It depends on what your skin type is, whether you have active acne, dry skin, or what you want the "down time" to be.

Whatever you do, do not order TCA peels and high percentage lactic acid, salicylic acid and glycolic acid peels online! It's possible that these peels are expired, diluted, not properly formulated, or counterfeit. The instructions are most likely inaccurate or might not be available at all. There is a prep time involved with any peel, especially of medium depth or stronger, and a lot of OTC stuff isn't sufficient/strong enough to "prep" the skin properly. After care is critical, too, which you can't really get OTC!

I haven't heard of any true acne breakouts after having a (professionally done) peel. Those "breakouts" are typically scabs or rashes.

Look up TCA and liver cancer. There is now emerging evidence that TCA peels can lead to such types of cancer. Stick with salicylic and glycolic.

It depends on what your skin type is, whether you have active acne, dry skin, or what you want the "down time" to be.

Whatever you do, do not order TCA peels and high percentage lactic acid, salicylic acid and glycolic acid peels online! It's possible that these peels are expired, diluted, not properly formulated, or counterfeit. The instructions are most likely inaccurate or might not be available at all. There is a prep time involved with any peel, especially of medium depth or stronger, and a lot of OTC stuff isn't sufficient/strong enough to "prep" the skin properly. After care is critical, too, which you can't really get OTC!

I haven't heard of any true acne breakouts after having a (professionally done) peel. Those "breakouts" are typically scabs or rashes.

Is IQ natural a good brand? I recently got a 40% latic acid peel off Amazon.

Gah, still can't quote.

@Lemming: The steep discount on Amazon is making me suspicious. I looked at the ingredients on IQ Natural's website and it contains only water (hence, not formulated properly). I would not use/apply it.

@John457: The liver cancer side effect was only tested in mice. Or are you thinking of this paper? http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23249866

Trichloroethylene (TCE) and trichloroethanoic acid (TCA) are not the same.

Hm, the site only says Latic acid as it's ingredient, don't know where you see water. I've used it once so far and it seems to work fine.

do u use the aha for back or face?

@Lemming: The ingredients list is on this page: http://www.iqnatural.com/product_p/lac-singlesolution.htm

Not allowing me to quote either

@Michelle - I have asian skin, on the oilier side, and usually if I have any actives it's only one or two. I want something stronger than the 10% AHA cream I'm using and I guess I'm thinking about doing something like this once a week. I assume I'd have to be more careful in the beginning and maybe not do it as often but I'd like to get up to 1x/week. I was looking at a 30% glycolic acid peel called AHA 30% Kojic skin peel and it was $44. They have these 'licensed estheticians' on their site that you can talk to and they suggested this peel for a first time user (it's skin-peel.com for anyone who's interested).

I'm sure professionals do it better but plenty of people on the forum seem to do it at home following the instructions carefully and have gotten good results which is why I want to try. My wallet also prefers this option .

@lanette - You can use AHA for body or face, it would do the same thing for either since it just exfoliates your skin. I use it only for my face because I've only had acne in my face and the skin on my body can stay hydrated with regular body lotion. But if you want to exfoliate your body AHA would work just the same.

@Tatii: Those with Asian skin and darker need to be especially careful with peels because of potentially permanent hyperpigmentation problems. Chemicals like TCA should be used very carefully on Asian skin.

30% kojic acid is extremely high. Kojic acid has a high sensitizing potential, and can cause allergic reactions.

In the chemical peel world, 30% glycolic acid is very light, but you still need to "prep" for it. It typically involves applying prescription tretinoin or 4% hydroquinone for some time, depending what your concerns are. You must also take antibiotics and/or antivirals. Before the peel, you must degrease your skin with an adequate amount of alcohol and/or acetone.

I don't mean to make you depressed or upset--I'm warning you of the dangers. Yes, I've seen some positive testimonials about at-home chemical peels, but they were really lucky on not getting side effects. All it takes is one misapplication to permanently wreck your skin. Misapplication happens with professionals, too, but it's rare and why take the additional risk at home when you don't have the training and you don't know for sure about the quality of the peel itself?

I'm a little biased in my opinion, since I did a stupid thing myself and paid for it. I still have the damage, but I was lucky that it wasn't worse and didn't do it with a chemical peel. I really don't want to see anyone get 1st or 2nd degree burns and permanent discoloration/scarring!

What you can actually do at home is apply a low-dose retinol cream. It's not as good as prescription retinoids, of course, but it can help.

You're better off consulting a dermatologist or plastic surgeon for chemical peels!

I can speak from experience that the brand, Makeup Artist's Choice has very good products.

I have used lactic acid on my skin and have "moved up" to glycolic acid.

After a while of using lactic acid my skin seemed to get used to it or something and it was no longer effective. From what I understand, glycolic acid is the most intensive of AHAs because of its size.

I think starting out small is alright, but be very careful and pay close attention to what your skin is doing during the peel. Very strong burning sensations and redness are not normal, light stinging is. Probably any AHA would help your skin, but some may seem to make more of a difference over time as your skin "toughens up". For example, the acid I started with (40% AHA) feels like nothing on my face now, it doesn't sting at all and provides less exfoliating action than my glycolic acid.

@Kalinka

Would you recommend that I start with a lactic acid peel then? I see a 40% lactic acid kit on the Makeup Artist's Choice website that seems to be good for beginners so I might consider that one, if glycolic acid peel is too intense for a beginner.

I think you'd be fine with 40% lactic acid. I did my first ever peel a week ago and left it on for a minute and a half too be cautious and it was fine.