Butt acne happens in the same way that acne usually occurs. It starts with the overproduction of oil – which sometimes can be caused by hormones, stress, food triggers or just genetics – that winds up charging up your oil glands that eventually lead to clogged pores. 3, 2, 1, bam: you’ve got butt acne.

As awful as it sounds, the good news is that butt acne happens to pretty much everyone.

Your butt goes through so much in a day. You’re sitting, so clothing traps bacteria and sweat in. You’re going for a jog, so the friction and tight clothing trap in oil and dirt. On and on the list of causes go, so it’s inevitable that everyone’s bound to get it at some point.

Then, there are the other bumps that look like acne but are really other troubles, such as folliculitis and keratosis pilaris.

Confused? Don’t worry, we’ll get into it.

We’ll go over the three more common culprits that give you a bumpy butt.

Clogged pores

Obviously, the most obvious one is the case of a clogged pore. When dirt particles, dead skin cells or a build-up of oil clog a pore, you get a comedone (a fancier way of describing a pimple). They can occur in the same way that it shows up facially – as a whitehead, blackhead, papule, cystic nodules, and so on.

Folliculitis

Much like the name suggests, this occurs when a hair follicle gets inflamed due to an infection. It’s almost as common as a regular butt pimple, surprisingly, and you can often identify it as small pink raised dots that somewhat resemble a whitehead and show up in a spread-out cluster. It starts with a follicle getting blocked by dirt or dead skin cells, which traps a growing hair follicle underneath it and leads to it being infected.

Keratosis pilaris

There’s also keratosis pilaris, or KP for short, which is a result of an overproduction of keratin that builds up in your hair follicles, which results in red bumpy skin. While there is no real way to cure KP, you can count on exfoliants or laser hair removal to help manage it.

Good news: There are several easy ways to deal with these issues, so don’t panic just yet. We’ll get to the products that can help in a second, but firstly, there are some habits you can cultivate.

Firstly, like most acne advice, do not squeeze or try to poke it in the hopes that ‘bursting’ it is gonna solve things. On the contrary, it’ll only give you more to deal with.

Secondly, try wearing lighter and looser clothing. The lighter weight fabrics allow your skin to breathe more, and looser clothing reduce the risk of friction, which can rub off more dead skin cells and send them into your pores.

Also, if you’re one who works out a lot in the middle of the day, take a light shower after a sweat sesh before returning to work so you cleanse your skin of bacteria. It helps manage the frequency of butt acne.

When it comes to products, looking for washes with salicylic acid, AHAs or BHAs will help with exfoliating your skin to renew your glow and remove the build up of debris. Having an external exfoliant – such a scrub or a brush – can help when done regularly in a week.

Here are some of our fave butt acne-busting products!