Skin Purging

Purging is the seemingly sudden onset of either congested, acneic skin OR very dry, peeling skin due to recent incorporation of an active ingredient--specifically one designed to increase cell turnover, so we're mainly talking about AHAs, BHAs, and Vitamin A (retinol, retinoids, and even alternatives such as bakuchiol) here. This post will focus mainly on mild purging caused by non-pharmaceutical ingredients.

Purging can become apparent as soon as overnight or as long as 6-8 weeks after starting a new product, which makes it difficult to determine whether you're actually purging or just having a breakout.

Things to keep in mind:

1. Are there any active ingredients in the formula of the product you're using that are new to you? This could even include differences in concentrations of ingredients you're already accustomed to.

2. Is this the only change you've made to your routine recently?

If you're still unsure, it would be helpful to remove the potential aggressor from your routine for a few days (2-7) and really focus on skin barrier repair, then re-incorporate the product to your routine slowly. If your skin appears to return to baseline during your time off of the product and after re-incorporation, you may have just experienced a purge. But if your skin continues to worsen after re-incorporation, you're probably dealing with an adverse reaction to the product.

The most important thing to remember with purging is that the goal is to bring debris, congestion, toxins, etc. located deep within the skin to the surface while slowly replacing it with new, healthy skin. If you’re not seeing a *net* improvement in your skin’s condition, it may be best to ditch the product completely. A rule that we personally follow with the limit of purging is as follows: as long as the purge does not surpass the point of our skin at its worst, we’ll continue using the product. But if you do see a worsening condition, ask yourself if the purge is really worth it.