Fortunately, the use of alcohol in toners has definitely decreased over the past several years. However, it still shows up, especially in astringents and toners aimed at those with oily or acne-prone skin. If you were under the impression that alcohol is somehow helpful for acne you would be mistaken. There is no research showing that to be the case. For alcohol to be effective in disinfecting skin and killing acne-causing bacteria, it would need to be 60% to 70% pure alcohol. Most astringents with alcohol are only in the 20% range. Even at a 40% level you would not get an effective disinfectant, although you would get an effective irritant that kills skin cells and causes free-radical damage. Further, the irritation and dryness alcohol causes depletes the skin’s intercellular matrix and protective outer barrier. Not only does that damage the skin’s ability to heal, but at the same time it increases the presence of bacteria in the skin. In the long run, all of that can only make breakouts worse (Source: Archives of Dermatological Research, 1995, volume 287, issue 2, pages 214-218).
Note: Do not be confused by cosmetics that contain ingredients that sound like alcohol but are not. For example, cetyl alcohol, stearyl, or other alcohol esters are not the type of alcohol I’m warning you about. Remember to check the ingredient list; if it says “sd alcohol” followed by a number, or uses the terms “ethanol” or “isopropyl alcohol” on the label, those are the kinds to avoid. The exception to this is when this type if alcohol makes up only a tiny percentage of a product’s contents. When that’s the case, the risk of irritation and dryness is, in all likelihood, impossible.
Aside from alcohol, other irritating ingredients found in toner-type products include acetone (that’s nail-polish remover), citrus (lemon, grapefruit, and orange juice are incredibly irritating to the skin because of their high acid content), camphor, mint, peppermint, menthol, volatile plant extracts, fragrance (or essential oils, which are nothing more than fragrance additives), and witch hazel. All of these ingredients can hurt the skin because of irritation or skin sensitivity, and should be avoided.
If a toner does contain irritants, all that irritation does to a pore is temporarily cause it to swell, which can make the pore look smaller for maybe a few minutes. Toners that contain alcohol can remove the surface oil from the skin, but if you’ve cleansed the skin properly there should be no excess surface oil left. You can’t get inside the pore with a toner to deep-clean it without causing damage (if you could, we would all have spotless, empty pores), so toners surely don’t work in that capacity. Most of all, toners do not reduce oil production. Oil production is controlled primarily by hormonal activity (Source: Medical Electron Microscopy, March 2001, pages 29-40).
If anything, the irritation caused by alcohol and other irritating ingredients can stimulate oil production by triggering neurogenic inflammation in the pore, thus producing more oil.
I will discuss this concept more in Chapter Fifteen, Solutions for Acne (Sources: Archives of Dermatologic Research, July 2008, pages 311-316; Dermatology, January 2003, pages 17-23; and Medical Electron Microscopy, March 2001, pages 29-40.)