Acne Myth No. 6 - Part IV
Stay Away from Skin Products that Are “Oil Free”, as well as from Those Containing Lanolin!
Although this is not some sort of battle against the producers of cosmetics, but against acne, you should know that these fellows are somehow tricky. As the products containing oil have been recently discovered as being harmful for your skin, the nowadays cosmetics’ labels proclaim them as “oil free” products. So, if you have read only the previous post you’ll buy these recent “non-harmful” products, priding yourself of being an intelligent customer. But, it is very possible for you to still not get rid of acne!
Why’s that? – you will rightfully ask yourself.
The problem is that the cosmetics producers have been driven by good intentions, but they unfortunately fell out of the frying-pan into the fire. When the recent researches have showed that the oil from the cosmetic products is harmful for acne sufferers, the producers have not eliminated the oil from their products; they have substituted it with some synthetic chemicals. As you may have already guessed these synthetic elements that have substituted the oil from cosmetics are much more harmful than the excess sebum found on the skin clogging the pores. So, although that they are “oil free” is practically true for the new cosmetic products, this hasn’t made them better for your skin; on the contrary their synthetic chemical elements are even more harmful if you suffer from acne.
So, what should you do, if even the “oil free”-labeled products are in fact harmful? Return to the oily cosmetics? Well, that would be it! But, you should first know how to make the difference between good and bad oils.
As you have read, there are two types of oils used in the cosmetic industry: the good ones and the bad ones. The good ones are called “non-penetrating” oils; these are the mineral oil, the sunflower oil and others and they are called “non-penetrating” because they don’t penetrate your skin, being this way less harmful for it than the oils that are strong penetrators causing comedones.
But be careful in choosing your cosmetics! Try not to confound the “non-penetrating” oils to natural oils. Remember the mineral and the sunflower oils as the most used good oils. They are natural elements, and they are good oils too.
On the other hand, there are also other natural oils, which are on the contrary very harmful for your skin. This is the case of Lanolin, which is a bad oily substance and which is unfortunately used very often in the cosmetics industry. Lanolin can be found in many lotions, cremes and sunscreens and has been discovered to trigger acne.
Lanolin is a fatty acid that is produced from the sheep’s wool. It has been thought that Lanolin is promoting smooth skin, but the researches have showed that its skin-penetrating effect makes it a direct cause for acne.
In addition to Lanolin, the ones who suffer from acne should be careful not to use products containing Isopropyl Myristate, which is very aggressively penetrating the skin, although it had been claimed to be an element that makes the skin smoother. It is now said that this element could be in fact used as a rust-remover.
In the end, you must also find out that the cosmetic dyes have proved to worsen the acne condition because of their comedogenous nature and that the stronger the cosmetics’ fragrances are the worse they you’ll affect your skin disorder.