People don’t research products or ingredients enough. They make impulse purchases based on a picture they saw online or a stranger’s personal skincare routine. It’s fine to want to incorporate a new product into your routine, but it might not have the same effect on your skin as it did on theirs. I see this constantly in SCA. People order fifteen boxes of The Ordinary products, including a bunch of acids, use them all at the same time and then they’re confused as to why they’re breaking out.
They also underestimate the effects of their lifestyle choices. If you smoke, have an unhealthy diet, poor hygiene, rarely wash your pillows, constantly pick at your skin and don’t drink enough water, then it’s not at all surprising that your skin looks bad. Dr. Perricone wrote a great book about what he believes is the main cause of acne (inflammation) and more people should read it. Eliminating poor lifestyle choices is more likely to improve your skin than committing to an unnecessarily elaborate 30-step skincare routine.
In addition to this, sooo many products contain fragrance and other irritating ingredients. I’ve never had any issues with high-quality brands like La Roche Posay, Omorovicza, SVR or Nude. I wish more people would use gentle, non-drying.
People should also start seeing their dermatologists more often. Especially those who suffer from acne! It can be caused by a variety of different issues, not just food, cigarettes or fragrance. Sometimes it goes much deeper than that and drowning yourself in more products is only going to make it worse. A few months ago, this guy posted in a skincare subreddit asking for advice. Turns out he had a SEVERE skin infection, but thought it was just acne.
It’s also shocking how little people know about tretinoin, I swear if more people used it, SCA would cease to exist. It’s the only thing that actually works, yet so many people either don’t know about it or just aren’t willing to commit to it.