Why Does Your Skin Break Out More In The Fall?

Tackling The Seasonal Breakouts

Almost all of us have dealt with acne at one point in our lives, some for longer than others. Did you know that acne is technically the eighth most common disease among all humans worldwide, even though it primarily affects adolescents and young adults?

The breakout season is upon us – some call it fall. Let’s talk about the most common causes of seasonal breakouts and what you can do about your fall skin problems this year!

How Does A Breakout Even Happen?

Acne is caused by sebaceous glands near the surface of the skin, which secrete sebum. This is a complex group of oils that include triglycerides, fatty acid byproducts, wax esters, squalene, cholesterol, and cholesterol esters. These oils can block pores and hair follicles in the skin, leading to acne.

Essentially, breakouts occur because of increased oil production in the skin. This can be caused by imbalances in hormones, dry skin, or a few other factors.

Some people are more predisposed to experience breakouts than others, largely due to genetics. Still, when there is excess oil production on the skin, acne is quite likely.

What Does Fall Have To Do With That?

In the fall months, your skin has become accustomed to humid air keeping your hair frizzy and your skin moist. While the frizz may finally subside in the fall, the dry air tends to suck moisture out of your skin. To compensate for this, your body may produce excess oil as a protective, moisturizing layer for your skin.

Unfortunately, this often leads to acne, especially in porous regions of your skin, like your face. Excess oil production can lead to clogged pores and breakouts quite quickly. Fortunately, there are ways to help alleviate and even prevent these breakouts!

How To Prevent Breakouts In Fall

To prevent a skin breakout, you’ll need to treat your dry, itchy skin in the fall before it’s too late. Here are some tips that can help safely and naturally regulate your skin’s oil production to prevent breakouts!

Clean Them Pores

Clogged pores are one of the most infamous causes of acne out there, and they’re so simple to take care of! There are plenty of products you can use to try to scrub them, or you can simply use your thoroughly-washed fingernails.

The best way to do this is with hot water, whether in the shower or in front of the bathroom mirror. Hot water and steam help open your pores, making them easier to clean. Just remember to follow up with an oil-free moisturizer afterward, or else excess oil production will continue.

Stop Touching Your Face

The oil production in our faces is bad enough, but when combined with the dirt, debris, and oils on our hands, it will only worsen breakouts. Take note of how often you touch your face and try to reduce the number of times throughout the day. Don’t worry, this is difficult to start, but it gets easier.

Did you know that the average person touches their face 23 times per hour? That’s more than once every three minutes throughout the day! Taking steps to reduce this can go a long way toward preventing breakouts.

Read More: Five Most Common Skincare Problems

Change Pillowcase Often

Would you wear the same shirt for 8 hours a day, every day, for weeks without washing it? Would you wear a hat on your head and then rub it on your face every day? Well, that’s essentially what you’re doing with your pillowcase.

The oils from our faces are one concern, but we can’t forget about our hair. Our heads move around on our pillows for at least 8 hours a night (hopefully!), trapping oils on a surface your face is touching daily. To remedy this, simply change your pillowcase every few nights and wash them with your regular laundry!

Beauty Sleep Is A Must

Sleep is essential for your overall health, but it’s especially important for regulating hormones and oil production. For the best sleep, we recommend turning off your electronic devices at least an hour before bedtime. Calming music is okay, but staring at bright, blue-light screens before bedtime is a known sleep disruptor.

Stay Hydrated

If you take away anything from these tips, let it be this. The best solution to pollution is dilution. When your body is polluted with toxins, oils, and other acne-inducing issues, the best thing you can do is dilute it with water.

You don’t have to carry around a gallon jug with you everywhere you go. However, be mindful of your water intake throughout the day, and don’t let yourself feel thirsty at all. If it’s been 45 minutes since you last drank water, have a few big sips, and make that a habit throughout the day.

Eat More Whole Foods

Unfortunately, many processed foods come loaded with processed sugars, enriched grains, and unhealthy fats. The more whole foods you eat throughout the day, the better. Did you know that the average teen in the US gets two-thirds of their calories from ultra-processed foods?

This trend is terrible for overall health and is likely a major culprit in your breakouts. Processed foods are known to cause imbalances in hormones and excess oil production.

Instead, opt for more whole, plant-based foods. These include vegetables, fruits, legumes, whole grains, quinoa, nuts, and seeds. Make foods you enjoy and try to make this a regular habit, even after the fall.

It gets a lot easier to make this transition when you make healthier variations of foods you enjoy. For example, if you love cereal, make overnight oats the night before. If you love pizza, make a cauliflower crust and load it with vegetables!

Keep Your Stress In Order

Stress is a known cause of acne. However, stress is a part of life for almost all of us. Fortunately, there are plenty of ways to deal with stress throughout the day.

You can try meditating, yoga, reading a book, or exercising. Exercise is a particularly effective stress reliever, as it helps balance hormones and alleviates our bodies’ “fight or flight” responses from stress.

However, without proper hydration, exercise can speed up the process of unwanted toxins making their way onto our skin via sweat. Make sure you are properly hydrated before exercising, and feel free to take a shower afterward to prevent worsening breakouts.

Regardless of your preferences, find time during the day to work on relieving stress. This will improve your overall quality of life, as well as your skin.

Use These Products

Finally, if you want to remain extra careful to prevent breakouts this season, you may want to try the following products in these steps:

• Cleanser
• Non-comedogenic moisturizer
• Sunscreen

Now, some of these may work better for certain skin types. However, a consistent cleaning and moisturizing routine with acne-specific products is the best way to prevent fall breakouts. These should be used as a morning and nighttime routine daily.

A gentle sunscreen in the morning, after your moisturizer, can certainly help. If you follow the tips mentioned above and use a careful process every day, then you should see a dramatic reduction in seasonal breakouts.

Whatever you do, don’t pop or pick at existing acne. This can lead to acne scars or worsening breakouts. There are better ways to treat existing breakouts.

Which Skin Treatments Might Help?

If you want to treat an existing breakout, here’s some good news: you have options. The tips above are quite effective at preventing breakouts, and we recommend pursuing them either way. However, we don’t want our current breakouts to interfere with our lives now.

For that reason, you may want to consider pursuing a professional skin care treatment. This could include chemical peels, facials, masks, and more. There are plenty of skin treatments that can help with acne.

Still, the best treatment you’ll find is prevention! If nothing else, stay hydrated throughout the day, follow a reasonable daily skincare routine, and try to watch what you eat. Small changes can make a big difference!

The Takeaway

Now that you know how to handle some of your fall skin problems put these tips to use today. A little tweaking to your daily routine and the right skincare products can make a world of difference. Feel confident year-round by treating your dry skin in the fall!

Stay up to date with our latest skincare tips, and book a free consultation with us to find the treatment that’s right for you!