Just got Dan's wash, moisturizer, and new SA+ today.

First off, let me say that I have weird combination skin. Dry and flakey, but gets very very oily throughout the day. Currently, I use a extra gentle face wash, non como oil mattifier throughout the day, followed by a neutrogena moisturizer with .5 SA in it that has seemed to slightly help since using it a few months ago. Because of the amount of oil that can build up, I cannot just leave my face with simple medication during the night, and i've found calamine lotion to really help reduce the oilyness overnight. It's about the only thing that prevents me from getting a breakout each night.

Because of that, i'm going to continue with the calamine at night and incorporate the new stronger (dan's) SA throughout the day. I'm also going to switch over to his wash and moisturizer. If my sensitive skin adjusts to the SA over the course of around a week, then I will consider putting it on at night too and then only use calamine to apply small amounts to problems areas before bed.

So, my regimen will be:

NIGHT:

Gentle Oil cleanse (gets plugs out of my forehead), followed by wiping some of the excess off with tissue paper or a blotter.
Wash with Dan's wash in shower.
Put on mattifier to help with oil.
put on dan's moisturizer.
put on calmine lotion to a large amount of T-zone area and to wherever else I feel I need it.

MORNING:
Gently wipe off calamine with cotton ball and Nuetrogena alcohol free toner.
Wash with Dan's wash during shower.
Apply the new SA from Dan.
Apply mattifier.
Apply Dan's moisturizer.

I'll update it with how much time in between things as soon as I get a better hang of it.

I think that I could be a real good person to test this on because I have not used any BP in years since it causes extreme dryness/irritation for me, and i've only used a tiny amount of .5% SA in my moisturizer, so this is the first normal strength medication i'll be applying in quite a while.

In terms of my current skin (just took pics...i'll upload on a later date), my main flare up problem is my forehead. That's where I can get some tricky inflamated cysts, and I have 3 fairly small (but still noticeable) ones right now. My neck and the sides of my face are doing alright (only a few scars), but i'll still apply the SA everywhere so nothing is uneven. My nioce is full of tiny blackhead that I can pop out every morning, but they aren't noticeable unless you are literally eye to eye with my nose. Normally, nothing to bad on the nose except for oil. My other flareup spot is right under my mouth and around the chin/jawline area, but they are usually not as bad as my forehead. I get a lot of plugs in tihs area (as well as my forehead), and that seems to be the main cause of it, so we'll see if the SA can help.

I'm hoping these items can also soothe my skin a bit, since the calamine does dry it out some (but again, I can't live without it otherwise i'll break out terribly from the oil build up when sleeping).


I'm going to start tonight with the wash and the moisturizer (along with my needed calamine etc), and then will apply the SA for the first time tommorrow. Can't wait!

PS: If I get the initial redness like people are reporting with the SA, i'll try and snap a pic so others can see what it's like. I'm hoping i'll be alright since i've got class at 11, but honestly I can give a rat's ass since i'll only be there for an hour.

Well good luck skiz...keep us updated/posted....

So far so good!

Just put some on, and I definately got the redness (similiar to a slight sunburn) that everyone talked about. I took a pick so everyone can see what it's like by the way, that i'll try and put on tonight or tommorrow. BUT, this wasn't an uncomfortable redness at all, and so far this is one of the most soothing things that I could put on my face! Normally the rednesses I get were uncomfortable and I knew they weren't right, but for some reason this one just seemed fine and just told me that my skin recognized it.

It's been about a half hour, and all redness is 100% gone (took another picture so you can see) and my skin is feeling awesome and well-hydrated.

Originally, I was going to use Dan's moisturizer after this since I thought the SA might make me dry out, but my skin dfeels so perfect right now (aside from a few painful cysts on the forehead) that I don't want to screw anything up. So i'm just going to put a little non como oil mattifier over it (doesn't irritate at all), and go off to my classes and whatnot.


I'm going to be really tempted to put this on at night as well immediately, but i'm going to resist the urge so my skin gets 100% used to it.

Alright, it's feeling so natural on my skin now (it's been about 3-4 hours), that I think i'm going to ditch the "take it slow" method and apply some of this bad boy to help me at night to, along with hitting some spots with calamine after it dries. My skin is alot more smooth and already less inflamed in a matter or hours.

I'm going to basically use this as a moisturizer now instead of dan's, because I didn't really like how the moisturizer felt on my face when I tried it yesterday, and this seems to be doing just as good of a job. I'll only use dan's moisturizer periodically on days my skin feels real dry.

Hey...can you upload some pictures of your face so we can see the improvements..

I've only used it for 1 day lol, so I still have 4 or so cysts on my forehead. I'll see if I can get a few of the early pics on.

As I posted in the other thread, my only complaint (other than the bright redness that goes away in a half hour or so) is the safflower oil that's in this. It's non comogenic, but it definately gives off a shine, however if you wait a bit and then blot your face with oil blotting paper (that you can find at a walgreens), it seems to take it away. Hopefully that doesn't take away alot of SA with it though, but I don't think it does.

I'll try and get some pics on today or tommorrow, but keep in mind it's only been a day so there are still cysts obviously.

NOTE: Click on the pictures in the link for it to become an even bigger picture.



Before:
http://img184.imageshack.us/my.php?image=148up4.jpg
http://img140.imageshack.us/my.php?image=150ax4.jpg
http://img184.imageshack.us/my.php?image=151pv8.jpg
http://img184.imageshack.us/my.php?image=154ez4.jpg

Initial Redness:
http://img147.imageshack.us/my.php?image=155zz4.jpg
http://img184.imageshack.us/my.php?image=156xk4.jpg

After 30 minutes or so (back to normal):
http://img147.imageshack.us/my.php?image=157yl9.jpg

Today (so one day overall):
http://img184.imageshack.us/my.php?image=158ne2.jpg ---two of my cysts has turned whitehead...about 6 hours since I washed so you can see my normal oil slick.
http://img140.imageshack.us/my.php?image=159xx0.jpg

It might even look to you guys a tiny bit worse today, but trust me my skin feels fine...it's just the cysts/whiteheads going through their normal time cycle of coming and going.


Most of my problem is at the forehead, so that's why there's not much othe pics (have blackheads under mouth...but camera can' catch those).

If you compare the first pic or two to the last few, you can see that the lumps (that were even a little hard to see), have become more visible at the surface, so i'm thinking the SA has helped speed up the process of them coming and going. They are the same ones that I had and felt in the earlier pictures (even if they were less visible), so they aren't anything new.

I'm hoping the cysts will be pretty much scars in a week or so, and then it becomes a matter of seeing if anything new pops up. So far so good though.

Can barely feel those cysts/whiteheads on my forehead at all

What kind of bottle is it the SA comes in? Is it the same pump dispenser that the BP arrives in? And how much do you use of it? Does it rub in quite easily or do you have to spread it around your face quite a lot before it absorbs?

goodluck! i use salicylic acid too but it takes forever to see results with comedonal acne (what i have) ur quite good looking btw

Not a pump, it's just a normal lotion bottle that you squeeze out. Here's the pic of the bottle:
http://www.danielkern.com/product-p/salacid-6.htm
Basically, in the morning I just dab little spots (pea size or smaller, over different spots of my face and then combine them by rubbing them all in.) Maybe like 4 on my forehead, four on each side of my face, 3 on my chin and a little on my neck. I can put a picture up one day to show you if you want me to.

At night, I can be a little more generous since I don't have to worry about it giving off any shine at that time. It seems to rub in fairly good.

The times are a little varied though. The first time I did it it didn't seem to give off that much shine or smell, but the second time it was more noticeable and took about an hour for everything to be back to normal. The redness is always consistent and gone in about 15-35 minutes.

If you use it in the morning (like me), I would suggest to leave it in for an hour and then just lightly blot (not intensely wipe) your oily spots with oil blotting sheets (that you can get at walgreens) and it takes perfect care of the shine and any excess oil that's on. It doesn't leave any shine on the sides of my face, but only where my face is always oily (forehead and nose). But leaving it in for an hour lets the moisture sink in too and then you can let the blotting sheets take care of any leftover that your skin hasn't absorbed, and all is well.

My face is feeling awesome today btw.


Thanks, hopefully even better looking after using this for a month or two:)

Good 2 hear its working for you as well! I hope we get clear

Hey Skiz...what's up?

Guys, sorry I haven't replied in awhile. I stopped it after awhile...I honestly don't really remember why. I probably found some new flavor of the week. I have used Paula's choice 2%, but every night it is way too drying for me. I'm going to be using this only once at night, since I remember it giving off a shine.

Also, I might have stopped because of a flare up, but i'm starting to think the oil cleansing method was causing some of the breakouts. Wish me luck....again.

It should be noted that i'm probably in better shape than the pictures from above..but still 2 of those nasty guys on my forehead that i've managed to keep kind of under control.

Wish me luck....again

And...take that back. Just saw that Dan said he might not continue it so i'd rather not get dependent on it.