What is acne, really?

Acne is no fun, we hear you. But there are easy ways to manage it.

Acne happens when the pores of your skin (the teeny holes in your skin) are blocked with sebum (your skin’s natural oils), bacteria and dead skin cells. Hormonal changes like puberty or around your period time trigger extra oil production, which often leads to acne breakouts. Some people have temporary acne, some have hardly any, and some need help from a dermatologist to cope with it.

While everyone agrees that it’s a pain, having a good skincare routine can really help avoid it.

How to recognise it:

Have you noticed little pimples that are white or black? They are called whiteheads and blackheads because they look like they have a white or a black head.

Both are the result of a blocked pore by bacteria build-up, dead skin cell and hardened oil. Blackheads are hardened build-up that sit like an ice cube in the ice cube container. It turns black because of the oxygen in the air (the same way your apple turns brown when you bite in it and leave it out). While whiteheads are made of the same mix of hardened oil, dead skin cells and bacteria. They sit just beneath your skin surface, resulting in a bump in your skin.

Both are easy to fix with a good skin hygiene, good products - here we can help you as we designed evre. products so they are balancing and perfect for younger skin.

If you see small red spots, they are called papules and that’s the next level of acne.

The red pimples (papules) are caused when your skin is inflamed at a deeper level. They can feel painful when they are filled with pus.  A good skincare routine with evre. products can help you but we recommend you get it checked professionally if it hurts or continues to get worse.

6 easy tips prevent it:

1. Keep your skin clean – It sounds obvious but by keeping your skin clean, you help it to do its job well. Our Oh So Extra Pineapple & Coconut Face Cleanser deep-cleanses and nourishes at the same time, so you help your skin twice more.
2. Exfoliate – It’s the little extra help you can give your skin. A bit like when you need a gentle nudge to do your work, your skin needs a little help to do its job too. By stimulating it, you get it to work harder but you also get rid of the excess oil trapped in your pores and remove the dead skin cells that are cluttering the surface of your skin.
3. Keep your skin hydrated – Moisturise every day and use a face mist on humid days to keep the moisture in your skin so it works properly. Try our Wake Me Up Watermelon & Rose Face Mist, for a boost of hydration, freshness and extra balancing.
4. Unwind – Stress can make acne worse and is sometimes the cause of a breakout, so find ways to unwind regularly, especially when you have exams coming up and feel the pressure mounting.
5. Drink up and eat well – Step up the amount of water you drink so you help your kidneys to flush out waste products. Water is also needed to transport nutrients where you need it, so it may sound boring, but it could be the easiest and fastest way to a healthier body - and skin. Having a balanced diet will also show up on your skin: good nutrients help to keep it healthy. Greasy donuts are ok, but not every day.
6. Always shower and wash your face after working out – You may not think about it if you don’t feel too sweaty but with the increase of the heat, bacteria can build up faster on your skin. While sweating is actually good for your skin as it flushes out waste out of your body, you need to clean your skin after sweating so bacteria doesn’t start growing on your skin. Also avoid wearing the same workout gear and towel twice – even if it doesn’t smell, bacteria gets trapped into the material even after one session.

 What NOT to do:

1. Squeeze – As tempting as it may be, resist the need to squeeze. It puts too much stress on your skin, breaks your skin fibres and generally leads to a bigger pimple and, possibly a scar.
2. Over-exfoliate – While exfoliating is good for your skin, like everything in life, doing it too much can have a reverse outcome. By exfoliating too much, you basically tell your skin to produce more oil to compensate. You also strip it from its protective oil so it’s more vulnerable to bacteria. Exfoliate once to twice a week because that’s super helpful for your skin, but don’t go overboard with it. Instead, use a deep cleansing face mask such as It’s a Vibe Kiwi & Avo Face Mud Mask when you feel you need more help.
3. Go crazy on cleansing – Same as with over-exfoliating, over-cleansing has the reverse effect on your skin as you over-stimulate it and it doesn’t have a chance to regenerate naturally, protect and repair itself. Over-cleansing can actually irritate your skin and cause worst acne.
4. Touch your face – It’s the fastest way to pimple-town. As you bring bacteria from all the surfaces you’ve touched with your fingers to your face, you spread it to your pores, and… well, we told you what happens when bacteria gets trapped there: acne.

It’s not just your face

Acne doesn’t just affect your face. It happens where you have pores, so everywhere. While having toe acne is pretty unheard of, it can develop on your neck, shoulders, back, bum and chest too. You can have acne breakouts in different places or just in one specific area. In fact, some people have no pimples on their faces, but they develop acne on their back only (it’s so common that it’s called bacne), so just make sure you look after your body the same way you look after your face.

Talk to a pro

Your GP can refer you to a skin doctor (a dermatologist) for extra care, especially when you feel it’s getting worse or if the pimples are painful. Breakouts can also signal underlying conditions such as a food allergy, so it is always a good idea to visit your health care professional.