Fungal Acne Archives

What ingredients causes fungal acne?

Before we get into the ingredients that cause fungal acne or Pityrosporum Folliculitis, aka Malassezia Folliculitis, what is it? Find out here.

Here is a list of common ingredients that have been known to cause fungal acne in skincare products:

Fatty acids, such as caprylic acid and capric acid.
Silicones, such as dimethicone, cyclomethicone, and methicone.
Oils, such as coconut oil, sunflower oil, and olive oil.
Waxes, such as beeswax, carnauba wax, and candelilla wax.
Hydrogenated vegetable oils.
Glyceryl stearate.
Butylene glycol.
Isopropyl palmitate.
Isocetyl stearate.
Isostearyl isostearate.

Fatty Acids that may cause fungal acne

Fatty acids, such as caprylic acid and capric acid, are commonly used as ingredients in skincare products due to their moisturizing and nourishing properties. Here are some common skincare products that contain these fatty acids:

Moisturizers: Many moisturizers contain caprylic acid and capric acid as active ingredients to help hydrate and soothe dry or irritated skin.
Cleansers: Some cleansing products contain fatty acids to help dissolve and remove excess oil and impurities from the skin.
Oils: Many facial and body oils contain caprylic acid and capric acid to help moisturize and nourish the skin.
Serums: Some serums and facial treatments contain fatty acids to help hydrate and rejuvenate the skin.
Lip balms: Lip balms and lip treatments often contain fatty acids to help moisturize and protect the delicate skin on the lips.

These fatty acids can also be found in other skincare products, such as exfoliants, masks, and toners. It’s important to note that while these ingredients can provide benefits for some people, they may not be suitable for everyone, especially those with sensitive skin. Continue reading What ingredients causes fungal acne?

How to treat fungal acne?

Fungal acne is a condition that can cause a lot of discomfort and frustration. I remember when I first got fungal acne and felt insecure about my skin condition. I was confused and used the wrong products for my condition to treat it or just products in my skincare and makeup routine that wasn’t safe. Additionally, the condition can prove difficult to treat, and some treatments may not be effective for everyone. However, several treatments can help to reduce and possibly eliminate symptoms of fungal acne.

Anti-fungal creams or lotions are the first methods for treating fungal acne. These products contain active ingredients such as Econazole, Ketoconazole, and Selenium sulfide shampoo, which are effective against fungal acne. These products should be applied twice daily directly to the affected skin. Anti-fungal products can help reduce the symptoms of fungal acne, but it may take a couple of weeks to see full results. There is also skincare that treats fungal acne that I’ve reviewed, like Dermazen.

Continue reading How to treat fungal acne?

What is Fungal Acne?

Before we dive into my blog, do you know what is Fungal Acne or Pityrosporum Folliculitis?

Fungal acne, also known as Pityrosporum Folliculitis, is a skin condition characterized by pimple-like bumps, typically on the face, chest, and back. They appear to be small pimples grouped together and are often the same size as hair follicles. This happens when hair follicles have an overgrowth of yeast, aka a yeast called Malassezia. Our skin/body already has a certain amount of yeast which is generally found in our digestive system. Fungal acne can be the cause of consuming too much yeast in our diet, skincare especially expired products, and lifestyle, such as being athletic.

It can look similar to traditional acne but is treated differently. Unlike acne, fungal acne is not caused by bacteria; you will need to use salicylic acid or benzoyl peroxide and pair it with antifungal medications and products used to clear the yeast overgrowth and manage the symptoms. There is also a list of ingredients to avoid because Malassezia can feed off of these and worsen. Check out the deep dive into ingredients here.

Fungal acne is new in the skincare world, and there is no way to get rid of it but to change your lifestyle and habits. This is the only way; I have been fungal acne-free for two years. The most important thing is to turn and read your skincare labels and take note of the ingredients of products that have caused a flare-up. Keep track of your skincare and makeup expiration dates and create a routine to finish up products before you open new ones. I always label my skincare with the expiration date based on its shelf life. A label maker and a skincare fridge were game changers for me. Let’s not forget these fabulous ingredient analysis websites, skinsort, sezia, folliculitisscout and skincarisma. These will be useful on your fungal acne journey. Please take a look at some of my top 10 fungal-safe products to start with. Your skin will thank you!

Top 10 Fungal Acne Safe Essences

Essences are one of my favorite skincare products to use for fungal acne. The reason is that brands formulate most essences with 1 or 2 ingredients. Essences focus more on hydration or skin concerns, with one major component that makes up most of the formulation. Still, serums target various skin concerns and have a thicker consistency. We can primarily describe an essence as a “Toner-Serum Hybrid” because of its dense texture. Let’s get right into my recommendations!

Mugwort Essence by I’m From

I used this essence before I ended up with fungal acne. It amazed me it is not only fungal acne-safe but also contains 100% artemisia vulgaris extract, aka mugwort! It is vegan and cruelty-free, free of alcohol, fragrances, oils, parabens, silicones, or sulfates. This watery essence is excellent for fungal acne-safe routines because it contains one ingredient. I use this product in the morning and night after cleansing my face or applying toner. Mugwort has become a trendy ingredient in Korean skincare over the last couple of years. But for a good reason, it helps soothe and treat sensitive and acne-prone skin. Mugwort contains vitamins A, B, C, E, and other antioxidants and antimicrobial properties that nourish and protect the skin barrier. Other antioxidants and antimicrobials like polyphenols. There have been studies that show mugwort’s abilities to fight bacteria and fungi. I’m From is cruelty-free but not 100% vegan, meaning some products contain animal-derived ingredients.

Continue reading Top 10 Fungal Acne Safe Essences

Top 10 Fungal Acne Safe Toners

I figured I should do a list now for all the top 10 fungal acne-safe products and why not start with toners? Toners and essences are the easiest to find for me. I feel as if I struggle with finding serums and moisturizers that are fungal acne safe. By the way, has anyone heard of Kbeauty? It is one of the best discoveries and improved my skincare routine. Don’t be surprised if there are a lot of Kbeauty toners on this list! But, here is my list of the top 10 fungal acne safe toners.

1025 Dokdo Toner by Round Lab

Round Lab’s Dokdo Toner is one of my favorite toners to use. I recently finished another bottle of this watery toner. This is a hydrating toner and exfoliates the skin gently. They infused it with seawater from South Korea, Ulleungo Island. This toner can be used daily with a cotton pad or applied with your hands. If your skin gets irritated easily, this toner will help soothe the irritation with panthenol, allantoin, and betaine. This toner is moisturizing, softening, kills bacteria, and treats wounds. It doesn’t contain any alcohols, fragrances, oils, silicones, or sulfates. It’s a very simple toner and safe to use for sensitive, dry or dehydrated skin. This is reef safe but not cruelty-free or vegan.

Hyaluronic Acid Toner Plus by Isntree

Isntree came out with two types of hyaluronic acid toners: Hyaluronic Acid Toner and Hyaluronic Acid Toner Plus. Both are fungal acne-safe, but I will review the plus one since I haven’t used the other one. I just wanted my readers to know that we can use both.

The Plus Toner is thicker than the regular toner, hence the plus in the title. It is free of alcohols, oils, parabens, silicones, and sulfates. It contains hyaluronic acid, centella asiatica extract, panthenol, and chamomilla recutita flower extract. This is great for sensitive and irritated skin types. I remember using this one around fall, which is the perfect weather to be using it, especially if you have dry skin. I tried it again in the summer and it was just too thick for me to use as a toner because the weather was hotter. During seasons, our skin types may change based on if the weather is cold or hot. My skin gets more combination skin types during the summer with some slight dehydration because I have dehydrated skin. I liked this toner more when I used it in the fall/winter because it sinks into my skin quicker. I felt like I was patting it into my skin more during the summer and I didn’t like how it dried onto my skin because it felt like a sticky film was on it. Again, this is just how it was on my skin so it can vary based on a person’s skin type or when/how you are using it. I did like it better with a cotton pad than just applying it onto the skin with my hands. This is reef safe but not cruelty-free or vegan. Continue reading Top 10 Fungal Acne Safe Toners

Huda Beauty Glowish Tint Review

It is becoming the norm when makeup brands create skincare-infused makeup. Makeup with skincare ingredients. When Huda Beauty came out with their Glowish line, it was described as a fragrance-free, light-cover skin luminous tint. It was also described as a radiant, moisture-packed skin tint that brightens. Based on the ingredients, it contains exfoliates, aha, PHA, and SPF. Aha and PHA are chemicals that exfoliate and are suitable for reducing pores. However, it is very slim that you will see results right away. It’s the same as putting only foundation/tint with SPF. You must apply a certain amount to get complete protection from the sun. It is nearly impossible without the makeup appearing mask-like. Also, you would have to be wearing it every day and for a certain amount of time.

Let’s take a deeper look at the ingredients. Sodium Salicylate helps reduce irritation and reduces large pores. Citric Acid also reduces large pores. Titanium Dioxide provides UV ray protection. There are concerns that sensitive skin like Citric Acid (AHA) may irritate, and Mica may worsen eczema. There are also exfoliates like Alumina, which is common to help blend nano-sized mineral UV filters such as titanium dioxide, which is also in the ingredients. This usage is also known as buffering or adjusting pH levels in a product.

Continue reading Huda Beauty Glowish Tint Review

Purito From Green Cleansing Oil – RENEWED Review

Trying to find a fungal acne-safe oil cleanser to take off makeup is a struggle. I have been looking for one for a while. I made a 2022 New Years’ Resolution to get rid of fungal acne-causing products/ stop buying them. Recently, I found this ingredient analysis site called “Skinsort” and it has been a lifesaver. This oil cleanser was fungal acne-safe, so I clicked add to cart on amazon.

Purito is a very interesting brand because there are hit-miss products, especially those that are fungal acne safe can be hard to find. This cleansing oil has a med to light consistency (it is a little thick) and it is fragrance, essential oil, and alcohol-free. I use this as a first cleanse and follow up with either a gel or milk cleanser. Double cleansing is something that I do when I have makeup or SPF on. It gets the job done if you are using a towel or a magic eraser, it has great slip. I prefer using it that way because I feel like it cleans my skin enough because it is messy taking off makeup.

If I were just using it to take off SPF, then I would be fine without the magic eraser. It breaks down mascara and full-face makeup very well and it doesn’t sting your eyes, but it does blur my eyes sometimes. I can still tell there is no makeup left on my skin, and it emulsifies pretty well. There are benefiting oils in the formulation like Olive Oil which is great for dry skin. Sunflower Oil, Jojoba Oil that great for sensitive skin, and Sweet Almond Oil and Grape Seed Oil. I have other fungal acne-safe cleansing oils I want to try now, thanks to Skinsort. I’m not sure if I will repurchase, just because there is a lot on the market to try out. Definitely would not recommend this for oily/combo skin types.

More Fungal Acne Safe Cleansing Oils/Balms:

Dermazen Review for Fungal Acne and Seborrheic Dermatitis

I am finally doing a review on these beautiful babies. I think you already know that I love these products. I Have been using these since February 2022 and have continued to use them when needed.

I recently purchased Dermazen’s Zen Skin Trio bundle that comes with the Calming Seborrheic Serum and the Soothing Malassezia Moisturizer. I really needed fungal acne/MF fighting products that also slashed the healing process in half. Most fighting MF products are very drying on the skin and can make things worse due to it being sensitizing to the skin. Having fungal acne is already a lot to the skin and can also cause trauma from it. Sometimes when a flare-up occurs at a certain spot it does lighten up the pigmentation in that area for me. One time I had it on my eyebrow area and it was very noticeable. I really lacked confidence in myself when uploading beauty posts because it was soo noticeable.

One day, Google “Fungal Acne Fighting skincare” and this ad/shopping section popped up on google for Dermazen’s Soothing Malassezia Moisturizer. And I was sold right away because of the following: “Soothe your beautiful, irritated skin — Holistic ingredients designed to calm the flakes, flare-ups, and frustration caused by seborrheic dermatitis.” And I know what you are thinking “this is not for Malassezia Folliculitis” and actually it’s for both MF and Seborrheic dermatitis because they are both forms of yeast infections that occur on the skin and scalp. Also, during this time I actually was dealing with both so I shoot my shot and it WORKED.

The serum has a watery consistency and is very light. The ingredients include Aloe, Xylitol that naturally disrupts the biofilm layer to weaken the fungus, Grapefruit Seed Extract as an antioxidant, and Tea Tree Oil. I could feel that it was working as it was absorbing into my skin. But, I saw better results with my SB on my neck because the patches started to go away. It became smaller and less itchy to the point where it was completely gone. I’ve had that spot for almost a year and finally, I found something that actually worked! I have continued to use this in my hair care routine to keep my SB under control.

The moisturizer was a gel consistency but it was light and moisturizing at the same time. Ingredients include Urea (10%), MCT Oil, Frankincense Oil, Latic Acid (5%), Vitamin B3, and Hyaluronic Acid. I felt a sense of relief in my skin when I put it on. I didn’t need to put on another moisturizer with my dry skin and that alone was amazing. It wasn’t drying or irritating. It slowly got rid of my MF flare and the healing time was amazing. My skin was practically back to normal and quickly with the 2 as a combo worked really well together.

I will have to say I will definitely repurchase and I am a fan and will continue to support this brand! In fact, their recent launch is a shampoo so lookout for a review!