - My acne turned to scabs pretty quickly, but those scabs took forever to heal. The one product that really helped heal them was Neosporin Pain Relief. I didn’t need the pain relief, but the regular formula made my skin flaky. Pain Relief is the only formula that calmed and healed my acne without causing more acne or leaving harsh scars behind.
If you’re taking birth control pills, take them at the same time. Part of hormonal acne is your skin reacting to the change in hormones. I make things as predictable as possible for my skin by taking my pill at the same exact time daily. It might seem juvenile to have an alarm set, but the closer I follow the schedule, the better my skin and other symptoms (like headaches) are.
PS - I know a lot of people will say to get off birth control entirely. It’s definitely something to consider and probably the best advice, but it’s not necessarily an option for everyone so I do recommend at least being intentional with your timing - your body is a machine so consistency makes a big difference (with other symptoms or side effects, too).
hormonal acne before and after
hormonal acne skincare routine
I’m not an esthetician or dermatologist, but worked with a few to find the right skincare routine for me. You can add in extras like toner, but I wanted things as simple as possible when I was dealing with the breakouts. My skin is sensitive and my main goal was to heal any active breakouts and stop new ones from forming, so I didn’t want to risk my skin being overwhelmed with too many products. I prioritized fighting the acne, and could address more aggressive serums to fight pigmentation or other skin issues later on. Here is the exact routine I followed:
morning
If home/ able to: Pain Relief Neosporin on the scabs
afternoon
Take birth control pill at the same exact time.
night
One Love Organics Botanical B Enzyme Cleansing Oil (first cleanse if wearing makeup)
Face Reality Barrier Balance Creamy Cleanser (use as double cleanse if not wearing makeup)
Jan Marini Age Intervention Duality (Use every other day or every 3 days if you have sensitive skin; my skin really had to ease into this one)
Once my acne healed, I switched to using PCA Rejuvenating Serum as it’s a little gentler on sensitive skin and helps prevent new acne from appearing. I use this nightly. If I notice new texture popping up, I will go back to Duality and that clears everything up within a day or two.
Neosporin Pain Relief on scabs