Laundry Tips To Better Skin

What touches your skin more than anything? Probably your clothes! This means that what you are washing your clothes with ends up being a big factor for body breakouts, if you have acne or sensitive skin. Reminder, we define sensitive skin as skin that is quick to react with redness, itching, irritations, eczema, or psoriasis. Here are some tips to improve your laundry habits to help your skin. And if your skin is already clear, check out our tips to smell your best without using artificial fragrances! 

If you have any acne or skin conditions/rashes, always skip dryer sheets and fabric softeners. Period. Natural ones are not better when it comes to irritation and breakouts. You can use wool dryer balls to help cut down static or you can just line dry your clothes! 

Check your laundry soap for Sodium Lauryl Sulfate and SodiumLaureth Sulfate. These two surfactants are pore-clogging and can be found in common laundry soaps like Tide Original, All Free and Clear, and Arm and Hammer Sensitive Skin. Tide Free and Gentle is an acne-safe option though! 

As we indicated with fabric softeners, natural is not always better when it comes to laundry soap too. If you are a fan of “natural products” and still breaking out, check your natural soap for oils – especially coconut oil which is highly comedogenic. 

Here are a few other laundry tips we’ve picked up along the way to help you and your clothes:

Wash your clothes with warm water (or hot) to make sure the soap is being activated (especially for your workout clothes). You can use a shorter wash cycle and a lower spin speed to protect the integrity of your clothes. 

Wash your pillowcases and bed sheets weekly.

Sleep in loose fitting clothes or no clothes if you have body acne. 

Synthetic fibers in popular workout clothes (hello Lululemon) trap in odor and don’t really get cleaned with regular detergents. Wash them separately and use this special enzyme soap for active wear. You can also use the sanitize option on the washing machine. If you are worried about compromising the clothes, you can use bleach (on whites!), vinegar, or steamers to make sure you are killing all bacteria on your workout clothes. 

Watch The Laundry Guy on HGTV for more tips on how to keep your clothes looking the best! And if you’re struggling with backne? Check out our guide here on how to fix it!