Cure For Acne

How To Choose Acne Face Wash Soap

I’m going to talk a little about different types of soap and how to choose one.

For soaps used as acne face wash … real, handmade soap is best. Here’s what to look for …

Forgot to tell you WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN REAL SOAP … soap is made by reacting
a lye solution and fats / oils. Lye should be listed as sodium hydroxide
unless the oils are listed as sodium whateverate. The oils chosen are what
makes the bar perform …

Palm oil is very drying and should be avoided by all with acne, especially by
dry skinned people. Palm kernel has become its substitute of choice, a much
milder and superior hardener and lathering oil. Your typical hardening and
lathering oils, in order, are coconut, palm kernel, palm, cocoa butter.
Cocoa butter is fine for very dry skin but not recommended for acne. Look
for natural soaps with either palm kernel or a mix of palm kernel and coconut
(vs. coconut as the only one).

Look also at the other oils and where they’re listed … if the hardeners are
listed first, the soap is harsher and more drying than if they’re somewhere
in the middle or toward the end. If the hardeners are listed first, the
amount of dryness to your skin may cause the pores to become too stiff to
clear themselves and they may clog up.

Olive oil is super kind to skin … soap “filled” in with olive (toward top
or middle of ingredients) has a nice, gentle, silky feel added … an
excellent choice. If a bar has only olive, it’s also excellent – gentle
enough for babies (but low suds) – or olive, coconut, and castor, it’s
probably still a very nice bar (again, depending upon proportions the
soapmaker used).

Conditioning oils are really important. Almond, apricot kernel, avocado,
evening primrose, grapeseed, hemp, and many others are used for superb
conditioning. Many of us like jojoba in soap, many do not … my experience
is that it’s awesome on oily skin with exfoliation issues (like in acne).
Castor is usually at the end of this list … it doesn’t take much … it’s
the only oil that is supremely conditioning and lathering. Reason it’s at
the end is that more than a little is not only a waste but also will soften
the soap bar too much. The conditioning from castor oil helps the
“elasticity” of your skin. Shea butter is commonly used in luxury
conditioning bars … in small amounts (toward end of list), it’s also
wonderful for problem skin due to a high sterol content and the fact that
only a percentage of it becomes soap (the rest remains as shea butter). The
newest one I’ve seen is meadowfoam which is superb for dry skin.

As for animal fats, lard and tallow make good, hard soap, but I wouldn’t use
them on acne. However, emu oil is excellent – more expensive, but very
highly recommended.

The lye often concerns people unaccustomed to real soaps, but is nothing to
fear. The amount of lye needed is figured, then discounted within a
percentage range … this is called superfatting, and ensures that all of the
lye is converted into soap and that no free lye remains, as well as ensuring
some free oils remain to condition your skin.

About additives, good and bad – many soapers use colorants, fragrance oils,
or essential oils … these are nice to use, but skin with acne is sensitive
skin and these should be avoided. Also avoid soaps with clays added – too
drying and can clog pores. Titanium dioxide is sometimes listed – it offers
no sun protection in a rinse-off product, but helps whiten the bar
(harmless). Oats, honey, milk from any source, aloe, cucumber, chamomile,
etc. are wonderful for anyone’s skin, especially troubled skins … however,
be sensitive to any allergies you may have (chamomile, for example, should be
avoided by those allergic to ragweed).

Above all – read the ingredients and be discriminating! Here’s why I get on
it about labels (and violations) – label regulations are meant for the
consumer to be informed. As reference, I’m in the USA, and other countries
have different regulations. For the purpose of addressing problem skin, I’ll
use the US guidelines.

It should never be acceptable for you to buy a pretty or great-smelling soap
that claims only to clean you … In this field, I can legally do that to
sell my soaps – only as soap (and make no claims other than that it cleans)
and avoid label regulations, but why should I bother, then, to learn my oils
and make anything that’s truly decent? I could throw together any cheap
soap that gives you bubbles (and maybe even beautifully swirled colors and
scents) and make a killing … and would be selling you soap with palm oil
However, when you have acne or any other skin condition, you need to know
what you’re putting on your skin! Instead of calling my soaps only soap, I
instead claim that they’ll soften, moisturize, or help exfoliate, all things
that enhance beauty, etc. – because I’ve put many hours into learning what’s
good for skin and go to the expense of using the better ingredients, I want
you to know why you should buy mine … This is classified as a cosmetic and
labelled accordingly (and is the reference to the labelling discussed above
in regard to the oils, etc.) What I cannot tell you without going through
much testing and having them approved and registered as an OTC drug with an
approved active ingredient is that they’re for acne, psoriasis, etc. To
claim that I have an “acne soap” is to imply that it will cure, treat, or
alter the function of your skin … for which I’d better have a properly
labelled product, a paper trail of compliance to back it up, and it better
contain an approved active ingredient that does what it says.

However, if going through all the different soaps confuses you, just pick up
this Acne Face Wash that I’ve used and highly recommend. (It’s much easier for travelling too!)