The Grown Man's Guide to Dealing With Acne

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Washing your face every morning and night will wipe away grease, dead skin, and natural oils from sweat and facial hair. It's not something that will clear your face up on its own, but if you're aiming for clear skin, you're going to need to wash your mug every day.

We suggest using warm (not super hot) water to open your pores, a non-comodegenic soap (aka a soap that won't clog your pores), and then cool water to rinse. Using warm water opens up your pores for deeper cleaning, and cool water closes them up to help lessen deep exposure of dirt and grime.

Like any other part of your skin, your body's outer layer needs moisture in order to remain healthy. With dry winds in the winter and heavy sunlight in the summer, your skin needs a heavy moisturizer in the winter and a light, breathable one in the summer.

Another thing to take note, is that moisturizers don't work the same on all types of skin. If you have dry skin, use thicker creams. If you have naturally oily skin, opt for lighter lotions.

You may have heard of UVA and UVB rays before. Both come from exposure to the sun, but simply put, UVA rays age your skin, and UVB rays burn your skin. Generally when you see a SPF number on bottle, they're referring to protection from UVB rays.

So, how does this relate to acne? Well, before you reach for a sunscreen and a moisturizer, take a second. Just how applying moisturizer helps keep your skin healthy, applying too much product will, at the least, do nothing, and worse, could clog your pores. If your moisturizer has an SPF, skip the extra creams in the morning.

Even if you wash your face regularly, dead skin cells pile up. Exfoliating it like taking an eraser to your skin—wiping off a layer and starting with a brand new slate. Exfoliators feel like they're made of sand, and while that's not going to be an ingredient, you'll certainly want one that will feel gritty to the touch. Exfoliating your skin is all about give and take. Yes, the exfoliating cream/gel/lotion is going to be rough, but that's also why you don't need to scrub very hard. Also, avoid exfoliating your skin daily; doing this may aggravate your skin, leaving it sensitive, red, and prone to breaking out.

If you have acne on your face, relax. Scrubbing harder or picking at zits isn't going to help. Doing these things inflames the pimple and makes it even redder and more pronounced. Just wash your face and apply benzoyl peroxide or salicylic acid to help reduce redness and size. Be careful though, these chemicals are powerful, and may hurt your skin if used daily or multiple times a day.

Acne isn't something confined to your face. When attempting to tackle body blemishes, you should start by exfoliating your skin. Unlike your face, which may see anti-acne products on the regular, your body probably isn't being treated by non-comodogenic soaps or exfoliators. Start by using a loofah (that big puffy thing you normally use to build a lather with soap) or a pumice stone to take of dead skin. Then treat hot spots like you would on your face. Apply spot treatments of benzoyl peroxide or salicylic acid if the issue is small and spotty.

If the problem is reoccurring, consider switching to an anti-acne body wash (usually made by the same skincare brands you use to wash your face). If all else fails, change your sheets weekly. It will prevent dead skin and sweat from sleep from remaining in the covers—and going into your skin.

Homeopathic methods are always meant to be taken with a grain of salt. That said, a few of the following remedies have been used in one way or another to treat acne. Some suggest applying honey or toothpaste directly to a pimple for an hour to dry it out. Considering that toothpaste already has chemicals to bleach out your teeth, some believe the same chemicals are just as practical in drying out a zit.

Another option is aspirin. Crush a couple pills of aspirin and mix with water. Mix this formula and apply to a blemish for around 15 minutes. As aspirin is already an astringent, it's capable of fighting and reducing the size of acne. Apple cider vinegar works in the same way. Apply the liquid to a cotton ball and let rest overnight.

What you eat affects your whole body, not just your waistline. If you're finding that you have trouble combating acne even after daily treatments, try switching up your diet. Fatty fishes like salmon and mackerel have omega acids that chemically prevent clogged pores. Avocados, artichokes, and broccoli all add valuable Vitamin C to your diet, along with Vitamins A and E. These vitamins collectively moisturize your skin, reduce redness, and fight toxins within your body that may contribute to acne. Sometimes, the best method to battle a problem is to fight from the inside, out.

Ingrown hairs are the cause of razor bumps, something guys can unwitting give themselves after shaving without proper preparation. Before you shave, soften the hairs on your face by showering or rinsing your facial hair. When it comes to the blade(s) stick with a safety razor. Like those at brands like Bevel point out, multiple razors don't necessarily mean you'll end up with a cleaner shave or a closer cut. The most important thing is to shave with the grain of your beard. This will prevent hairs from being pushed back into their pores—thus causing ingrown hairs. When you're done, clean the blade with alcohol, wash your face with cold water (to close the open pores), and apply moisturizer.

It's a well known, semi-confirmed fact that stress causes acne. Chemically speaking, when you're stressing out, your cells produce something called sebum. Sebum is an oily substance that mixes with skin cells and bacteria, and leads to the clogging of pores and, inevitably, acne. While this is information gleaned from a few studies, there is certainly a correlation between increased stress and acne breakouts.

Even if you don't believe that that two are related chemically, people are known to unconsciously pick or aggravate any pimples they do have while they're stressed about work or school. Either way, just relax. When it comes to acne—you've got this.