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There are worse things that can happen to you than skin-care pilling — when your products start to form pesky little granules that build and build until they fall right off your skin. But that certainly doesn't make it any less annoying because you probably work so hard on your routine. According to the experts, there are a couple of different reasons that this happens and luckily these issues are really easy to resolve.
First things first: Your products might be pilling because you're applying them in the wrong order, says Mona Gohara, a board-certified dermatologist based in Connecticut. A good rule to follow is simply to "apply products from lightest to heaviest," she advises.
Michelle Lee and Jenny Bailly called upon dermatologist Marie Jhin to share some hard-and-fast rules for skin-care layering.
New York City board-certified dermatologist Shari Marchbein generally advises applying serums, then moisturizer, then SPF (of at least 30 or higher) on a daily basis, which "allows products with the most actives to be in closest contact with the skin."
To prevent pilling even further, you can also stick to similarly formulated products when layering. "If the pilling occurs when the consumer layers products, that means there is the incompatibility of the layered products: Water-based and oil-based products do not mix well," explains cosmetic chemist Ginger King.
Impatience to get your skin-care routine done is another common cause. "Pilling most commonly occurs because we aren't giving enough time for each product to dry before applying the next," explains Marchbein.
The solution is pretty simple. "Typically, giving a bit of extra time — a minute or so — between layers will prevent this," she says. So take a coffee or wine break between skin-care layers.
According to Gohara, pilling can also occur when people apply too much of any given product. Again, the solution to this is pretty self-explanatory. "Use lighter products and less of them," Gohara advises.
Marchbein concurs. "Applying too many creams or serums at once can contribute to pilling, so consider paring down your skin-care routine to absolute essentials: vitamin C, SPF, peptide," she explains. "And give plenty of time between layers."
Exfoliating too much or too little also plays into how products sink into your skin — and therefore can affect your likelihood of pilling. Gohara points out that "one may need to exfoliate prior to applying…a product that isn't absorbing." Applying lots of products on top of heavily exfoliated skin, on the other hand, can also pill. "My products pill when I overdo my retinol. My skin peels off in little balls, moisturizer and all," Gohara jokes.
It sounds like a bit of a catch-22, but if you follow what she calls "the Goldilocks rule," you should be good to go. All that means is you need the amount of exfoliation that's "just right" for your skin type. If you have dry or balanced skin, that's somewhere around once per week.
Folks with combination or oilier skin can exfoliate somewhere in the ballpark of three times per week. If you start to experience inflammation or dryness, you'll know you've probably reached your exfoliation limit.
If you still can't find a solution to skin-care pilling after trying everything above, it's probably time to take a hard look at the products you're using. Test your go-to products one by one and see if any of them pill on their own. If any of them do, it could be the presence of a certain ingredient.
"If the product pills by itself, that means the formula is not well-formulated or not properly neutralized," explains King. "This is commonly seen in carbomer-based products." Carbomer, she explains, is a gelling agent that tends to pill when it isn't neutralized well in a formula.
Skin-care product pilling isn't the end of the world, but knowing how to prevent it will definitely save you a lot of aggravation and, if you end up paring down your whole routine, plenty of time and money. And there's nothing wrong with saving yourself those precious coins and R&R time.
More skin-care tips:
- How to Get Rid of Blackheads, According to Dermatologists
- Can "Slugging" With Petroleum Jelly Clear Up Cystic Acne? Experts Weigh In
- Derms Answer the Most Common Skin-Care Questions of Women Over 40
Now, see Dr. Pimple Popper's daily beauty routine:
