10% AHA: It’s been finalized and I am super in love with it. It will have 3 uses; as a spot treatment, as a body acne treatment, and as a hard-core AHA moisturizer. I’ve been using it every morning instead of the usual moisturizer and my skin is ridiculously perfect. I am going to place an order tomorrow for the tubes and product and will launch this product in a 6oz. size. Eventually if you guys are as in love with it as I am we can fill it in other sizes. I’ll put it in a tube because, um, I guess you guys like tubes better We’re looking at probably three or four more months to launch. Sorry it’s taken so long. I wanted to get it exactly perfect. My best guess is it will cost between $12 and $15. The stuff is crazy expensive to produce because glycolic acid is so expensive and we have other expensive ingredients in there (lichochalcone for instance is $6,000 per kilogram), but as usual I’ll price it as low as I can.

Jojoba: I’m also ready to place an order tomorrow for the organic jojoba oil. I will launch this in an 8oz. size. I’m hoping this will be out before the AHA. I’m aiming to price it in the $12-$15 range as well. Again, if you guys really want it, I can start to fill it in smaller and larger sizes as well.

Salicylic acid + anti-inflammatories + sebum reducers: It’s good to go as well. I’ll order it up in a small quantity most likely and launch it in a 4oz. tube. This one is more of a wild-card. The vast majority of people who I have asked to try it have reported that it’s the best sal acid they’ve ever tried, but can it approach the efficacy of benzoyl peroxide? Benzoyl peroxide is so good that I don’t expect anything to match it. But then again, it may meet a need for people who don’t like benzoyl peroxide for some reason. I am also excited to see how you guys fit it into your own regimens. Launch date: 3-4 months. Price: Hopefully I can keep it under $10.

SPF: Your guess, as usual, is as good as mine. I continue trying samples and I am not loving anything. Most recently I tried a powder sunscreen–pure minerals. I hated it. It made me flaky and left a kinda weird feeling on my face all day. I’m so frustrated that I decided I am going to start working “on the bench” as they call it in the formulating world. What this means is I’m going to visit a local renown formulator and trial samples right there on the spot and ask him to change things as I watch. I am setting an intention to produce the world’s best sunscreen for acne prone skin, and gosh darn it, I don’t care how long it takes. We’ll do it!

New and improved moisturizer: More samples are on their way. I will keep you posted.

Brandy let me know that a bunch of people are asking her what’s up with the new products. Here’s a quick update:

New and Improved Moisturizer: I got a new sample with the addition of twice the jojoba (10%) and lichochalcone (powerful anti-inflammatory, imparts yellow color). We removed stearic acid and are in the process of switching out the preservatives (to reduce any possible sting). I tried the latest sample and it is great, but I wouldn’t mind it being even more moisturizing. Therefore, we are adding an extra humectant (perhaps MP Diol) and I will try that sample soon. RELEASE DATE: Several months away. COST: Hopefully the same.

SPF Moisturizer: I tried another sample of a zinc oxide based SPF. We may be between a rock and a hard place with the SPF. I am committed to zinc oxide for its broad spectrum support, but it goes on white, and can sometimes leave the skin feeling a bit tight. I asked them to bump up the humectants again, and add more jojoba to the mix. They’ll resample me on this soon. RELEASE DATE: Your guess is as good as mine. COST: The same as the non-SPF moisturizer.

Salicylic Acid: Stability testing will be completed in early November. If it passes, we’ll print labels and put it into production at that time. RELEASE DATE: A couple/few months. PRICE: Probably about the same as the benzoyl peroxide, perhaps a bit more.

10% Glycolic: I sent out a bunch of samples to the moderators. If they approve of it, I’ll put it into production. I am in love with it. RELEASE DATE: A few months. PRICE: Probably about the same as the moisturizer.

Organic Jojoba Oil: Our testers are liking it and so am I. I am getting clear bottle samples in the mail hopefully early this week, and I’m trying to finalize what kind of cap they should have. RELEASE DATE: A few months. PRICE: Organic Jojoba is very expensive but as always I will try to keep the price as low as I possibly can.

Also, we are going to small/medium/large for all of our products. Everything will now be in 2oz. (trial and travel size), 8oz. (medium size), and 16oz. (bulk size). Acne.org will be much more open in the future to different people’s regimens, so having small/medium/large will allow everyone to mix and match as needed for whichever regimen they choose. The products will all be in curved bottles instead of tubes, and have really cool looking new packaging that Paul, Kent, Joel and I have been working on. I hope you like the new look. I promise I’ll try to stick with this look for a while.

OK, so this stuff is pretty awesome. Except it stings.

The awesome part: goes on very nicely, spreads evenly, absorbs quickly, leaves no residue, matte finish which is very hard to find in an SPF, zinc oxide based which may actually be good for acne.

The stings part: upon application I get a warming/stinging sensation which can last for up to two hours or so. I am relatively certain this is due to one of the sunscreen ingredients.

Bottom line: this is the best sunscreen I have tried to date aside from the stinging. I am going to discuss this issue with our manufacturer and see if we can improve upon it.

Well, at the risk of sounding like a broken record, the latest moisturizer sample isn’t all that great. I was excited because it takes care of flakiness, but my skin is still a little shiny looking hours after application. Also, it’s balling up a bit. So, I let the formulator know what the issues are and they’ll have another go at it. Someday we’ll get it. Someday.

First two moisturizer samples: I got two more from our usual formulator. They are, as usual, better than anything I’ve tried at moisturizing and taking care of flakiness. But, they still have the problem of leaving a slight tackiness on the skin. I’m not sure where to go from here. I don’t know if they’re going to nail it. I might need to come up with creative ways of taking the best parts of this formulator’s samples and auditioning manufacturers to address the tackiness issue.

Third moisturizer sample: I got this one from another formulator. I just tried it about a half an hour ago, so I’ll let you know how it goes. So far so good. It feels fine on my skin. There’s little tackiness if any. It felt a little thick going on, but upon application it just melted into the skin. More on this one tomorrow or the next day.

I got the latest sample in the mail today. First the good parts: It feels so good going on it’s a joke. It’s like liquid silk and it goes on clear and fast. It also takes care of flakiness as it should. It also has no scent but in a good way. Let me explain. Lots of “unscented” products still have a scent of whichever ingredients are in the product. This moisturizer is no different. It has a very slight scent, but the scent is pleasing and something I could really get used to.

One last bad part: It still feels like I’ve got something on my skin after I apply it. I could describe it as a mild tackiness/stickiness. Brandy, our Regimen Assistance person, and Joel, our webmaster, didn’t notice this, but I do. So I’m sending it back to the formulator again. I hope this tackiness issue can be resolved in short order. In the meantime, I have a second formulator working on the project. So, onward and upward!

I am also waiting patiently to try the latest moisturizer sample. It was delivered FedEx to my door when I was not home, and it is simply not there. I don’t know if it was misdelivered or stolen. But I’m trying hard to breathe and practice patience. I will let you know how it is when I get it.

By the way, do you guys like hearing all my nitty gritty, or should I wait to update the blog until I have serious news to report?