Addressing Clogged Pores from Your Skincare Formulations

Thank you for reaching out with details about your spray and cream-gel formulations and the clogged pores you've experienced since using them. Given your skin type, which is prone to oiliness and inflammatory acne but not typically clogged pores, it's highly likely that one or more ingredients in these new formulations are contributing to the issue.

Let's look at the potential culprits, particularly in the cream-gel formula, as it contains components more commonly associated with pore congestion on oily skin:

• Satin Cream Maker: This polymer-based emulsifier, while providing a nice texture, can sometimes feel occlusive on oily skin types, potentially trapping sebum and leading to clogged pores.
• Perfect C (Ascorbyl Tetraisopalmitate): As an oil-soluble form of Vitamin C, the oil carrier part of this ingredient could potentially contribute to congestion on oily skin, especially at a 5% concentration.
• Ethoxydiglycol: Used at 5% in your cream-gel, this is a solvent and penetration enhancer. While it helps ingredients absorb, using it at a concentration higher than the recommended limit for leave-on products (typically not more than 2.6%) could potentially disrupt the skin barrier or drive other potentially pore-clogging ingredients deeper, leading to irritation or congestion.

In the spray formula, while less likely to be the primary cause, the combination of penetration enhancers like 1,2-Hexanediol and PE1-Aqua could potentially contribute by altering skin permeability, especially when layered before the cream-gel.

Recommendations for Adjusting Your Formulas:

To address the clogged pores, I recommend focusing on adjusting the cream-gel formula first, as it contains the most likely culprits for oily skin:

1. Reduce Satin Cream Maker: Try reducing the concentration of Satin Cream Maker slightly, perhaps to 1.5% or even 1%. This might result in a less occlusive texture.
2. Reduce Perfect C: Consider reducing the concentration of Perfect C to 3%. This is still an effective concentration for brightening and antioxidant benefits but might reduce the oil load on your skin.
3. Significantly Reduce Ethoxydiglycol: This is a key adjustment. Reduce Ethoxydiglycol to the recommended maximum of 2.6% or even lower (e.g., 2%) for leave-on products. This is important for safety and to minimize potential irritation and penetration issues that could contribute to clogged pores.
4. Consider Repair Activator (Cream-Gel): While not a typical comedogenic ingredient, the high concentration of Repair Activator (15%) is notable. If adjusting the other ingredients doesn't fully resolve the issue, you could consider reducing this to 10%.

For the spray, if adjusting the cream-gel doesn't fully help, you could consider removing one of the penetration enhancers, perhaps PE1-Aqua, to see if that makes a difference.

Regarding Benzac 2.5%:

Using Benzac 2.5% before washing is a common and effective treatment for clogged pores and acne. It works by exfoliating the pore lining and killing bacteria. While it could potentially help manage the clogged pores you're experiencing, it's also a strong active treatment that can cause irritation. Given that the clogged pores appeared after starting these new formulations, it would be best to first try adjusting the formulations themselves to see if that resolves the issue. If the problem persists after adjusting the formulas, then incorporating Benzac could be considered, but be mindful of potential irritation when combining multiple active ingredients.

By adjusting the concentrations of potentially problematic ingredients in your formulations, particularly the cream-gel, you may be able to reduce the occurrence of clogged pores while still benefiting from the active ingredients.