Battling stubborn acne on your back (bacne)? Or maybe chest acne?
Body acne is often caused by the same factors that trigger facial acne. This includes overactive sebaceous glands (producing excess sebum, which then oxidizes and clogs your pores), excess dead skin cells (and/or too much keratin in them, making them sticky), and subsequent proliferation of acne-causing bacteria, which leads to inflammation (red, swollen acne spot).
In addition to the same triggers that lead to facial acne, body acne can have other triggers as our body is exposed to somewhat different environment than our face.
Here are common causes of body acne and how to prevent and treat them.
1. Diet & hormonal imbalances
Hormonal imbalances, inflammatory foods, stress, etc can simply come out as body acne instead, or in addition to, facial acne.
Most commonly, problematic foods are wheat-based products, vegetable oils, and conventional dairy products high in sugar (with additives, emulsifiers, etc).
2. Sweating (especially under unbreathable plastic-based clothing) and friction
Acne causing bacteria (Cutibacterium acnes) actually thrives on sweaty skin. Now pair that with tight, unbreathable clothing (which also leads to friction on the skin) and you get acne mechanica.
Acne mechanica occurs due to friction (rubbing) and sweating, especially when the skin is under an unbreathable layer (like plastic-based clothing).
So much of our workout clothes are plastic-based. Sounds horrible, and somehow…untrue?
Well, polyester, acrylic, lycra, and nylon are all basically plastic.
That means that you have a layer of plastic on your skin as you sweat and move during your workout (or just your day), clogging up the pores.
This can lead to body acne, most commonly on your back, neck, and chest.
The fix
- Try to shower as soon as possible after working out or sweating to minimize pore blockages.
- Avoid scratchy, itchy or tight plastic-based fabrics and choose fabrics that are breathable, like cotton. Use a gentle cotton or wool based bra and a loose cotton shirt when working out. This helps keep the skin free from congestion caused by friction, trapped sweat, dead skin cells, excess oil and bacteria.
3. Clogging & irritating body and hair products
Are you currently using a super moisturizing body lotion that also smells nice? Perhaps also a fragranced body wash?
The fragrance is irritating (and irritation leads to inflammation and acne!), plus comedogenic ingredients clog up the pores, leading to acne.
Shampoos, conditioners, and spray-on hair products often contain a lot of comedogenic and irritating ingredients that can cause acne along the hairline, but also on your body because they slide down your back when you wash your hair.
The problematic ingredients include sulfates, heavy moisturizing agents, and silicones.
The fix
- Ditch regular body washes (especially fragranced ones), and use only water on your body (plus a natural soap under the arms and other areas you need). This will let the skin rebalance itself. If this doesn’t help, check out specialized body washes with salicylic acid below (which you can use only on the affected areas)
- Ditch fragranced, heavily occlusive body lotions and use just light, non-fragranced moisturizers on damp skin right after shower to lock in the moisture. I suggest not using any moisturizer if you can (definitely possible once you start just using water on most of your body)
- Shampoo your hair before you wash your body. Leaning to the side while rinsing is also a good idea, so that you don’t let anything from your hair slide down your back.
- Choose gentle shampoos and conditioners that don’t have pore-clogging or irritating ingredients, like Seen Hair and Acure products.
4. Irritating detergent and softener residues
So far, you could see a common pattern here: Anything irritating or clogging that touches your skin can contribute to acne.
Therefore, it is important to also check your detergent and softener, and make sure they are gentle and non-irritating.
I fill up my gentle, biodegradable detergent and softener at a local zero waste shop, so that is an option you can explore as well. Branch Basics and similar brands are a good choice.
More remedies to treat body acne
Manuka honey mask
Apply a thin layer of manuka honey for several minutes to reap its amazing anti-inflammatory benefits! You can apply it before a shower on problem areas and then shower after 3-5 min as it starts to melt (due to the warmth of your skin).
Don’t use hot water on your skin, try to make it just slightly warm instead.
Clay mask
Kaolin clay is a great natural way to cleanse and purify the skin. It is particularly beneficial for balancing oily and combination skin, as well as eliminating blackheads and congested pores. I recommend getting clay powders, which are quite cheap, so suitable for use on larger areas of the body.
Mix the clay powder with filtered water, raw or manuka honey, or DIY hydrating green tea toner (see below). You can even use all of them to make a nice runny paste-like consistency.
Apply on problem areas before you shower, leave for 10 min, then shower with lukewarm to warm water. You can do this about 1-2x per week or so.
Use bentonite clay if your skin is oily to combination, or pink clay or white clay if you have sensitive, dry or normal skin on your body.
Hydrating toner with acne-fighting green tea extract
Green tea extract contains a substance called epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), which is a DHT blocker and a powerful antioxidant.
Studies have shown that green tea extract, when applied topically, can reduce oily skin and acne by over 50% (source)!
In addition, it also reduces the skin’s genetic sensitivity to androgen hormones and offers photoprotection, mitigating some of the aging (and acne-inducing) effects of sun exposure.
In this FREE online course, I am sharing my simple DIY recipe with organic green tea extract:
Still, you can start with a simple green tea as a toner. To make it, get organic loose leaves (paper tea bags are also fine), then steep 1 big tablespoon (or 2 tea bags) in about ¼ cup of hot water for 3-4 min.
Let it cool down and store in a container in the fridge for a week (then you need to make a new batch). You can spray on this toner daily, even twice a day!
Purifying cleanser with salicylic acid (or willow bark extract) for bumpy acne
If you have a lot of skin-colored bumps and generally a lot of congestion, you can try a gentle salicylic acid-based wash to break up a bit the hardened sebum in the pores and prevent new clogged pores.
Products formulated for the body are usually a bit stronger than facial products as our body can often tolerate stronger treatments. However, that doesn’t mean you need to go for the strongest formulations right from the start (do so only if the gentle ones aren’t sufficient).
Start slowly and see which ingredients and treatments work the best for you, then stick to them!
Anti-inflammatory cleanser with benzoyl peroxide for painful, inflamed acne
If you have painful, red, and swollen acne on your body, you may need to temporarily use a stronger treatment until they go away.
Benzoyl peroxide usually does the trick. It can be quite drying if used in too high a concentration or too frequently, so start with 4-5% a few times per week or so to see how it goes and adjust accordingly.
I hope you got some useful info and inspiration for getting rid of that stubborn body acne!
Any questions? Let me know in the comments!
Much love,
Sara
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