Interesting question. I think skin care can control acne but it may not necessarily stop it from coming up unless its designed to like with a retinoid or BP. I think a healthy diet is great too! But on the same not, from MY experiences, diet never helped my acne.

In regards to non chemical methods, i had a terrible time with them and if your acne is constant (pimples everyday vs once a week), they may not work well. Many people have broken out so bad with Oil Cleansing so proceed with caution.

it isn't superficial at all. Especially if they use the right oil. It's getting at the root of acne formation.

1) if they are cleansing with oil. Or honey. They aren't using soaps so are not interfering with the skins ability to function. They probably aren't applying any kind of lotion either. The emulsifiers and more occlusive oils like petrolatum also interfere with the skins ability to function.

2) if they use a high linoleic acid content oil, they are making up for a deficiency that acne and other problem prone skinned people have. And improving healthy normal skin function.

BP on the other hand, is treating acne at a superficial level.

More info on the skin function I am referring to:

Some acne can be fixed at the surface. Some acne only responds to holistic treatment. Most acne is improved by addressing both. For example, topical vitamin activity is always enhanced by oral vitamin supplementation and vice versa. Your skin is an excretory organ, the biggest organ on your body, and the end part of your digestive system the same as your liver/colon and kidneys/bladder are!

Everyone knows that having healthy bowel movements and urination is essential for overall health, removing waste, ensuring nutrients consumed are being processed adequately, and if your urine and bowel movements don't look right, it's a sign of illness or other stress and/or dehydration. You can take laxatives (or anti-diarrheals,) enemas, diauretics, fiber etc to treat the symptoms of what's making your stool loose, or hard, your urine dark or infrequent, but it's not addressing the reasons why you aren't excreting healthfully- fat intake, acne and stool density are HUGELY correlated.

Likewise, your skin is a last-stage indicator of dehydration/poor digestion/nutrition/illness/stress of any sort-- (excess sebum, hard plugs, congested pores and hyperkeratinzation) but that doesn't mean that you can't screw things up on the outside by touching your face a lot or applying cosmetics and cleansers with allergenic ingredients.

What you put in/on is what you get back!