Hello there.. this is skin facts, and I would be taking you on a realistic journey on how to treat your acne condition.
First, I don't do organics.

Secondly, I don't recommend "the Nigerian idea of organic products. Soaps, creams, oils etc.

Thirdly, I don't give false hope.

Fourthly, I only recommend dermatologist tested and approved products as a certified skincare therapist and consultant myself.

Lastly.. I keep it real and honest.

So let's talk about your skin concerns

You can follow skin_facts.ng for more skin tips.

Acne is a common skin condition that occurs when the hair follicles become clogged with oil and dead skin cells.
Acne can appear as black heads , white heads which we call comedonal acne.
It could also appear as cysts which appears inflammed and painful , pustules which is the one filled with pus and painful to touch.
Other forms of acne are nodules and papules.

Now they are so many factors that could be responsible for an acne breakout.

1)Genetic (if it runs in the family, you're prone to it)

2) Stress. This has a negative impact on the skin as it could worsen what ever skin issues you're dealing with.

3) hormonal inbalance. I'm talking periods, menopause, health conditions. Hormonal inbalance can also be as a result of some certain medications or health conditions. This could have some adverse effects on the skin

4) lifestyle. Nigerians love to live large.
Processed sugar, carbs, dairy, oils. If you're prone to acne you may need to make some readjustments.

Which do you think could be a trigger for your acne?

One thing to understand before embarking on a treatment plan for your skin is knowing the difference between your skin needs and your skin concern.


Your skin needs is totally different from your skin concern and that's where we have it wrong.

Let me give a practical example.
As a skin therapist and consultant, someone comes to me and tells me she wants to clear the comedonal acne (white heads and black heads) on her face. That is what gives her concern.

Now me as a skin therapist, what do I see.
A cosmetically damaged skin (bleaching)
Poor skin elasticity
Weakened skin barrier.

Now note this three skin needs are always as a result of environmental factors, negligence or mistakes we make that affected the skin.
Before addressing your skin concern, you'll need to address your skin needs first.
And reason why you need to see a trained and certified skincare therapist or esthetician.

Now for a someone like that.. I wouldn't treat the acne, I would treat the skin itself.
Trying to treat the skin concern without giving the skin it's needs first is just going to worsen the skin condition.

Reason why for some people realize you used and used lots of treatment for your skin and nothing seems to be working instead it gets worse.
Because you put the cart before the horse instead of putting the horse before the cart.

And acne is not a teenage problem alone,it's also an adult problem.

Like I mentioned earlier can it be triggered by a whole lot of factors.

The skin is made up of a very important component called the Skin protective barrier.
It's also the most underrated component part of the skin.
Where is it found?

The topper most layer of the skin.
And it's made up of the oil and water your skin produces.

Once that is damaged.
Nothing else is gonna work!
Not even a billion dollar product!

Factors that can disrupt your skin protective barrier are
1 cosmetic abuse.
I'm not talking about bleaching the skin, I'm talking about the unsupervised use of some certain skin ingredients that could tamper with the barrier of the skin.
I'm talking retinoids, actives, antioxidants..

I'm going to explain what all these are in my next post.

Another factor that could tamper with your skin barrier is not using barrier supporting products.

You have your bath, without moisturizing and you go your merry way.

This causes your skin to become dry and dehydrated and prone to a lot of pathogens

Lastly, using the wrong ingredients for your skin type.

They are 4 basic skin types
Oily skin.
Dry skin.
Normal skin (we believe no one has a normal skin sha)
And combination skin.

Sensitive skin is not a skin type it's a skin condition.


You need to determine your skin type before outlining a treatment plan for your skin.

Oh..and feel free to ask your questions.

A skincare routine for a dry skin is quite different for a skincare routine for an oily skin.

The skincare routine for a dry skin is more of hydrating and moisturizing.
Hydrating cleansers
Hydrating serums
A good body moisturizer.
It's all about trapping water to the skin and protecting the barrier.

Whereas for an oily skin.
It's controlling the production sebum (oil) the sebaceous glands produces.
Cos ofcourse that's the major cause for Acne.

Reason why oily skins are majorly acne prone.

For a combination skin it's more tricky
Ideally, for a combination skin, the t-zone tends to be oily, while the other areas tends to be dry.

For that you need to address the oily area at the same time the dry area.

To be sincere..it takes a lot of commitment, Patience and consistency to treat an acne condition.
And you should be ready to spend.
Cos good products dosent come cheap.

Ok... So I need questions if you want me to continue.

Can a dry skin get acne?

Yes.
You can be dry and acne prone.
Cos a dry skin is a sensitive skin.
The type of treatment plan you would be having depends on the severity of your acne.

Most acne treatments tend to have exfoliating properties.
I'm talking actives.

What are actives?
Actives are ingredients that stimulates cell renewal.
Exfoliants. cos that's what they do
They exfoliate the dead skin cells to stimulate your skin to produce younger, fresher looking cells.

So one of the major form of ingredients used in treating acne are actives.

Eg salicylic acid, glycolic acid, lactic acid, mandelic acid , retinoids, benzoyl peroxide etc

Antioxidants are also used as a backup support though they aren't the main acne treatments, hence can't work alone.
Antioxidants like niacinamide, azelaic acid, vit c, coenzyme Q10 etc.

Remember you shouldn't use this ingredients unsupervised cos they come in percentages and could cause irritations if you don't get the right percentage.

I'm gonna be addressing other skin concerns like hyperpigmentation, discolouration, dehydration ,exogenous ochronosis.

So far it's not medically related, cos I'm not a doctor.
I'm just a trained and Certified skin therapist and consultant.
Kindly let me know what skin concern you need me to talk about next.

For an oily Acne prone skin.
Salicylic acid is the best treatment.
As salicylic acid is oil soluble.. meaning it has the ability to breakdown oil and cleanse the pores.

Lactic acid is suitable for a dry skin cos of it's hydrating properties.

I'm going to clear some myths about Acne.
1) Acne is caused by poor hygiene or dirty skin as some people believe.
Nope . Acne is caused as a build of sebum, deadskin cells and bacteria.

2) scrubbing the skin gets rid of acne.
No!! Scrubbing the skin as a matter of fact could worsen acne.

3)Acne only occurs on the face.
Nope. Acne could occur on the back, chest and shoulders.

4) Acne can be successfully treated. But if you're acne prone.. it's likely to reoccur if you don't have a good routine lifestyle to help manage it.

5) only teenagers gets acne.

That's a fallacy.. Adults above the age 40 can also get acne.

6) Not having acne during your teenage years or early adult years means you're immune.

Nope!! Acne can breakout at any point in our lives.

I'm open for skin consultations and what ever concern you have pertaining to your skin.
I'm all about skin awareness and skincare.

If you can't tell me whatever skin concern you have on this forum you can chat me up privately on 09014973141.

Now your skin can be clear 365 days in a Year.
You know why?
Cos the skin is a living thing.

The way your body breaks down.. you get headaches sometimes, you get a fever, you get body aches but not critical enough to go to the hospital.

That's exactly how the skin behaves.
They are times you get breakouts as a result of stress or other factors.

They are also times your skin isn't all glowing and radiant as it should be as a result of some factors also.

These changes are natural, it doesn't mean there's something wrong with your skin


Your skin is just responding to factors.

I'm open for skin consultations and what ever concern you have pertaining to your skin.
I'm all about skin awareness and skincare.

If you can't tell me whatever skin concern you have on this forum you can chat me up privately on 09014973141.

So I have a problem with people who use "natural products on their skin.
Things like lemon juice, turmeric, baking soda, African black soap.

There's something called Potential hydrogen (PH)
Potential hydrogen measures how acidic or alkaline something is.
It's kind of how sweet and sour something is.
But instead of measuring how much sugar or acid is in it, it measures how much hydrogen ions are in it.
The scale goes from 0 to 14. With 0 being the most acidic and 14 being the most basic.


The PH of an healthy skin is around 5:5 which is slight acidic.

This slightly acidic PH helps to protect the skin, keep it hydrated and prevents bacteria from gaining access into the skin.
Soaps, cleansers and other products that are too alkaline can damage the acid mantle which can lead to dryness, irritation and even infection.

I understand most people would want to use these certain products claiming it could help clear out their acne. Now using things like raw African black soap can be too drying and disrupt the skin's pH balance.
Lemon juice has a pH of around 2 which is too acidic for the skin.
Even other product ingredients like isopropyl alcohol can disrupt the skin's pH and cause irritations to the skin.
Other ingredients like fragrance and preservatives can also irritate the skin and disrupt it's pH balance.


Reason why most skincare brands stopped adding fragrance and other superficial ingredients to products.

Good skincare brands like
CeraVe
Cetaphil
Face facts
Panoxyl
Inkeylist etc don't add fragrance to their products.
Especially the the ones made for the face.

A healthy skin pH is typically around 5:5 which is slightly acidic.
This is important cos the skin acid mantle which is the protective layer of the skin works best when the skin's pH is slightly acidic.

If the skin pH is too alkaline or acidic it can make the skin reactive and lead to problems like dryness, redness, irritation and increased sensitivity.

Maintaining the skin's pH balance is important for keeping it healthy and helping it to function properly.

It's best you use well formulated products by professionals where all these has been taken into consideration.
Instead of mixing lemon juice and tumeric which is too acidic for the skin.

Is African black soap bad..
Not at all.

But I wouldn't advice you use it in it's raw form.
I would never even advise you use it on the face.
And if you've got a dry or dehydrated skin.
Pls..you have no business with black soap.
It's just gonna make your skin fall apart.

And if you a lover of African black soap, use it on your body only but make sure it's packed with a lot of skin barrier supporting ingredient

Some acne treatments can be gotten over the counter, while some shouldn't be gotten over the counter.

I use the word "should" instead of can't cos this is Nigeria, so anything goes!

An acne treatment that shouldn't be gotten over the counter is "isotretinoin"

Isotretinoin comes in two forms.
As an oral form and as a topical form.

It's used to treat severe and resistant acne condition.

To be sincere.. Age, hormones and lifestyle plays an important role in how fast your acne is gonna clear out.

There's a faster chance of a teenage acne clearing out than an adult acne.
Irregardless.. the most important rule is getting your skincare routine and lifestyle right.
And consult with a professional to put together a good acne treatment routine for you.

Acne can be treated!

But for it to be treated it takes self discipline.
Self discipline in lifestyle.
Especially eating habits.

The reason why your Acne keeps coming back or isn't going is because of your eating habits.

You need to eat healthy.
Yes! You can be acne prone.
But the more reason why you should be self disciplined in what you put into your body.

And yes acne can be genetical.

But it can be avoided and managed with a healthy eating habit.

So just you know certain food and drinks can "exacerbate acne"
I use the world "excerbate" and not cause.

Cos someone would say they are people who eat and drink unhealthy and they don't have an acne condition

Cos they aren't acne prone.

They possibly have a dry skin or could be the environment they find themselves in.


For skin consultations and recommendations kindly send me a message on 09014973141.

I'll be more than happy to guide you on the journey of skin awareness and skin facts.

Also find time to rest.
Keep your hair away from your face(especially wigs)
Hair attracts dust as a result of the oils applied.
When this comes in contact with the skin.. could cause irritations.
Also go easy on the makeup.
For someone who's pores are congested,you don't want to add more congestion.
Your skin needs to breathe.
Change your pillowcases.
Sweat and bacteria accumulates on your pillowcase which in turn could worsen your acne condition.
Always moisturize
For an oily skin it's best to use a gel moisturizer.
One that's not greasy, non comedogenic, lightweight.

And for your sunscreen.

Go easy on it.
Some sunscreens could be too heavy and for an oily skin that could cause breakouts.

So get a sunscreen that's very lightweight and won't clog your pores.

What else would you want to know about acne?
I'm open for questions.

For oily and acne prone skin..
One very important routine that should be a part of your acne treatment routine is cleansing.

Now when I say cleansing I don't mean using facial wipes.

As a matter of fact I don't encourage using face wipes as it's known to cause irritations and aggravate acne breakouts.

I'm talking cleansing with an oil control foaming cleanser.