“You’re doing way too much with your skin, babe,” acne whisperer and celebrity facialist Sofie Pavitt replied as I rattled off my skin-care routine while lying on the esthetician’s chair. Ironically, I had already reduced my regimen to six steps, but she said it was still far too much for my acne-prone skin. An hour later, I’d acquired that coveted post-facial glow by Pavitt and some skin-care homework: a new acne-safe routine with only three steps a night.

“I find that too many products can disrupt the skin and even contribute to breakouts—then it’s challenging to distinguish between the breakouts’ root cause and trigger points themselves,” Pavitt tells Vogue. “When I start working with an acne client, I’ll put them on a bare-bones routine for two weeks so I can relook at their skin after—that way, I can see what’s going on without extensive active skin-care protocols.” With my marching orders in place, I said goodbye to my hyaluronic-acid-fueled serums, niacinamide-packed toners, and ceramide-ridden moisturizers (all of which, to my surprise, were active ingredients, according to Pavitt).

The Pavitt-Approved Acne Skin-Care Routine

Now I had a tried-and-true approach to stick to: double cleansing, mandelic acid, moisturizer, and a daily SPF (only in the morning, of course). When picking products, I couldn’t pick just any buzzy brand. Instead, I got serious about checking if anything I applied to my face was actually noncomedogenic. Suddenly, the pursuit of products free of pore-clogging ingredients became my religion, and Pavitt’s Non-Comedogenic Ingredients Checker became my bible. I was shocked (and spooked) to find that many products that claimed to be acne-safe were still packed with sneaky hidden ingredients that could spark breakouts. On the list of no-nos for acne-prone skin, Pavitt names shea butter and anything with coconut (including coconut alkanes) as chief offenders. “I debate this all the time with people on the internet that formulation of a product overrides the comedogenicity of a product, which I agree with to some extent. However, the path of least resistance is always my philosophy: I always defer to avoiding all comedogenics when my clients are following a skin-clearing protocol,” says Pavitt. “Why risk it? Take them all out of a skin-clearing protocol and minimize the risk of pore-clogging from triggers, and your skin will clear faster.”

A month into my pared-down routine, I graduated out of acne-clearing mode and into clear-skin maintenance—sure, I still have remnants of my pesky rosacea speckles on my cheeks, but no active pimples in sight. When my menstrual cycle looped back around for its monthly haunting, a few spots indeed reared their ugly heads, but with one marked difference: Rather than taking weeks to fully clear, my skin appeared to bounce back quicker, bringing zits to a head and healing faster than usual. During my minor active breakout, I added one additional step to my routine—Pavitt’s benzoyl peroxide face mask, applied only to problem areas. “You could use mandelic daily and benzoyl products in the opposite end of your routine (one in the morning and the other at night),” says Pavitt. “Everything else in your routine should be noncomedogenic, hydrating, and with no other actives while clearing up your skin. You can slowly add other actives while in clear-skin maintenance mode (Think: retinol, vitamin C, growth factors, and peptides.) But remember: Don’t use all of them at once!” Let’s break the routine down step by step.

Step One: Always Double Cleanse

Even with a minimalist skin-care routine, double cleansing remains a nonnegotiable step—though Pavitt asserts it’s important to opt for a micellar water rather than an oil formula. “While I love the feeling of oils and balm cleansers, the truth is, no matter how hard you try, a film is left behind on the skin even after rinsing. The very reason you’re cleansing is to prep your skin to receive treatment: whether it’s an acid, a vitamin C, or a hydrating serum,” says Pavitt. “Using micellar water as an initial cleanse followed by a deeper cleanse [with a noncomedogenic face wash] removes all dirt, makeup, SPF, and oils to prep the skin and leave a clean canvas. Oils leave films and can stop your treatments from penetrating the skin correctly.”