After a tiring day at work, we can hardly wait to get into our beds. A speedy night beauty routine helps us hit the sheets in under 10 minutes, but we've recently run into a skincare issue that has slowed us down.

Waking up the next morning with breakouts is forcing us to give our satin pillowcases the side-eye. If we're being really good about washing our faces before bed, then these pillowcases must be to blame for our acne, right?

Pillowcases can house dirt and oil.

Like anything else that transfers dirt and oil to your skin, pillowcases can be the cause of something thats called acne mechanica. 

Acne mechanica is any type of acne that is the result of material or objects touching your face. When your pillowcase isn't laundered or changed regularly, a build-up of dirt and oil from the environment as well as your skin and hair touching the pillow is transferred back to your skin. This can clog pores and cause blemishes.

It probably doesn't matter what material your pillowcase is made of, but what's hiding on it.

Although some articles say that satin can cause breakouts, this may not be true. It doesn't really matters what material your pillowcase is made of, if it is not changed regularly, then it can have more grime, dirt and sweat. If you have any thick products on your hair when you sleep, the oils from your hair sit on the surface of your pillowcase and that can transfer to your face.  This can happen no matter what material your pillowcase is made of. 

Not everyone's skin is equally impacted by their pillows.

Not everyone is going to break out from just a pillowcase, but if you're prone to breakouts, whether it's because of hormones, genetics or stress, your pillowcase can exacerbate an already delicate situation and cause micro-irritation.

Here are Hollywoodskin's steps to lessens your chances of getting acne from pillowcases

1. Wash your face every night. Seems obvious, but this will help to prevent dirt, grime or makeup from getting onto your bedding. Make sure to wash your face before you are getting too tired. 

 2. Sleep on pillowcases made out of natural fabrics. These materials themselves breathe better and transfer less oil. If you are using acne medications containing for example benzoyl peroxide, that product can deposit onto the pillowcase. So make sure your fabrics are white because the topical treatments may bleach your pillowcases.

 3. Change your pillowcases every two to three days. This ensures you're not lying on a pillowcase with several days' worth of oil soaked into it or pooled on the surface. Liquid fabric softener and dryer sheets leave behind a waxy residue that is highly pore clogging. Avoid using fabric softener on your pillowcases. Fragrance-free fabric softeners aren't any better - in this case, it's the softening agents that are a problem for acne-prone skin.