For those of you who don’t know: I”m 23 years old. Puberty has passed. But by looking at my face you’d never guess. Instead – the pizza party implies that my hormonies are just a ragin’ under there. It’s problematic. And I know that I’ve blabbed about how wonderful my skin care products are… but now that I’m off birth control – that’s all out the window. Turns out my face definitely prefers a steady flow of artificial hormonies to regulate its (totally outta) control zit production. Lately the only thing the persa gel has been doing is causing my skin to peel off at a rapid rate. I think I still like the face wash – but that’s up for debate too…*
Anyways – the acne that’s now returned to middle school levels is the horrible deep and painful kind. It’s actual term – ‘cystic acne’ – does give you an idea of the awful, sore and hideous nodules that accompany the issue. But those of you who’ve experienced zits in general don’t need an explanation – you know just how painful, embarrassing and downright obnoxious they can be.
I’ve been through the whole gamut of dermatologist treatment. To me, it seems like trial and error, and less methodological than my own, thank you very much. I hate to tell ya doc, but your sulfur facewash is useless, the Benzaclin burns my flesh off, and, honestly, I don’t really care for your $25 copays either! I don’t care to go through it all again – especially if it just means I’ll end up on birth control (it’s why I started on the pill in the first place – freakin’ mutinizing skin…).
So I’m trying a different approach. No doctors, no pills, just this one guy’s pretty impressive website and advice. For once, it doesn’t really seem like a scam (no seaweed, lasers, or $50 pricetag on 2 ounces). The guy’s gone through it himself (although no pics – bummer) and has even done a bit of homework. I’m most impressed by how hard he’s worked to sell the basic products (with the necessary active ingredients) at a low cost without all the fancy schmancy (and $$$) labeling, advertising and packaging.
My pimples were particularly painful last night, so I kinda ended up going with the whole enchilada of treatment options from acne.org. I mean business this time around. That, and pimples make you do crazy things. Here’s what I bought:
8 oz. moisturizer [$10.50] – pretty plain and simple – to replace my Neutrogena sensitive skin one, which gets pretty expensive pretty darn quickly.
6 oz. AHA + (10% Alpha Hydroxy Acid + Licochalcone) [$16.11] – used for spot treatment – apparently the secret weapon to fighting that ‘oh-crap-that’s-going-to-be-a-huge-and-painful-pimple-tomorrow’ feeling.
8 oz. Organic Jojoba Oil [$14.75] Another dryness fighter. Justified by it’s miraculous claims of curing split ends and being a heavenly massage oil).
8 oz. 2.5% Benzoyl Peroxide Gel [$16.52] Here’s the real ground troops. Apparently to be used in excess too… I’m kinda relieved to be off the 10% and it’s skin-killiness.
Grand Total: $57.88 + 13.40 shipping and handling = 71.28 (sorry hubs – can’t put a price tag on my face right!?) I actually only ended up adding in the AHA when I realized that ordering another product in the flat rate box really made no difference in SH costs. And like I said… whole enchilada. Furthermore, these really are the lowest prices you’re going to find for these types of products. On Amazon (usually home of cheapness) you’d be paying closer to $110 for comparable products (moisturizer, AHA, jojoba oil, 2.5% BP cream) not even touching the topic of shipping and handling. If nothing else, it does seem like this guy is shooting me straight.
Of course I’ll keep all you wonderful folks updated on my progress – gruesome makeupless pics and all:) Let’s get that party started:
And just in case it’s not already leaping off the screen at you – let’s throw in some pointers:
PS: Update 07/23/2010 – My goodies shipped yesterday – hip hip hooray! Also – stopped taking my Wegman’s multivitamin because apparently the iodine in it isn’t doing my skin any favors…
*(I’m sticking with Clean and Clear foaming facial cleanser for now – since Dan considers it comparable to his own product, it’s a similar price and I’m already stocked.)
PS) Just FYI, this journey together is the first of many. Consider it my gateway drug. I plan on starting with acne and moving up to bigger and better (okay fine, worse) gory details. More cushy for everyone that way;) The way I look at it, yeah baked good are about a billion times funner to look at, but it’s these horror stories that people sometimes need to hear about. The kind of stuff that you sometimes think you’re entirely alone on the face of the planet with. You might be. Or maybe I’m going through the exact same thing and keeping all hush, hush. Yeah… come to think of it’s probably the latter.
Baking Life By The Horns 
i’m 100% with you on this. i just bit the big one and spent a good chunk of money on a new acne regimen called “Exposed.” supposed to be the #1 acne product in america right now. so far.. it’s not preventing anything for me. very disheartening. PLEASE please keep me/us updated on how ur new experiment is working. if it works, i WILL try it. im desperate. my face is pretty much like a 14 year old boy going thru puberty. its awful. so i feel your pain :(
ahhh Leah! I hear you with the 14 year old boy syndrome. Alls I’m missing is the cracking voice. Plus it seems like 100x worse that just about *all* of my friends have perfect, flawless midtwenty year old skin. What the crap!!
Just checked out that exposed lineup – looks like some of it is similar to what I’m using (BP, AHA, etc.). I hope they hold up on their end of the deal with “The treatment comes with a hundred percent money back guarantee. The treatment is guaranteed for a year. In case, acne doesn’t gets cured the money is refunded.” Plus they promise it will work in 30 days!
I’ll keep you updated for sure – about to post my ‘pre-treatment’ photo – blargh.
Just a heads up (and not to be putting down your spectacular anti-acne supplier man at all) but I’ve found organic jojoba oil at Wegman’s for the same price or less, no shipping, and no waiting. I use it myself and love it much! It’s in the natural foods section with the herbal supplements and whatnot.
Curious too – have you ever tried vitamins that help to clear up your skin? I was using some for a while (these, for the record: http://tinyurl.com/2cf32jt )and ran out right before I moved. With no real shipping address I’ve been going without and suffering. Just curious. :)
And I’m sure I’d love to see pictures of your loverly face makeupless or whatnot. Luck, lady!
Sniff! That’s great to know – in the future I’m sticking with Wegman’s for the Jojoba, I should have known. After all, they pretty much own my life lol. I’d never looked (except online – where its $10 for 4 oz.) since I’d never really heard of the stuff before this week;) What all do you use the jojoba for?!
I haven’t tried vitamins – but it’s an interesting idea for sure. I guess it didn’t occur to me since I’m trying to *cut down* on the # of pills I take every day haha.
In fact, the site I ordered the acne stuff from also argues that iodine might have a negative impact on skin in high doses – and OF COURSE my multivitamin from Wegman’s has 100%DV. I’m off that mess for now and hopefully that won’t prove to be a confounding factor!
K, here come the terrifying pics – thanks for the confidence boost lovie-pie;)
I use the jojoba mostly in winter time. It helps with dry hair (see also: bleached and dyed purple and pink) – I’ve put it on lightly at night time and washed it out in the morning to avoid the greaser look, though. Also use it on those weirdo dry skin patches that *hurt* when you put lotion on them (just me?) and around my eyes cause they’re sooo sensitive. Hehe. I’ve read that it’s the closest thing to our natural skin oil, so that’s why it works so well – it’s what our skin makes for itself, only we get to control how much and where.
I take a multivitamin anyways (pretty much the only thing I do take, luckily), so the one with added skin goodies seemed to make sense and really seemed to help. I’ve reordered so if everything clears up when I get them back, I think I’ll be on to something.
If the iodine is what you’re worried about, you should be warned that pretty much all table salt (not kosher, etc, just regular old salt) is iodized. But don’t cut too much or you could be at risk for nastiness. Salt was iodized to help prevent diseases (forget what specifically) without more inoculations. Just sayin’ :)
Good info on the Jojoba! You’re not alone with the wierd dry patches – I get them too and they stink like a mother when I moisturize – especially if the stuff isn’t specifically designated sensitive skin (like the Neutrogena moisturizer with SPF).
Keep us updated on the multi!
Yeah – I hear ya about the iodine – I’m not cutting salt (are you kidding me!) just the 100% DV addition of my multi for awhile.