I've been getting acne for the first time in my life since February, mostly on the sides of my chin.. horribly sore, inflamed white heads that are EXTREMELY unsightly. They started out of nowhere and I had no clue why. My only thought was that my hair was causing it, because it's only on the sides of my chin where my hair touches. But I assumed it was my hair itself, like the natural oils in it. A few weeks ago I mentioned it to a friend and she said that maybe it was my hair product, and a light bulb went on. When did I start getting acne? This February. When did I buy a new shampoo? AROUND THIS FEBRUARY! I bought the Garnier Fructis Sleek & Shine shampoo and conditioner because I have REALLY bad frizz, and I thought it might help it. But now it seems it was just actually giving me terrible acne!
So you must be asking yourself, "If she figured out it's her shampoo causing it, why doesn't she just get a new one and let it clear up?" Well herein lies the issue.. I haven't used that shampoo/conditioner since I left college in May.. and yet my acne lives on. It's almost like now that it's started, it can't be stopped. I think I've just developed a great sensitivity to shampoos now. I realized this because I bought the Sleek & Shine shampoo and conditioner again about a week ago, because my frizz has been AWFUL lately, but this time I also bought the leave-in conditioner and the serum and started using it. Well, I have little pigtails of hair on my forehead that have always annoyed me, but guess what? Since I've started using the deep conditioner and serum, I have two little red bumps on my forehead where the hair touches! I stopped using those immediately, though for time being I'm still using the shampoo and conditioner until I find something else. So it's DEFINITELY the hair products causing my acne!
I need like a hypoallergenic shampoo and conditioner that won't even have a chance of irritating my skin. Does anyone have any suggestions? My main problem is that if I use a regular shampoo and conditioner I develop REALLY bad frizz and look awful. But if I keep using this frizz shampoo, it'll help my frizz but my face will look awful! I need a product that will not irritate my skin at ALL, but I also need to find some way to combat my frizz. If I can't do it through product (because it seems the very ingredients helping my frizz are the ones contributing to my acne), then I need to find another way to help it.
ARGH! I'm so frustrated! I've never had acne in my whole life up till now! Any suggestions, anyone?

Try a different brand of frizz shampoo. Like John Freida's weatherproof shampoo.

I've had bouts of cystic acne, sometimes hormonal, and other times my make up has gotten it going (cant use the mineral makeup anymore)

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but sometimes it takes months for the cystic acne to clear up.

There's a website acne.org where you can find lots of helpful tips and tricks, and ask in their forums for advice (they're the experts on this subject as far as I'm concerned)

Helped save me a bunch of money because I was so desperate I was trying a bunch of products on the market, and ended up making it worse.

Believe it or not, what finally got mine under control was dabs of toothpaste. It doesn't really cure the problem, but it does take the swelling down, and I KNOW how painful some of those can be.

Seriously, cystic acne is tough, take a look at that site, at the very least you'll find out what not to do, and that alone made a difference with me. Trying to cure the problem and making it worse instead.

Good luck!

I swear by no-poo. Short for no shampoo. Google "no poo" and you'll find tons of info.

I use Giovanni shampoo and conditioner. It's a bit pricey, but I use a lot lot lot less product to control my frizz. You may also want to try conditioning your hair weekly with coconut oil - the cooking kind. That's helped me lots too. I've even used it in tiny tiny amounts to control frizz after my hair is clean and dry. I've also found that rinsing my hair in freezing cold water will cut down some of the frizz.

I don't have any acne suggestions though, sorry!

I have oily acne-prone skin but i just couldn't figure out why the skin on my back and chest was much much worse than it had been before. Then i read this http://www.acne.org/messageboard/products-t60678.html

and so i switched shampoo +condition to a natural, no chemicals one and it immediately improved. The chemicals in my shampoo were irritating my skin. I don't have frizzy hair so i can't really help with this. but i use a shampoo bar from lush - i don't much like the conditioner i tried though, i am still looking... They have a shampoo called "cynthia sylvia stout" with beer in it! that my big-haired sister really likes. Anyway if you go to their website or a store i'm sure you will find something for your hair type, it is not too horribly expensive either and my shampoo bar (7 bucks canadian) has lasted about 4 months so it is worth it! The stuff smells terrific too...

You might also want to stop pulling the hair over your shoulders so that it touches your face. Your hands and your hair have oils and products (and whatever else your hands pick up between washings) and those can create or worsen an acne problem. One of the first things my dermatologist told me was hands off, hair back.

amynbebes, that sounds intriguing. I actually don't wash my hair much now... probably about once every 3 days, but there have been times I've gotten REALLY lazy and would only wash my hair about once a week for like a month, and by the fifth day the back of my head was EXTREMELY greasy and I had to wear it up every day. It didn't seem to adjust and produce less oil, however, so I'm wondering if this might not work for me. I'm willing to give it a try though! A lack of product certainly wouldn't cause me to breakout!
Though I'm wondering that if my hair is still frizzy and I need to use some sort of leave-in product to tame it, how I could wash that out w/o using shampoo... hmm....

Here's what I've experienced with it. Before, I would wash my hair and hated the way it looked the day it was washed because it would be too fluffy (I have straight hair) but normally by the 2nd, sometimes 3rd day, there was finally enough oil back in it for it to lay better. However with the no poo as soon as it's dry it's perfect and I have good hair days the majority of the time. Your natural oils are there just enough so that it's not completely stripped. I use the apple cider vinegar rinse and that helps the frizzies as well.

Okay, I took a before and after picture.
Before: A few weeks ago, with shampoo and conditioner, blow-dried.
After: Today, with baking soda and apple cider vinegar, air-dried.

It does seem... less frizzy, and I'm assuming blowdrying it makes it overly poofy, but at the same time, my problem is I think it looks MESSY when it's wavy like this... of course, it also seems messy blowdried too, so maybe I should just let it sit. My hair takes 6 hours to fully air dry though!!!!!!!!! @_@

You need to check out naturallycurly.com and hit the forums there. Specifically look for a method called "plopping."

Also, it looks like you could trim up your ends and get some layers - that will take some of the poof volume away and give you some lift at the root.

Do you ever watch Law & Order:Criminal Intent? You look very much like an actress who was on the most recent show. Her hair is also not stick straight and her cut is great. You really look so much like her, you might consider her cut. I think her name is Tania Raymonde? She was also on Lost, I think.

This is a really old thread, but I'd just thought I'd update everyone who was concerned at the time for me. I got my cystic acne under control by wearing my hair up in a ponytail every day for two months, from august 2009 to october 2009. My hair wasn't causing the acne, but it wasn't allowing it to finally clear up. Having it up literally every day for two months was the only thing that got rid of it.

I still get an occasional really bad singular pimple (I guess the cystic kind?), the really painful big ones, but it's usually when I haven't taken a shower in a few days, so now I'm dabbing toothpaste on them to dry them up when I do get them, and I wash my face with water twice a day and use Cetaphil every night, and I'm pretty much cystic acne-free. I can wear my hair down as much as I want now, as long as I keep up that regime daily. Thanks for all the tips, you guys, because it really was making my life miserable.