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My name is Jayne, and I'm a 21 year old accounting student from Canada. I'm going to share my skin story with you guys so that I have a place to log my progress and hopefully help somebody who has a simmilar story to mine.
So, I'm always hesitent to say that I did not suffer with acne when I was growing up as a teenager. I did, however, get 1-2 cysts every 6 monthes from the time I was in junior high up until I was 20/21. My face would be entirely clear, and then all of a sudden I'd have 1 huge cyst show up on my chin randomly from time to time. That, I could totally deal with, no problem.
This is where my story actually begins.
It all started almost exactly 4 monthes ago. I moved to a different city about 3 years ago for school, and I hadn't gotten around to getting a new doctor in that time (I know, I'm bad, I have one NOW!). So one day, 4 monthes ago, I went to a medicenter in my city to get another 12 monthes of ortho-tricyclen. The doctor asked me how I liked my current BCP, and I told him that I'd been on it for over 4 years and loved it, had no problem with it, didn't have cramps or pms EVER. He said, "Well then why don't you try ortho-tricyclen lo? It does the exact same thing as orthotricylen but with lower doses of hormones". Okay, I obviosly trusted a doctor and got a one year perscription of ortho lo. That was such a huge mistake.
After 2 weeks the taking ortho lo, my skin had broken out more than it ever had in my entire life. I continued to take it for the duration of the month, at which point my skin had cysts on an ongoing basis, clogged pores, whiteheads, blackheads. My skin looked like crap, and I was just starting off a new semester (yay). During the month of hell, I discovered acne.org. I read sooooooooooooo many posts, mainly on cleanser, makeup, and moisterizer recommendations.
One day, I read a sticky saying that the St. Ives Apricot scrub was one of the worst scrubs you could use because of the uneven texture of walnut shell and the possibility of creating microtears in your skin.
A quick note for you here, I had been using St. Ives Apricot scrub with 2% SA for FIVE years (since highschool) before I read this.
The same day I read that it was bad for your skin, I stopped using it. I started to use strictly cetaphil.
After one month of tricyclen lo, I went back to the medicenter and told him I hated it, and I got a year of orthotricyclen.
Let's fast forward to the week of March 25. After 3 monthes of taking my regular orthotricyclen, my skin was still as crappy as ever. I had changed my diet, stopped drinking milk, started to excercise every day, and try to drink up to 8 glasses of water a day. Still, skin remained the same. So I sat down, and I thought to myself, what the hell am I doing differently NOW than I was before this whole ordeal? My bcp is now the same as before, my lifestyle is even HEALTHIER than before...
...Then I had a moment of realization. I realized that the only thing that had changed was that DAMN St. Ives Apricot scrub with 2% SA. I said to myself, I really don't care what peolpe on here say about it, I'm at my last straw, and I used it for SO long before and had such clear skin.
So on March 25, 2009, I went out and brought the same scrub I'd been using for so long. In almost two weeks of using my old scrub, my skin has literally done a 180. The tone and texture is AMAZING. I have only gotten one tiny cyst in the 2 weeks I've been using this scrub. (I got it this morning - I'm blaming this on the entire bag of fritos hoops I ate last night while watching movies). Everything has cleared up on my face, and I'm left with some red marks on my chin, but I have a great toner with hyaluronic acid, tea tree oil, and vitamin E that fads red marks seriously fast.
I got really upset at myself for trusting only one source of information (acne.org). I stopped using a product that has worked for me for years because of a few bad reviews on here. I decided to check my favorite site for reviews, makeupalley. My scrub got 80% on there, with almost 1000 reviews, mostly those of which had acne prone and/or oily skin.
So, to conclude, this is my holy grail scrub, it was before, I let it go for 4 monthes, and saw the havoc that wreaked on my skin. I'm kicking myself because if I would have known that my skin would clear up in less than 2 weeks, I would have never stopped using it in the first place!!!
The key to using this scrub is TO BE GENTLE. Don't exfoliate like you would your body. Be super gentle and lightly cleanse with circular motions.
St. Ives Apricot Scrub with 2% salicylic acid, I f*cking love you, no matter what some may say.
I'm going to post pics up until my skin is back in it's original state (knock on wood).
So far, my face has hyperpigmentation on my chin, and one small cyst that has shown its head this morning. The rest of my face is very clear, no clogged pores, and a very even tone and texture.
I'm sorry to go against some of the negative things said about this scrub, but 5 years of clear skin before this ordeal, and how quickly my skin cleared up after using it for only 2 weeks, is enough for my to say that I can't recommend it enough.
Pic 1 - March 25, 2009
Pic 2 - April 4, 2009
Pic 3 - taken last semester
Pic 4 - January 3, 2009
(pic 3&4 are on the next post)
Anyways, I just wanted to share my story with you guys.
Have a great weekend
- PL
My mom has green eyes as do both of her siblings. I dont even know what to call my eyes. From far away they are brown but if you look close, there is a lot of green. Maybe my eyes are hazel 
She also died in September. 
