Salicylic acid is the hero ingredient to help you tackle spots, oily skin and breakouts

With a month of festivities fast approaching, it’s likely that the last nights and the over-indulging will take its toll on our skin. But instead of doubling down on cleansing, amping up the exfoliating routine and multi-masking to ward off breakouts (which will most likely make this far worse by disrupting the skin barrier) you may want to call upon a simple yet far more effective ingredient – salicylic acid.

For those uninitiated, salicylic acid is the ultimate spot-busting, pore-cleaning, oil-controlling skincare ingredient that can easily be incorporated into your everyday routine. Across the board, it’s the first port of call dermatologists will recommend for extinguishing emerging blemishes and curbing excess sebum production. In fact, a promising study published last year concluded that a modified version of the ingredient could overtake benzoyl peroxide (which is tricky to get hold of here in the UK as it is a prescription only medication) as the gold standard of acne treatment.

So, what’s all the fuss about? We asked dermatologist and Murad skincare founder, Dr Howard Murad, and Lucy Hilson, the founder of SKN REHAB, to break down exactly what salicylic is and how it gets to work on blitzing blemishes.

What is it?

Derived from willow bark, salicylic acid is a Beta Hydroxy Acid (BHA) that has powerful ‘acne-fighting’ properties and is excellent at treating oily, and blemished skin. It works on many levels of the skin. The structure of salicylic acid is what makes it so hard-working as it’s more oil-soluble than most other Beta Hydroxy Acids. This means it can penetrate deeper down into pores to un-stick the glue that binds dead skin cells together, for a really deep clean.

How can it treat spots?

Blemishes may be most visible on the surface of the skin, but they form beneath the skin inside hair follicles. Pores that aren’t properly ‘cleaned out’ often result in pimples, blackheads, whiteheads and other blemishes. “In order to treat and reduce breakouts and blemishes, you need to use blemish treatment products that will penetrate the skin,” explains Dr Murad. Which is why salicylic acid’s ability to deeply penetrate pores and break down build-up can make such a huge difference to spots.

Alongside the work it does inside pores, salicylic acid also gently exfoliates the surface of the skin to lift away the grime and dead cells that block pores in the first place. “Clearing away the dead and dry skin on the surface allows Salicylic Acid to operate more effectively in clearing clogged pores, keeping oil at bay and preventing blemishes,” confirms Dr Murad.

Lastly, salicylic acid is anti-inflammatory, which means it can calm red, inflamed and ‘angry’ skin. Overall it can de-clog pores from the inside, polish away dirt and grime on the outside (before it ends up in our pores) and calm redness and irritation. Essentially it’s a one-stop shop for all your blemish bothers!

What to look out for in your products

“Just because a product contains salicylic acid doesn’t mean it contains the right dose to be effective,” says Lucy. “It needs to be in a high enough percentage and concentration and not buried in the bottom of an endless list of other ingredients. At least 0.5%-2% salicylic acid will give you a great result.”

So there you have it.

Check out our helpful guides on banishing acne on different parts of your body, hormonal acne, back acne and how to get rid of acne scars.

In need of professional skin help? Check out our guide to every type of facial to figure out your treatment options.

Here are the best salicylic heroes to add to your routine…