Day 524:

Alright, the cheek blemish is all dried up now, and all that's left is a pink spot, which seems to be fading already. It wasn't nearly as bright today as it was yesterday, which I'm pretty happy about. I didn't even use any extra virgin olive oil on it. So w00t!

The clogged pores seem to be clearing up, too.

My only complaint is that my skin's a bit dry these days, but that's because it's getting colder, and we've had the heat on. We really need to get the heater looked at. The humidifier part has been broken since before we moved in, so it just blows very dry air. I should set up my humidifier in my bedroom, but I don't want to, 'cause the light on it keeps me up... Meh, I'll just moisturize more.

Day 522:

Woohoo for premenstrual pimples! They are my favorite thing in the whole world, and I am thrilled to have a sore, pink bump on the side of my right cheek. The best part is when I'm laying down, and it kind of hurts because there's pressure on it! It just makes me want to weep with joy.

[/sarcasm]

Really, it's not that bad. Yes, I do have a small, sore, pink zit on the side of my cheek (kind of between the corner of my jaw and my earlobe, only in a little further). And yes, I do have a few clogged pores that aren't inflamed at all, but are annoying nonetheless.

But I can deal, because I am an adult, and adults deal with things like acne in a very adult way: by hiding out and loading on the BP.

It's times like this that I miss being able to use AHA, I tell you what.

Day 502:

Wow, that "little breakout" took so long to clear up. It was like as soon as one bump would die down, another one would pop up. Plus I got a zit on my chin.

I've been using a little more BP than normal on those areas, though, and now they're pretty much cleared up.

Plus I talked to my boyfriend's aunt about Acne.org, because she said her daughter was looking for some kind of treatment and had been considering ProActiv. So maybe Kari will start The Regimen. I think that would be pretty cool.

Day 478:

Excellent. I can actually use BP all over my face again without my skin totally freaking out. Occasionally, it still gets very faintly pink at the corners of my mouth and burns very slightly, but all in all, it's okay.

I'm still using my Clean & Clear Salicylic Acid. I'm so sad that Dan's SA didn't work out. But since my skin can handle the BP again, I'm hoping that it'll eventually be able to handle the AHA and SA. *fingers crossed*

I'm breaking out a little bit on my forehead. Well, just some clogged pore-type things. Small, skin-colored bumps. I think it's probably because I went off birth control for five weeks and just started it again, so my hormones are a little wonky.

Eh, I'll just keep doing the BP/SA 1-2 punch.

Blee-blee-blee.

Day 465:

(Sigh.) The SA leaves the same pink, bumpy spots on my skin as the AHA.

Damn it.

Day 463:

Just got my SA in the mail. I'm spot testing it behind my right ear. I applied a tiny bit about ten minutes ago, and right now, the area stings and is pretty red. I hope this goes away, or I won't be able to use the SA. *frets*

[ONE HOUR LATER] The stinging and redness are gone now. I'll see how the skin there looks tomorrow, and go from there. *crosses fingers*

Day 459:

I ordered a tube of Dan's Salicylic Acid.

My skin is doing much better since the whole allergic reaction fiasco. The skin under my chin is still a little dry, and I still can't put BP around my mouth, but other than that, I'm doing okay.

The thing is, ever since that crap went down, my skin hasn't been able to handle AHA. Any time I try spot treating with it, the area I treated is bright pink and very bumpy the next day. And it takes a week or two to go away. Not cool, especially since I adored the AHA.

So we'll see how things go with the SA. I know they're not the same thing, but I'm hoping that I'll be able to use the SA around my mouth, since I can't use BP there, and maybe I can try something like SA in the morning, BP at night.

Anyway, I just wanted to update real quick 'cause I'm excited about the SA, and I'm happy that my face isn't all swollen any more (knock on wood). I think it may have been smoke from our grill that was doing it. Or charcoal dust or something. Meh.

Day 430:

Today will be my second attempt at using BP all over my face again.

*crosses fingers*

Also, I've been using the Tape Method to get rid of flaky skin lately. It's pretty great, actually.

Day 420:

It didn't go well. Within a few hours, the skin around my mouth was red, itchy, and slightly swollen. I've gone back to just using BP on certain parts of my face.

Also, my eyes puffed back up last night. I don't know why, but it really bothers me.

Day 416:

Oy vey.

So...

After my last post, my eyes swelled up like crazy. I almost ended up in the emergency room. Luckily, after about a week, the swelling went down, and I just had to deal with the skin in the areas that had been swollen being pink and dry, and, after a few days, flaky.

Once my skin had calmed back down, I was incredibly careful about putting anything on my face. I'd still been using BP, but only on my forehead and parts of my cheeks--nowhere near anywhere that had been swollen. At one point, I tried spot-treating two small bumps with AHA, but the next day, the skin there looked very irritated, so I decided against using AHA after that.

About a week ago, my boyfriend ate some calamari (which I'm allergic to), and afterwards, kissed me. I thought nothing of it.

That night, I decided to use AHA on my hands and feet before bed. "They're nowhere near my face," I reasoned, "It'll be fine.".

The next day, I developed an itchy, red hive on my neck. I don't know if I was reacting to the calamari kiss or the AHA, but it wasn't pleasant.

The day after that, my eyes puffed up. Not nearly as bad as they had before, but bad enough that I was pretty worried. They took two days to de-puff.

Now I'm just dealing with dry, flaky skin again. My eyelids are peeling, and the skin around my mouth is still very dry and a little flaky. I've continued to be careful about where I apply BP, still sticking to only using it on my forehead and parts of my cheeks.

Today, I noticed a teeny-tiny pimple on my chin, and several clogged pores.

Tonight is the first night in almost a month that I've treated my entire face with BP.

We'll see how this goes...

Day 391:

Okay, so it's definitely the Nizoral that's making my eyes puff up. I used it last night, and today, I'm puffy all over again. Last time, it took three days for my eyes to calm down. I'm hoping they'll be better by tomorrow, but I'm not counting on it.

I guess I'll just have to find a different shampoo to wash with. Maybe a different active ingredient won't bother my eyes as much.

Anyway, my eyelids are very pink and itch like crazy. This is no fun. No fun at all...

[EDIT @ 5:07pm] I've been icing my eyes on and off today with an ice cube wrapped in a damp towel. My eyes de-puff almost immediately, but within an hour, they're puffed back up, and within another hour, they're starting to itch again.

(Sigh.) At least I've found some temporary relief.

Day 390:

I really need to stop keeping track of how many days I've been on The Regimen this point. To say 'three hundred and ninety days' is ridiculous. I should just break it down to, like, 'one year, twenty one days', or something. But I won't. Hahahahaha.

Anyway, there have been skin issues galore over here, but it's such a long story that I don't want to type it out. So here's the quick version:

• Persistent dry, flakey skin around mouth and nose.
• Possible seb derm.
• Washed with Nizoral.
• Slight improvement, followed by more peeling.
• Eyelids incredibly swollen.
• Cut back on how often I washed with Nizoral.
• Significant improvement, eyes no longer swollen.

But yeah, things are much better now. Thank God and Goddess.

Day 374:

I'm still battling dry skin around my mouth. I don't know why it won't go away. It hasn't been this bad since that time when I realized I'd inadvertently been using less and less BP and had to increase my dose again.

I have nickle-sized patches of dry, flaky skin at the corners of my mouth, and the crease between my lower lip and chin is very dry and flaky, too. I've tried applying AHA, Cetaphil mixed with jojoba, jojoba by itself, Cetaphil by itself, Aquaphor to try to seal in moisture... Nothing seems to work. The skin there is always flaky and dry and pink. It doesn't look very nice at all... I don't know what to do.

(Sigh.)

Day 366:

Yay! I've officially been on The Regimen for a year!

Anyway, I scrubbed my face a little too hard the other day and now I have a dry, irritated, spot near my mouth. And after I got out of my bath tonight, it was weeping a little, so I've applied Neosporin and covered it with a Band-Aid. (Sigh.)

I hope it heals up soon. I have a party to go to in two weeks, and I'd like to look nice.

Ughhh...

*stresses out*

Day 360:

The more I use it, the more I like jojoba oil. Not only do I mix a couple of drops in with my moisturizer, but I've used it several times to remove my mascara, and it works wonderfully. I give it two thumbs up.

And I decided last night to try using my AHA on my feet. It sounds a little silly, but the souls of my feet have been a little dry and scratchy for the past week or so, and I've had this patch of rough skin on the side of my left foot for years now, so I figured, "What the hell, I'll try it.".

So I applied AHA to my feet last night, then threw on a pair of socks. This morning, my feet were noticeably softer and smoother. So I applied AHA to my feet again after I took my shower today, and I just pulled my socks off a minute ago to see how my feet were looking, and oh my goodness. They're sooo soft, and the rough spot on the side of my foot is practically gone! I've tried all sorts of lotions and balms on that goddamn spot, and none of them did anything, and in only two applications, the AHA has pretty much taken care of it. I'm ecstatic. : )

So yeah. I've still got some marks left from the blemish above my eyebrow and on my cheek. I haven't been using olive oil on them like I usually do, because I want to get a fresh bottle (the stuff I've been using is from the bottle we bought when we moved into this house over a year ago, and I dunno... I just don't want to keep using old olive oil...).

I'm getting aggravated, because even though they're not, like, zits any more, they're still lingering on in a clogged-pore kind of way. Like, it seems like they aren't going away completely, so I end up picking at them, which irritates them, and blah, blah, blah. I dunno.

And the skin near the corners of my mouth has been really dry and flaky lately. I don't know why this keeps happening. It's worse on the left side than on the right, as per usual. I scratched it this morning when I got up, and I seem to have torn the skin a tiny bit. Now it's sore. Damn it.

Other than that, not a whole lot to report on. I got three more packs of birth control, so I'm hoping my period will be normal again. Having it, like, every other week really took it out of me...

So yeah. That's all for tonight.

Day 354:

Alright, so my period's over now, but I still have to get my birth control refilled, so who knows how this is going to go.

I started applying AHA to the blemishes above my eyebrow and on my cheek a few days ago. I'd dab a little on, then a few hours later, wipe it off with a moist cotton ball, and dab some fresh AHA on. It seemed to be working really well, but I think I might have over done it a little.

Yesterday, I noticed that, which the blemishes had certainly shrunk and flattened out, the skin around them was a bit pink and felt like it was dead or burned. Eventually I stretched the skin around them a bit, and a layer of dead, dry skin came loose on and around the one on my check.

I hopped in the shower and, as usual, went over my face with a washcloth at the end. Most of the dead skin came off, but I was left with two pink spots on my face for the rest of the day.

I've been applying a bit of jojoba oil to them to help keep them moist, and it seems to be helping. They're both much less pink today. I'm hoping they'll heal up completely soon. I'm so tired of this.

I've been using the jojoba oil as a lip balm too. And to remove my mascara, and to moisturize around my eyes. I actually really like it.

Sorry this post is sort of disorganized. I'm feeling a little loopy today. : P

Day 349:

**WARNING: MENSTRUAL DISCUSSION IMMINENT!**

(Sigh.) I got my period again on Thursday. So I've had my period for nineteen of the past forty six days. In April from the fourth to the tenth, and then from the twenty first to the twenty ninth, and now for the past three days.

I don't know what to do. I can't handle having my period this often. It takes too much of a toll on my body, and my hormones are going crazy. I'm so moody all the time, and I just feel like shit. Plus I keep getting new pimples. Like, as soon as I clear up from one period, I'm breaking out from the next. (Right now, I've got a slightly painful and very pink bump just over my right eyebrow, and I'm getting a tiny new pimple in, like, the exact same spot as the last two I've had on my right cheek.)

I wouldn't mind as much if my periods were light or only lasted three or four days, but I'm getting heavy periods that are lasting a week or more. I'm going through a Tampax Multipack, like, every other week. It's nuts. Ugh!

**MENSTRUAL DISCUSSION COMPLETE.**

Day 347:

The replacement BP and "bonus" jojoba oil Dan sent out came today. So far, I've tried the jojoba oil as a lip balm, and added two drops to my moisturizer.

So far, it seems pretty okay. Obviously, I'm not going to be able to form any sort of real opinion in just a few hours, so I'll have to update about how it's going in a few days, and then again in a few weeks.

I do have to admit, though, the skin around my mouth (where it's normally a bit dry) feels wonderful.

So we shall see. We shall see.

Day 340:

Alright. I seem to be clearing up (knock on wood). The hyperpigmentation from the last few blemishes doesn't seem too terrible, so I'm hoping it'll fade relatively quickly.

And I think I really like the Dove for sensitive skin. I miss the scent of the exfoliating bar, but my skin seems a lot less dry now that I'm using the bar for sensitive skin. I've also started using it in the shower. I've found that rubbing it on my shower poof actually gets quite a nice later going, and my whole body feels incredibly soft afterward.

I don't know.

I wanted to type more, but I'm feeling so distracted and off tonight. Bleh.

Day 337:

Goddamnit! Give me a mother fucking break! I've been on The Regimen for eleven months, and for the most part, my skin's been completely clear, and now new blemishes keep popping up! I'm still dealing with the hyperpigmentation from the two on my right cheek, and now I can feel one under the skin on my chin.

What's the fucking deal!?

I don't understand why I'm suddenly breaking out again, but I do not like it.