Ingredients to look for:

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1. Retinol: The gold standard of acne treatments, thanks to their ability to stimulate cell turnover, a process that brings healthy cells to the skin’s surface and pushes the old dead ones off. For acne-prone skin, speeding up cell turnover can help unclog pores because a lot of what’s actually clogging your pores is that old, dead, skin, and if you make that happen a little bit faster, it helps open those pores.

2. Niacinamide: An antioxidant derived from vitamin B3 that fights acne while keeping inflammation and dark spots at bay.

3. Salicylic Acid: This beta-hydroxy acid crystallizes into a small enough size that it’s able to get deep down into your pores and clear them from the inside out, getting rid of all that dirt, oil, and debris that could be hiding in there and causing your zits. It packs the additional punch of being an exfoliating acid, so it also helps to even skin tone and do away with dark marks and scarring from old breakouts.

4. Sulfur: Dries and clears up acne, while preventing new blemishes and blackheads from forming; fights multiple forms of acne including hormonal breakouts, acne rosacea and inflammatory acne.

5. Glycolic Acid: A chemical exfoliant that helps increase cell turnover. The faster your cells replenish, the quicker you'll heal from breakouts, fade blemish scars, and get rid of dirt and impurities.

6. Tea Tree Oil: An antibacterial and antimicrobial ingredient, tea tree helps flush out the dirt and impurities that block pores.

7. Clay: Draws out oil and dirt and leaves you with clearer pores. Especially if your skin is combination to oily, look for bentonite or kaolin clay on the ingredient list.

8. Witch hazel: An astringent and a disinfectant, it works to deeply cleanse skin and calm any irritations—all while healing damage from past breakout.

9. Citric acid: Brightens skin, shrinks pores, treats acne, and corrects dark spots and fine lines. When applied to skin, citric acid exfoliates the top layers of skin and sloughs off dead skin cells. Additionally, the speed of new cell turnover increases, which promotes new skin growth that can help alleviate the appearance of age spots, acne scars, small wrinkles and areas of uneven tone and texture.

10. Zinc: Reduces signs of acne because of its potent antioxidant and calming ability on skin. Acne is an inflammatory disorder, so anything you can apply to minimize inflammation is a good thing.

11. Vitamin-C: Can help clear up acne and reduce the redness associated with it, as well as improve skin texture. Due to the pro-collagen and pro-elastin effects of vitamin C, acne scars may also be reduced.

12. Vitamin E: One of the antioxidants that is used as an acne treatment. Nutritionally speaking, vitamin E is an anti-inflammatory, which means it can help boost your immune system and help with cell regeneration. It's thought that these properties  specifically help with inflammatory acne, such as: nodules.

13. Dioic Acid: Naturally derived from vegetables, this ingredient helps reduce excess sebum.

14. Bachu Leaf Extract: Visibly minimizes the appearance of pores and regulates sebum production.

15. Colloidal Silver: Heals angry, aggravated skin and reduces redness and inflammation.

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