Acne Prone Skincare Routine for Oily/Combination Skin

I've always been very self conscious of my skin, from about 11 I've had acne, and I've always hidden it, never really talked about it, always treated it as something to be ashamed of. I think there's also a lot of stigmas associated with acne, like that you don't wash your face enough or you're unclean if you have acne. This isn't true at all.

Lots of things can cause a breakout, whether it be the products you use on your skin, what you eat, smoking, hydration, stress and mood levels, hormones, etc. It's not just as simple as 'wash your face'. In fact washing your face too much can even sometimes cause breakouts.

Now while I am going to talk about certain products that led me to see a change in my skin, I want to make it clear that these products might not work for everyone, everyone's skin is different and there unfortunately isn't a one size fits all to skincare. There are a lot of different skin types you can have, so I would suggest figuring that out first, and then choosing skincare that fits your skins needs.

I've found over the years that I have oily/combination skin, I tend to get oilier skin in the summer and then dryer skin in the winter - like at the moment I've got dry skin on either side of my mouth, I usually get this when the weather gets a little colder, and once it gets more into summer again I tend not to have any dry skin on my face at all.

An important tip that I've learnt for my skin is that even when it seems oilier, in the summer, to keep moisturising as part of my skincare routine, moisturising your skin actually helps, as your skin then doesn't feel the need to secrete excess sebum (oil) to keep moisturised, sebum buildup is usually a big cause of spots, so make sure you keep moisturising regularly even if you feel like your skin is oily.

Now onto products, I tend to mix up products rather than stick to a definite regime, I like to try things out and switch things up. My skin is a lot better than it used to be, but sure I still get spots now and then, so it's always nice to try something new on my skin. I tend to try out a product for a month or so first before changing, as it takes a bit of time for my skin to react to a product, so it's easier to see how my skin reacts if I stick to the same products for at least a month or so before changing them for something else.



I've found that The Body Shop do a lovely tea tree collection for oil prone skin. I really love this collection and I've been using it on and off for a good year and half now. I use the tea tree facial wash, tea tree toner, and then also the tea tree oil. I've previously used the night lotion and 'anti imperfection daily solution' (which is like a tea tree serum- definitely recommend!).

I tend to take off my makeup with a general soap, as I find the tea tree stuff doesn't really take off makeup well and it would just be a waste to use this to take my makeup off. Then I rinse my face and use my cleansing brush with the tea tree facial wash to give my face a good wash.
I've had my cleansing brush for years now, it takes two AA batteries and basically spins and vibrates so that when you clean your face it cleans it more intensely and exfoliates. Mine is from Olay, you can find it on amazon here, but honestly you can find LOADS of these all over the place, I just bought a basic one and it's lasted me for years, but if you want to get something more high tec a good place to look is the clarisonic products, they're a lot pricier but I've heard they're great.


I also use Bio oil for my skin, as I have a few hyperpigmentation marks left from past breakouts. I like to wash my face to get makeup off, then wash again with my cleansing brush and tea tree wash, then I dry my face, and mix a little of the tea tree oil with some bio oil, and apply that to my face as moisturiser. In the summer I prefer to use something a little lighter as a moisturiser so I tend to use something like the Simple light moisturiser, of Olay's beauty fluid, as they're both water based rather than oil based, so they're not greasy or oily in the sun.

So that's my skincare routine! Simple! I try to stick to a general routine but products change and sometimes I can only be bothered to do a quick wash, but hey ho, it’s not the end of the world if you miss a few steps here and then. I hope this routine was helpful, and if there’s any questions or suggestions feel free to leave them in the comments below!