Why it Breaks Some People Out & What to Do if You're Breaking Out
By Alex Griffin
Edited by Lucy Thomas
Glow Recipe is a Korean skincare company founded in 2014. It utilizes bright packaging and fruity scented products that help buyers reach more glowy and youthful skin. Their business model tends to lean towards realistic skincare goals like healthy and nourished skin, not expectations of a flawless complexion. They’ve had many popular products in the past few years, including their Watermelon Glow Pore-Tight Toner and Watermelon Glow Niacinamide Dew Drops. Their products are loved worldwide and are frequent in many skincare routines due to their goal of nourishing and clearing the skin.
All ingredients are clearly stated on the Glow Recipe website and showcase the company’s mission of being completely vegan and cruelty free. Although the products are clean and vegan, many of the products use ingredients such as salicylic acid and fragrances, which irritate certain skin types. A common complaint about Glow Recipe is the saturation of fragrances throughout their products. Fragrances often cause clogged pores and swollen acne bumps, which has recently become correlated to the brand as a whole.
Other than fragrances causing new acne, Glow Recipe in general does not usually cause new breakouts. Rather, the active ingredients like beta hydroxy acids pull all of the existing acne to the surface of the skin. Countless of Glow Recipe’s products use BHA and AHA, the Watermelon Glow Pore-Tight Toner for one. These chemicals are skin exfoliants, and are often credited for having anti-aging effects. Although when alone these components have beneficial purposes, the skin often purges when they are used simultaneously.
Another common component in Glow Recipe’s products is niacinamide, which is supposed to brighten and even skin tone. When products contain a large percentage of niacinamide, redness and irritation are common. Many of Glow Recipe’s products contain niacinamide, so if overused, breakouts are very possible.
Outside of the ingredients in Glow Recipe linked to breakouts, the application process of products can influence acne. When implementing new steps into a skincare routine, it is important to ensure each product works well together. Oftentimes, products can react with each other, and therefore cannot be used at the same time. Additionally, if certain products are overused, they can damage the skin barrier and cause redness, dryness, and breakouts. Allergies to ingredients can also cause irritation, so spot testing a new product on the body prior to use is crucial.
Because of all of these factors, ingredient and application wise, the breakouts caused by Glow Recipe are usually characterized as a skin purge, not typical acne. When the skin purges, it pushes all skin material out of the pores, which causes dark spots and small bumps on the surface of the skin. These are often referred to as whiteheads, blackheads, and overall red spots. A skin purge can happen anywhere from one to two months after using a product continuously. When using products that can cause skin purging, pay attention to how long it lasts. If the purge seems to not be temporary, it may be best to stop use of that product. Even though it can happen for some time, it’s a very beneficial process and usually ends with smoother skin and unclogged pores.
To summarize, popular Glow Recipe products may not be causing new acne flare ups, but rather be causing the skin to purge. Purging and other possible irritations from BHA, AHA, niacinimide, or fragrances may come with using certain Glow Recipe products. Knowing how the products we use can affect our skin type is important to keeping it healthy. The skin is a vital part of our bodies and learning how to love and take care of it through using and avoiding certain products is beneficial for everyone.
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