Can something as innocent as washing your face with shampoo lead to acne? For long time I would have said no. That as long as you take care of your internal health what you put on your skin doesn’t matter that much. I have to admit I was probably wrong about this. What you put on your skin can and will affect your acne, both positively and negatively. Many commercially available soaps, shampoos, conditions and skincare products have ingredients that can irritate the skin and thus aggravate your acne.
How soaps and shampoos can aggravate acne?
Oxidation of sebum is the spark that lights acne. Allow me to explain. Sebum is fat and it gets damaged when it reacts with oxygen. This is called oxidation. Researchers now say that until this happens acne causing bacteria on the skin don’t cause any problems. It’s only after the sebum is oxidized that they start causing acne.
The main protection against oxidation of sebum is vitamin E. Unfortunately studies show that people with acne have significantly lower levels of vitamin E on the skin than people who are not affected with acne. This leaves our sebum, and the skin by extension, more vulnerable.
Because the skin is more vulnerable external irritants, such as chemicals and excessive sun exposure can damage the sebum and aggravate acne. And this is how soaps, shampoos, conditioners and other skincare products can cause skin problems.
Irritating ingredients in personal care products
The ingredient listing for most personal care products reads like a long and scary list of chemicals. Half of which you can’t pronounce and the other half you don’t want to know the purpose of. For some acne victims putting these chemicals on the skin is enough to trigger an acne breakout.
Here’s a list of common ingredients to avoid:
- Sodium Lauryl Sulfate
- Ammonium Lauryl Sulfate
- Ammonium Laureth Sulfate
- Ammonium Xylene Sulfonate
- TEA Lauryl Sulfate
- Sulfur (in dandruff shampoos)
- Selenium Sulfide (in dandruff shampoos)
The above ingredients are extremely common in personal care products and you would do well to avoid putting them on your skin. They may or may not cause acne for you, but it makes sense to avoid irritating your skin as much as possible.
Unfortunately those ingredients are so common it might be hard to find soaps and shampoos without them. Many higher end brands available at hair salons and spas don’t contain these ingredients. They cost a bit more, but it might be worth to try them out for a month or two to see what happens.
Alternatively with little creativity and elbow grease you can make your own soaps, shampoos and conditioners. That way you can be sure they don’t contain any chemicals, and you can even customize them with essential oils and herbal extracts with medicinal benefits against acne, such as green tea extract.
Healthy skin needs attention from outside and inside
Earlier I have made the mistake of focusing too much on internal health at the expense of external skincare. Please don’t make that mistake.
It is true that internal conditions leave our skin more vulnerable to external irritants. While you do everything you can to create internal conditions that support healthy skin, you should also give your skin the external TLC it needs. That means being mindful of what you put on your skin, and using skincare products to deliver vitamin E and other nutrients to the skin. With such combination you are doing everything you can to beat the curse of acne from your life.
Did you like this? Then you will also love these products:
Clear for Life: Lifestyle for Health, Happiness and Clear Skin
Clear for Life Meditations: Melt Away the Stress of Acne and Finally Be Free
Emotional Healing for Clear Skin: Simple system for healing the emotional pain acne causes
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi Seppo,
This is my frist comment in this blog and allow me to give you a big big THANKS for the whole knowledge and information I’ve learned from you so far.
You’re very right, we should take care of our skin both interally and externally, but I’ve noticed when I take a GOOD care of my internal enviornment and maintaining a good healthy organs, then my skin becomes less and less sensetive to the external irritations. It seems to me that it becomes stronger and reliable. But I also don’t neglect the external care, I try to use natural product and keep using soap and shampoo on my hair and body at it’s minimum.
Anyway, thanks again Seppo for your support.
Wish you peace and happiness
@Mohammad, happy to be able to help you.
Yes, you are right that when you take good care of your internal environment your skin usually becomes less sensitive to external factors. The problem is that some of the internal issues might be genetic and to some degree out of our control (not sure about this, though). So it makes sense to attack acne internally and externally.
Hi Seppo. What can you tell me about Sodium Laureth Sulfate? It is written on my anti-dandruff Nivea shampoo.
You have listed the Sodium Lauryl Sulfate and the Ammonium Laureth Sulfate. What about Sodium Laureth Sulfate?
@Andrei, better you Google the chemicals. I don’t really know that much about them, other than that they can irritate the skin.
Lol I use the baby Johnson orange bottle shampoo..what do u think about that? Also in the shower, since have back acne…when using a body soap do u think after lathering it in one area to another I should wash my hands with an antibacterial soap and then apply soap to another area in my back., cause my back has a lot of acne and I don’t really want to spread the bacteria or whatever. Let me know what think about this or maybe I’m just taking it too far lol…thank u seppo
@Johanna, yes you are taking it too far, lol. You can’t really prevent bacteria from spreading. So don’t worry about it too much. Also, don’t use anti-bacterial soaps or washes. They can even cause some problems. Also, since shampoo can cause acne doesn’t mean it will cause it for everyone
Some of those ingredients are also found in my toothpaste… do you think it would be best to avoid that too, even though toothpaste obviously isn’t applied on the skin?
@Andrei, probably you’ve already found out by now but in case you haven’t, Wikipedia says that Sodium Laurenth Sulfate and Sodium Lauryl Sulfate are the same thing. Just an alternative name.
@John, I’m not sure how often these ingredients will cause acne. I’m sure they will for some, but I’m not convinced they are a wide-spread problem. It’s hard to avoid SLS, because, as you mentioned, it’s used in so many products. You can give it a try, but if you don’t see any changes in 4 to 6 weeks then they are probably nothing to worry about.