Is your skin getting you down? You think you’ve tried everything but you’re still getting those stubborn spots? Well there may some things you’re doing that you don’t realise which is causing your skin to be this way! You might have the perfect skincare routine but there are many surprising causes of acne that you probably didn’t know about!

1. Not Washing Your Hands Before Touching Face

Your hands harbour loads of bacteria from everything you touch during the day, including propionibacterium acnes which is a bacterium that lives on the skin and is responsible for clogging pores which causes spots! Not only is there bacteria on your hands but also oils, which again can cause spots, so keep those hands away from your face! If you do need to touch your face remember to wash them before doing so or to use hand sanitiser.

2. Using a Dirty Towel to Dry Your Face

Every time you wash your face if you’re not using a clean towel to dry it then you will unfortunately be transferring bacteria onto your lovely clean face, which can result in spots and worsen existing skin conditions. A cute idea to help you with this is having a small basket in your bathroom with neatly rolled face cloths stacked up, ready for you to use a clean one every time you wash your face!

3. Not Washing Your Makeup Brushes Regularly

Makeup brushes are another location where bacteria can grow if you don’t clean them often. All that old makeup and bacteria, as well as oil buildup from your skin, makes dirty brushes a major cause of spots! You wouldn’t put dirty water on your face so why put dirty brushes on your face?! It’s important to clean your brushes at least once a week; you can even buy some gadgets to make your brush cleaning less of a chore, like the Stylpro Original that cleans and drys your brushes in seconds.

4. Transferring Bacteria Into Your Makeup

It’s strange that a lot of makeup brands don’t produce their foundations with a pump so you end up having to pour it out onto your hand if you can’t find a pump that fits. Not only is this annoying but it causes bacteria to be transferred into your foundation! This also applies to other products you have to dip into so it’s important to buy makeup pumps where you can and always use clean brushes when dipping into products to prevent your makeup from being contaminated! It should also be remembered that makeup actually has an expiry date, and it’s not recommended to use the products after this date because it’s safe to say they will definitely contain a good dose of acne causing bacteria!

5. Not Changing Your Pillow Case Regularly

For a long time I wondered why I was getting spots on the side on my face, in particular my cheeks. It wasn’t until I realised it was being caused from my pillow cases that I discovered a build up of oils from your hair can transfer to your pillow, which in turn transfers to your face and can cause spots. I made sure to change my pillow cases at least twice a week and like magic I started seeing an improvement in my skin! It’s particularly important to do this if like me you love putting argan or coconut oil in your hair, which can transfer onto your pillow cases.

6. Letting Your Hair Touch Your Face Constantly

Similarly to changing your pillow case, always allowing your hair to touch your face can cause spots. Your hair is coated in natural oils, along with any other products you may add which probably won’t agree with your skin. If your hair is always touching your face these products can transfer onto your skin and clog your pores. Wearing some cute clips to keep your hair off your face or using less products can help prevent them from forming!

7. Using Too Many Harsh Ingredients in Your Skincare Regime

When you have acne it’s can be very easy to think that throwing everything at it that you’ve got will make it disappear, but this can cause the acne to get worse or other skin conditions to appear. It’s important to remember to treat your skin kindly, it’s very easy to dry your skin out by overusing AHA/BHAs which can make your skin more sensitive, trigger more spots or lead to dermatitis. You may think that moisturising will make acne worse if you already have oily skin but trust me moisturiser is not your enemy! Investing in a good oil free moisturiser will make sure that you’re not over drying your skin and can actually help regulate sebum production. When you over dry your skin, it can respond by producing more sebum than before so it’s important to get the balance right.

8. Making Calls on Your Phone Frequently

If you’ve been changing your pillow cases frequency but are still getting spots on your cheeks then it might be because your making phone calls a lot. A recent study showed that your phones harboured more than 25,000 per inch and some even had more bacteria than a toilet seat! The issue is that your phone is rarely cleaned, if you’re someone who likes to sit on the toilet with your phone, you’ll most likely wash your hands after but not your phone. Additionally, all the bacteria from everything you touch during the day gets transferred to your phone, and this gets transferred to your face, in particular your cheek area when you make phone calls. It’s worth investing in some headphones with a microphone to make calls or carrying round alcohol wipes to give your phone the much deserved cleaning it needs!

9. Increased Stress Levels

We all get stressed at the best of times, but most people don’t realise that stress can have a negative effect on your skin. Stress doesn’t directly cause acne but it has been found that the stress hormone called ‘corticotrophin releasing hormone’ increases the production of oil on the skins surface which can cause more spots to form. Another important factor to remember is that when we are stressed we may forget to follow our usually skin routine!

10. Poor Diet

Many studies have shown that eating a healthy diet can improve your skin and help reduce the amount of spots you get. Diets high in sugar increase your insulin levels, which in turn caused your oil glands to produce more oil causing more spots. Sugar is not the only thing in your diet to do this, but also high glycemic carbohydrates, dairy, saturated fats and trans fats. If you want to help your skin it’s suggested you consume more:

Fruit

Vegetables (especially leafy greens)

Legumes

Whole grains

Oily fish

Nuts and seeds

Final Note

Recognising the underlying causes of your acne is the first step towards helping to treat it. If you follow these 10 easy steps then your on the way to getting your acne under control! Always remember that if you’ve tried all of these steps, as well as over the counter products, but your acne persists then its best to seek advice from a dermatologist.

What’s your best tips to fight acne?

Laura ♡