My mentor told me to stop using alcohol-based toners on acne clients

My old instructor from esthetician school swore that alcohol toners were causing more breakouts on my oily clients. I finally switched to a gentle pH-balancing mist 3 months ago and saw way less redness and rebound oiliness. Has anyone else had a client's skin freak out from stripping products like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

webb.xena1mo ago

Oh man, I totally used to think alcohol toners were the only way to zap oily skin. I was that person grabbing the strongest astringent I could find for my clients. Then I had this one girl with mild acne and after a month of using a witch hazel toner her face was bright red and flaky. Switched her to a simple rose water mist and her skin calmed down in like a week. It was a real wake up call for me too.

logan_schmidt1mo ago

Gotta say, I was totally in the same boat for way too long. I used to think alcohol was the only thing that could actually dry out my oily skin, like it was a badge of honor or something. But after seeing how much damage it can do over time, I completely changed my mind. Your story about the witch hazel turning that girl's face red really hit home. I switched to a milky toner with no alcohol last year and my skin feels way less angry now. It's crazy how we think stripping everything is the answer when it really just makes things worse in the long run.