27 replies to this topic

[Enry]

So let me start by introducing myself, since I didn't open a thread in the "Introduce Yourself" forum (shame on me!). I am a 25 year old male student from the Netherlands, and am currently doing an internship. I have had acne since I was 13. My acne changes a lot but I think it is moderate at the moment. I have tried loads of products like almost everyone here. My recent epic failure was proactiv. All it really did was make my acne worse. I'm still glad I have tried it because I would have always wondered if it was any good for me otherwise. Then I found acne.org, which leads me to the start of my log:

After some research I ordered two big bottles of Dan's BP and a tube of AHA. Because of the high shipping & tax price ($100 ouch!) I had to pay, I am not going to order the cleanser and moisturizer yet. A friend of mine is going to the US next month and I will force him to take an extra suitcase for my acne.org needs! (muhaha) Until that time I am using:

Clinique Liquid Face Wash as a cleanser.

Biotherm Homme T-Pur Intense SOS Corrective Moisturizing Concentrate (who comes up with these names?) as a moisturizer.

After getting some weird looks in a bunch of drugstores I actually found a store that sells organic Jojoba oil. While I was shopping I went and got the cheapest pillow covers I could find (well that's a lie, but pink just isn't my color), since I have a cat that thinks it's ok to sit and clean it's grubby little paws all over my bed! (I'd do the same in his basket if he would actually use the flippin thing... money well spent there..)

So anyway I started on Friday evening to make sure I didn't have to go out looking like a microwaved tomato if anything went wrong. I think I used a bit too much BP, but it was really hard to get my entire face covered with a small amount. All went well but I did (and still am) experiencing the red- and dryness that others mention to. After forgetting to brush my teeth before washing my face a few times, I finally got it right two days ago (brushing your teeth without the foam coming from your mouth is quite an accomplishment!). I just hope I can remember to keep doing things in the right order when I have just woken up. Printing out Dan's checklist might be a good idea.

I am now on day 5 and the redness is still very visible, and because I try to avoid my eyes with the BP it looks like I've been wearing snowgoggles. I haven't gotten any comments about it yet, but that's probably because I have a 24 inch monitor to hide behind at work! Shaving irritates my skin sometimes, so I tried adding some jojoba oil to my moisturizer, which really worked well. It did however make my skin very shiny, so I will only be adding it in the evening. After bleaching another towel that was given to me as a present (oops) I decided to buy some cheap (non-pink) ones.

I will try and update this thread when I have something interesting to write, in the mean time feel free to ask me questions, make witty comments, say hi, ridicule my spelling/grammar, or realize that you have just wasted precious minutes of your life reading about mine and find a better thread!

What ever you chose to do: thanks for reading

Edited by Enry, 06 October 2009 - 08:33 AM.

[katharine]

i'm just slightly shocked... by how much the shipping and tax cost.
good luck with the BP

[Enry]

i'm just slightly shocked... by how much the shipping and tax cost.
good luck with the BP

Yeah same here, but I must admit I used the fast UPS shipping method ($52) because I really wanted to stop using proactiv asap. Thanks for your reply

[katharine]

well, clear skin is definitely priceless
Just wondering, are there nothing else you can find in Holland that works the same way?

[Enry]

Just wondering, are there nothing else you can find in Holland that works the same way?

Well I was able to find "Neutrogena on the spot" for the BP, but after reading mixed reviews here I figured it was worth it to try and get Dan's stuff and follow the regimen as closely as possible. As for the cleanser and moisturizer, I am just using stuff that I had from previous (failed) clear skin attempts.

I also read on the forum in some very old thread that someone from Holland used a 5% BP gel from the pharmacy, and got them to mix it with a neutral gel to get it down to 2.5%. This might be a solution, but for now I have almost 32oz of Dan's stuff

[Enry]

So I just realized that if I want to buy Dan's products in bulk in a month or so, it's best to actually try out all the products I want to make sure I am not allergic or something. I have just ordered the cleanser and moisturizer to test them. This time I made sure to choose the lowest shipping rate (and am really hoping on a "no tax" break).

Time for my pm routine

[Vampireninja09]

Good luck on your regimen again. I hope the dryness and irrating clears up soon. I know they both really stink. I don't get why cats like sleeping on pillows (mine does). I always wake up feeling like their is cat fur on my face and in my mouth Anyways, good luck with Dan's stuff. I started out with NOTS, and am still doing it sometimes. Good grief things cost alot there, I agree with Katharine! Is the jojoba helping with the flakiness at all?

[katharine]

I love those tax free week and those free shipping promotion
(within the states tho)

about the shine, how about brushing some powder on?
I have this jurlique lavender silk powder, it's colorless, so it kinds makes my skin appear slightly whiter but I think it would reduce redness. and it absorb oil, and my skin never looks shinny throughout the day. (other time, I use a powder with color and SPF in it, love them) I think it worth to invest in oil absorbing powder.

Vampire ninja, I think cats just love to be where you don't want them to be... haha

[Enry]

Good luck on your regimen again. I hope the dryness and irrating clears up soon. I know they both really stink. I don't get why cats like sleeping on pillows (mine does). I always wake up feeling like their is cat fur on my face and in my mouth Anyways, good luck with Dan's stuff. I started out with NOTS, and am still doing it sometimes. Good grief things cost alot there, I agree with Katharine! Is the jojoba helping with the flakiness at all?

The jojoba really is helping a lot yes, but the shine is preventing me from doing it during the day. For now I have a little bottle of moisturizer in my pocket just in case I totally dry up during the day, but I feel like I have to sneak to the toilet to use it. I work with a bunch of guys who probably think moisturizer is for greasing engine parts.

I love those tax free week and those free shipping promotion
(within the states tho)

about the shine, how about brushing some powder on?
I have this jurlique lavender silk powder, it's colorless, so it kinds makes my skin appear slightly whiter but I think it would reduce redness. and it absorb oil, and my skin never looks shinny throughout the day. (other time, I use a powder with color and SPF in it, love them) I think it worth to invest in oil absorbing powder.

Vampire ninja, I think cats just love to be where you don't want them to be... haha

International free shipping and no tax week would rock, but I doubt that will ever happen

I think using powder is a bit too much for me. Maybe i'm just being a stuborn guy, but moisturizer and actually reading about cosmetic things is pushing it for me at the moment. I already get odd looks from my girlfriend when I explain to her why she should or shouldn't use certain products...
Thanks for the tip tho, if it gets really really bad I guess it's something I could try.

[katharine]

maybe not happening right now as the economy is bad.

I understand that some guys have issues with cosmetic, that's why I thought of something colorless. Think of it as baby powder. just a thin layer, and you probably can't even tell you have anything on, minus the shine

[Enry]

maybe not happening right now as the economy is bad.

I understand that some guys have issues with cosmetic, that's why I thought of something colorless. Think of it as baby powder. just a thin layer, and you probably can't even tell you have anything on, minus the shine

Hmm, calling it baby powder isn't making it more masculine But I understand what your getting at. Thanks Katharine

[katharine]

ahahaha.... right, baby powder is no where close to masculine.
just hide it away from everyone else haha

[Enry]

Day 7
So my skin has been getting really dry! Especially the area around my chin and neck. I am having to switch to another moisturizer because my current one is just not doing enough. I am probably going to try my old clinique moisturizer tonight. I'd rather try it this weekend to see how my skin reacts, but I am at work right now and I can feel my skin drying more and more. The redness is still there to, but this doesn't bother me as much.

After forgetting to brush my teeth before cleansing so many times now, I put in a suggestion to add it to Dan's checklist page I have created a new checklist for myself.

Anyway, that's my update for now. Back to work!

[katharine]

btw, although I'm not on any regimen.
but I'm also struggling to brush my teeth before cleansing. it's easier to do this in the morning... but hard at night before the shower...... lol

how's the dryness?

[Enry]

btw, although I'm not on any regimen.
but I'm also struggling to brush my teeth before cleansing. it's easier to do this in the morning... but hard at night before the shower...... lol

how's the dryness?

Aah I always shower in the morning, but have the exact same problem

My face is still red and dry But I was reading "Cool as kim deal"'s post on dryness and flaking, she suggests using jojoba oil before cleansing as a way to reduce flakes. I think I will give this a shot tonight.

[katharine]

haha yea, just want to go straight into the shower.....

have you look into steaming or honey mask?
I found putting honey on really moisturizing, tho, my sin doesn't flaks that much....
if it does, it's around the mouth during winter. and I put vaseline...

[Enry]

Day 10
My skin is still a bit red, but drying out like crazy. It actually hurts to put on moisturizer on some parts of my skin now. It will turn red right after I do. I am a bit worried that my skin is taking too much of a beating, and am wondering what I can do about it. I am already pretty careful with the amount of BP I use. Today I avoided my neck area (I get acne there sometimes) because it has been getting irritated just from being moisturized.

I tried using jojoba oil before cleansing to try and get rid of some dead skin. It helped a bit, but there seems to be no end to my skin flaking. I really really hope this is going to stop / be less some time soon. It is starting to get a bit painful. I don't mind the pain, but I'm just worried that my skin is not reacting in the right way.

I switched to Purpose as a cleanser, since I was just using Clinique because it was all I had. It seems like a nice cleanser, but because of the dryness of my skin I'm not sure how nice yet

haha yea, just want to go straight into the shower.....

have you look into steaming or honey mask?
I found putting honey on really moisturizing, tho, my sin doesn't flaks that much....
if it does, it's around the mouth during winter. and I put vaseline...

Hmm I am not sure how my face would react to being covered in vaseline I'll do some reading into honey.

[katharine]

do you think it might be the weather's getting too dry as well? as fall is here now.....
maybe a humidifier at night might help?

[Vampireninja09]

haha yea, just want to go straight into the shower.....

have you look into steaming or honey mask?
I found putting honey on really moisturizing, tho, my sin doesn't flaks that much....
if it does, it's around the mouth during winter. and I put vaseline...

Hmm I am not sure how my face would react to being covered in vaseline I'll do some reading into honey

Agreed. I need to look into this as well. I keep forgetting.

Edited by Vampireninja09, 12 October 2009 - 12:37 AM.

[stratoquacker]

I know exactly what you are goin thru this is my 3rd week on the regimen and boy does my skin look bad, i got the initial breakout so i have atleast 12-13 pimples. But last week my skin was on fire, it was red, irritated and flaky, it took about 2 days for it that to clear up, (i think my skin was "hardening" for the BP) Anyway after that I broke out bad and now the pimples more or less are slowing startin to dry up. Maybe your skin is just getting use to the bp, I was careful about amount too but that didnt stop it from reddening and flaking.