I, and countless other people navigating acneic skin, have at one time or another bought and used a whole slew of salicylic acid skincare products to try to deal. My family’s favorite when I was growing up was pHisoderm, and if you’re a Millennial or older, you probably remember TV infomercial darling Proactiv.
What is Salicylic Acid?
Salicylic acid, a beta-hydroxy acid (BHA), is oil soluble – so it is good at:
- helping dead skin cells slough off
- penetrating deep into pores to break down sebum and gunk
- reducing inflammation (legacy wisdom described crushing aspirin and making a paste to apply to blemishes)
But it isn’t always the answer for addressing acne. Salicylic acid isn’t a silver bullet, and it can even make things worse.
Time Matters
A lot of cleansers contain salicylic acid – but cleansers inherently don’t spend much time on the skin. Since they’re put on and immediately rinsed off so your skin doesn’t get much time to sit with the active.
If you want to use salicylic acid, it makes much more sense for this to be in an product that sits on your skin – like a toner, serum, or essence – than something that is rinsed off.
Yet the skincare marketing machine insists on hawking BHA cleansers. Why? Profit! Yay! /s
pH, again, is key
Ages ago, I wrote about how maintaining pH is critical for your skin barrier. Salicylic acid can be a bit drying on its own. To complicate things, a common challenge with BHAs is they are in products that aren’t necessarily ideal for your skin’s pH – which can exacerbate that drying quality.
Too Many Variables
People often unwittingly use too many actives in conjunction with salicylic acid. Whether you use too many products containing it (looking at you, Proactiv), or use it in conjunction with other actives, it is easy to overwhelm your skin. If you want to use multiple actives, ease into it.
For example, you probably don’t need a BHA like salicylic acid and an AHA and a retinoid.
Sometimes, It Just Doesn’t Work
Salicylic Acid isn’t for every type of acne. Over a decade ago, I cut it from my routine completely as part of rehabilitating my skin barrier and my blemishes improved. It turns out that it isn’t what I need for the types of blemishes I get and for me, was making them worse.
The Bottom Line
I was actually better off with nothing than what I was doing. But everyone is different – it may be right for you. The products that I think are best for it are easily found at the drugstore.
Stridex Pads – Full (“Max”) Strength, <$5 and Sensitive with Aloe (lower %), <$6; each has 55 pads. They also make a larger “face & body” body sized pad now, which was new to me – 90 larger wipes for <$9. You can spend more but there isn’t a substantial difference between prestige brands and drugstore as long as pH is controlled-for.
For me, AHAs or retinoids are ideal (retinoids are best). Some people benefit from oral medications, even, but that’s something you should consult a dermatologist on.
Bottom line, I used to use Tarte Knockout, which does contain both salicylic acid BHAs and AHAs. But I no longer do, because it is overkill for my needs these days – and I was just informed by a nurse that I don’t look like I’m in my mid-thirties, so I must be doing something right.