Exfoliation is essential. There are a million reasons the rate your skin sheds can get messed up. As simple as hormonal fluctuations, the weather etc. The skincare community tends to hate physical exfoliants with a burning passion because they claim it causes "microtears" that science hasn't proven exist yet. They hate the nut hull and shell-based scrubs the most. I think it's fair because they really are too harsh, especially on your face.
A popular example is St. Ives apricot scrub. It has ground apricot pits in it. Avoid that one and stuff like it. Some use coconut shells, I've seen that in Lush products before.
Physical scrubs aka exfoliants aren't the devil they're made out to be by skincare enthusiasts though. Salt and sugar based scrubs can be fine enough that it won't do any harm. Salt based scrubs are good for oilier skin and sugar draw moisture in and are better for drier skin. Most people only need to use an exfoliant once a week. If your pores are more clogged you can use them more often. Sugar, salt and scrubs with hydrogenated jojoba beads or castor oil beads are great physical exfoliants that aren't too harsh. Aveeno makes a face scrub with hydrogenated castor oil beads and I recommend it (Aveeno Positively Radiant Skin Brightening Daily Scrub). It's biodegradable just like natural scrubs with hulls and stuff but without being rough on your skin.
Plastic scrubby beads used to be common but are less so now because there were environmental concerns that the beads were a form of microplastic pollution to the ocean so big companies finally phased it out. They go by names like PEG-(something).
I recommend the beauty blogger Lab Muffin Beauty Science if you want to learn more about beauty topics like exfoliation. She is very unbiased, has a PhD in biochem, is approachable, funny and very informative in a way that makes scientific concepts easy to understand.
How to choose the right way to exfoliate in your skincare routine. This how-to is all about physical exfoliants and scrubs.
labmuffin.com
Here’s Part 2 of this skincare series on exfoliation. Part 1 was on physical exfoliating tools and scrubs, this time we’re tackling the more complex chemical exfoliants, before moving onto picking the…
labmuffin.com
BHA aka salicylic acid is the best oil for blackheads. It's oil soluble and goes deeper than anything else can into your pores to dissolve the oil. Blackheads are usually oxidized oil and keratin. You don't need to get a facial. Sal acid products are easy to find and you can get a higher prescription from the doctor if you need to. I really like the Cerave SA Cream for Rough and Bumpy skin. It has 3 percent sal acid while most OTC products have 2 percent or lower. It also has lactic acid which exfoliates your skin while also moisturizing it so it should offset dryness from SA. SA really is the best thing for blackheads by a mile.
You can try niacinamide like the Ordinary serum one. That helps with redness and balancing your pores. Oatmeal baths and products with oatmeal are really good for conditions like rosacea, psoriasis and eczema. I'm using the Attitude Baby Oatmeal bath right now. You might want to go fragrance free because a lot of people with rosacea are bothered by scents. Don't worry about whether products are paraben-free though. It's mostly a thing pushed for by anti-vax crunchies and paraben free preservatives are actually more likely to irritate your skin.
All those brands you got samples of are a bit expensive. You just need simple fragrance free products. Aveeno for instance. Skincare is mostly the same between price points, there's only so many ingredients and paying more doesn't usually equal a better product. Are you allergic to European sunscreens like Tinosorb and Uvinal A Plus too? Have you ever tried Korean sunscreens like Purito Centella Green Level? I think I'm allergic to Western chemical sunscreens too. Especially octocrylene. Canadian and American sunscreens are trash. Tinosorb is actually approved in Canada but I was only able to find a single La Roche Posay product that uses it. I guess we just import the crappy American sunscreens and slap a bilingual label on it.
Zinc is so AIDS, I hate it. Every time I use it I somehow get it on the interior of the car and it stains. Makes me so mad and usually clumps too.
