Is your main concern in terms of skincare - excess oil, enlarged pores, and the tendency to have blackheads and/or pimples? If so, you're in a good place. Salicylic acid will undoubtedly help you to have more balanced, clean, soft, and smooth skin. We tell you everything!
What is salicylic acid and how does it work on the skin?
Salicylic acid is an organic acid found in willow bark. This acid is part of the BHA's (beta-hydroxy acids) family: they all come from different plants and fruits and stand out for their exfoliating and anti-inflammatory capacity.
Salicylic acid in particular is especially suitable for oily skin, enlarged pores, blackheads, and acne. Do you know why? These are your main actions: The great power of salicylic acid is that it can dissolve fat (lipophilic action), so it deep cleans pores, keeping points black at bay and generally improving pore appearance.
In addition, it also has a slight exfoliating action, so it helps the skin to shed dead cells that accumulate on the surface and give a more irregular and opaque texture, while they can clog pores. In other words, thanks to this action, the skin appears smoother and softer and helps prevent blackheads from forming.
It also has a sebum-regulating effect, so it balances oily and combination skin (avoids unwanted shine, and mattifies). On the other hand, salicylic acid is also anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial, which, added to the previous points, makes it an ideal asset to prevent and treat acne and comedones.
Salicylic Acid Benefits
- Oily and combination skin
Balances the skin, eliminating excess sebum, mitigating it, and improving the appearance of enlarged pores.
- Improve the appearance of enlarged pores
Enlarged pores are not a specific problem for oily skin, nor young ones. Pores can become more visible precisely because of the loss of elasticity associated with skin aging, together with its lower capacity for cell renewal (which causes dead cells to accumulate on the surface).
- Goodbye blackheads!
No matter what type of skin you have, we can all tend to have blackheads due to the accumulation of dead cells and sebum. Salicylic acid is one of the best assets to get rid of them and keep them at bay.
- Avoid acne
For all its actions it is an ideal asset for its treatment and prevention.
- Gentle exfoliator (ideal for sensitive skin)
Improve the texture of the skin, leaving it softer, smoother, and more luminous. In this sense, salicylic acid is less powerful than other acids such as AHA's, but it is also much more tolerable for the most sensitive and reactive skin.