Skin Care

Acne Face Mapping: What’s Causing Your Breakouts?

You've probably heard the old saying that the eyes are the portal to the soul, but did you know that those chin zits may be a sign of your dairy consumption? Or even that your quest for sleek hair may be causing your forehead to break out? Understanding your acne face map can help you fight your breakouts!


Acne on Your Forehead

When it comes to forehead acne, the two biggest offenders are hair products and fungus. Yes, you read that right: fungus. It's called pityrosporum, and it's completely normal! Plenty of people have it. Too much of it, however, can irritate the skin and cause it to become flaky and break out. A variety of over-the-counter treatments can help, including pyrithione soap and shampoo. Boosting your skin's hydration with an organic face misting spray can reduce irritation as well.

The sulfates and oils in your shampoo and conditioner may also be causing your forehead to break out. Coconut oil, sodium lauryl sulfate, and sodium laureth sulfate can do wonders to smooth your unruly strands, but they may also be leaving pimples behind. Try cutting them out of your beauty regimen to reduce forehead blemishes.


Acne Around Your Mouth

Those same sulfates that can make your forehead break out may also cause you to break out above, below, and beside your mouth. To avoid acne around the mouth, keep an eye out for sulfates in your toothpaste. Both fluoride and teeth whitening compounds can cause irritation leading to pimples around the mouth. Brush carefully or consider switching to a natural toothpaste instead!


Acne on Your Chin, Jaw, and Neck

Hormones are usually to blame for acne in these three areas. Your hormones are essentially an acne tripwire that can be activated by stress, your period, or going overboard on sugar or dairy. That response then causes the oil glands in these parts of your face to ramp up production. The end result of all these hyper hormones? Yep, acne.


Neck acne is also commonly caused by hormones! To prevent all forms of hormonal pattern acne, your best bet is to 

think like a scientist and try to identify what's triggering your hormones. Obviously, some triggers, such as your period, can't really be avoided. Others can. You may find that swapping your skim milk out for oat milk helps ease your acne. Switching to a face wash with natural ingredients might reduce irritation on your neck, chin, and jawline as well.


Acne on Your Cheeks

There are a variety of causes for acne on cheeks. The most obnoxious of these reasons is that it just happens sometimes, and nobody knows why. But hey, we’re all human and that’s ok!

Other potential causes include things such as touching your phone to your face, wearing makeup, and oil from your face rubbing off on your pillowcase. If you regularly break out on your cheeks, you might try washing your pillowcases and makeup brushes more frequently. If you sleep with your head on your hand, try to find a new position for snoozing.


Acne has numerous causes. A pimple on your forehead and a pimple on your chin often have different origins stories. Study your skin's acne map to help you win the battle against blemishes!