Acne.org Products
Hi everyone, my friend told me today that her dermatologist said that using benzoyl peroxide and salicylic acid at the same time can actually make your acne worse? for example, i use the neutrogena cream cleanser with salicylic acid and AHA in it and also the neutrogena benzoyl peroxide daily leave on mask with 2.5%. can anyone tell me if this is true?
It's hard to find the right balance. Products like benzoyl peroxide and salacylic acid actually work well together because they do different things. The salacylic acid opens pores and exfoliates while the benzoyl peroxide kills bacteria and reduces oil production. Because the salacylic acid unblocks pores, it actually makes benzoyl peroxide more effective.
Where it becomes a problem is if you use TOO much your skin can become irritated and then actually get worse. The hard part is finding the balance between using enough, and using too much. It just takes experimentation and time which can be very frustrating.
I use Benzoyl Peroxide and Salicylic Acid every singleday and it is workingreeeeallywell for me!I like not having to get prescription meds.To combat the dry skin, I use Cetaphil facial moisturizer with SPF.
Morning: 1. Wash with Neutrogena 2.5% Benzoyl Peroxide "Clear Pore", rinse, dry.
2. "On The Spot" 10% Benzoyl Peroxide leave-on cream to affected areas only
3. Cetaphil facial moisturizer, if needed
4. Non-comedogenic makeup (I use L'Oreal Mineral Loose Powder which balances out the moisturizer)
Night: 1. Wash with Neutrogena 2.5% Benzoyl Peroxide "Clear Pore" rinse, dry
2. Wipe down with (1) Stridex pad, maximum strength (that's the salicylic acid)
3. Cetaphil facial moisturizer, if needed
On 9/18/2016 at 4:06 PM, cabobrett said:It's hard to find the right balance. Products like benzoyl peroxide and salacylic acid actually work well together because they do different things. The salacylic acid opens pores and exfoliates while the benzoyl peroxide kills bacteria and reduces oil production. Because the salacylic acid unblocks pores, it actually makes benzoyl peroxide more effective.
Where it becomes a problem is if you use TOO much your skin can become irritated and then actually get worse. The hard part is finding the balance between using enough, and using too much. It just takes experimentation and time which can be very frustrating.
Yeah, I agree with this. This is actually how I should have phrased my original comment!
2 hours ago, realgoldn said:I was of the impression using salyic acid in a cleanser is not effective because your washing it off
It depends. SA can be more beneficial in some ways by leaving it on the skin, but it can also be beneficial as a cleanser for different reasons. It kind of ties into the idea of balance that others mentioned. As the above poster said, using it as a cleanser is great for opening the pores and exfoliating the skin which is great to prep your skin for using other products/treatments. It allows you to get some of the benefits of it without having too many treatments sitting on your skin & irritating it.
Like, if you used a moisturizer with SA, followed by a spot treatment with BP, the negatives of having 2 treatments left on the skin at the same time could outweigh the positives. Using a cleanser with SA followed by a spot treatment with BP is a way to get them both without risking over-drying!
I've used a 1% bha underneath my 5% benzoyl peroxide for the past week, and I believe it has helped me a bit. But I know it's too early to tell..
i had no idea about this, and I think I'm going to stop combining them, I'm afraid it willbe too much for my skin, even though I haven't seen any side effect yet.
i use the same 1% underneath azelaic acid at night, and will continue to do so though.