I received a perfect salicylic acid sample yesterday and OKed it today. It now enters FDA required stability testing for 3 months after which time I will put it up for sale. So we’re looking at late October or early November.

I’ve been using only the salicylic acid cream twice a day for about two weeks or so. At first it was smooth sailing. However, I have a few whiteheads and a couple of blackheads now. They are totally non-inflamed and most people would probably not notice I had anything going on, but I do. When I was doing sal acid in the morning and BP at night my skin was indestructible. Perfect. But I’m becoming convinced that sal acid alone might not cut it for me.

Since everyone who meets me ends up asking what I do for a living and I have to say “I run Acne.org” I really want indestructible clear skin, so I am going back to BP in the evenings and sal acid in the mornings.

My skin stayed completely, totally clear using the sal acid in the morning and BP at night. I was paranoid to go to twice daily sal acid though because Joel, Paul, Brandy, and other people were coming to visit and I didn’t want to be broken out But they’re gone now so I switched to the sal acid morning and evening. My skin is totally clear. The cool thing is, it’s like even under a microscope it would be clear. I have nothing even starting to pop up. What is remarkable about this is that I have had a weird illness for two weeks now and have been blowing my nose constantly. Normally, there is nothing that will prevent breakouts with that much irritation around my nose. But this time is different. My nose is completely smooth. It’s almost weird.

In the interest of full disclosure, since I’ve been sick I have been eating less too. My appetite is down. So I’ve been losing weight. When people lose weight, their skin is often better. So I will keep experimenting with just the sal acid twice a day and keep you guys posted. As of right now I am loving it. And since I switched to using it twice a day I can eliminate the moisturizing step!

I have heard back from two people who have tried the SA formula. They are both liking how it’s working. I am personally still very happy with it. I think I will be able to get away with this in the morning and BP in the evening. I hope other people like it too so I can make it so I can have some for myself! But we’ll see what people think. I figure I’ll give it another 3 weeks or so and see what everybody is thinking. If everyone likes it as it is, it would then go into 3 months of stability testing. If people want changes, which is highly likely, these changes will need to be made and the product will need to be retested by the same people. Anyway, onward we go.

I ok’ed the salicylic acid formula and our formulator put some in stability but it wasn’t as stable as they wanted it to be. So they made a slightly new formulation that is back in the oven for stability. If all goes well I’ll have a sample on Wednesday. Then if it feels ok I’ll be able to send a bunch of samples out to see if people like it. I am loving it myself, but a couple of people who’ve tried it have said they broke out a bit. I also broke out some when I first started using it, and if I go off BP entirely, I seem to break out. But once a day BP and once a day SA seems to work beautifully for me so far. I should also have a sample of the next moisturizer Wednesday. Please send good vibes regarding that. At this point, turning to prayer seems like a good option

Salicylic acid medication: I’m still using this stuff every morning. And quite frankly, I look forward to it every day. I look forward to the silky feel of it. I look forward to the slight sting. And I look forward to wearing brightly colored clothes with no fear of bleaching them. But, I have two really small, eensie weensie blackheads on my nose. But the rest of my skin is happy as can be on this stuff. In fact, it is smooth and pretty fantastic. My nose has been a slightly strange area since I’ve been using the SA, but then again, my allergies have been crazy and I’ve been blowing my nose constantly, so the irritation could be to blame. I do love the formulation though, so I ok’ed it. The formulator is doing some final stability testing on it and then will send me 30 final samples. I am going to give 3 or 4 of them to Brandy, Joel, Paul, and myself, and then I’ll need volunteers to try the other samples. I have a pretty cool feeling about this stuff tho.

I got another sample of the salicylic acid product with anti-inflammatories, sebum-reducers, and antimicrobials. The feel is awesome. It looks like a white cream and is viscous enough that you can dollop it on your palm. This allows us to carefully measure how much we want to use. But when you put it on, it goes on almost like water. It leaves a nice feeling on the skin that is non-greasy and light. Plus, my skin is still looking great and I’ve been using the salicylic acid every morning now for a few weeks. I did have a few problems for the first week or two around my nose. I got a few non-inflamed comedones there. But as of today my skin looks pretty perf. I have my fingers crossed that this will do the trick for me in the morning because I’m ready to wear vibrant colors without fear of bleaching them!

I get 6 samples at a time. The next step is to get feedback from Brandy, Joel, Real Maverick and my operations manager, Rhonda, who got four of the latest samples. I’m keeping the last two for myself! If everyone likes it as much as I do, I sign off on it and get a full kilo of it from our manufacturer. Then I can send more samples out to get a broader opinion. If everyone likes it, I’ll put it in FDA required stability for 3 months and when and if it is a stable formulation, I’ll bottle it and sell it.