Best ingredients for acne prone skin

[Sweet T]

My 16 year old daughter has acne prone skin and is currently using products from the drug store that just aren't working.
I am in the process of creating a cold process facial soap for her but would like to make a suitable moisturizer as well. I'm wondering if anyone has a recipe or can at least tell me which fats/ingredients are best to use (or avoid). Actually, a whole skin care regime would be great, complete with toner, spot treatment, body scrub. I know I am asking a lot and I'm trying to do my homework using as many resources as possible but its a bit overwhelming. :/ Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Still learning but enthusiastic

 

[Sunny]

hi there sweet t.

I will share with you some info I have read since I am also suffering from acne.

soap - sulfur added to soap is supposed to help (have not tried this myself). activated charcoal powder (draws out toxins), tea tree essential oil (antiseptic + other qualities), and clays (draws out toxins, dries up the pimple) have also been reported to help. some people have said that salt bars (bars with a high amount of coconut oil and salt) work for them.

for me personally, what works best is my regular bar soaps. any formulation of mostly olive, coconut, plus whatever else, with a 5 to 8% superfat, has been best for me. I don't use fragrance oil soap on my face, and use only essential oils or unscented instead (not that it makes any difference if there is fo in there, I just don't like it to leave the scent behind on my face, too smelly). salt bars were way too harsh on my face because coconut oil is so highly cleansing. gentle works best for me. I do sometimes like a little bit of clay in my soap, I feel it helps hold in the essential oil scent but mostly I just like the texture of the bar.

toner - there are lots of different homemade toners out there you can use, many start with witch hazel. I stopped using any kind of toner after reading that it dries out and upsets skin, and is too harsh. again, gentle is best. that was absolutely true for my skin. so you may want to skip it.

liquid spot treatments have not worked at all for me. the best I can recommend is mixing tea tree/lavender at around 1-2% with a low comedogenic oil and applying it to the spot. but I have even put tea tree neat onto pimples and it does not have a strong effect. by the way, that is never recommended... heh. disclaimer, never apply any essential oil neat to your skin.

what HAS worked for me is activated charcoal masks, crushed aspirin masks, and clay masks. you could mix up a little teeny bit of that and apply it to the spot, leave overnight. I just make up a mix, for example 1 tsp clay with some yogurt, veg milk, aloe juice or just plain water, put it on and leave it until it dries. it helps to steam the face before you apply but not absolutely necessary. after it dries, hop in the shower and rinse and cleanse as usual. I especially love the aspirin mask - just a tsp of powdered aspirin and a couple drops of water. the texture is really fine and gentle on the skin. I just buy a bottle of aspirin and give it a whirl in my mini food processor (reserved for soaping) until it is a very fine powder.

body scrubs - one thing you can try is a baking soda/honey scrub and gently massage over the area. this can be great for the face too, and smells just lovely (just be gentle with it and don't scrub too hard). another idea I have tried is to grate up some soap, add a little baking soda (or sugar, or other scrubbie that you like), put a tsp or more of each into a little bowl plus a couple drops of eo (or not) and take it into the shower with you. scrub it right on. you can save the powdered mix to use again, just keep moisture out of it.

well this one went a little bit long. sorry about that, I hope there is something in there that will at least give you a starting point.

 

[dagmar88]

I love my regular recipe + a tea tree and lavender combo and tomato paste.

Helped my friend who had really bad acne all over a lot.

 

[judymoody]

I make the gentle acne soap bar that's on the teach soap site - it has grape seed oil, tea tree, and I believe lavender. I add some clay and ground oats and it has proved helpful for the many teenagers in my life.

Salt bars are also good for acne - both face and body. Combined with charcoal, better still.

Regarding active ingredients to put in lotions or liquid cleansers, lotioncrafter has a lot of information on its site. It's a good company with excellent CS and reasonable prices.

I haven't made soap with sulfur or neem but those are supposed to be very effective.

 

[milo]

Hi Sweet T! It's really sweet what your doing for your daughter What skin type does she have?? Is it sensitive? combination? dry with acne? or not dry just oily? Does she exfoliate?

 

[Sweet T]

Thanks so much everyone, for you replies. All the information is very helpful
Sunny-you are awesome! I appreciate you taking the time to give me so much info. I can't wait to try out your suggestions. You had mentioned the aspirin mask (which I had never heard of) so I looked it up and I could not believe the great reviews and success that people have had with that. Apparently aspirin is salicylic acid (or a very similar) which is of course in acne medications. Can't hurt to try! Definitely a starting point.
JudyMoody-The salt bar is something I am not familiar with so I will have to educate myself on that one and I will check out the teach soap website for sure.
Milo-My daughter has somewhat oily skin (didn't used to. darn teenage hormones) and her acne is fairly moderate..Mostly scattered whiteheads and papules. The BP she uses does dry and dull it out somewhat but it still gets oily, especially as the day goes on. She does exfoliate I believe, at least she has a scrub but I'm not sure how often she uses it. She has used Proactive, Neutrogena and currently Juice Beauty. It is not sensitive but I would say it's combination, I guess.
I would love for her to be able to use simple, natural products that I can make that suits her.

 

[milo]

Ugh, those teenage years :roll:
Aspirin works great~! However, it should be mixed with coconut or avocado oil instead of water. Exfoliating shouldn't be done too often though, so using this mixture once every two weeks or so is a good rule of thumb. And like Sunny mentioned, steaming the face before hand will help.
A green tea, lemon and aloe toner is wonderful at keeping skin acne free. For moisture and some crucial sun protection you can make a whipped moisturizing lotion by tinkering with some of the natural sunblocks out there. I've heard Burt's Bee's are pretty good

 

[Sunny]

I will cast my vote against mixing aspirin with regular coconut oil, which is highly comedogenic (high probability of clogging pores).

Just a difference of opinion but I shudder to think what would happen if I put coconut oil on my acne prone face

I agree that you shouldn't scrub too often but once or twice a week is a good start from the reading I've done, and you want to be very gentle when exfoliating... don't SCRUB like you're cleaning motor oil off your hands just light strokes.

 

[milo]

Just a difference of opinion but I shudder to think what would happen if I put coconut oil on my acne prone face Sad

That's the reaction I usually get. People can be pretty skeptical about it so none of my friends have tried it yet but personally, I've gotten great results from EVCO. Everyone is different though.

 

[busymakinsoap!]

Jojoba oil as a moisturiser is great for acne prone skin. It is close to the skins natural oil, and helps balance oil production.

I spritz with a toner and then add the oil to still moist skin (it helps it go on better).

 

[Stinkydancer]

Sheesh..I know how you feel I have a 10 year old with blackhead issues...already? But she is using my soap and it's going away.

Anyway- here's my story on acne.
I had none when I was a kid. Lucky right? Maybe not so much.

Once I turned 32 after my second pregnancy- the acne started. I'm not talking white heads either- I'm talking cystic acne. I had some whiteheads just to mix it up.
I tried everything and I mean everything except Accutane- too scared of it for good reason. So I gave up- I had enough after treating this for 5 years so I thought I was destined to have acne as an adult. I stopped all the crap on my face except for my masks which is the only thing that helped a bit and it didn't tear off my face so I liked it for that.

I thought about my favorite mask a couple of years ago and decided what the heck- I'm going to make a soap with the ingredients- I figured it couldn't hurt. It didn't...it helped. I have been making and using this for 2 years and I'm completely acne free with a few whiteheads around that time of the month. I chalked it up to possibly hormones so I couldn't say that it was all the soap until my daughter started getting the blackheads. She started using the soap on her highly sensitive skin and a few weeks later they were disappearing. She just used a washcloth when she washed and they would dislodge.
When we wash with it, we just leave it on for a minute and rinse. It takes off makeup awesome too.

Spot treatments or toners didn't really help my skin either. It just seemed to further irritate it- no matter how "gentle" or natural it was.

I have great luck with the soap and my go to mask a couple of times a week.
I don't make a habit of posting recipes since I sell this soap but here you go: (this works CP or HP)

You can fiddle with the oils but this soap is not greasy whatsoever.
Superfat 5%

80% Olive Oil
10% Coconut- PKO works too
10% Castor

I use Aloe Vera Juice for my liquid. The measurements for the additives are loose since I eyeball them.
At trace add:

1 TBS PPO full fat yogurt- I use plain Dannon which works just as well as full fat greek yogurt. Anything full fat will do. I have gone up to 4oz (for 32oz of oils) of yogurt but discounted 2oz of Aloe Juice. There is no reason for it really other than yogurt is thicker than the Juice so I discount less water.

1 TBS PPO Baby Oatmeal or finely ground oatmeal
1 TBS PPO Pureed Banana
1 TBS PPO Honey

If I have Jojoba around- I work this in to the recipe too but it's just too expensive right now.

For the EO's- I use them lightly- I mix Tea Tree with a splash of Lavender and Sweet Orange.

I don't usually gel this but if it gels it's fine as well.
If I HP this- I cook everything together and stir more than I would a normal HP batch.

To use as a mask- just mix the additives and yogurt- leave it on 10-15 minutes and rinse. Many times I just add a drop of the EO's to the mask- if I have a break out- I will add a drop of lemon juice.

I have found the soap and mask are the only things I need to maintain my skin and it's really glowy now which I never thought would happen since before this I had a hard time leaving the house because of my skin and I would cry literally- it really messed with my self confidence.

I'm not trying to make any claims- I'm just sharing what works for my daughter and I so I'm hoping it could help someone else too. If not- you are still left with a nice bar of soap for your body as well.

 

[MegaSoap]

thank you so much for sharing, Stinkydancer! you are an angel!! i'm going to try this or something very similar and will share my results in a few months. i also never had a problem with acne when i was younger and my comeuppance is here! adult acne just terrible breaking out constantly for months. i'll be 30 in december. not sure what is causing it but hoping a great face soap like this will help!

 

[strawberryred]

Re:

I don't make a habit of posting recipes since I sell this soap but here you go: (this works CP or HP)

Thank you! I've wanted to make an acne soap for several of my siblings, but haven't really found anything that sounds great.

I do have a question though- why the banana? I understand the yogurt, honey, and oatmeal, but I don't think I've ever heard of banana being used (and I'm a master esthetician) so I'm just wondering the why behind it.

I wonder if adding some activated charcoal to this would work too? Hmm, I'll have to try it!