It will shock you to find out that many popular skin care brands that are targeted towards people who suffer from acne, not only aren't helping you eliminate your breakouts but are causing your acne to become worse! Find out now what you could be using that's bad for your skin.

In an effort to save you money and a lot of disappointment, here are some of the top skin care brands that are telling you less than the truth when it comes to how well their products treat acne.

Clean & Clear: Continuous Control Acne Cleanser, Continuous Control Acne Wash Oil Free, Deep Action Cleansing Wipes Oil Free, Deep Action Cream Cleanser, Clarifying Toner, Oil Fighting Deep Cleaning Astringent, Sensitive Skin Astringent, Moisturizing Mist, Invisible Blemish Treatment and Overnight Acne Patches.

Clinique: Antibacterial Facial Soap, Acne Solutions Body Treatment Spray, Acne Solutions Night Treatment Gel, Acne Solutions Daytime Shield, Acne Solutions Spot Healing Gel, Facial Soap Extra Mild, Mild and Oily Skin Formula Soaps, Rinse-Off Foaming Cleanser, Wash-Away Gel Cleanser, 7 Day Scrub Cream, Exfoliating Scrub, Clarifying Lotions 1, 2, 3 & 4, Sheer Matteness T-Zone Shine Control, Deep Cleansing Emergency Masque.

ProActive: Advanced Blemish Treatment, Daily Oil Control, Refining Mask.

Propaph: Foaming Face Wash, Astringent Cleanser Maximum Strength, Astringent Cleanser Acne Medication and Moisturizer Normal to Sensitive Skin.

Prescriptives: All Clean Sparkling Gel, Px Purifying Scrub, Flight Mist, Immediate Matte Skin Conditioning Tonic, Immediate Glow Skin Conditioning Tonic, Px Blemish Specialist Fast Acting Lotion Spot Treatment for Acne.

Also all products from Clearasil and Ella Bache.

What makes all of these products so bad for your skin? All of these products either contain potently irritating ingredients, alcohol, ingredients that badly clog pores and/or contain effective acne fighting ingredients that for various reasons their formulations have rendered useless.

Here are some of the harmful ingredients that these products contain and explanations as to why they are so bad for your skin and for treating acne.

Irritating Ingredients: Peppermint, camphor, resorcinol, sulphur, isopropyl myristate, menthol, fragrance, phthalate (a harmful toxin) and coloring agents.

Many of these products contain peppermint and menthol which is terribly irritating. Fragrance is also listed as the number one skin irritant in any skin care product. Irritation caused by ingredients like peppermint cause the skin to become red, angry and inflamed which makes acne look far worse. It also prevents the skin healing as well as it could making acne last longer and prolonging the red marks left after pimples heal.

Alcohol: This is very common in acne targeted products, it ruthlessly strips the surface of the skin of moisture causing damage, irritation, redness, dryness and flakiness. Stripping oil from the surface of your skin by using this highly irritating ingredient causes no good, and great harm.

Pore Clogging Ingredients: Vaseline, mineral oil, lanolin and all cleansers in soap form will clog your pores which will cause more pimples and magnify the severity of your breakouts.

As you can see there are many problematic skin care products that are being advertised to treat acne when in fact they only make matters worse.

The best thing you can do is to find out the truth about what causes and how it can really be treated. You need to make it your mission to study facts about acne and skin from un-bias sources like dermatologists, doctors or skin care specialists, none of whom sell their own products. Good luck!