Struggling with persistent breakouts can be so frustrating, especially when you invest time and money into perfecting your daily skincare. But perhaps it’s not the routine itself but the product range that makes your fungal acne worse. Specifically, those you use every day, and you bought them based on their “viral” moment.
These 50+ products make your fungal acne worse daily, feeding the yeast that is your sworn enemy and the main culprit of all the troubles. And if you happen to discover one or more of them in your current routine, don’t panic. I have multiple solutions for you on this blog – check the “How To Get Rid of Fungal Acne For Good” ultimate guide for fungal acne, for example.
In this post, you’ll discover products to avoid so you can protect your skin and start seeing real improvements.
Understanding Fungal Acne and Its Causes
Fungal acne, also called Malassezia folliculitis, isn’t acne in the traditional sense. It’s a condition caused by yeast overgrowth on your skin, and when the yeast becomes excessive, it often clusters in small, itchy bumps. Add some heat, moisture and triggering skincare, and you have a recipe for a bumpy and uncomfortable skin condition that resembles acne.
But unlike acne, fungal acne won’t respond well to most acne treatments, often leaving the whole situation worse.
The Role of Ingredients in Breakouts
Most of the makeup, skincare and even haircare products actually feed the yeast, which further develops the fungal acne. We are talking about fatty acids, esters, oils, polysorbates, and some types of silicones that Malassezia loves.
Sometimes the ingredient list seems harmless, but in reality, it triggers breakouts, comedones or even eczema. It’s always worth checking the ingredients list on a website such as https://folliculitisscout.com/ to understand what causes the issue. Also, regularly checking your favourite products (companies often change formulas without any notice) is a great form of prevention if you are prone to fungal acne.
Note: Be aware of different ingredient lists and formulas when you purchase your favourite product in a different country. Many times, people buy a product on holidays (it has the same packaging, same size, but completely different ingredients), and they are left surprised that their beloved product broke them up.
Knowing exactly what you are putting on your skin can be life-changing knowledge. And just like it took a certain amount of time to develop issues due to using the wrong products, it will take time to reset your skin to factory settings.
Therefore, when testing new products, I recommend reducing the number to a maximum of two new testers. That way, you can easily spot complications in their early stages of development and cut the product off your list. Yes, sometimes you have to push through the “purging” or “adjusting” phase, but many times the product simply does not work well with your skin.
How Daily Use Amplifies the Problem
The tricky thing about fungal acne is that small triggers add up over time. Applying products that cause flare-ups and create a yeast-feeding environment every single day means constant exposure. It gives Malassezia everything it needs to keep multiplying. And within months, it can lead to a well-established, stubborn and sticky situation.
And in order to change that, you have to change your entire skincare and makeup routine immediately. But where do you even start? Let’s have a look at some popular products that trigger fungal acne and closed comedones.
Skincare Products That Make Fungal Acne Worse
Starting strong, let’s have a look at something you surely use daily, sometimes twice a day – your cleansers and toners. Believe me when I say this: you don’t need any fancy ones, but rather effective ones that will remove your makeup along with all the sebum and environmental dirt. But these bad boys will certainly make your fungal acne 1000% worse.
Cleansers
CeraVe Hydrating Cleanser (the devil itself).
CeraVe Renewing SA Cleanser
Cetaphil Gentle Skin Cleanser
La Roche-Posay Effaclar Purifying Foaming Gel
The INKEY List Oat Cleansing Balm
PanOxyl Acne Creamy Wash (this works well with regular acne, but if you struggle with fungal acne or closed comedones, it will make it so much worse!)
Toners
Glow Recipe Watermelon PHA+BHA Pore-Tight Toner
Paula’s Choice Skin Perfecting 2% BHA Liquid Exfoliant (I used this one for 2 years, until I realised it was a heavy contribution to my closed comedones!)
Mario Badescu Facial Spray With Aloe, Herbs and Rosewater
SKIN1004 Madagascar Centella Probio-Cica Essence Toner
Haruharu Wonder Black Rice Hyaluronic Toner
Pyunkang Yul Essence Toner
Serums & Treatments
Adding to the ever-growing list, I also need to add popular acne treatments and serums that, unfortunately, WILL trigger fungal acne and breakouts:
Beauty of Joseon Glow Serum: Propolis + Niacinamide (despite this brand growing in popularity, it was not made for everyone).
The Ordinary Azelaic Acid Suspension 10%
CeraVe Resurfacing Retinol Serum
The INKEY List Hyaluronic Acid Serum
Glow Recipe Watermelon Glow Niacinamide Dew Drops
Estée Lauder Advanced Night Repair Synchronised Multi-Recovery Complex Serum
Drunk Elephant B-Hydra Intensive Hydration Serum
Some By Mi AHA, BHA, PHA 30 Days Miracle Serum
Moisturizers & Sunscreens
Most people struggle with picking the right moisturiser and sunscreen the most. It is, after all, a very important part of your daily skincare and makeup routine. General moisturisers I recommend avoiding are:
CeraVe Moisturizing Cream
Vanicream Daily Facial Moisturizer
The Ordinary Natural Moisturizing Factors + HA
Neutrogena Hydro Boost Gel Cream
La Roche-Posay Toleriane Double Repair Face Moisturiser (use the La Roche-Posay Toleriane Sensitive Fluid instead).
Clinique Moisture Surge™ 100-Hour Auto-Replenishing Hydrator
Avène Cicalfate+ Restorative Protective Cream
Simple Skincare Kind to Skin Hydrating Light Moisturiser
La Roche-Posay Anthelios Invisible Fluid Facial Sunscreen SPF50+
COSRX Aloe Soothing Sun Cream SPF 50 PA+++
Makeup & Body Care Products to Avoid
Makeup foundations, primers, body lotions, and makeup removers are causing more and more issues every year as companies prioritise profit over customers’ well-being. It’s therefore important to stay updated on your knowledge and avoid certain brands and their stock (for example, L’Oréal has urgently recalled one of its popular La Roche-Posay face creams over fears it contains a cancer-causing chemical).
Makeup Removers
DHC Deep Cleansing Oil
e.l.f. cosmetics Holy Hydration! Makeup Melting Cleansing Balm
Garnier Skinactive Water Rose Micellar Cleansing Water
Bioderma Sensibio Micellar Face Cleansing Oil
Foundations
Maybelline Fit Me Matte & Poreless Foundation
NARS Cosmetics Light Reflecting Advanced Skincare Foundation
Estée Lauder Double Wear Stay-in-Place Foundation (normally safe for mild clogs, but not for fungal acne).
Dior Backstage Face & Body Foundation
L’Oreal Infallible 32H Freshwear Foundation
Wet n Wild Photo Focus Dewy Liquid Foundation Makeup
Body Washes
Bath & Body Works Warm Vanilla Sugar Shower Gel (pretty much ALL of their shower gels and bath foams).
LUSH Sleepy Shower Gel (again, none of their shower gels or creams are fungal acne safe!).
Dove Deeply Nourishing Body Wash
Body Lotions
Vaseline 100% Pure Petroleum Jelly (what’s otherwise an amazing product is also an absolute nightmare for fungal acne).
Aquaphor Healing Ointment Advanced Therapy
La Roche-Posay Lipikar Daily Repair Moisturizing Lotion
Sol De Janeiro Brazilian Bum Bum Cream
These are just the tip of the iceberg – there are millions of other products that we use daily, triggering acne, closed comedones, rosacea, eczema, or worse, cancer. The more you learn about fungal acne and product ingredients, the better you will understand the direct link between what’s happening on your skin and why.
Haircare Products That Trigger Fungal Acne
You would think that your shampoo or conditioner, or even styling product, has nothing to do with your skincare. Wrong. Everything that touches your skin directly or indirectly can affect its state.
REDKEN Volume Injection Shampoo
Kérastase Bain Satin Nutritive Hydrating Shampoo
MoroccanOil Dry Shampoo Dark Tones
BrioGeo Don’t Despair, Repair!™ Deep Conditioning Hair Mask
Kérastase Discipline Smoothing Conditioner for Frizzy Hair
Olaplex No.5 Bond Maintenance Conditioner
Dae Cactus Fruit 3-in-1 Styling Cream
Fenty Beauty The Homecurl Curl-Defining Cream
How to Replace Products That Make Fungal Acne Worse Daily
I chose all the products above based on your (my readers’) questionnaire. But there are so many other products that you might be wondering about whether they are fungal acne safe. If you are unsure, check the folliculitisscout.com or sezia.co websites and place the full ingredients list in their checkers. You will receive the best results when:
- Reading Ingredient Lists Effectively
- Choosing Fungal Acne Safe Alternatives
- Gradually Transitioning Your Routine
Building your perfect fungal-acne-free routine might take some time. Sometimes the product is listed as fungal acne safe, but you should still dig deeper and check each ingredient, as sometimes the companies disguise them under other names. For example, many times they claim the product is fragrance-free, and upon proper checking, you find out it has indeed some fragrance in it.
Companies rely on your blindness to follow trends and recommendations, and let’s be honest, how many people enter the store and spend hours studying labels? They grab the first eye-appealing product, check reviews online, and off they go. But if you truly want to clear your skin for good, you must do some homework.
Final Thoughts
Perhaps I managed to confuse you fully after reading this post, and now you question your entire bathroom shelf. I’m not suggesting you throw away all the products you already purchased. What I suggest instead is to have a good look at them and research which ones are truly beneficial for your skin and which are, on the contrary, a waste of money.
Dealing with fungal acne and closed comedones for over 15 years taught me a lot of valuable lessons. But I have to tell you this – if I had had the RIGHT answers from the beginning, when I struggled with only 3 spots as a teen, this could have been prevented. I ruined my skin with incorrect products that I never needed in the first place.
And now I’m sharing my knowledge here with you. I’m not a dermatologist or aesthetician, and I don’t claim to have ALL the answers. But I believe that sharing with you my trials and errors and personal experience might benefit you in the long run. I wish I had had someone to look up to back then – someone sharing the same skin concerns.
You are not alone in this, and together we will figure it out. Please leave a comment below sharing your current skincare routine or recommendations for products. You just never know who you might help.
