Daily advices

How to clean oily skin? The first step in a good care routine

It’s well known that teens can spend hours in the bathroom… But not necessarily to wash their face! And yet, skin hygiene is the first step in a care routine, especially when skin is oily or there is a problem with acne. Between those who tend to do too much, using products that are too aggressive in the hope of scrubbing their oily skin away, and those who prefer to let nature take its course, there is the right routine. Find out about good hygiene habits to adopt for oily skin.

Why is washing oily skin so important? Because it’s where everything starts. There’s no use trying to have healthy skin without blemishes, or applying products that treat pimples, blackheads or too much sebum if skin hasn’t been properly cleaned. It won’t work! Oily skin secretes too much sebum, which blocks pores. The result is shiny skin and dilated pores, with blackheads. These comedones can turn into spots if bacteria grow. Only rigorous daily hygiene will break the vicious cycle.

Morning and night, skin gets dirty naturally, with sweat, continuously secreted sebum, dead skin, bacteria, make-up, sunscreen, dust and pollution particles that stick on top… Cleaning twice a day is the only way to remove all of these impurities that accumulate¹. Otherwise, the skin suffocates, pores get blocked² and pimples develop. Even in the morning, a simple rinse with floral water isn’t enough to eliminate impurities that are deposited overnight.

Cleansing needs to remove all residue that has accumulated on skin without stripping it. The idea is to keep the hydrolipidic film3 that protects skin, and maintain physiological pH levels. Why? Because a pH that is too basic the perfect host for bacteria and acne! If pimples are a problem, cleaning morning and night is even more important.

Never use any alcohol, antiseptics or soap that can destroy skin microflora and dry the skin out while unnecessarily raising its pH.
Specific care such as Sebium Gel Moussant deep cleans oily skin without drying. It perfectly cleanses skin, respects the hydrolopidic film that protects the epidermis, preserves the physiological pH and mattifies for about four hours.
Alternatively, special acne micellar water has the advantage of being both effective and rapid to use. A quick wipe with a cotton pad is generally enough, and there is no need to rinse. All impurities are removed from skin, whatever their origin. Micellar solutions formulated for acne-prone skin also respect the hydrolipidic film that naturally protects skin and its pH.

¹EMC, Aesthetic Cosmetology and Dermatology, Cleaning Product, Michèle Sayag, October 2014

²The effect of a daily facial cleanser for normal to oily skin on the skin barrier of subjects with acne, Draelos ZD, Cutis 2006

³Effect of detergents on Acne, Barry A. Salomon, MD, Alan R. Shalita, MD, 1996