what worked for me

Hi,

I finally found something that works for me after about 5 years.
Background:

I used to have mild/moderate acne, but it went away for a year when I used neutrogena rapid clear pads and clearasil adult acne treatment. (sulfur). These products stopped working; they would dry out my skin and make it flake like crazy. Since that time, which was 3 years ago, I have tried:

green cream, countless otc drugstore products, PC, supplements, and DKR. (And countless combinations of these products as well).

My acne transformed into really bad noninflamed about a year ago- tons and tons of congested pores and black/whiteheads that i would irritate and they would look awful. Anyway, DKR actually helped that a lot, but it also made my skin really red even after a month, so I tried something else, and after all these years it actually works.

What works for me is:

neutrogena stress control 3 in 1 acne treatment and jojoba oil. I apply the neutrogena at night and in the morning. (thin layer). At night i use the showerhead on lukewarm to wash my face before applying. Because the area around my mouth tends to dry out easily, and then get blackheads (I really don't know if they're blackheads, but its like a big hardened plug inside the skin), about a week ago i decided to also put on a ton of jojoba oil on that area, and it prevented that problem. Now my skin is pretty much perfect, with the exception of a few of those tiny flesh colored bumps (milia?) that don't even bother me.

I actually did use this product for about 6 months in the past, but I applied too much so it dried my skin out which for some reason can cause breakouts. It was satisfactory then, now that I am using it properly it works much better. Use a THIN layer and any part of your skin that gets dried out, put jojoba oil on.

Now I know people are sometimes reluctant to use neutrogena, but this one works. It has extremely high reviews on drugstore.com; 4.5 out of 5 I think, and paula from paula's choice says its one of 3 otc salicylic acid products that are well-formulated.

Sorry for the long post; just wanted to be as detailed as possible. I don't claim this works for everybody but I feel obligated to share in case it works for somebody else.

regimen for noninflammatory acne?

I was wondering if the DKR works for tons of congested pores/blackheads, because PC salicylic acid and green cream did not work. I'm thinking that if BP ONLY killed bacteria (and had no effect on clogged pores), then anyone who it "worked" for would still be left with clogged pores/blackheads. Since this is not the case, could it work?

Secondly, I can use the full amount of BP without dryness...if I use a little jojoba oil only as a moisturizer. Is this okay? Thanks!

washing skin

Since blackheads are not caused by dirt, or clogged pores for that matter, how does washing affect noninflamed acne?

I've been using 2% PC (mostly the gel, but also used liquid) for almost 2 months and still get bad clogged pores, though there has been SOME improvement..but only at the beginning.
I've been washing with just water at some times, and with the one step PC cleanser at others.

Anyway, just trying to figure out what I should do and whether washing with only water versus the cleanser makes a difference. I emailed PC..and of course they told me the cleanser is necessary, but did not say why.

Thanks

question about BP and clogged pores

Hi, recently started using 2.5% bp once a day and it killed my inflammatory mild breakouts after only a week, but I have a ton of clogged pores/noninflammatory bumps, pretty much covering my cheeks. They're not as much visible as they are annoying, as theyre mostly noticable up close. (skin colored for the most part). I was wondering if BP is effective in eliminating these clogged pores/comedones as well? Since its mechanism is to kill bacteria present in inflamed acne. Thanks.

Oh, and salicylic acid/sulfur wasn't effective in getting rid of them.

super dry skin, breaks out

kay don't know what to do anymore so im asking here.

I have really dry skin, and even if i only wash my face in the shower and pat it dry it dries out and flakes. But it isn't always like this. For a couple months i used a wash and it didn't dry out at all. Two years ago i used salicylic acid pads (40% alcohol) and a sulfur treatment and was completely clear for 6 months and rarely dried out.

When I use a face scrub (not for acne), i don't break out but i get clogged pores which are almost as bad.
I switched to a salicylic acid face scrub 3 days ago but it only gave me more clogged pores.

I've been using a moisturizer that doesn't clog my pores for about a month. Still break out.

the ONLY thing that unclogs my pores is the sulfur treatment. But it dries out my skin after a few days and then i get inflamed bumps.

Only my forehead gets inflamed bumps, otherwise.
What to do?