What are pores? Pores are small openings in the top-most layer of the skin from where sebum (the oil that the skin produces in the sebaceous glands) is released to the skin’s surface. They are the opening of hair follicles, which otherwise extend downwards through several layers of the skin. An average human adult has around 5 million hairs on their body. These hairs are found all over, except on our eyelids, the palms of our hands and the soles of our feet, even if some of them aren’t necessarily visible to the naked eye. This means that you also have 5 million pores since each hair follicle has a corresponding pore. When it comes to the skin on your face, pores tend to be more noticeable on areas, such as the nose, where the sebaceous glands are larger. I’ve had a number of people over time come up to me and say, “I have open pores; how can I close them?” All of the information I’ve presented above however, indicates that pores are a normal, natural part of everyone’s skin and you can’t close them. What’s more? Their size is genetically determined, and this means that you also can’t do a lot to physically shrink them. People with fair skin typically tend to have smaller pores than those with wheatish complexions or darker skin, while people with drier skin types tend to have smaller pores than those with oilier skin. Sometimes however, your pores get stretched beyond their normal, genetically predetermined size. I’ll proceed by first examining the factors that can lead to enlarged pores and then follow up with the things you can do to help reduce the size of enlarged pores. What factors lead to enlarged pores? Skin cells are perpetually dying inside the hair follicle and sebaceous glands are constantly secreting sebum into it. Sebum is a mixture of fats, proteins, cholesterol and salts, that normally just travels up the hair follicle and exits through the pore, taking dead skin cells with it. This mixture of oil and dead cells forms a protective layer on the surface of your skin that helps keep the skin waterproof and works to keep pathogens and pollutants out. Sometimes however, pores can become blocked when sebum and dead skin cells are trying to leave the pore but aren’t able to. This can lead to pore enlargement, and even acne, while picking at acne can cause damage to the skin leading to a permanently widened pore. Ageing, or other factors, such as UV damage, that result in damage to the collagen that supports your skin, can also make your pores appear larger. This is because the skin that surrounds the pore is not as firm as it once used to be. So you can’t close pores - but what can you do to minimise pore size? Use a gentle cleanser and products that don’t dry, strip or irritate your skin. Avoid soapy or foaming cleansers and products that contain ingredients like sodium lauryl sulphate, and isopropyl or denatured alcohol, witch hazel, fragrance - especially if the product is leave-on, and essential oils, among other things. If you need help selecting a cleanser, we’ve got you covered. Be especially careful when selecting toners as unfortunately, a number of them tend to be alcohol-based. Drying products strip your skin off of its natural oils so water is able to evaporate more easily from it. This leads to your skin becoming dehydrated and it subsequently responds by producing even more sebum than it was already producing, making already enlarged pores look worse. But at the same time, also ensure that you cleanse properly. This is especially true if you’ve been wearing makeup during the day, in which case, you should double cleanse to ensure that all of it comes off properly and doesn’t end up clogging your pores. Moisturise. While drying products can exacerbate sebum production and make your pores look worse, the converse is true for products that hydrate and moisturise: they help keep oil production in check and consequently, your pore size in check as well. While it’s important to ensure that your skin remains hydrated throughout the day, the most important time to moisturise is right after you cleanse as even a simple water rinse will often get rid of some of your skin’s protective components. Moisturising the skin helps rebuild the skin’s protective barrier so water loss through the skin is slowed down and your skin doesn’t become dehydrated and it's an important skin care step even if your skin is acne prone. Avoid products and ingredients that clog your pores. This includes makeup, especially if that is something you use regularly. While the activity of ingredients generally tends to vary somewhat from person to person, some ingredients are generally known for their ability to clog pores. This includes ingredients like cocoa butter, coconut oil, acetylated lanolin alcohol and lauric acid. Avoid using products with these, and other such ingredients, on your face, especially if your skin is prone to acne. Exfoliate. The key to minimising pore size is keeping your pores clean. While cleansing and the avoidance of products with comedogenic ingredients, are all steps taken towards the achievement of this goal, exfoliation has its own, super duper important, place in a skincare routine. Exfoliation, using ingredients like glycolic acid, lactic acid, and salicylic acid, helps to break up the oil and dead skin that clog your pores. Salicylic acid, found in products such as our Salicylic Acid Pore Cleansing Emulsion, and Salicylic Acid Moisturiser (both of which, also contain glycolic acid), is my personal favourite as its lipophilic nature means that it bears the distinction of being able to actually penetrate your pores to clear them out from within, and keep them from getting clogged. Most other exfoliants only work on the skin’s surface. Keep in mind however, that not all exfoliants are created equal and that you should always go for chemical exfoliants over physical ones as the latter don’t tend to exfoliate evenly, and also tend to be coarse and harsh, and cause damage to your skin in the long-term. Try niacinamide or retinol. While research still hasn’t developed a complete understanding of how niacinamide helps pores, a lot of people report benefiting from its use. Niacinamide seems to impact the pore in ways that keep it from getting clogged, so enlarged pores are able to return to their genetically predetermined size. It also helps strengthen some of the skin’s structural proteins, which as previously discussed, can also help pores appear tighter. Retinoids work by accelerating skin cell turnover, and normalising hyperkeratinization. They also stimulate the production of collagen, a structural protein, that helps keep your skin firm, and consequently, helps diminish the appearance of enlarged pores.

Interviewer: You founded Paula’s Choice in 1995, in part, because you were frustrated with misinformation spread by the cosmetics industry. Do you think that there’s been any improvement in the industry overall, or has it gotten worse? Paula Begoun, a.k.a. The Cosmetics Cop: Are you kidding? It’s worse. Now the same bullshit just follows website after website after blog. The information has gotten crazier. Now it’s: “parabens are bad, mineral oil is bad, and if you drink water your dry skin is going to go away.” The myths are endless. And then there’s “natural skin care.” You can’t make an SPF 30, which is the new standard — particularly a water-resistant one — with just natural ingredients. Over the course of the last few years, the sale of cosmetic products with “natural” and “organic” labels, has shot through the roof. A number of cosmetics brands are using fear tactics to market their products, calling “chemicals” bad, and selling their products as free of all of these purportedly “bad chemicals”. But questions remain: Is “natural” really better for you? Is there any truth to these claims or are they simply intelligent marketing tactics that exploit the growing fear of “chemicals” that consumers are developing? And what do natural and organic claims even mean in the beauty industry - if anything at all? As a science geek, I want to start off by setting the record straight on “chemical free”. There is no such thing. Water is a chemical, gold is a chemical, and every cell in your body is made up of chemicals. I question the legitimacy of any brand that markets itself as chemical free. Such marketing tactics can reflect one of two things: The brand doesn’t know basic science. They’re only interested in turning a profit and will use deceptive marketing to do so. In neither case, would I want to turn the care of my skin, my largest bodily organ, and the first thing that people see and use to develop an impression of me, to such a brand - not by a long shot. However, pervasive myths in the cosmetics industry don’t end here. A lot of people might not buy into chemical-free, but might still believe passionately, that natural ingredients are somehow better for them than synthetic ones. This belief however, is also problematic in itself, and for several reasons. Firstly, when it comes to cosmetics, the terms “natural” and “organic” have no legal definition. The terms simply aren’t regulated by any agency or governing body, which means that they have no real meaning and anyone can pick them and slap them on to their products - to fool consumers and make their products sell. At the end of the day, most consumers do not and cannot read ingredients lists and derive meaningful information out of them, and therefore, rely on marketing messages to tell them what a product is all about. In Pakistan specifically, I’ve seen brands go to the extent of omitting ingredients from ingredients lists just to give the impression that a product is all natural. Most people might not notice, but to the discerning eye the discrepancy is clear: if an ingredients list contains oil and water and doesn’t mention things like preservatives and emulsifiers, it simply doesn’t make sense. You can’t make a lotion without emulsifiers, and you can make a lotion with a decent shelf-life without preservatives. Period. Secondly, and perhaps, more importantly, being natural or organic doesn’t necessarily make a chemical better or safer. In a lot of instances, synthetic chemicals are identical to those found in nature - chemists have just found cheaper, and cleaner ways of manufacturing them in the lab. This also means that the distinction between natural and synthetic isn’t as black and white as most people assume it is. What’s more? A number of natural chemicals are actively harmful - this is true for your internal health and for the health of your skin. Botulinum toxin, commonly known as “botox”, is the deadliest poison on the planet - and it’s 100% natural. Produced by an anaerobic bacterium, it has the capacity to kill at a dose of a mere nanogram, per kilogram per body weight. That means that if you weigh 70 kg, 0.00000007 g is enough to kill you. Several more examples exist as well. Apple seeds contain cyanide and, citing something closer to the world of skin care, lemon juice has a pH of less than 2 and contains limonene, which means that lemons seriously irritate your skin and have the capacity to cause chemical burns if you go out in the sun with after having rubbed lemon juice on your face - and trust me, experiencing such burns is anything but pleasant. What’s more, the concentration of vitamin C in lemon juice, the ingredient that it’s commonly used to take advantage of, is a mere 0.04%, while vitamin C serums in skin care, typically have concentrations of the ingredient in excess of 5% and even go as high as 25% or 30%. Baking soda is another example of an ingredient commonly touted as miraculous in DIY and natural skin care circles, but at a pH of around 9, it also has the potential to seriously disrupt your skin. This brings me to another set of ingredients commonplace in the world of natural and organic skin care: essential oils. These are volatile plant essences and are complex mixtures that often contain up to 60 different substances. While some of these substances might actually be beneficial, essential oils tend to be packed with irritating fragrant compounds such as limonene, citronellol, eugenol, and linalool, which means that the negatives far outweigh the positives. Fragrance, no matter its source, natural or synthetic, especially in leave-on products, is bad for your skin. Period. Which is why, absolutely none of our leave-on products are formulated with fragrant ingredients, regardless of origin. What’s more? Essential oils, in terms of inherent toxicity, are no different from other herbal preparations when it comes to contamination, adverse reactions, overdose, and the possibility of carcinogenesis. Thirdly, a lot of the fear-mongering has been done against chemicals that aren’t actually bad. Take sulfates as an example. A number of people I’ve met believe that sulfates are carcinogenic - which is absurd. Some, such as sodium lauryl sulfate, have the potential to be overly drying, and irritating for skin, however, that certainly doesn’t mean that they’re all created equal and some are much gentler than others. Another example worthy of note is that of parabens. Parabens have become a source of concern in recent times. This is because there is some research that suggests that parabens can disrupt the working of some biological systems. However, these studies used parabens in concentrations of up to 100%, and in some instances, actually fed them to animals instead of applying them on the skin. Parties that have slapped on allegations against parabens, have failed to account for the actual concentration of parabens used to preserve cosmetic products, which are typically less than 1%. In toxicology, it is widely recognised that the dose makes the poison. Even water, in significantly large quantities, disrupts brain functioning and causes death. According to the European Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety: “Parabens make up an important part of the preservatives which could be used in cosmetics. In addition to propylparaben and butylparaben, other parabens, like ethylparaben and ethylparaben, are safe, as repeatedly confirmed by the Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety (SCCS). They are also some of the most efficient preservatives.” And fun fact: did you know that parabens are naturally found in blueberries? This, by traditional definitions, makes them natural. If at this point you want to question your entire existence, because it’s been a lie, I hear you. This is not to say that harmful ingredients don’t exist at all and can’t be found in cosmetic products. In 2010, large amounts of formaldehyde-releasing chemicals were found in the hair straightening treatment from Brazilian Blowout, while in 2012, the FDA discovered lead in around 400 types of lipsticks. In Pakistan, where I’m from, whitening creams are probably the most popular beauty product there is, and they are chock full of steroids and mercury. Despite the incidence of such products and cases however, fear-mongering when it comes to “chemicals” has gotten out of control, propelled in part by brands that are trying to use this fear to their advantage. It is important to remember that most ingredients, when applied on the skin, don’t make it into your bloodstream, contrary to what popular media would have you believe. Our skin is, at the end of the day, our shield against the outside world, and a pretty good one at that. All said and done, the moral of the story is simple: don’t buy into fear-mongering and believe everything you hear. Make an effort to dig deeper and rely only on trustworthy sources for your information. And when in doubt, you can always get in touch with us! References: Wischhover, C. (2018). The "natural" beauty industry is on the rise because we’re scared of chemicals. Vox. Cotton, S. (2016). These Are The Top 5 Deadliest Poisons on The Planet. The Conversation. Ferreira, M. (2017). Baking Soda For the Face: Face Wash and Side Effects. Healthline. Wong, M. (2019). Don’t Use Lemon Juice on Your Skin. Lab Muffin Beauty Science. Weatherford, A. (2018). Skin Care’s Most Outspoken Founder on Why Sheet Masks Are a Lie. The Cut. Paula's Choice Skincare. (n.d.). Essential Oils for Skin. Paula’s Choice Skincare (n.d.). Are Natural & Organic Ingredients Better for Your Skin? Paula’s Choice Skincare (n.d.). Are Parabens a Problem? Woolf, A. (1999). Essential Oil Poisoning. Clinical Toxicology, 37 (6), pp.721-727. Murray, G. (2017). Natural Vs Synthetic Beauty: Have We Got It All Wrong?. [online] Refinery 29.

Very simply put, a toner is a liquid that’s meant to be applied on the face right after you cleanse. That’s it. There are sundry definitions available of the word online, but it’s impossible to make any generalisations beyond this given the sheer variety of formulas, with various different ingredients, available online. What a toner will actually do for your skin depends entirely on what it contains and how it’s packaged. Definitions of toners obtained from various online sources. A brief history In the 1900s, beauty culturists advocated for the use on skin ‘tonics’, ‘fresheners’ or ‘astringents’ to ‘tone’ (all of which I’m going to lump into the toner category for convenience, even though the word toner came into use after the Second World War, when astringents came to be seen as something harsh, and were therefore, rebranded as toners), ‘stimulate’, or ‘freshen’ the skin after cleansing. These products remained popular throughout the twentieth century. Even during the 20th century, these products varied in composition and tended to make several medicinal claims. Common ingredients they used will make any modern, educated aestheticians skin crawl: alcohol, witch hazel extract, tincture of benzoin, camphor and borax, while pink appears to have been the colour of choice. All of these ingredients sensitise the skin and don’t impart any benefit to it. In the 1940s the FDA disallowed many of the false claims that toners made in the US, including claims that they could improve skin elasticity or tighten the pores. Outside the US however, in countries with subpar consumer safeguards, these claims persisted and in a lot of cases, endure to this very day, given the profitability associated with such products. By the 1960s, most cosmetic companies had settled on some form of a ‘cleanse, tone and moisturise’ skincare routine. Toners then were said to ‘clarify’ and ‘refine’ the skin – terms that were vague enough to avoid trouble with regulators. So should you use toners? Well that depends. If you’re on a budget, and buy only a limited number of things, then no. In that case, stick with the essentials: cleanser, moisturiser and SPF. Keep in mind that everything a toner can do, something else can do as well. The performance of any skincare product depends entirely on the ingredients that it contains and skincare should always be selected based on your skin concerns, if you don’t want to end up squandering money. Given this, if you’re not on a budget, toners can be completely fine if they contain the right ingredients, and are packaged to block out air and light if they contain unstable ingredients like ascorbic acid. However, caveat emptor, for contrary to what’s popularly being publicised nowadays on the supposed benefits and ‘gentleness’ of modern toners, the reality for a large number of them is no different from what it was a hundred years ago. A vast majority of toners are still chock full of irritants like denatured alcohol and fragrance, a rather elusive word, for it can appear on an ingredients list in several distinct configurations, which can make it a difficult ingredient to spot. If you still do decide to buy a toner, look for one that contains moisturising, hydrating and skin replenishing ingredients. However, if you spot alcohol, menthol, witch hazel, or fragrance (in any one of its myriad forms), on an ingredients list, run - as fast and as far as your legs can carry you.

Gases or particles released as a result of manufacturing, transport, chemical refineries, cigarette smoke and several other processes, are collectively called air pollution. Most gaseous pollutants don’t immediately penetrate the skin. Instead, they induce oxidative stress, triggering a cascade of damage on the skin’s surface. Even though our skin acts as a biological shield against pollutants, prolonged or repetitive exposure to high levels of these pollutants has profound negative effects. Chemicals in air pollution, the likes of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, volatile organic compounds, oxides, particulate matter, and ozone, have been associated with an increase in the incidence of problems like acne and acneiform eruptions, psoriasis and dermatitis, skin ageing and pigmentation, and cancers. Small particulate matter consists of nanoparticles that are tiny enough to penetrate, and get lodged inside, your pores where they cause ongoing damage and simply washing your face isn’t enough to get rid of them. Here they are able to wreak havoc in the deeper layers of your skin where wrinkles and discolouration form. Pollutants also impair the skin’s barrier function, making it easier for them to enter your body through your skin, so your entire body suffers the consequences. The term ‘smog’ was first used in London in the early 1900s to describe the cocktail of smoke and fog that often blanketed the city. It is a combination of ozone, harmful nano-particles, and other pollutants, such as carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide and lead, and is particularly harmful for your skin. Like all forms of air pollution, smog also compromises skin health by inducing free radical damage, or oxidative stress. Free radical damage has been implicated as a cause in several diseases, including cancer, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. And the older you are, the more susceptible you are to damage caused by pollution, since our body’s become less able to effectively fight off free radical damage as we age. While pollution is worse in big cities, even individuals living in rural areas aren’t safe from it since air pollution can easily travel beyond borders. Some research suggests that air pollution is as bad for skin as UV radiation from unprotected sun exposure. The list of problems that airborne pollutants can give rise to include: Dullness and hyperpigmentation Premature ageing Enlarged pores Dryness, sensitivity, redness, eczema and worsening of psoriasis Chemical or pollution-induced acne A solid skincare routine, now more than ever, is essential for protecting your skin from the harmful effects of air pollution. It is your first line of defence against pollution and the problems that it can cause. Products formulated with antioxidants can interrupt the cascade of damage that pollution gives rise to on your skin, while potent soothing ingredients are able to neutralise the damage that has already been done. You also need ingredients that are able to fortify the skin’s barrier and make it more resistant to the penetration of air pollutants, and chemical exfoliants, because they help dislodge pollutants that get trapped in your pores. The table shows a simple routine that you can leverage to combat the effects of air pollution on your skin. Products are listed in the order in which they should be applied. *Read more here. Find the listed products in our shop.

If reading isn't your thing, here's the quick lowdown on fungal acne in video form. The written blog starts below this. Does your acne look like the acne shown in the picture below? Does it take the form of small bumps on your forehead and other parts of your face? Maybe it also itches and you have dandruff as well? If you answered yes to even some of these questions, you likely have fungal acne. While it may look like acne, it's a different animal and requires somewhat different treatment since a lot of things that may work for regular acne, won't work if your acne is fungal. We have an extensive amount of experience treating fungal. Here are just a few images that clients have shared of their results. Here's everything you need to know about fungal acne and how you can get rid of it, just by having a solid, fungal-acne safe skincare routine in place. Contents What Is Fungal Acne? What Causes Fungal Acne? Diagnosing Fungal Acne Treating Fungal Acne Recommended Skin Care Routine What Is Fungal Acne? While regular acne, or acne vulgaris, is caused by bacteria, malassezia folliculitis, also known as fungal acne, is caused by the malassezia fungus. This fungus has 22 currently known species, and is naturally found on our skin. Malassezia is an opportunistic pathogen. This means that it is generally harmless and only causes disease when immunity is in some way compromised. It has also been linked to other conditions in dermatology including seborrheic dermatitis and dandruff. Malassezia is lipophilic and needs to feed on fat to grow. It is thus, most commonly found on areas of the body that have a dense population of oil-producing glands: the scalp, face, and trunk. Rapid growth of the fungus disrupts the natural renewal of skin cells, resulting in flaky skin (dandruff) and itching. What Causes Fungal Acne? The causes of fungal acne are poorly understood. Some health conditions however, can make people more susceptible to it. These include diabetes, HIV, organ transplant, and immunological deficiency. Studies have also linked fungal acne to obesity, steroid use, birth control pills, and stress. The infection can also be triggered by prolonged antibiotic use. Antibiotics alter the delicate balance of our skin’s microbes, causing the death of bacteria that keep the growth of malassezia in check. This is especially problematic because fungal acne is often misdiagnosed as acne for which doctors are quick to prescribe antibiotics. This ends up further aggravating the condition. There are also factors that increase how quickly the fungus is able to grow. We know that malassezia multiplies faster in a pH range of 5.5 to 7.5 and in hot, humid climates. This explains the high incidence of fungal acne in countries like the Philippines, and from my personal experience, also in Pakistan. Diagnosing Fungal Acne It is often difficult to distinguish fungal acne and regular acne. However, there are factors that can help us differentiate between the two: Itching of the affected areas is characteristic of fungal, but not of acne vulgaris. Plentiful small, uniform, whitehead-like lesions. These tend to be more common on oilier areas of the face such as the forehead. Dandruff. Individuals with fungal acne often have dandruff as both conditions can be caused by the same fungus. Unsuccessful attempts at treatments with antibiotics in the past. If you’ve had antibiotics in the past but they didn’t help, or made your acne worse, you most probably have fungal acne. Treating Fungal Acne Treating fungal acne starts with choosing the right skincare and sticking with it even once the fungal acne has cleared, to keep it from coming back. If you’re prone to fungal acne, you need to avoid most oils and a wide range of other lipids as they are food for malassezia and cause it to grow very quickly. Fungal acne safe lipids include our Medium Chain Triglyceride (M.C.T.) Oil, and squalane. Once your skincare routine is in order - I will make recommendations below - it also often helps to use a topical anti-fungal, for 3-5 nights if the acne is severe. Leaving it on overnight often results in skin irritation. Contact therapy, where the ointment is applied for 20 minutes and then rinsed off, tends to be just as effective but carries much lower irritation risk. Ask your pharmacist for an ointment containing 2% ketoconazole for this purpose. If you're unable to find an ointment, a ketoconazole shampoo will also do the job. Apply a thin layer of it over affected areas for 10 minutes and then rinse it off. Several active ingredients in skincare can also treat fungal acne and prevent it from coming back, when used in a fungal acne safe formulation. These include honey, azelaic acid, sulfur, urea, and my personal favourite: salicylic acid, which also has anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial properties and helps unclog pores. Recommended Skin Care Routine When it comes to skincare for fungal acne, we recommend keeping it simple - an excessive number of products might just work against you. To start with, stick with only what's recommended and continue this routine even after your fungal acne has cleared. It’ll keep the fungal acne from coming back and will also help maintain general skin health. Pro tip: if you're confused about whether your acne is fungal or bacterial, you can still start out with this routine. It's also suitable for acne vulgaris! And if you need more help or have more questions, feel free to reach out. Here's the routine, in video form, and in writing. 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We normally tend to associate our skin with nothing more than our appearance. Our skin however, is our largest organ and has several functions. Among other things, it protects our bodies from mechanical injury, harmful chemicals, pathogens and UV radiation. It also acts as a barrier to water loss and helps regulate body temperature. It’s common knowledge that the human body consists of 70% water. This is necessary for the optimal functioning of our cells. It’s so important in fact, that in extreme cases, dehydration leads to death. Our skin cells also require water to function optimally. Water is constantly lost from the skin’s outermost layer, via evaporation, and in order to control the rate of evaporation from the skin, the skin’s integrity as a barrier must be preserved. “Skin barrier” is a term commonly used in skincare circles and refers to the skin’s outermost layer. Barrier integrity can be compromised by chemical insult, for e.g., the use of harsh cleansing products, mechanical injury, dry weather, and also due to sun exposure. A compromised barrier will result in water being lost from the skin more quickly resulting in dehydration. Dehydrated skin looks dull because shrivelled up cells on the surface of the skin aren’t able to reflect light as well; the appearance of wrinkles and fine lines is also exacerbated. The impact of dehydrated skin however, isn’t only cosmetic: dehydrated skin is also less resilient in the face of the environment. Dehydration can make cells shrivel up leading to gaps between cells in the outermost layer of the skin. This means that bacteria and other pathogens, and harmful chemicals, are able to gain access to the deeper layers of the skin leading to redness, sensitisation and inflammation. The good news however, is that keeping skin hydrated is simple. Here are the key dos and don'ts: Don’t use harsh, stripping cleansers, such as those that contain sodium lauryl sulfate, or soap. Always be sure to moisturise after you cleanse, since even the most gentle cleansers, to some extent, remove the protective layer of oil on the skin’s surface, increasing the rate at which water is lost from the skin. Drink plenty of water and restrict caffeine consumption. Caffeine is a diuretic and too much can cause the body to lose more water. Be regular with sun protection, even if you stay indoors. Remember that windows can’t keep UV radiation out, and UV rays are capable of causing damage to the very DNA of your cells. Use a moisturiser packed with hydrating ingredients, emollients and occlusives, to ensure that your skin is able to hold on to moisture. Because hydration is so essential for the health of your skin, we’ve created a moisturiser that will give you just that, and a whole lot more. Our Carbamide Intensive Hydration Cream (CIHC) contains a high percentage of carbamide, also called urea, a substance that is naturally found in the skin. This is able to penetrate the skin’s outermost layer and helps the skin hold on to moisture. It also encourages exfoliation and softens the skin. CIHC also contains vitamin B5, which also helps the skin hold on to moisture. In addition to carbamide and B5, CIHC also comes packed with other beneficial ingredients including shea butter, sunflower seed oil and pumpkin seed oil, which are excellent sources of essential fatty acids, vitamin E and antioxidants, and allantoin, which soothes the skin and promotes healing. What’s more? Although super moisturising and ultra hydrating, this moisturiser is completely non greasy, doesn’t clog pores and is suitable for all skin types! Dry, acne-prone skin? Pair CIHC with our Salicylic Acid Pore Cleansing Emulsion for the perfect zit fighting, skin rejuvenating combo!

The double cleanse makes up the first two steps of the 10-step Korean skincare routine. While you don’t have to necessarily follow this entire, might I say, tedious, routine to see results, (and in fact, we believe that in most instances, less is more) you can definitely benefit by incorporating a double cleanse into your routine. Double cleansing involves using an oil-based cleanser, such as a cleansing balm or oil, to break down oil-based makeup, SPF and excess sebum and then following up with a water-based cleanser to remove residual impurities.. Double cleansing effectively cleans your skin and allows any actives that you follow up with, to penetrate your skin better and work more effectively, than just a single cleanse. From my personal experience, good cleansing balm and cleansing oil formulas are very gentle on the skin and do an excellent job of easily melting away even a full face of makeup. They contain a lot of emollient and don’t contain harsh surfactants, like sodium lauryl sulfate, that can potentially dry out and sensitise your skin. This makes them an excellent choice even for sensitive skin. We’ve jumped on the double cleansing bandwagon with our Butter but Better Cleansing Balm, a luscious wash-off formula that melts away makeup, sunscreen and grime and rinses off with water, all without drying out your skin. Here are our recommendations for step 1 and step 2 of your double cleanse. Recommendation For Your Step 1 Cleanse Salicylic Acid Cleanser Shop Now

The Inspiration As someone who suffered from acne myself, when I started AccuFix Cosmetics, I initially set out with just acne in mind. I wanted to create products for myself, and for other acne sufferers, that would finally treat our acne, without causing any of the nasty side-effects that come about with the use of antibiotics and oral isotretioin, also known as accutane. I was aware of other skin conditions that resemble acne but didn’t initially pay much attention to them, primarily because I didn’t think they were common. But I couldn’t have been more wrong. As I spoke to hundreds of people who suffered from acne or what they thought was acne, I realised that a large percentage of them were actually not victims of acne at all, but of fungal acne, or to be more technically correct, malassezia folliculitis. How it’s different While our current acne products offered a great deal of benefit to acne sufferers, they hadn’t been designed keeping some specific qualities of fungal acne in mind. Namely, the ability of fungi to feed on a number of, otherwise fantastic, cosmetic ingredients, including oils and glycerin, and proliferate. So I wanted to make something that catered specifically to the needs of fungal acne sufferers. In a lot of cases, I also noticed that bacterial and fungal acne occurred together. The ideal product then would be able to cater to both types of acne. I do not have enough words to express the amount of love I have for salicylic acid as an ingredient, and I’ve written about it at length in a previous blog post. Salicylic acid is a well-known ingredient in acne circles. And I was well aware that in addition to having exfoliating and comedolytic (where comedolytic describes an ingredient that prevents pores from becoming clogged with oil and skin cells) properties, salicylic acid also functions exceptionally well as an anti-fungal and effectively exfoliates skin without increasing skin photosensitivity. There was no question in my mind then, that salicylic acid would be the key active ingredient in the formula. I’ve been using the formula ever since I developed it and have also given it to a number of my contemporaries, particularly those that suffer from fungal acne, and we’ve all been thrilled with the results. Not only does it destroy fungal acne, it also heals regular blemishes and keeps new ones from coming, all while moisturising, and being extremely gentle on your skin. And the exfoliating properties of salicylic acid mean that you wake up with the smoothest skin ever and see visible improvement in your skin within the very first few days of use. Get in touch to learn how you can incorporate it into your routine!

A lot of people assume that cleansers don't matter since they only stay on your skin for a short period of time. I’ve interacted many who simply use soap, or whatever else they can get their hands on, to wash their face. However, few things are more important in skincare than your choice of cleanser, where cleansers include everything used to clean the face from bar soaps and face washes to micellar waters and cleansing balms. In this blog I’m going to do a deep dive into cleansers and cover everything that you need to know about them. I’ll address the following points: What are cleansers? How do cleansers work? How does cleansing damage the skin? Choosing a good cleanser Other tips to ensure that your cleansing experience is as gentle as possible P.S. We also have a video on this topic on our YouTube channel for those who prefer watching videos as opposed to reading blogs. Here it is: What Are Cleansers? A cleanser is anything that cleans the skin and include a wide variety of products with variable formats and textures. Soaps, micellar waters, face washes, cleansing balms, cleansing milks and cleansing creams, are all cleansers. And yes, all of these generally tend to be suitable to use for washing your face everyday. How Do Cleansers Work? Oil and water don’t mix on their own. Cleansers use surfactants to dissolve and rinse away grime and other oil-soluble impurities from the surface of our skin. Surfactants allow oil and water to mix as a result of their structure, which is demonstrated in the figure. A surfactant molecule has two parts, a water-loving head, and an oil-loving tail. Because of this structure, surfactant molecules for structures called micelles when dissolved in water. Micelles trap dirt and grime within them and are then easily rinsed away with water. Surfactants commonly found in skin cleansers include sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS), sodium lauryl ether sulfate (SLES), cocamidopropyl betaine and lauryl and decyl glucoside, among several others. How Does Cleansing Damage The Skin? While cleansing is a necessary part of any skincare routine, it's also generally the most damaging. This is because surfactants aren’t always good for your skin. The outermost layer of the skin - the stratum corneum - has a brick and mortar structure where dead skin cells are the bricks and the lipids, which consists of ceramides, cholesterol and free fatty acids, that surround them, are the mortar, as illustrated in the figure. The stratum corneum acts as your body's barrier against the outside world. It keeps hydration in and irritants out and its structure makes it perfect for this job. But when its structure is disturbed, skin becomes eczematic: dry, itchy, red and irritated. The stratum corneum is generally resilient, but a harsh cleanser can upsets its structure and creates trouble, leading to, or aggravating, conditions like acne and eczema. Here’s how: Surfactants remove important compounds from the stratum corneum. While surfactants excel at removing dirt and grime, they aren’t able to differentiate between the chemicals that make up the stratum corneum, and the chemicals that need to be removed. In addition to excess sebum, dirt and grime, surfactants also tend to remove important lipids, cholesterol in particular, thus messing up the structure of the stratum corneum so it becomes more susceptible to water loss. They also remove proteins and natural hydrating compounds from the skin so skin isn’t able to hold onto water as effectively either. These factors lead to dry, dehydrated skin and can also cause skin sensitivity and eczema. Skin dehydration also causes the skin to produce more oil as the skin tries harder to keep water from evaporating. This spells disaster for people with oily or acne-prone skin. Surfactants remain in the skin resulting in irritation and skin barrier disruption. Most surfactant molecules get rinsed off after cleansing but some don't. These bind to proteins in the skin and change their structure, leading to irritation and the feeling of tightness that people often experience after cleansing. Residual surfactant molecules also disrupt the lipid matrix so the stratum corneum ends up compromised and more prone to letting water out and irritants in. The cleanser changes the pH of the skin. Healthy skin has an acidic pH between 4.2 and 5.6. Maintaining this pH is essential as the biochemical reactions that occur within the skin are sensitive to changes in pH as is the delicate balance of microbes that live on the skin's surface. Alkaline cleansers - and most cleansers, especially soaps and foaming cleansers, tend to be alkaline - change the pH of the skin and this change persists for quite some time even after they've been rinsed off. This puts the brakes on essential biochemical reactions and keeps the skin from being able to repair itself. An alkaline pH also encourages the growth of the acne-causing bacteria. Choosing A Good Cleanser Three factors need to be kept in mind when selecting a cleanser, regardless of your skin type, age, or anything else. Accounting for these will ensure that your cleansing experience is as gentle as possible. Factor 1: Surfactants Surfactants are key when it comes to determining how harsh a cleanser will. Surfactants with small, negatively charged heads and tails with carbon chain lengths of 10-14 seem to be particularly harsh. Surfactants that fit this definition include the infamous sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS), and soaps such as sodium laurate and sodium cocoate. Milder surfactants include sodium laureth sulfate, cocamidopropyl betaine, sodium cocoyl isethionate, lauryl glucoside and decyl glucoside, among others. Mixtures of surfactants also tend to make cleansers gentler as the micelles formed by surfactant mixtures tend to be larger than micelles formed when surfactants are used alone. Factor 2: Power of hydrogen, i.e. pH pH is a measure of the acidity of a substance. It’s a scale that ranges from 1 - 14, where 7 represents neutral, the pH of distilled water. A pH of less than 7 indicates that the substance is acidic, where the smaller the number, the more acidic the substance, while a pH greater than 7 indicates that a substance is alkaline. Acids, like lemon juice, are generally sour, while alkalis like baking soda, are generally bitter. As previously discussed, the pH of healthy skin lies between 4.2 and 5.6. At this pH important biochemical reactions can take place undisturbed. Alkaline cleansers however, shift the skin’s pH and disrupt the skin’s biochemical activity. Soaps and baking soda have an alkaline pH and are not good for your skin, while lemon juice has a pH of less than 2, making it overly acidic and also not good for the skin. Cleansing oils and balms tend to be an exception to the pH rule as oils don't have a pH. Factor 3: Moisturising ingredients Moisturising ingredients like oils - sunflower oil and grapeseed oil are also great for people with acne (unless you’re prone to fungal acne), and humectants, such as glycerin and sorbitol, also make a cleanser more gentle on the skin and are generally good ingredients to add to cleansers. Other Tips To Ensure That Your Cleansing Experience Is As Gentle As Possible Use cooler water. Hot water increases the ability of surfactants to go deeper into the skin resulting in more damage. But also make sure that the water isn’t too cold as extremes of temperature in either direction are not good for the skin. Use less cleanser and don’t cleanse for too long. 30 to 60 seconds of contact time tends to be enough for a cleanser to get its job done. If you’ve been wearing heavy makeup or sunscreen that’s hard to remove, try double cleansing using an oil-based cleanser, such as our Butter But Better Cleansing Balm, in the first step to minimise the damage from harsh surfactants. Don’t overdo it. I see a lot of people, especially those with acne-prone or oily skin, washing their face multiple times a day. This will only irritate your skin and make the problem worse. Wash your face 1 to 2 times per day, not more. If you choose to wash it once, wash it only at night. While products like micellar water and wipes might claim that you don’t need to rinse them off afterwards, they do contain surfactants which will irritate your skin if left on for too long. Make sure you always rinse your face afterwards if you use them. Do not skip moisturiser, regardless of your skin type. This is essential so you can replenish what your skin has lost during the cleansing process. There is a moisturiser out there for you. Find it, and use it. Your skin will thank you for it. Our AccuHydra Hydrating Gel Cream Moisturiser is an excellent option for all skin types including sensitive skin and skin prone to acne or fungal acne. In Conclusion If you ever thought that cleansers are something that are just meant to be rinsed off and don’t have a significant impact on the health of skin, I hope this post has convinced you otherwise. In the words of Stephen Alain Ko, “Cleansers are one of the few times in skin care when we actually remove things from our skin, and a good cleanser will remove things that we don’t want on our skin, while minimizing the removal of things we do want in our skin.” A solid skincare routine is always built on the foundation of a good cleanser, moisturiser and SPF. If you have these wrong, you’re only wasting your money on other expensive products. And yes, harsh cleansers can definitely cause and aggravate everything from eczema and skin dryness, to skin sensitivity, oiliness and acne and set you up for premature skin ageing. Hydrating Daily Gentle Shop Now Salicylic Acid Cleanser Shop Now Moisturiser Cleanser Shop Now

Contents What is salicylic acid? A brief history of salicylic acid - for the nerds among us How does salicylic acid work and what makes salicylic acid so effective in skincare? Our salicylic acid range What is salicylic acid? Salicylic acid, belongs to a class of acids known as beta hydroxy acids or BHAs and is the only acid in this class to be used in dermatology. It is a common ingredient in several over-the-counter skin care products, especially in those designed keeping acne-prone skin in mind. The popularity of salicylic acid helps underscore its effectiveness as an ingredient, especially as part of a high quality formulation. Its effectiveness against acne has been demonstrated in double-blind, randomised trials. Interesting, and completely random, fact: in plants salicylic acid functions as an important hormone that influences several processes including, but not limited to, growth and development, and photosynthesis. A brief history of salicylic acid - for the nerds among us Hippocrates (460–370 BC), the father of modern medicine, Galen (130-210 AD), a physician from the Roman Empire, Pliny the Elder (23-79 AD), a Roman naturalist, the Chinese, and several other ancient civilisations, including the Sumerians, Mesopotamians, Egyptians and Native Americans, all knew about the healing properties of the willow bark. It could ease pain, reduce fever and inflammation, and treat rheumatic fever, colds, haemorrhages and goitre. Pliny the Elder is noted to have used willow bark to treat calluses and corns, while Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine, recommended chewing on willow tree bark to patients suffering from fever and pain. He also recommended the use of a tea brewed from willow tree bark to lessen pain during childbirth. Willow bark contains salicin, which is metabolised to salicylic acid. Salicylic acid is the main component of an herbal extract found in the bark of several trees, the willow tree included. It is also found in several fruits, grains, and vegetables. Salicylic acid, and its derivatives — termed salicylates — have therefore, long been a quotidian part of our diet. Their first recorded use for medicinal purposes, dates back four millennia to the Sumerians. They used clay tablets to document pain remedies that leveraged the willow tree. Despite its long history, clinical studies were not conducted on salicylic acid till the late 18th century. In 1763 Reverend Edward Stone conducted one of the first when he investigated the effects of willow bark powder on fever. In 1828 Johann Büchner, isolated a yellow substance from willow trees that he named salicin, and a pure crystalline form salicin was isolated in 1829 by Henri Leroux, a French pharmacist. The ability of salicylic acid to soften and exfoliate the stratum corneum was discovered in the 1860s, while the 1870s witnessed the commencement of large-scale production of salicylic acid for the treatment of pain and fever. Just as the medical benefits of salicylic acid have been known for time immemorial, so too have its side effects. Prolonged internal consumption of large doses of the drug irritates gastric mucous membranes and can lead to nausea, vomiting, bleeding, and ulcers. To prevent these problems, Bayer Pharmaceuticals assigned Felix Hoffman the task of developing a version of salicylic acid that was more amenable to internal consumption, in 1895. Hoffman’s father suffered from rheumatism for which he took salicylic acid. He could however, no longer consume the drug without vomiting. Hoffman therefore, had a vested personal interest in the development of this new and improved compound and was eventually able to transform salicylic acid into acetylsalicylic acid (modern-day aspirin). This could be ingested without causing any significant gastrointestinal distress. Once in the body, this molecule was converted back to salicylic acid and was still able to provide all the necessary therapeutic benefits.   In the modern era, salicylic acid is used mainly in skincare, with variants like aspirin, left for internal consumption due to their improved tolerability. Salicylic acid’s skin care benefits result from its anti-fungal, antibacterial and most importantly, from its keratolytic (exfoliating) properties. While it’s most well known for its ability to treat acne, the compound also has the ability to treat several other skin ailments including warts, psoriasis, ringworm, and dandruff.   How does salicylic acid work and what makes salicylic acid so effective in skincare? Salicylic acid is is a lipophilic (in layman terms: oil soluble) chemical compound that acts as a keratolytic. Simply put, this means that it is very effective at sloughing off the layer of dead cells on the surface of the skin and promoting skin cell turnover. It works by dissolving the intercellular "glue" that holds these cells, in the top layer of your skin, known as the stratum corneum, together. Unlike AHAs, the likes of glycolic acid and lactic acid, it is able to do this without increasing photosensitivity. Its lipophilic nature means that it is able to penetrate deep into pores where it loosens clogs. This, combined with its exfoliating ability, make it a highly effective comedolytic, i.e., a compound that inhibits the formation of comedones, or clogged pores as a result of the build up of oil and dead skin cells.   A study conducted in 2014 was also able to demonstrate that salicylic acid has the ability to reduce excess sebum production. Lastly, salicylic acid is also a potent anti-inflammatory: it has the capacity to suppress the expression of genes that result in inflammation. When topically applied and used in the treatment of acne, salicylic acid generally has little to no side effects and is even considered safe for use during pregnancy in concentrations of up to 2%. However, be careful with its use if you are allergic to salicylates and don't use salicylic acid on large areas of your body for extended periods of time (this does not include using it on the face on an everyday basis), as this can be toxic. Our salicylic acid range Needless to say, we're obsessed with salicylic acid have an entire range dedicated to our favourite ingredient consisting of our Resurfacing Face Wash, Salicylic Acid Cleanser, Salicylic Acid Moisturiser and Salicylic Acid Pore Cleansing Emulsion. And we've seen exceptional skin transformations with these products. If you have bacterial acne, a.k.a. acne vulgaris, use the Salicylic Acid Cleanser in conjunction with the Salicylic Acid Moisturiser to take care of your woes. If fungal acne, a.k.a. malassezia folliculitis is your woe, the Salicylic Acid Pore Cleansing Emulsion should be your go-to. If you're not sure of what you have, we've still got you covered! Get in touch over social media for a free skin consultation and we'll guide you. Till then, keep glowing! :) Hydrating Daily Gentle Cleanser Shop - Rs. 1195

If you’ve found your way here, it's probably because you have acne, which includes whiteheads, blackheads, and pimples. It's also possible that you've visited several doctors, and tried multiple treatments, only to be disappointed. I can relate because I had acne for seven long years. I learned a lot along the way however, and was able to clear up my skin. In this post I'll share everything I learned that helped me so that you don't have to suffer like I did. Since you're probably wondering what my skin looked like before and what it looks like now, I've attached images. The two on the left are from 2016 (it was worse than it looks in the pictures) and the one on the right is from 2019. Here's what I'm going to cover in this post: What Is Acne? How Does Acne Develop? External Causes Of Acne Skin Care For Acne-Prone Skin: 4 Key Steps What Is Acne?      Acne, not to be confused with fungal acne (Fungal acne looks similar but is not the same thing. You can learn about it here) occurs when the hair follicles - also called pores - in your skin become clogged with oil and dead skin cells. It starts as micro-comedones - blockages that are too small to see. Blackheads - open comedones - and whiteheads - closed comedones - are the smallest visible type of acne. As the size of a comedone increases, it ruptures the wall of the hair follicle resulting in redness and inflammation. These inflamed comedones, are commonly known as pimples. Pimples can take the form of papules - red bumps without pus - or pustules - bumps that contain pus. If the clogged pores are deeper and more irritated, they can even turn into painful, deep nodules - solid lumps - and cysts - pus-filled lumps. Nodular and cystic acne are the worst kinds and tend to leave the deepest scars.   Hydrating Daily Gentle Shop Now Salicylic Acid Cleanser Shop Now Moisturiser Cleanser Shop Now

Have you ever heard of the phrase “too much of a good thing”? When it comes to washing your face, yes, you can over-do it, even if your cleanser is as gentle as they get. So how do you know if you’ve been washing more than you need to? Perhaps your skin feels tight and dry, and looks angry and inflamed. Or you have these pesky breakouts that just aren’t going away, even though you've been doing everything right: your products don’t contain irritants, you’re exfoliating regularly, and you’re using the right actives - if needed - for your skin.   So how often should you really wash your face? While you should definitely cleanse after a sweaty workout or if you’ve managed to gather a lot of dirt and grime on your skin, we recommend using a gentle micellar water, that’s free of drying alcohols and excessive fragrance, for this purpose. This is especially so if this is going to be one more than the maximum number of times a day you should be washing your face, i.e., two.   Washing your face at night is non-negotiable. It’s a night while you’re sleeping that your skin takes the time out to repair itself, and you don’t want the dirt and grime from the day (and make-up if you wear it), to interfere with this process. Also, keep in mind that your nightly wash can’t be with plain water either. Since most impurities aren’t soluble in water, water alone won’t be able to get them off your skin.   The morning wash on the other hand is optional. If your skin is on the oily side, it might be better for you to cleanse in the morning. If it’s dry, you could just rinse your face with water and follow up with your moisturiser and sunscreen. But there’s no hard and fast rule, and it all boils down to personal preference and what specifically works for your skin.