Your clients' social media pages have likely been flooded with skin care trends lately – products to purchase, routines to adopt, what’s hot and what’s not. But in a world where there is so much variety, how is it possible that these trends are actually, literally for everyone?! News flash: they aren’t! Especially if your client is someone who struggles with acne.
Acne skin care brand Face Reality’s Lead Educator, Alex Hernandez, is here to help walk through a few of the most recent top skin care trends and how to incorporate them into an acne routine.
The Trend: Slugging
This trend is all about applying occlusive products like petroleum jelly to the skin to lock in moisture, which is great for people with dry, flaky skin. However, if your client has oily, acne-prone skin, this trend might not be for them.
Alex's Recommendation
Surprise! Slugging can also be helpful for acne prone skin, just maybe not for the whole face. When treating acne with ingredients like exfoliating acids and benzoyl peroxide, areas of dryness may develop. You can protect and occlude these areas with products like Vaseline, and keep treating the rest of the skin per usual.
The Trend: Skincycling
Instead of applying the same products on a daily basis, you swap them out to give the skin a rest from harsher ingredients like retinols and exfoliators. However, when you’re on a specialized acne routine, consistency is key!
Related: Skin Cycling 101: Breaking Down This Popular TikTok Trend
Alex’s Recommendation
For acne prone skin, skincycling can disrupt the clearing process! Instead, it’s important to stay on a consistent daily routine, which may or may not include an exfoliant, retinoid and/or moisturizer – it all depends on the specific skin type and needs.
The Trend: Skinstreaming
This trend calls for going back to basics and limiting skin care routines to only essential products. It’s not bad advice, as we’ve all probably added too many viral products to our routines in the past few years. However, if your clients streamline an acne routine too much, they could be removing too many of the ingredients that are making a difference.
Alex's Recommendation
Skinstreaming is a great reset for people who have gone a little overboard with the amount and type of products they have been using. But, once they've gotten their skin balanced again, it’s time to get back on their acne routine! Once they find that balance, they won’t have to continuously practice skinstreaming to get their skin back in order.
