I've concluded that Proactiv is only successful because non-acne people buy it; as they aren't acne prone to begin with, their skin improves coincidentally with the use of the product. Then they think it works and they keep buying it while recommending it to people, even people who have real acne issues. Has anyone here gotten a derm's opinion on Proactiv? Just wondering...
Proactive scammed me. Then, it didn't even help my acne go away, the dark spots fade (dark spot corrector) and when I went into the sun, I got sun burnt.
How did I get scammed? I signed up for a free gift- The Dark Spot corrector. Two months later, I get a $40 bill for the Dark Spot corrector which was supposed to be FREE.
Proactive scammed me. Then, it didn't even help my acne go away, the dark spots fade (dark spot corrector) and when I went into the sun, I got sun burnt.
How did I get scammed? I signed up for a free gift- The Dark Spot corrector. Two months later, I get a $40 bill for the Dark Spot corrector which was supposed to be FREE.
Have you contacted Proactiv about this?
Just thought I'd put my two cents in.. Pro actives "sulfur mask" gave me perioral dermatitis.. When I went back to the counter I bought it, the lady just said "oh you must use it wrong" when really there is only one way to use it. Proactive is for people with the odd pimple, but then again those people can use any kind of "acne" cream and it will do wonders for them. If you watch the cermercials and they show the "before" pic, you see it's like two or three bumps. My doctor told me never to use it again as all it does is irritate the crap out of your already irritated skin!
YES! Even moreso because I had tried Pro-Activ. It worked so great at first and then suddenly stopped working. I plunged into some serious depression with that. Turns out lots and lots of people have had this experience, so at least I know I'm not alone. But yeah, it drives me so crazy when people tout that as the end-all-be-all of acne treatments. I also found, a few years later, that Jessica Simpson - the celebrity endorsement that convinced me to try it (which sort of dates me, I know) was also on Accutane. I felt so lied to!
I also had a hell of a time cancelling my product subscription. Spent twenty minutes on the phone trying to get them to take me off their billing account. ARGH.
Yeah no kidding. They'll get people especially those new to acne and those who aren't well informed. I was so pissed that I wrote a really rude email to them
To make myself feel better and all they said was "If u got ur refund thus all that matters" um, I wasn't trying to get anything free(god knows I don't want their crap) I was just telling them do maybe if enough people complain they'll actually put a warning or so! I've known quite a few people who's skin they ruined. And maybe 1 person happy with the results, even tho I read your skin will get addicted and get worse once you stop.
Yep! Just like I doubt any of the makeup adds are for anyone with imperfections. I figure any acne product advertised is a waste of money. I'm sure proactive is loosing supporters slowly, when I was in high school it was way more popular. Now they offer even more
Free stuff to sell it!
omfg i hate proactiv and their commercials are so bullshit just like their products
i used proactiv a few years back and it totally destroyed my face and sent on a very long downward spiral...lol
everytime i see one of their stupid commercials i just think about all the poor ppl who are gonna buy it and wish i could stop them.
Yep, another Proactive victim here...the shit doesn't work. I was on it about 6 months to a year I think. Very irritating and did absolutely nothing for acne. It's good that we are posting this stuff here. It will come up somewhere in google search results and hopefully more people who are thinking about trying this stuff will see that they shouldn't waste their time.
They are complete and total liars. The Jessica Simpson/accutane thing should tell you that you can't trust any of those "regular" people in the commercials either. I guarantee those people, if they ever did have acne, probably had the very mild type of cases that clear up from drinking more water, exercising or starting to wash the skin. They are NOT chronic or severe cases like most of ours.
What no one tells you about BP is that when you go off it, your skin is basically broken for a very long time and has no clue how to regulate or heal itself. I've been off BP almost a year now and I barely feel like some healing is happening after the dried out, aged, sick state that 5 years of BP left it in (I used the regimen from this site after proactive failed me).
However, the BP that they sell on this site did help my acne more than Proactive. It probably managed to control it 80-90% ALONG with me following a perfect diet. When I was still eating gluten and fast food and just eating like a regular person, my acne was still severe despite the BP.
Now I have a good diet but I went off the BP, and my face is back to bad, but slowly seeing some improvements. I wish more than anything that I could have just started internally when I was younger with working on diet and probiotics and all the other stuff and never put these harsh chemicals on my skin. After years of using this stuff I now have lines and wrinkles in my skin that no 30 year old should have. I don't know if they will ever go away. 
I just have to hope that now that I'm not putting chemicals on my skin and eating well, they won't get any worse.
I think proactive might work for "pimples" but that's what it should be advertised for. Not "acne". Sorry to go off topic but another cermercial money waster? No no skin!
I dont know who's seen it, but I actually did try it and
It did NOTHING.
So just shows don't trust anything on tv for your face lol
I haven't used Proactive-- partly because I know that the active ingredients in them are easily found in other brands that are much cheaper and easy to access without signing up for a "payment plan". BP and salicylic acid generally don't do much for me, and never have, except aggravate my skin.
One sister of mine, who rarely had acne as a youth, suggested Proactive a while ago (she hadn't used it herself, either). I probably shot her the look of death.
