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Hi damn,
I'm sorry to hear that you broke out again...but it's about perseverence, so if something's not working, then you need to tweak your regimen. I advise not using bar soap of any kind, cause the ingredients that keep it in its bar form are comedogenic themselves (I should know, my first breakouts were caused by Clinque's 'miraculous' 3 step system which included a very drying bar soap). Anyhow, since you have more stubborn acne you should up the ante in battling it - instead of soap, try the baking soda in the morning...mix it with some water, a couple drops of tea tree oil, and scrub - mind you, you have to scrub for about a minute to get all the dead skin off. Then rinse it off w/ water and then vinegar w/ water. Don't use creams of any kind, except in gel form (did I mention how much I love living nature products?? Yes, well the manuka gel is a must have).
At night, I recommend using a gel-based cleanser to get rid of the day's accumulated oils (cetaphil for oily skin is non-drying for me). NO BAR SOAPS. Then, either use the epsom salts as a scrub, or as a toner (just on the places you're breaking out/have healing scars), oh, and why do you rinse off? Just leave the epsom solution on all night. I usually also use my manuka gel at night...so that could be preventing my breakouts as well. On that note, I went concealer free for the first time last night...and my skin looked pretty darn good...still some hyperpigmentation marks, and I'm not totally ready to go out into the natural light without cover-up, but I'm getting there:)
Anyways, hope this helps...don't give up...and if you're really breaking out badly, then maybe use the bp in conjunction with this regimen...cause what works for me, might not work for you.
hi all,
well after almost 2 weeks on the regimen, things have gotten out of hand. Now im breaking out on my forehead which hasn't broken out in like a year now ive got like 8 of active red pimple/zits. I don't know what more i can do, maybe its time for another round of accutane...
For those interested my regimen goes like this
Morning:
Baking soda with water and tea tree oil, scrub,rinse
Scrub with epsom salt, rinse and dry
Night:
Baking soda with water and tea tree oil, scrub,rinse
Rinse face with water,vinegar,dry face
Soak cotten balls / tissue sometimes with epsom salt with water and apply to face. Remove and rinse when pads/tissues are dry.
Maybe there is something wrong??? i don't know, i guess im cursed
Just wondering, would it be a bad idea to use an SA face wash with this regimen. The reason i ask is because i've been using this regimen for a while now, and it has helped me alot. But i have all these tiny whiteheads that keep popping out everywhere, and i don't know how to stop them. I've read everywhere that SA might help. If anyone has a better idea, please let me know.
After finding out about this method, I experimented on how often and when to use the epsom salts and baking soda for the best feel on my face throughout the day. This is what I've broken it down to, hope it keeps working for another week or so then i can make another supportive post ^^
Here's what I do:
Morning
-Wash face with ACV solution
-apply diluted Manuka Oil w/ cotton pad (Manuka is TTO pretty much)
-moisturize with Jojoba oil
Night
-shave with soap in shower (basis)
-scrub with baking soda 30 seconds, rinse w/ cold water
- splash on ACV solution, and let sit on face for a few minutes
- rinse face w/ cold water again, pat dry
- apply epsom salt solution with cotton pad (I apply it really wet and let it dry on my face)
The main thing for me was like they said earlier, letting the epsom salt solution dry off on my face and sleeping overnight like that. When i woke up, my face was recognizably dryer (i'm normally oily) and less red from the old/active zits. Oh and my zits were noticably healing faster with the epsom salt + baking soda.
I plan on trying the egg white + lemon juice thing tonite and see how that goes, skipping the epsom salt. Hopefully it wiill be just as amazing as the epsom and baking soda. Crossing my fingers, but so far so good...
I had been trying putting ACV on my face and letting it dry morning and night. I think I was having a little success with that when I read somewhere that it was even better if you added garlic to the vinegar. I was putting ACV-garlic juice on at night and using the Epsom salt mask when I broke out. I've gone back to plain ACV.
Well, i've been using this regimen for about 5 weeks now, and i'm beginning to feel hopeless again. After the first couple of week of using epsom salt and tea tree oil my face was completely clear. I mean not a single sign of acne anywhere, not even a red mark! I was so happy because i thought i finally found the regimen that would work for me. I wasn't even wearing makeup anymore!! But a week ago my skin started to break out again. I thought that maybe it was just a bad day or something, but it has continued to get worse and worse! This morning i woke up and just about cried when i looked in the mirror because it my face looks like it did before i started with this regimen. I don't know what to do! Has this happened to anyone else? I do everything but put the vinegar on my face because it burned way too much. (i have really sensitive skin) I thought that leaving the salt on my face over night was maybe clogging my pores? I'm thinking of adding an SA face wash to this regimen somehow to get rid of all the tiny whiteheads that are covering my face now. Will this work?? I really need help PLEASE!!!
it seems to me, from reading a lot of posts in this thread, that this regimen eventually stops working for most people. you guys should try "the regimen" found on this site. there are thousands of people (including me) whom have been cleared from the regimen. i do think, if you want a natural regimen, you should check the one on the redmarks forum out...its called OMG...something, something!!! it sounds like it really works.
Agent - that regimen is almost the same in nature as this method.
Unless of course the base nature of baking soda is terribly different from epsom salt (i'm no expert chemist). Both advocate usage of a base exfoliant (NaHCO3 vs MgSO4), using the acidic ACV to neutralize it, something to kill P. Acnes bacteria (TTO vs. BP), and reccomend trying to use the lemon juice/egg white masks.
Btw - I'm glad The Regimen worked for you. However, this method is roughly 300% cheaper in cost than The Regimen. I'm seeing better and faster results than BP ever did for me, with zero side effects thus far. (no itching, no flaking, no need for excessive moisturizing).
la fasta - i'm sorry to hear this turned out bad for you...it may for me too but i'll just have to wait and see. I have more oily, older skin, not really sensitive. This regimen relies a lot on exfoliation to fade red marks so if you have sensitive skin it might be a good idea to try to do the base exfoliation (scrubbing with epsom salts) + acv once every other day perhaps.
I experimented with it for a week, each day trying to assess how my face felt with it. I tweaked the amount of times i scrubbed, the duration, and intensity, etc. Less seemed to work best - i started doing the epsom twice plus some baking soda, then cut down to just one of each. Also scrubbed for shorter (1 minute to 30 secs max) and was really gentle. Always used the coldest water my faucet allowed for when rinsing too. Eventually I'm hoping i can cut it down to every other day, with just cleansing and applying Manuka / Jojoba for maintenance.
Oh, the other method that agent brought up is similar, but uses a different base (baking soda as the main base exfoliant). You might want to adjust to that and see if it might reduce any irritation this one seems to be causing you. Or you can play with this one some more. Here's the link to that thread: Baking Soda method
I know how you feel, but try adjusting stuff and I hope things will turn out better again. If this eventualy turns on me as well, at least I'll have the satisfaction of knowing I didnt spend more than 4 dollars for about a 2 month supply of this regimen. The leftover vinegar can go to cooking stuff, and the epsom salts can go to soothing baths or fertilzing plants.
im with agentcooper, this regimen helped me for a little while and then all of sudden, face goes back to the way it was before the regimen.
Here is the link, i really reccomend this regimen it does help, hopefully it will continue to work.
Well, I've been a lurker for a while, and finally decided to share my experiences with everyone. I've been suffering from chronic mild to moderate acne for the past ten years, and I've tried everything recommended by my derm from topical/internal antibiotics & bp to retin-a with no luck except irritation. These chemicals - especially bp and retin-a - changed the colour of my skin (bleached), made it painful to the touch and ended up breaking me out even more than before (and yes, I did use retin-a for well over the time the 'initial breakout phase' - I gave it about 5 months). This culminated in a huge breakout about three months ago where I ended up with two painful cysts and a couple huge pimples on my cheeks - I have NEVER had cysts before or zits of that magnitude!!; that's when I decided to chuck all the chemicals out...I was concerned about bp's free radical effect, and even though retin-a is touted as an anti-aging miracle cream, I think it's a crock of shit, as the skin thinning that occurs is unbelievable, and cannot be good in the long run. I also stopped using sunscreen everyday, as I'm sick of it breaking me out and making me look like a greaseball, and now I only use it when I'm actually OUTSIDE for a LONG PERIOD of time - ie. on the beach or skiing!! I also think that this whole sunscreen craze has gotten out of hand...people are scared of walking to their cars without a glop of sunscreen on for christ's sake because they fear 'the culminating effects of sun damage'.Anyways, let me get to the point, because I'm just going to keep on rambling about the brainwashing that the pharmaceutical and cosmetics markets expose us to. I had read about the vinegar method here, and had used it with great results for my past scarring (I scar in red marks). But I still had the breakouts to contend with, and tea tree on its own just drained the big cysts and did nothing for the smaller pimples. I decided to try epsom salts as an exfoliant one night, and in the morning when I woke up, all of my pimples had come to a head. I guess the epsom salts had drawn all the gunk out...anyways, I firmly believe in draining pimples that have come to a head, so I did just that; then I mixed a solution of epsom salts and water, dipped some cotton pads into it, then applied them to my face. I let them sit there until they started hardening (recrystalizing), then I took them off and washed my face. This solution had killed all the bacteria and healed the area because none of the popped zits had returned, and the cysts were healing nicely. That was three months ago, ever since then I have been crystal clear...except for a whitehead here and there.
At first I was very vigilant with the epsom salts - applying the pads almost every day at night, even leaving the solution on all night. Now, I just do daily maintenace by using them as a scrub every night; I still use the vinegar daily in the mornings - I don't wash my face with soap, instead, I fill the wash basin with water and mix some vinegar and tea tree oil into it, then I wash with this solution. It normalizes the ph of my skin, kills bacteria and keeps the bacteria off all day. I still use a facewash at night because I have rather oily skin.
I know this is a lengthy post, but if it helps even one person, then I'm glad, because a lot of people have helped me with their experiences.
Sorry, didn't mean to re-add ukochana's post. I just wanted to say I've been using the epsom salts - with a few tweaks - and they are working well. I use a more concentrated solution than ukochana says. I probably do about 1:1 and add a splash of apple cider vinegar and a few drops of tea tree oil to the solution, then do the cotton pad thing as she suggests - leaving them on until they dry and then sleeping with the solution on. The first couple of days I didn't notice anything, but after using more salts, today is about the 5th day I've done it and I'm seeing whiteheads that I've had for about a year practically fall out. I have no new zits, only whiteheads coming to the surface. Oh, one other thing -- before I apply the cotton pads, I put emu oil on and let that sink in for about 10 minutes. It is a good carrier oil and I figure it can't hurt to help get the salts, tt, and acv in deep. It also helps couteract any drying effect the tea trea oil might have.
Anyway, I'm a new poster here, but I wanted to thank ukochana.
Lafasta,
I've been doing it for about a week now with good results. The first two days I only used water and 1/2 as much epsom salts as water, and I didn't really see anything happening. Once I added more salts and the tto and acv in the mix, I've consistently had about 2 whiteheads come to the surface every day. I still do the acv and tea tree rinse in the morning too. I've also not had a single new zit. I don't want to speak too soon, but I'm crossing my fingers.
Some other things I've been doing is eating really well, lots of veggies (but I always do that) -- no caffeine, alcohol, or sugar, and drinking LOTS of lemon water and herbal tea between meals.
Good luck...
lafasta,
I don't really measure, but I would guess I use maybe a 1/4 cup of epsom salts, and then just enough liquid to make it slushy - part warm water and part ACV. Like just a splash of each. Then maybe 3-4 drops of TTO. I let the salts dissolve a bit, but they never really dissolve all the way, so I make sure to sop them up onto the cotton pads. I'm thinking about making some calendula tea and using that instead of the water as it's very healing to the skin, and since the zits are just about gone, I want to start focusing on the red marks. I'll let you know how that works.
I read back in the post and it seems like you've been doing this for awhile now. Have you been doing it consistantly every night? And how is it working for you?? Just curious. I also read that it made you get a bunch of little whiteheads. I would say that's a good thing. I think it is bringing all the gunk to the surface. I've had acne for about a year now, and it started as whiteheads and they just stuck around.
Just wanted to finish my thought.... I've had these persistant whiteheads for like a year. Then about 6 mos. ago, I started to get a couple of zits at a time and just as they were going away, I'd get a couple more. Then a month or two ago, it was like my face exploded and I started getting lots of big zits. It coincided with school and eating crappy. The epsom salts are drawing out those old whiteheads and I've had no knew zits since I started doing it.
I usually pour the bag in and use boiling hot water then mix it in and it disolves , i then taste it and it tastes really strong , i then leave it on for 20 - 30 minutes and it usually does it's job.. i don't think the bacteria can defeat it and ive been using this for a while..