Fighting Acne With Cruelty Free Products

How To Beat Breakouts  with Cruelty-Free & Non-Toxic Products

As I've mentioned in a previous post: Acne and Nutrition:  Acne is the most common skin complaint.  It’s often considered to be a problem people struggle with just in their teens, yet many people continue to suffer well into their twenties and thirties too.  As many as one in two people suffer from the condition, with acne vulgaris being the most common type followed by acne rosacea and the more severe acne con globate.   To find out how you can look at your diet to help with your pimples read my article: Acne and Nutrition

Rather than rambling on with things I've spoken about before I will get onto the  stuff that you really wan to know: How to deal with that large, painful pimple, AKA: Mount Rushmore, popping up on your face?  Or. what about when you are blessed with a rash of zits around your jawline? The size and amount of breakouts can vary depending on what the actual underlying cause is. Thankfully, most of the items here should be helpful to you regardless of what type you are trying to tame.

Read on for some of my go-to cruelty-free faves for dealing with acne, acne scaring and pesky lumps and bumps! Let’s start with the more gentle items first and move into the heavy-duty ones towards the bottom. (By heavy-duty, I mean aggressive and effective. If you are dealing with a single pimple, you can stick with the more gentle products.) Good luck!

Providence Apothecary - Clear Skin

What It Is Good For: This is a great gentle, everyday treatment of acne-prone sensitive skin.   Great news is that this can be used long-term, under or over daytime and nighttime skin routine. Some skin types may find this drying - but if you have oily skin this won't be a side effect you suffer from.  The Province Apothecary website advises to use only as a spot treatment, but I have clients that I know have used this across their forehead and jawline to relieve redness and swollen spots. You may not see a dramatic transformation of large angry pimples, but it is an excellent option for those who don’t want to dry out their skin.

What to expect: Lovely smelling, light oil-based spot treatment that naturally reduces swelling in breakouts and calms redness. It feels like you are wearing nothing!

Clear Future Intensive Blemish Calming Lotion

What It Is Good For: This has been formulated to target blemishes with a fast-acting formula that penetrates pores to dry up acne blemishes, resulting in appearance of skin tone.  Salicylic acid exfoliates and reveals new layers of skin without over-drying while helping keep skin clear of new blemishes. In my opinion this little tube is an absolute god-send.  The minute I feel a new spot coming on, I dab a teeny bit of this on the affected area - and voila ..... no spot ever arrives!  I also know from my clients with more serious acne (than the occasional spot I suffer with) that this product absolutely works and helps to calm breakouts and reduce inflammation of existing spots.

​What to Expect: Don't be shocked at the size of this product, it is a small tube.  But a little goes a long way.  An easy to use, immediate results spot treatment and I don't find this product to be drying at all.  Just dab a little on the spot and let it go to work.

Indie Lee Blemish Lotion

What It Is Good For: For spot-stricken complexions, this hard-working (yet all-natural) Blemish Lotion sets to work soothing and clarifying skin, thanks to its super-charged cocktail of purifying acids, detoxifying mineral clay and calming camphor. It also repairs blemish-scarred skin to diminish pigmentation, and is suitable for even easy-offended complexions. Use as an overnight treatment to get your complexion looking tip-top ahead of a special event.

What to expect: Although labeled a “lotion,” it is not quite a lotion at all. It is a concentrated treatment liquid with a pink clay base. And they are MEANT to stay separated. Do not shake the bottle to combine the ingredients! It’s suppose to have the clear liquid on top, and the pink clay at the bottom. To use, drip a clean cotton bud past the clear solution and into the clay, then pull straight up and apply to a blemish.  Use this one by Indie Lee only when you won’t be leaving the house, as you will have little pink clay spots on your face while the treatment is on.

Clear Future - Exfoliating Blemish Pads

What It Is Good For: It exfoliates dead skin cells, wipes away surface bacteria and penetrates pores to clear up acne blemishes and reduce excess oil, which can result in diminished pore size.  It also contains soothing botanicals to help calm the skin.   This is a highly effective, nighttime treatment of blemishes, bumps, uneven skin tone, large pores, and acne scars! These pads are great when dealing with a full-on acne attack.

What To Expect: A nice addition to the Clear Future products – this is almost like a toner in a usual three step routine and really helps skin to feel extra clean. The pads remind me of the Oxy pads that I used to use as a teenager which I used to love.  These pads help acne scars fade faster and to keep skin sterilised when you have a breakout.  Each tub comes with 60 pads and there’s plenty of product on one pad to sweep across the entire face or to simply concentrate on problem areas.

Let me know if you have tried any of these cruelty free acne-fighting products? Do you have any cruelty-free favourites that I missed??  Let me know below. 

​Emma x