How do you prevent breakouts? Well, let’s first humanize the fact that we all suffer from breakouts from time to time. This is not something to be ashamed of, but something that can be accepted as a beautiful part of being alive. 

While we can humanize and accept having pimples on our skin, it also doesn’t hurt to treat your breakouts with the aim of achieving healthy, glowing skin. 

Doing this is the best of both worlds! Self-love followed by action to better yourself. 

Read more to learn 7 ways you can prevent breakouts and make a stand against the anti-hero of us all: acne! 

How-To Prevent Breakouts

1. Wisely choose your skin care routine. 

Your skin care routine is the foundation of taking care of your skin. The skin naturally heals, regenerates, and nurtures itself, but we can help our skin maintain its healthy appearance with a good skin care routine!

Research any skin care products you invest in before making a large purchase to ensure you trust their efficacy. If you’re feeling overwhelmed with the many product options available, consult with a skin care professional for advice on what products you would benefit from. 

To the begin with, stick to the basics by implementing a cleanser, exfoliant, serum, moisturizer, and SPF. Observe how your skin responds to the new products and integrate additional products accordingly.

For instance, if you feel your skin is responding well to your newly-introduced skin care routine, add a weekly face mask into the mix for even more skin nourishment. 

2. Be consistent with your skin care routine. 

Investing in skin care products is pointless if you don’t commit to consistently using them. Consistency is the secret ingredient in skin care!

Create a daily skin care routine that works best for you and positively discipline yourself to follow through with this routine. When you fail to follow through the routine (it will happen, we’re all human!) don’t beat yourself, but pick up where you left off and keep it going. Not many realize skin care is a journey. 

A suggested daily skin care routine looks something like the following: 

Every morning: cleanse -> serum -> SPF moisturizer 

Every night: cleanse -> serum -> moisturizer 

Every other night: cleanse -> exfoliate -> serum -> moisturizer 

Once a week: cleanse -> exfoliate -> mask -> serum -> moisturizer 

Because each person’s skin is different, your skin care routine should be individualized to you. There is no one size fits all when it comes to skin care! 

3. Clean your phone each day. 

One thing that will make you gag is realizing how much bacteria and dirt is on your phone. Because cell phone’s have been shown to be 10 times dirtier than toilet seat, there’s no surprise that regularly cleaning it will prevent your skin from coming into contact with the plethora of acne-inducing agents!

When you can, opt for speaker phone to eliminate your skin’s physical contact with your phone. 

When you can’t, keep alcohol-based, disinfecting wipes on hand, along with dry wipes, to clean off your phone and properly dry it. Because you also don’t want your skin to have contact with the residue of a disinfect wipe, the dry wipes can be used for finishing touches. 

Another tip is to hold the phone slightly away from your face when on a call to bypass any contact or pressure that may induce a breakout. 

4. Frequently change your pillowcases. 

If it’s not your phone, it might be your pillow case that’s contributing to unwelcome breakouts! Wash your pillow cases on the reg and switch them out at least once per week.

Skip out on cotton pillowcases and revamp your sleep experience with silk or skin pillowcases. Cotton can disrupt your skin’s barrier by absorbing its moisturize, which can result in acne. On the other hand, silk and satin offer a soothing surface that combats inflammation for the skin to rest upon. 

Along with frequently changing and washing your pillowcases, remember to take off your makeup before resting your head on a pillow to eliminate bacteria transfer. 

5. Avoid picking at your blemishes. 

It’s tempting beyond belief, but it’s never worth it: pimple picking. While it might be satisfying in the moment, long-term it’s actually causing harm to your skin. 

When you pop a pimple that’s not ready, the pressure added to your skin actually drives the bacteria deeper and spreads it around, which might trigger more breakouts. 

Only extract a pimple when it’s ready. How do I know when it’s ready? There will be a visible whitehead. No whitehead? Don’t touch it! Cystic acne and inflamed skin do best with other treatment options, such as the use of retinol or salicylic acid. 

To properly extract a pimple, cleanse the area beforehand, and gently squeeze the pus out of the pimple. Once the pus has been removed, stop squeezing (you don’t want to over do it!) Cleanse the area and apply moisturizer. 

6. Be mindful of your hair. 

Hair being in your face isn’t only annoying, but could be the culprit of your breakouts. Build-up of product, skin cells, and hair oils can transfer to your skin and cause acne. Those with long hair may even experience breakouts on their shoulders and down their backs! 

To combat that, try and keep your hair out of your face and practice good hair hygiene. When using hair products, make an effort to avoid contact directly on your face. 

For instance, when rinsing out your shampoo in the shower, protect your face from the suds that may contain not-so-skin-friendly ingredients. 

7. Use spot treatments properly. 

Need to get rid of a pesky pimple in time for a big event? A spot treatment may be just what the doctor ordered! 

To get the most out of a spot treatment, you must properly apply it. Use a non-drying spot treatment as soon as you feel a blemish coming on to facilitate the healing process. Once the infection has surfaced, you can pull out the big guns (AKA a drying spot treatment.) 

Spot treatments should be applied as the last product in your skin care routine for optimal effects. After cleansing your skin and applying your serum, moisturizer, etc., gently wipe the products you just applied around the area you want to treat. Next, dab on the spot treatment and allow time to dry. 

Have you ever tried any of these tips? What advice you have for preventing breakouts? 

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