7 replies to this topic

[tcolesen]

Hi All,

It was early September 2009 and the summer before my junior year of college (age: 20.5 years old) when I finally decided to do something about my mild-to-moderate acne. It was never terrible, but I felt that if my face was clear I would be more comfortable in social situations.

So I first started the Regimen. I didn't have an initial breakout like many people do, and within just a couple weeks my face was rather clear without any major dryness or flaking!!

Junior year of college was amazing... joined the rowing team at my school (and excelled), turned 21 and became somewhat of a social party animal. My face was sufficiently clear that I always felt comfortable about it. I wasn't always so comfortable about applying BP in the gym locker-room and moisturizer afterwards in my car (before class), but it worked for my face so I stuck with it. And this was with pretty minimal amounts of BP and moisturizer.

Fast forward to about a year after starting the Regimen; met a girl who became my first legitimate girlfriend (just dated around prior). While with her my face was fine! But several months into that Dan decided to switch from the white moisturizer to the current yellow one. This slowly changed my level of satisfaction with my skin. To put it swiftly: the new moisturizer was the worst thing that happened to my face since starting the Regimen, because my face grew increasingly more flaky.

And fast-forward to now: I have been with my current girlfriend for a while, and proposed to her about 3.5 weeks ago! She's an awesome girl; beautiful, smart, no-drama, great parents, and I could go on and on. I mention this because currently when I spend time kissing her, the skin around my mouth can become rather flaky. And if her shoulders touch my cheeks, they flake and sometimes leave skin flakes on her clothing!! I also get flaky between my eyebrows, so that tells me the flakiness isn't necessarily related to shaving.

Here's my current rendition of the Regimen:
Morning:
1) 3/4 pump of Dan's cleanser, made into a lather. Gentle washing and gentle rinsing. I've tried to become more gentle over time in hopes of reducing flakiness (been gentle for 1+ months)
2) apply a decent amount of Dan's jojoba oil. Also use this to rub flakes off (because there are so many)
3) 1 pump of Dan's BP. Applied gently.
4) spot treat with Dan's AHA, while BP is still wet.
5) 1.5 pumps Dan's moisturizer applied with my left hand so I can eat cereal with my right hand... takes 8-10 minutes to rub in all the moisturizer and I still have to make sure to get all the flakes off.

Mid-morning, about 3-4 hours later:
1) blot my face to get rid of the oily-ness
2) eat a bagel, and this has the side effect of stretching the skin around my mouth, which makes it flaky
3) apply more moisturizer around my mouth
4) blot around my mouth to remove oily-ness

Night:
1)shower with moderately warm water. Wash body, use Dan's cleanser on back of neck/back/chest. THEN get head/face wet, wash hair and ears. Dry off but leave face wet.
2)shave face, with a Schick Quattro Titanium razor. Yes it has 4 blades, but I need the closer shave. Use 1 pump of Dan's cleanser lathered as a shaving cream on face and neck.
3)add another half pump of cleanser and wash rest of face gently. Dry face.
4)perform steps 2)-5) from morning routine, exactly the same.

I'm rather unhappy with the level of flakiness, especially lately... despite all the jojoba oil and moisturizer and being gentle. The Regimen alone consumes half of my morning routine, and at night if my fiance comes over, she has to wait for the moisturizer to dry (~20mins) before she can kiss me... and even then I have to worry about my skin flaking from her kissing me

So I'd like to move on from BP (after 3.25 years) and go with the Hibiclens treatment. But I don't know how to come off of BP without triggering something worse. Does anybody have suggestions on how to transition off of BP and work into Hibiclens? I've got some already from treating folliculitis.

Basically my primary dilemma is getting rid of the flakiness, and if possible eliminate the BP... but if I still did BP at night it would be alright.

Edited by tcolesen, 17 December 2012 - 05:45 PM.

[Brandy]

If you aren't ready to completely give up on The Regimen, give Cetaphil Moisturizing Lotion a try. It almost always takes care of dry flaky skin if our moisturizer (used generously) and extra jojoba oil do not cut it.

As for getting off The Regimen and transitioning to something else. I would suggest gradually coming off rather than cold turkey. Then gradually introduce whatever it is you want to use to replace the bp.

Good luck!

[tcolesen]

Thank you for your response, Brandy!

A while back (when the flaking wasn't quite as bad) I gave Cetaphil a shot. I found it to be extremely oily, and upon application it seemed to pull all the flakes to the surface. I've also tried out Moisturel Theraputic Lotion, Eucerin Original Moisturizing Lotion, Eucerin Plus Intensive Repair, and Olay Complete all day UV moisturizer.

One of the issues I have is that 12hrs after I shave, it's harder to apply products where facial hair grows, especially on my chin (hair grows in thickest there). I actually don't put on suncreen because applying it flakes my skin to hell. And if I were to put on suncreen, I'd have to first shave, and then try to scrub all the flakes off... lots of irritation there.

Some reading earlier today brought CeraVe products to my attention. Do you have an opinion on their products (Hydrating cleanser, regular moisturizing lotion, etc.)?

I've definitely read that people quitting BP cold-turkey break out intensely, and that's not really something I could handle.

[AyeAye]

I agree that if you have naturally oily skin (which it sounds like you do if you're having to blot it during the day) Cetaphil would be too rich and oily, however it would be ok to use during your night time regimen. I mainly use dan's moisturiser with jojoba oil, but during times when my skin is dry (and I have naturally dry skin) I use cetaphil at night time. Who cares if I go to bed with an oil slick face?

Another thing you can try is to apply AHA+ all over your face at night, rather than just as a spot treatment. AHA completely and totally keeps my flakes at bay. Give it a shot before giving up on BP as it seems to have kept you clear for some time now.

Good luck!

[tcolesen]

I appreciate your response As far as it's-nighttime-I-don't-care-how-greasy-my-face-is, do you have any trouble with your face drying out over night from being on your pillow? I sleep with a towel on my pillow (and change it out every few days), and generally sleep on my side. Some mornings my face is very flaky, presumably from being dried out by my pillow towel.

Also using AHA in place of Dan's moisturizer at nightnever really seemed to help a whole lot with flakiness. Typically it makes my face a bit red the following day, and since I can't really apply sunscreen regularly (due to flakiness upon application), I try to limit my AHA usage.

I've already begun to use less BP in the mornings, so we'll see where that goes! Though I'm still unsure if/how I can work in Hibiclens and see if that helps anything.

[computermasterman]

I am having the same problem with trying to get off the regimen. It is literally taking my life, and I need to get off of it. Shouldn't have started in the first place.

[tcolesen]

Well, I decided to begin cleansing with Hibiclens, and my BP usage is down about 25% at each application. I'm also tracking what I do to my face to check for things that may cause me to break out.

Here's my current routine:
Morning:
1) Something around 1-2 tsp Hibiclens, rubbed into a lather. Gentle washing for 1min and gentle rinsing. This has consistently caused me to rub flakes off my face.
2) apply a thin layer of Dan's jojoba oil. Also use this to rub flakes off.
3) ~ 0.7 pump of Dan's BP. Applied gently.
4) spot treat with Dan's AHA, while BP is still wet.
5) 1.5 pumps Dan's moisturizer applied with my left hand so I can eat cereal with my right hand... takes 8 minutes to rub in all the moisturizer and there are still a few flakes that require attention.

Mid-morning, about 3-4 hours later:
1) blot my face to get rid of the oily-ness
2) flick a few flakes away

Night:
1)shower with moderately warm water. Wash body, use Dan's cleanser on back of neck/back/chest. THEN get head/face wet, wash hair and ears. Dry off but leave face wet.
2)shave face, with a Schick Quattro Titanium razor. Yes it has 4 blades, but I need the closer shave. Use 1 pump of Dan's cleanser lathered as a shaving cream on face and neck.
3)Something around 1-2 tsp Hibiclens, rubbed into a lather. Gentle washing for 1min and gentle rinsing. This has consistently caused me to rub flakes off my face.
4)perform steps 2)-5) from morning routine, exactly the same.

So far so good, after 3 days of using Hibiclens to replace Dan's cleanser. Being very careful to keep it out of my eyes and mouth! I think the next step (after I am sure it's effective) will be to buy a bigger bottle of Hibiclens and buy a foaming dispenser pump.

Edited by tcolesen, 26 December 2012 - 08:05 PM.

[tcolesen]

Just thought I'd update this after several months!

 

It seems Hibiclens is doing it's job nicely. My face has been rather clear, and though I do get the occasional small pimple, it doesn't last very long. Most of the pimples I get are from irritation (around the mouth from kissing my fiancee, on my forehead from where my bike helmet makes contact).

 

Couple changes:

-I switched out Dan's moisturizer for Cerave Moisturizing lotion, and haven't looked back.

-At night I don't use jojoba oil.

 

My face doesn't get flaky, even after kissing my fiancee for lengthy periods (this was a big one for me). And I can now smile with the knowledge that my face won't look scaly if stretched enough! I'm not sure if it was the Cerave moisturizer or using Hibiclens instead of Dan's cleanser (or a combination of the two) but my face is at the point I've been looking for

 

Last but not least: applying sunscreen is no longer an issue! If I exercise [outside] with sunscreen on my face it tends to show but that's not a huge deal for me.