It can feel like a vicious cycle. You get acne breakouts, which makes your skin sensitive. You treat the sensitivity with thick lotions. You cleanse, mistakenly thinking this will make the situation better - you use specially formulated products for oily skin. But this only aggravates your skin – it doesn’t solve the problem.
You see, the main cause of acne is an overproduction of sebum, an oily substance, produced by tiny sebaceous glands located at the root of your hair follicles. These tiny glands go into overdrive when they feel the need to protect the skin. So, by using too many or harsh cleansing products, you actually encourage the glands to produce more sebum, not less, creating an environment conducive to acne. This creates the vicious cycle effect.