11 replies to this topic

[g0oo0f]

ALRIGHT so...I've been stalking the reviews for Carley's for over a few weeks. I finally got the balls to just stop reading and ORDER already. Why waste time when there are COUNTLESS positive reviews on this website and makeupalley.com as well?? The day after I ordered, I was still obsessively researching about it...and came across a thread on here warning about Carley's.
The user claims it wrecked havoc on her skin - which it well might of - but then other reviewers start to point fingers at the owner of the company for faking reviews. I gotta tell you, after reading this crap they almost had me convinced I just had blew my money on another shitty product. The reviewers "evidence" for the fake claims seemed almost logical in my head.
But then I thought logically as well. Why would a product that is NOT producing results, get millllllions of positive reviews, when bad reviews are EXTREMELY hard to come across? Even if the company IS faking reviews, if the people who bought their products didn't like it, wouldn't they be more likely to write a bad review for it? This would lead to MORE negative reviews, which there simply arent many of. How do I know people really buy this product, you ask? The company is obviously making good money. They can afford to send buyers TONS of free samples in their orders, and they offer a FULL refund if you are not 100% satisfied. How would they be able to do that if they didn't have a good customer database to generate sales?

Now, let me first start off by saying I am in no way affiliated with, or being paid by Carley's to write this regimen log. I have no reason to lie about this - I am just another person suffering from hormonal acne (see my posts about starting Diane 35- my latest endeavor) In researching Carley's there were a ton of reviews on the product, but barely any actual "blog" type posts about it and day by day updates. That's what I hope to provide to you, and I am REALLY praying that I can be another reviewer that has only good things to say about Carley's. If that's the case, hopefully my blog will provide some relief to those who are doubtful about the product, just as I was.

Now...Day #1

I was SOSOSO stoked to see it had finally arrived! For the record - I purchased the Kick Ass Teen Treatment (recommended by Steve the owner when I e-mailed him personally) and the Midnight Moisturizer. Every product you buy comes with a bar of their supposedly amazing soap, so I got 2 bars. Also got a goodie bag with tons of little samples, from a travel sized bottle of my kick ass treatment, and a super smooth feeling chapstick Who doesn't love free stuff?!?

Anyways - skipping to the point. First, you wash with the natural bar soap. It lathers up quite nicely and I barely had to rub my fingers on the top of the bar to get a good amount. I loooooved the natural feeling of it, and I honestly almost felt like some old spots I had started to rub off and wash away. Such a nice clean feeling after you wash the soap away. Then you apply a little bit of the treatment - rubbing into your face for 30 seconds, no more. I saw some people complaining about the small walnut pieces in it, but seriously?!? The pieces are small as fine sand, or sugar for that matter. St. Ives Apricot Scrub is WAY more abrasive!! I personally loved the feeling of the scrub on my skin, plus it smells like lavender (which is proven to reduce redness, is antibacterial, and also has stress reducing qualities as well!) Last step - you lather up a washcloth with the natural soap, and rinse the treatment off with the washcloth. After I did this, I put tea tree oil on a few spots, applied the lotion and viola! Didn't expect to feel too different after just one use, but I can say that my face has a really nice cool, tingling feeling, and it just feels really clean and not tight (like I experienced with Cetaphil for oily skin) PS I just itched my face too, and after applying the moisturizer my skin is SUPER soft. Yay

Now, I need to get some sleep and see if I wake up with beautiful skin in the morning!
....HA!!! just kidding, I'm not THAT optimistic about this. I realize it will probably take a few weeks to kick in, but I am really praying I don't get an initial breakout, let alone and allergic reaction!! Will keep y'all updated!

[MissMix]

Good luck, I will be anxiously waiting for your positive results!

[sithas15]

Do keep us updated and good luck!

[g0oo0f]

MMMkay, so it's been 3-4 days since starting Carley's...feels like longer already! I was super stoked because my acne cleared up SO much by the 2nd day...but now I'm experiencing what looks like an initial breakout...DAMNIT! Kinda expected it though...and I guess it's good. It's all the pimples I have been WAITING for to come up and out ...they have been lurking underneath my skin forever and I'm just glad they are finally leaving!! They aren't really big either, they are smalller than the normal ones I get and they come to a whitehead easier...SORRY for the explicit detail but I find it relevant. I really hope that once this purging period is over things start to clear up, I pray to god I'm not one of those people it just keeps getting worse for....because the rest of my skin where I don't have zits is looking amazing...
OH one last side effect, I have been experiencing some dry skin as well. It seems its only where my pimples are though, like they are honestly just drying out! Keep in mind I'm on the "extra strength" formula as well, so that could be why i'm so dry...but I'm optimistic about this. I reallyreally hope things clear up within the next week...

[LoAndBehold]

I tried CC&S's original treatment a few months ago, and it worked alright, but certainly wasn't a cure for me (but then nothing has been, and my acne is also a lot worse than yours I wager). I also ordered their industrial strength teen one a few weeks ago, but had a terrible initial outbreak, and then decided to try B5 megadosing, so I stopped using it for now so I wouldn't have shady results about what's working or not (still use the bar of soap to wash my face twice a day though).

Good luck with it, I'll keep my eye on this thread, as I still have nearly a full bottle of the stuff in my bathroom.

[sithas15]

keep it up though since a lot of products do take awhile to show any true results. try drinking a lot more water and maybe taking a multivitamin.

[g0oo0f]

I am keeping with it, but damn this sure is discouraging....
Initial breakout has gone to full blown, horrible, possible worst-of-my-life breakout. I have tons of tiny bumps on my forehead (where there wasn't many before), and TONs of bumps and small pimples on the lower sides of my face. It seems every time I look in the mirror another one has popped up.
I e-mailed Steve (the owner) and told him I was breaking out like crazy. He said be patient and stick with it, some people don't see results till week 6 or further. GRRR whyyyy can't I just fast forward time??! I am PRAYING this is the worst, and it will start to clear after this week. If it continues to get worse, I don't know how I'll be able to deal....I will need LOTS of help from you guys cheering me on!
Thanks for the support though you guys. It really does help, and I will continue to keep using, I know I WILL see results, i just don't know WHEN, and that's what I hate

[g0oo0f]

Welp...things are still pretty shitty. I am getting a lot of painful under the skin bumps, and some surface ones as well. I'm wondering if this is just everything coming up to the surface...at once? I'm hoping that's the case, and it doesn't continue to get worse. Keep in mind, though, I am also on Diane 35 and recently started to who knows if the breakouts could be blamed on this or that....I am only just about 2 weeks into the Carley's regimen, but I realllllly hope it starts to get better soon...even though I know it could be up to another 3-4 weeks before I see results!

[sithas15]

i know i've tried a lot of products that made me break out before ever noticing any real results. the worst breakout i received from a product was from the murad clear skin collection. that stuff made me break out big time all over my face especially my forhead. try it out for a little while longer and if it does not work i would switch to something else. also try not to stress about any bumps you might have on your face and try to focus o the good things like how manybe your face is looking a lot more brighter or even toned. i used to always and i mean always focus on every single new bump i would get on my face not look at the positive things. what im using now is really helping my skin out. here is what im using now from the moment i wake up to my night time shower:

morning
wash with neutrogena clear pore cleanser/mask 3.5 bp
tone with witch hazel toner
moisturize with neutrogena oil free moisturizer for combo/oily skin
* at night i do the exact same thing the only difference is i alternate a glycolic acid cream ever other night in place of the neutrogena moisturizer. i also alternate the cleanser between a salicylic acid based cleasner eevry 3-4 days or so.

by doing this routine i must say my skin has never been better. i do get a new pimple here and there but nothing like before. they also dont stick around as long as they used to.

[Happenstance1979]

Hello, I am new here. I think It's awesome, g0oo0f, that you have decided to give Carley's Clear and Smooth a try, and I hope it works for you. I might be able to help you out a little.

My journey with Carley's began about 10 years ago, I found it like most do, on Ebay and decided to give it a try. It had a much thinner consistency and fragrance back then. In 3 months, it got me clear about 60%, which was pretty good (better than most products, in fact), but I wanted more, naturally. So I quit using it, and resumed my search for something that would clear me 100%; I didn't find it and went back to Carley's after about a year--- and this time, they had a new formulation---including the hotly-debated shea butter---plus, a new (at the time) soap, and a nighttime moisturizer. I dove into the regimen head-first, and in two or so weeks, I noticed some impressive results, so I thought I would speed things up by using it twice a day. Big mistake! My skin went nuts, with all manner of bumpy zitty things happening.

Turned out that nighttime moisturizer was far too rich for my face, so I quit using it. I also dialed back my Clear and Smooth treatments to every other day. And that, my friend, is when the magic happened. After that initial dermatological freakout, my skin cleared within 4 months of using Carley's every other day. This was in 2003, and I used it regularly for another 2 years before I found I really didn't need it anymore. I made several small changes over the years---no commercial deodorants, soaps, shampoos, shaving creams or toners, a cleaner diet, more exercise, being a more positive-minded person---that I credit, alongside Carley's natural soap, for keeping me clear.

My point in telling you all of this is that Carley's is the kind of product that you have to find your own groove with. It's recommended to use as directed, but my Carley's results came from tweaking the way I use it. I think its good for some beginning Carley's users to try it every other day on the front end; some skins just need more time to absorb all of the nutrients and yours just might be one of them. But you know the deal if it doesn't work for you...you will get all of your money back, including shipping. You've got nothing to lose by sticking it out for another month or two, in my opinion.

Hope this helps.

[maya101]

I just wanna say thanks so much for doing this little experiment. i have spent the last week researching on C&S and i'm panning on finally ordering today. just curious...how long have you been taking Diane 35? i heard that some people get amazing results with this and others, like my friend, breakout really badly(these breakouts never really stop until they stop taking the pill)...well, thats what i heard anyway. my friend began to breakout after 2 weeks of Diane, so if you've been taking it 2-3 weeks before you started C&S and have not experienced any breakouts...then C&S is probably the one making you breakout.

Also, have you ever used Benzoyl Peroxide before? some people are allergic to this stuff.

Anyway, i really hope it works out for you! don't give up just yet! good luck!

Edited by maya101, 13 November 2011 - 09:23 PM.

[Lekry]

Everything that the Carley's treatment is is everything that the creators of this site said to avoid. Any treatment with a gritty texture no matter how fine can cause irritation and possibly cut small tears into the skin making it prone to infection, aka a pimple of some kind. Same with the washcloth, washcloths are too abrasive and can cause irritation too. Just because your skin doesn't hurt or isn't red doesn't mean it isn't irritated. I also took a look at the ingredients. They're terrible. Sure the water is "gold standard" and is has jojoba and benzoyl peroxide and like two other good things, but that does make up for all of the "butters" and pore clogging oils in it and that it has "soap" in it. Soap isn't good for the skin either. It is not a good product. Use something else, and good luck (:

Edited by Lekry, 27 November 2012 - 07:27 PM.