Acne.org Products
I've had bad acne my whole life and kept it at bay with the pill for most of my 20s but since starting a family it has all returned with a vengeance.
I generally have large cystic bumps around chin, nose and forehead. These will quite often form a white head. I never ever have clear skin.
Recently I decided to shake up my approach and made some major but inexpensive changes which seems to be working! My chin and nose have been clear for weeks. My forehead has had a weird breakout but that seems to be going away.
My routine is:
Bio Zinc vitamin daily
Remove make up with micellar water.
GENTLE cleanser, I use Cetaphil.
Apple cider vinegar toner, with pad.
Azelaic acid on all the usual spots to prevent.
Calming moisturizer, I use Avene Recovery Cream.
Weekly mask of Dr Lewinns puressence purifying mask (discontinued) which has kaolin clay and black walnut extract.
For breakouts and whiteheads:
Under surface: Mario Badesco buffering lotion and sulphur based drying mask
Whiteheads: Mario Badesco drying lotion.
I'm a bit sensitive to chilli and red wine so have been limiting my intake of those.
It's been about a month and I'm almost totally clear!! Touch wood. Will update if any changes.
Posting here because of all the help I've received from reading others posts in the past.
I've just returned to update my progress with this regimen. I think I've been going 2.5 months now and I haven't had any new pimples for weeks!
It really seems to me the solution is prevention. I used to spend so much money thinking there would be a miracle cure for the pimples that I already had.
I'm spending hardly any money now on these products and they are not only keeping the acne away, but my skin is soft and balanced - not red and flaky.
I will eventually try and see if I can eradicate any of the steps but I'm too nervous to do this right now.
I believe the key for prevention has been:
- clean really well, but very gently
- acv to remove bacteria and restore Ph
- zinc supplements (over a month ago I ran out of this and acv, and I got a few pimples)
- a really good calming moisturiser
- azelaic acid
I haven't even needed to use all my sulphur treatments as I haven't had any breakouts.
All of these key products probably cost me $60 in total in Australia (and that's only because I paid 30 for my moisturiser).
Just wanted to share my progress as I know how it feels to have so many pimples and no hope for a solution.
Just updating to let you know the regime is still going amazingly well. I have barely had any break outs since I started - maybe 6 small pimples in 6 months? ? I'm such a fan. It's not just one miracle treatment or brand, it's been about understanding what causes pimples and tackling it in a gentle way. I am still using the same combination of zinc tablets, cetaphil/micellar water cleansers,apple cider vinegar and azelaic acid.
