The best hormonal acne skincare routine shouldn’t leave your skin burning, breaking out, or feeling tight — but if that’s been your experience, you’re not alone.
So many women come to me saying they’re tired, disheartened, and just want to feel confident leaving the house without foundation.
And I get it. Because most skincare routines that promise to be the best hormonal acne skincare routine? They give you a flicker of hope — maybe even calm things down for a few weeks — before they leave you back where you started. Sometimes worse. And more confused than ever.
I see it over and over again. Short-term relief from breakouts to be trapped in a constant cycle of acne long-term. Skincare that’s leaving your hormonal acne feeling sore, red, inflamed… and leaving your confidence in tatters.
Every week, I’m here building real-life skincare routines for incredible women who happen to be experiencing hormonal acne.
And every week I show them exactly why the skincare they’ve been using is actually making their hormonal acne worse.
It’s a relief. A huge relief when they finally understand why products specifically for acne-prone skin are making their acne worse. They tell me they feel empowered, that they feel back in control of their skin health 
If you’ve ever felt like acne is stealing your confidence — making you avoid eye contact, skip events, or dread mornings in front of the mirror — I want you to know, you’re not alone.
Maybe you’ve felt scared to look in the mirror. Or caught yourself cancelling plans last-minute because your skin flared up again. That crushing feeling of “here we go again” — I hear that all the time.
I’ve helped hundreds of women who felt exactly the same… until they finally understood what their skin was really asking for.
Today I’m giving you an inside peek so you too can feel relief. So you too can finally be in control of your hormonal acne.
Because when your skin feels out of control, it can spill into every part of life — how you show up at work, in photos, with loved ones. Reclaiming that control starts with understanding your skin… not fighting against it.
Psst – there are 3 most important steps you must take to design a hormonal acne skincare routine which works. I follow these 3 steps whenever I’m creating a new skincare routine for hormonal acne.
3 Steps to a Hormonal Acne Skincare Routine Which Works
There’s one promise I can always make when I work with a new acne warrior inside my Acne Clinic – that yes our work together will dramatically improve your skin health. I cannot guarantee I’ll be able to help a new client get clear from acne – only Harry Potter can do that 
but I can guarantee a new client’s skin health will soar.
And ultimately when your skin health’s spectacular, your skin has all it needs to resist hormonal acne naturally. This is my unique approach – I will never use acne skincare that works against your long-term skin health. Never, ever. Acne skincare that works against your long-term skin health only gets you short-term results.
It’s how acne drying lotions work. It’s how benzoyl peroxide works.
Instead, I work with your unique skin health – every skincare routine I create inside my Acne Clinic is different.
Most women are surprised to find this out.
It’s super important that you’re not using the acne skincare that worked for your friend or a famous celebrity because your unique skin type’s at the root cause of your hormonal acne.
It’s why for every new hormonal acne skincare routine I create I’m following these 3 steps;
- I understand your skin type (in-depth, I’m ready to marry your skin after this step ;))
- I analyse your current hormonal acne skincare routine
- I create a new hormonal acne skincare routine that supports your skin health and your skin barrier
You can follow these exact steps too.
Step 1: Understand Your Skin Type
Here are some of the most important questions I ask any new Acne Clinic client;
- Is your skin sensitive at all?
- Rate your skin sensitivity for me on a scale of 0-10.
- What does a normal sensitivity reaction look like to you?
- Do you see redness in your skin?
- Is redness reactive i.e. in reaction to washing your face or does it persistently hang around?
- How oily is your T-zone on a scale of 0-10?
- Would you describe your cheeks as dry/dehydrated? How dry/dehydrated on a scale of 0-10
Okay, I’ll stop myself there. But you get the picture right? I need to understand exactly how to improve your skin health and the only way I can do that is to understand how your skin’s been reacting over the last months or years.
Sensitivity is one of the most important questions I ask because of this key fact – acne is a chronic inflammatory skin condition.
Chronic just means it’s been happening for a long time and inflammatory means your skin’s immune system is perceiving a threat and responding like your body responds to any illness – by causing inflammation that will hopefully heal the area and heal you.
The same inflammation is happening if you get hit in the face by a squash ball (has always terrified me!).
The most underknown fact is that traditional acne skincare is highly irritating to your skin… and irritation causes inflammation. And you guessed it… more inflammation causes an increase in your hormonal acne breakouts (which ultimately leads to hormonal cystic chin acne breakouts).
Step 1 – be sure your skincare routine’s sensitive to your skin (this doesn’t necessarily mean using only natural skincare and you’ll see why very soon).
You also need to understand how to balance your skin type back to its ideal health.
Excessive oiliness is a key trigger for hormonal acne. As scientists, we know sex hormones dominate your skin’s regulation of sebum. It’s why areas of skin that are sensitive to the signals of these hormones – areas like your chin – are one of the first places to break out in hormonal acne.
…androgens affect the formation of acne by increasing sebum production from sebaceous glands in the skin. Clin Dermatol. 2006 Jul-Aug;24(4):289-98
It’s a fact. So if you naturally start turning down your skin’s oil production, your skin naturally starts resisting acne.
Step 1 – balance your skin’s oil production.
Step 2: Analyse Your Current Acne Skincare Routine
When I intake a new client inside my Acne Clinic I ask them to share exactly what skincare they’re currently using. I also ask if they’ve used any products over the years that have worsened their acne – this helps me understand extra titbits about their skin type plus what could be causing their unique acne. I’m basically assessing all of your skin’s past boyfriends
I’m then diving in to see if there are skincare culprits worsening your skin health and therefore worsening your acne.
This is a common one I see;
As I go through a new client’s skincare routine, I rate each product like this.
Psst – if you’re reading this on mobile right now – here’s exactly what this snap of one of my Acne Clinic plans says, “Dr Bronner Peppermint Pure-Castile Liquid Soap: Fair to poor; has a high, alkaline pH level which means it will dry and dehydrate skin. Your skin needs to be slightly acidic to be healthy and hydrated.”
Because when your skin’s pH is out of balance, it shows up as that dry-tight feeling, angry red spots, and flare-ups that just don’t seem to calm down.
Step 2 – Clear your skincare routine of any product that increases your skin’s pH level. Acne bacteria thrive when your skin’s acid balance is upset.
Here’s another big hormonal acne skincare mistake;
Here’s exactly what this snap of one of my Acne Clinic plans says, “Tropic Clear Skies Cleansing Powder: Fair: contains high dose of starch which can be astringent – this changes the shape of skin cells and can upset your protective skin barrier which keeps bacteria away.”
Step 2 – protect your skin’s barrier function – it stops acne bacteria from getting deep into your skin where they cause infection and acne. It also stops existing breakouts from becoming cystic.
And another BIG acne mistake;
Here’s exactly what this snap of one of my Acne Clinic plans says, “ZO Salicylic Pads: Fair to poor; high in alcohol – defeats your skin barrier which over time makes it harder for your skin to resist acne bacteria and keep them from penetrating your skin deeply.
Too many exfoliants can cause breakouts. As your skin’s likely sensitive a product like this could be directly worsening/causing breakouts.”
Psst – your skin barrier is so incredibly important for resisting hormonal acne.
Like this science paper called What is New in the Pathology of Acne says;
a disturbed skin barrier…, resulting in the proliferation of P. acnes strains, is another important process that triggers acne. J Eur Acad Dermatol Venereol. 2017 Sep;31 Suppl 5:8-12
The non-science gooky translation – when your skin barrier’s upset it makes acne bacteria overgrown, this triggers acne.
Step 2 – protect your skin barrier by avoiding products with a high alcohol content.
This is what can make healing your hormonal acne so incredibly hard – acne skincare can be a minefield… unless you’re here reading this and have me by your side In which case – right now you’re taking the first steps to getting rid of acne and to you feeling more confident. I’m here for this.
Step 3: Create a New, Skin Supporting Skincare Routine For Hormonal Acne
Once we’ve weeded out skincare that’s causing your acne to get worse, now we’re supercharging your skin health. Remember super charged skin naturally resists hormonal acne breakouts – yes, yes yes!
I start with an incredibly important and superly overlooked step – cleansing.
The wrong cleanser can be a key culprit for acne breakouts – especially for causing your skin to be both dry and incredibly oily.
Here’s a snap of a product I included in one of my recent acne clinic clients’ routines;
Psst – if you’re reading this on mobile right now – here’s exactly what this snap of one of my Acne Clinic plans says, “Geek & Gorgeous 101 Jelly Joker: Ultra gentle, barrier respecting, anionic free cleanser.”
Step 3 – ditch acne cleansers that make your skin feel squeaky clean or like they strip your skin of oil – this is a key sign they’re ruining your skin barrier.
Then I move on to create a hormonal acne skincare routine which usually includes;
- A targeted serum – containing a gentle skin supporting active like niacinamide or very specific forms of vitamin C that have been shown to reduce acne bacteria growth but NOT prevent it
- A gentle exfoliating product to prevent clogged pores
- A skin barrier replenishing moisturiser
- If appropriate (and it’s not always appropriate!), sunscreen
Imagine being able to pop to the shop with nothing but sunscreen on. Or finally feeling confident to go barefaced and still love what you see in the mirror.
That’s what I want for you. And it starts by uncovering the hidden skincare mistakes that could be fueling your breakouts.