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My Regimen Progress Diary

horsey310 · 2014-08-07T15:07:35Z

Hi guys, So for my young teenage years, when most of my classmates were struggling with acne, I had perfect skin - no acne at all, and not even a single blackhead! I religiously washed my face with water and a washcloth every morning and night, and would get comments all the time about how beautiful my skin was. I thought I was just really lucky genetically, as neither of my parents ever had bad acne. Of course, it was not to last! In the summer before my 16th birthday, I started to break out. Nothing cystic or widespread, but I started getting some redness and pimples around my nose and chin. Since then, my skin has been a rollercoaster ride. Over the past 6 years, it has gone from basically clear to mild to severe and back again, made worse by the fact that I also developed pretty bad eczema somewhere along the way. Luckily my eczema isn't in the same places as my acne (the acne is all over my face, and eczema is on my neck and insides of my elbows, and sometimes around my eyes and chin if the skin gets irritated). I've gone to no less than 3 different dermatologists and have tried dozens of treatments including birth control, two rounds of different antibiotics, benzaclin, differin xp, tactuo, pretty much every OTC product there is, etc. Some of these things would clear me up temporarily, but the acne always came back. I recently spent 5 months studying abroad in Switzerland. While I was there, my skin was bad but not horrible, and I mostly had small colourless or pink bumps all over my face with one or two bigger cystic pimples at a time. However, right as I got back home to Canada, I broke out HORRIBLY. My skin had never been this bad in my whole life. I was covered in nodular pimples, whiteheads, redness, the whole shebang. I probably had upwards of 15-20 active pimples at a time, though I was way too depressed to actually count them! I also broke up with my longtime boyfriend upon getting back to Canada, which was a pretty stressful experience and definitely had something to do with the massive breakout. I cried myself to sleep at night and withdrew from everyone, cancelled all my social engagements, and just generally felt sad, angry, and frustrated all the time. On the advice of my mother and a Chinese medicine practitioner, I tried to cure my acne naturally from the inside out by eating very clean (huge amounts of berries and veggies, no refined sugar or sweets, no fried foods), not wearing any makeup, and adding supplements like vitamin C. I also started having acupuncture and tried tons of natural remedies including applying potato slices to my face. Some of these seemed to have a small effect, but my acne was still severe and I knew I needed something stronger. Over the past 6 years I've visited acne.org periodically but never tried the Regimen. This breakout sent me over the edge and I finally ordered the 8 oz. kit (with shipping to Canada, it came to $55 CAD), waited two LONG weeks for it to arrive, and finally started the regimen. This will hopefully be my log of the journey to clear skin! -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Day 1 I followed Dan's regimen instructions, using only a pea-sized amount of BP to start. The hardest part of it for me was washing for only 10 seconds - I feel like that isn't enough to get all the oils off my face, but I trust Dan and all the other successful Regimen users, and will try to keep to 10 seconds of washing. My skin didn't burn and I went to bed once the moisturizer had all sunk into my face. Day 2 In the morning, my skin looked about the same as before, and I used Dan's cleanser and moisturizer (no BP). I didn't have any new redness or flaking. At night, I did the full regimen with a pea-sized amount of BP. This time, the moisturizer really stung! I loaded up my face with the full two pumps of moisturizer anyway, waited for it to sink in (it took about 20 minutes - two pumps is a lot!), and went to bed. [Note: I saw a dermatologist on this day and he prescribed me Benzaclin gel and a course of trimethoprim (antibiotics). Benzaclin is just 2.5% BP and 0.1% clindamycin, so I decided to stick with Dan's BP instead and follow through on the regimen, but I started taking the antibiotics. They worked for me once in the past, and I figure my acne will heal more quickly if I'm treating it from both the inside and outside. Until further notice, I will be taking trimethoprim along with the regimen.] Day 3 I woke up today and my acne seems a little less red than before, and still no flaking, though from everyone else's accounts that's going to hit me soon (I preemptively cleared my weekend plans so that I can hide away at home if the scaliness hits me in days 5 and 6, as it does for many people ). I did the cleanser + moisturizer in the morning and will do the regimen with BP this evening. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I will post some pictures later on today so you guys can follow a...

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horsey 310

MemberMember

(@horsey310)

Posted : 04/13/2015 9:50 am

Hi all,

It's been ages since I've posted or even been on Acne.org as my life has gotten extremely busy (I'm in the last couple of weeks of my undergrad, and will be starting graduate school in the fall!). That being said, I wanted to post a brief update for anyone who followed my log and wondered how things were going. It looks like my last post was about 4 months ago, and my regimen is still more or less the same as it was then.

Here are some updated pics of my skin! These were taken about a week ago.

Things still aren't perfect, but with makeup I can *almost* achieve the look of flawless skin :surprised:

Slowly but surely, texture is evening out and redness is fading. As a note, I've tried a lot of primers over the last couple of months, and the two that I find work best at filling in acne scars are Smashbox Photo Finish Primer (the original one) and Amazing Cosmetics Line Smoother + Primer. I wouldn't necessarily recommend these if you still have active acne, as they're silicone-based, but anyone looking to smooth out the surface of their skin post-acne should give these a try. It makes a big difference when I wear one of these under my foundation.

A last note - while I'm sure that the topical products and antibiotics I took helped in getting rid of my massive breakouts, I've narrowed down the root cause of my acne: diet. It took me a long time to pinpoint exactly what it was that led to pimples for me, and now I know that it is gluten and refined sugars. If I eat either of those things more than maybe 2-3 times in as many days, I still get pimples! They're smaller than they used to be, and generally go away faster, but are definitely caused by those foods. Occasionally I do decide that that pizza/ice cream/bread/whatever is worth it, so I have been getting a pimple here and there, but I can't describe how great it feels to finally KNOW what causes my acne! Now I'm not a victim of my pimples, I control them

Best wishes to everyone still fighting acne! I really hope that my log encouraged you to persevere. If I could do this complete skin turnaround, so can you! It still makes me want to cry to look at how bad my skin was just a few months ago, but here I am. Thank you again to everyone who supported me, encouraged me, and gave me advice along the way. I don't know if I'd be in my current skin situation without this website! :wub:

Wow what a touching log. As I was reading your logs I've noticed that though acne.org didn't solve your acne issues, it did at least in some way steer you to other products that ended up turning your skin around 360 degrees. It's great that something great came out of the acne.org regimen. I hope my skin turns into a new leaf in this upcoming future.

Thank you for reading, Periiwiinkle! I definitely agree, and although their products didn't work for me, the Acne.org methodology was definitely something I carried forward. I wish you all the best with your skin!

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Locket 710

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(@locket710)

Posted : 04/19/2015 5:55 pm

Wow. Your skin looks amazing! Keep up the good work! I was just wondering how you take off your makeup? At the moment I am trying the regimen (while also finishing a course of antibiotics and using adapalene gel). I use jojoba oil to take off my eye makeup with cotton wool but am trying not to use it to take off foundation in fear of scrubbing it and the regimen not working

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horsey 310

MemberMember

(@horsey310)

Posted : 04/21/2015 11:31 pm

Wow. Your skin looks amazing! Keep up the good work! I was just wondering how you take off your makeup? At the moment I am trying the regimen (while also finishing a course of antibiotics and using adapalene gel). I use jojoba oil to take off my eye makeup with cotton wool but am trying not to use it to take off foundation in fear of scrubbing it and the regimen not working

Hi, Locket! My #1 make-up removing product is the Shu Uemura cleansing oil. I use the pink one (Porefinist) as it's meant for oily and combination skin. I highly recommend it! It's super gentle but gets absolutely everything off, from waterproof mascara to foundation. It's not the cheapest, but even on my student budget I make sure to always have it on hand. You start with a dry face and gently massage the oil in, then moisten your hands and massage again to emulsify, and finally rinse. I usually follow this with my normal cleanser, just to make sure I get all the oils off. I find it a lot less irritating than other make-up removers that involve cotton pads.

Let me know if you try it out!

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Giselle 1

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(@giselle1)

Posted : 04/22/2015 12:28 am

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Kay Jay M

MemberMember

(@kayjaym)

Posted : 04/26/2015 2:43 pm

Great turn around OP.

Personally I think you look great without all that makeup. I actually stay away from anything extra on my face as I believe the added products can lead to irritation and more acne.

Then again, Im not as experienced with makeup as you ladies are haha. Im a guy that used to wear a little bit back in my younger days when I was into the punk rock scene.

PS - Did you ever use the Dr Song stuff at all?

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Giselle 1

MemberMember

(@giselle1)

Posted : 05/24/2015 7:40 pm

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