For those of you with Adult Acne, this is real information you don't want to miss!
I’m sure
you’ve seen this term before.
Comedogenic.
Let's break it down;
Comedogenic.
Let's break it down;
comedo = an impaction of varying
size containing a mixture of sebum (fancy name for our skin’s oil) and dead
skin cells, often known as a “blackhead”;
genic = creating.
The scientific term for “blackhead” is Comedo
(many, like me, say Comedone). The start
of every acne pimple is a microscopic blackhead, known as a Microcomedone,
which is actually in many of our pores, but doesn’t always develop enough to
lead to a full blown zit. A comedogenic
ingredient makes the process so much worse, it can aggravate an acne condition,
or even start one.
Depending
on how comedogenic something is, the resulting impaction will build up more and
more, potentially creating large, dark blackheads, known as Open Comedones. These are different from the blackheads on
our t-zone, which are known as Sebaceous Filiments and are completely
normal. Anyway, sometimes an impaction
can become large enough, and grow fast enough, the oil and dead skin cells that
otherwise would be spilling out onto the surface of the skin to be washed away
will build up behind the impaction, and skin will start closing in on the
blackhead so it doesn’t show as just a black dot on the skin. It shows instead as a skin-colored raised
bump, called a Closed Comedone. When you
squeeze it, off-white squiggly stuff comes out.
That squiggly stuff is the blackhead material. The tip isn’t black because this substance
hasn’t been exposed enough to the air to oxidize and turn dark green. If this sounds confusing, there is a fabulous
past post that explains all about blackheads.
If you haven’t seen it before, it’s a great read. I highly recommend exploring it.
What
matters about these closed comedones is that when there are enough of them on
the face, especially the bottom half where makeup and lotions can gather at the
end of the day through gravity, it can show me in a facial that an acne problem
is likely to be cosmetic more than anything else. Occasionally it can mean a hormonal
imbalance, but other symptoms have to be there in order for me to suggest it.
The reason why the issue of pore clogging
ingredients is such an big deal, and why the listing of all products used is
such a large part of my Eval by Email® online skincare coaching service, is
that there are so many of these ingredients, and so many products
that contain them. Why is this
? Because the issue of substances
clogging pores molecule by molecule is largely overlooked and underappreciated
by both the medical community and cosmetic chemists and formulators. I’ve even come across those who don’t believe
it even happens!
We’re often told that the solution to an acne
problem caused by cosmetics is to look for products that are “Oil Free”. Sounds like it would make total sense - after
all, oil is a big part of acne formation (not the primary part, but a
significant one). Any product with an
oil as an ingredient, no matter what kind, will add oil to the skin making it
clog up, or at least, make it greasy and uncomfortable. It goes back to a time when liquid and cream
foundations were all made with oils like mineral oil. Heavy, gross, greasy. Thing is, oils mix with water through
emulsifiers to make foundations and lotions that spread around easily and
soften the skin at the same time. How
can we do without them? Chemists had to
figure out how to replace oils in lotions and makeup.
The solution chemists came up with is a group of
ingredients that now make up the base of most lotions and creams as well as
many foundations, powders and concealers. These ingredients answer the call to make
products spread well and penetrate, without being greasy. These magic ingredients happen to be quite softening
as well. What are they? They’re actually oils and fats fused with
certain kinds of alcohol to make what are called Fatty Alcohols or Fatty
Esters. These ingredients not only
spread really well, but also penetrate so that they give a softening effect
while also giving a feel of not sitting on top of the skin or feeling greasy at
all. In fact, together with hydrating
ingredients, these Fatty Alcohols make the skin feel really, really good. The truth is, enough people out there are not
clog-prone or acne-prone that the positive aspects of these ingredients, as
well as the long periods of time it takes for them to have any negative impact,
that these products have no problem selling, and can often be completely fine,
even great.
However, since their molecule sizes can be quite
tiny, these waxy substances can get stuck inside the pores of people who are
clog-prone and acne-prone, building up molecule by molecule. Once a pore gets enough of a buildup of this
substance, the proper flow of oil and dead skin cells can get obstructed, and
the mixture eventually creates an impassable impaction. Thus is born an acne lesion.
The worst part of this is that because these
substances are made of oils rather
than actually being oils, a product
containing them can say "oil-free" on the label even though it can
actually clog the skin like crazy. Tricky, huh?
Manufacturers love these ingredients because, as I
mentioned before, they really do feel very good, penetrate immediately, but
they are also VERY cheap! There are
quite a few of them, and some are more clogging than others. The fact that the degree to which a substance
will clog pores can really make a huge difference, because some can be included
in a formula further down the list where the final product all together can
test as non-clogging. This is why I
don’t encourage consumers to familiarize themselves with lists of comedogenic
ingredients. It can actually happen that
a product can contain one or two, with the final formula being found
non-comedogenic. It all depends on how
much there is of the ingredient(s) and what else is in the formula that can
actually render the ingredient completely harmless.
Some products containing clogging ingredients may
surprise you - just to name a few, Aveeno, Body Shoppe, Kiehl's, Loreal, and
even the base ingredients of the generic Retin-A cream. Most makeup artist and designer skin care
lines have these ingredients. In the
case of pressed powder foundations, such as Mac® Studio Fix, and most pressed
bronzers, the most problematic ingredients are the ones that hold the cake
together yet allow the powder to spread evenly around the face and adhere to
the skin. Many liquid foundations have
these in order to facilitate an even application.
Remember - pore clogging happens molecule by molecule,
so it generally takes three to six months for a clogging ingredient to show up as a
breakout!
There are also some natural ingredients that can clog pores terribly, too, some of
which do so by mimicking our own oil (which is why they're great for
genetically dry skin), and some that contain certain fatty acids that are so
tiny and sticky they just build up and up, making a mess in our pores. The worst are coconut oil, cocoa butter, shea
butter, sesame oil, soybean oil and wheat germ oil. Others are avocado oil, and all nut oils. Everyone with acne-prone oily skin should
avoid all of these. Some oils are not a
problem, though! They are jojoba,
sunflower, non-GMO safflower, hemp and castor.
These are totally ok.
Remember, we're talking molecule by molecule, so
using something very pore clogging even
once can do the trick. This means no
matter how often or seldom you use a product, a clogging ingredient will always
cause a problem for a skin that is acne prone!
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