The Complete Guide to Fighting Acne
Everything you need to know about salicylic acid, benzoyl peroxide, retinol, and azelaic acid, plus how to choose the right one for your skin.
A lot of acne advice focuses on products.
If you’ve ever searched for the best cleanser, serum, or spot treatment, you’ve probably noticed that everyone seems to recommend something different.
The problem is that those recommendations don’t mean much if you don’t know what’s inside the bottle.
A product is just a delivery system.
The ingredient is what determines whether it’s going to help with the kind of acne you’re dealing with.
That’s why a product that works really well for someone else might not work as well for you.
One formula might contain salicylic acid, while another relies on benzoyl peroxide, and those ingredients are designed to target different parts of the acne process.
Once you understand what causes acne and how those ingredients work, choosing products becomes much easier.
You don’t need to buy every product marketed for acne.
You just need to choose the ingredient that’s best suited to your skin concerns and give it time to work.
In this article, I’ll explain what causes acne, how four of the most effective acne ingredients work, how to decide which one is right for you, and how to build a simple routine around it.
What Causes Acne?
Before we get into the ingredients, it helps to
