If you are worried about your skin, then the best way to ask questions at home is via an online skin consultation. They can ask questions, assure you about where a breakout might have come from and recommend treatments if and only if they will help.
However, there are often cases where someone worries about their skin, tries a skincare hack or an ingredient that common sense suggests would help but ultimately makes the problem worse.
Often the people doing this have the right idea but are missing the point just enough to cause further redness, irritation and inflammation, and here are some of the most common offenders.
Toothpaste On Acne
Whether a pimple or a zit, a piece of advice some people swear by is to dab a bit of toothpaste on it and that will dry it out overnight.
The idea, so the old story goes, is that toothpaste contains a compound known as triclosan, an antibacterial that was added to a lot of body washes, cosmetics and was an active ingredient in some brands of toothpaste.
This, in theory, would make it useful as an antibacterial paste for shrinking spots, but there is a problem with that; it is not used in toothpaste anymore.
It was not approved for use by the European Commission for antibacterial purposes in 2016 and was heavily restricted by the Food and Drug Administration in the United States.
However, what it does contain is a lot of particularly strong and harsh ingredients designed to destroy tartar, reduce its buildup and strengthen enamel.
On your skin it causes burning, stinging and redness, arguably making your spot problem much worse in the process.
Lemon Juice
You can, at some considerable distance, see the logic. Citrus fruits are full of vitamin C, which is good for your body in a lot of ways but also good for your skin.
However, lemon juice is also highly acidic, as anyone who has accidentally squirted lemon juice on Shrove Tuesday in their eye can attest, and therefore applying it as a topical solution as a sort-of chemical peel can cause little else but pain.
In one horrific case, a person using a homemade lemon juice peel caused a significant skin allergy and a rash that blistered over, and after slugging with petroleum jelly (another skincare hack that has a dubious reputation), blocked pores and made the problem considerably worse.
It ultimately took professional intervention, topical steroids and antibiotic medication to fix the issue.
Salt/Sugar Scrubs
Most homemade physical exfoliants can come under this category as well, as there are so many scrubs that have the same problem as salt scrubs.
Exfoliation is important as it removes layers of dead skin cells that can remain on your face as your skin goes through its natural rejuvenation cycle and encourages skin cell growth, leading to brighter, more youthful-looking skin, at least in moderation.
However, the problem is that physical exfoliation scrubs cause microtears in your skin barrier, which increases the chance of irritation and bacterial infection.
As well as this, commercial salt scrubs often have scents and dyes, which sap the skin barrier of its natural oils that help protect it from infection and dryness.